Ronan’s Recording Show

from urbandictionary.com

Fine *ss woman, or your girl.
FINE *SS WOMAN–Sup shawty, how you doin

Girlfriend—–me an my shawty went to da *ex shop yesterday and got some sh*t, yo.

2. shawty

A term orginating in Atlanta that, in the beginning, referred to a short person or child, but the span of the word has grown to include any and all people, especially a girl that is attractive; it is mostly used as a term of endearment to others or just a way of addressing someone, like ‘Wassup Man,’ Instead of “Man”, shawty is used.
NOTE: Can be shortened to “shawt” or “shawtdawg”.
“Waddup Shawty, when you coming over?”

3. Shawty
Refering to a s*xy female.
Refering to a friend or associate.
1) Aye shawty! Let me holla at ya.
2) Was up shawty.
3) Mann shawty you pissin me off.

True, talk to any of the teens to mid twenties…..their favourite tunes are more likely to be artists from the past….most of the ones I talk to have their i-pods filled from oldies like Johnny Cash to Bob Dylan to Frank Sinatra and K.D. Lang…really surprised me….but their hungry….they want to be moved…..and good singers certainly can move….your voice makes people trust you Ronan and know their in good hands…a singer’s voice can open the divine beauty of all emotions…..when she’s there…we’re all there…AutoTune for me is okay as Rap being comedy or political….but no replacement for Johnny Hartman….and those beautiful pauses of silence between the lyrics….breath of life to the cities of cement…

One thing I did not hear mentioned, is that while using pitch correction software, you can set a tolerance of error.
Some error introduced into the track (if you end up having to use a bit of correction) is much more pleasing than having an automaton singing on the punches… lol!

Ronan and folks,
Have a fantastic workshop in Italy and may the guitar amps distort as creamy as great risotto and the muffin fans whine (in the machine room) like a fine Chianti.

Hey John, You are right. Its actually possible to use pitch correction in ways that sound very natural. The trick I have found is to not fix the whole note, but just bring parts the really bad parts.

Bear, I actually agree with your, but I also think it got old really really quick (at least for me). Thanks so much for chiming in.

Just curious — what was the first song to crank up the autotune? I mean, really make it noticeable? Most folks cite Cher’s “Believe” from 1998, but were there any before that? You never know, this might be a question in “Trivial Pursuit: Audio Geek Edition”!

PS Thanks, Ronan! ‘nother excellent show

Hey there Ronan… Whew you sound busy… Just one comment.. If the vocalist is having trouble one thing might be to check the cans mix for extra solos or chords that are difficult to pitch over.. Keep the HP Mix simple and you may find a happy singer on the other end of the mic…

Great show, Ronan! Using autotune in order to not use autotune might just be the next industry standard. Just picked up a copy of Melodyne and on the next round of recording I think I’m going to try this technique out.

Thank you!

The chorus definitely helps keep me in tune! We’ve had Melodyne for a bit but have never really wanted to use it… it’s just so…un-natural.

Hi Ronin, first time I’ve seen your show, it fills a much needed niche. I’m of the same or older vintage, and have used those excellent techniques when producing/recording.

Have you ever addressed the issue of headphone polarity for a singer when recording? This is something only the singer can hear, and only at a headphone volume that matches what their eardrum is hearing from “inside” the head, which is usually not that loud. Years ago, it sure was causing a lot of anxiety in a singer who I knew could hit it usually, until I figured it out. This polarity reversal can happen anywhere in the signal path or at the headphones. This time it was the cans that were the problem. I actually had an email confirmation from AKG in Germany that stated their 241 studio monitor line, were all made with the polarity reversed at the factory for “historical reasons”, which made me laugh! It can really cause a problem with singers and pitch. Some splitters, and mixers have also flipped the headphone polarity internally in my experience.

As a singer I can say it has a very phasey sound in the cans, and I use an analog monitoring system, so there is no latency fuzziness to consider. Now I test the path occasionally by sending a prerecorded tone out the headphones with one cup over the mic, and recording it into a muted channel for an obvious indication of polarity, and system latency, at the headphone. Switching the polarity/phase(wrong term but common usage) on the preamp or with a rat tail at the mic will quickly solve the problem.

A short delay actually does have the same effect. A scientist figured this out whilst studying the “chorus effect” on people who have speech impediments. Using an in-ear delay device, the chorus effect takes place and the patient will no longer stutter. Makes sense that it would also help singers

Hi Ronan, this is a personal note. Thanks for mentioning my band name, we got a lot of hits today, and sorry for misspelling your name. Dave

Just got one of the usual Musician’s Friend emails today but this time, what was the first tech tip at the top of their newsletter? Ronan doing a video on tracking piano for A-Design… Too bad they didn’t have a link to your site on there, you’d probably be getting overloaded with hits tonight. You’re becoming a star, Ronan

Keep up the great work!

Thank you for another great episode. I don’t totally agree with your premise of singing in a choir will improve your singing in tune. If you heard some of the choirs I’ve been in you’d know what I mean. Some people are just God awful and nothing is going to help them but learning the basics of music and practice, practice practice.

I haven’t found a good use for autotune yet. There’s nothing like real talent.

I wish I could make Italy, I’m jealous but I’m kinda busy doing God’s work right here in the states. I hope it’s more fun than work for you

Greg, Great question. I have not really found this to be the case, and in truth when I am doing this sort of trick, I am often only using it for some of the most difficult lines.-Ronan

I am a MUCH bigger fan of older hip hop than the new stuff, but for some reason I hear something really interesting in Lil Wayne’s voice. There is a deep expressiveness to his vocals. I feel like he means it, which is something I do not get from many modern artists.

Wonderful Blog I love it!

Can you just turn of all background music (drums, guitar, etc.), have the singer with one headphone on and one headphone off. On the headphone that’s on, the singer will be hearing the melody line. The melody line can be created by piano, flute, etc.

In this way, the singer can hear themselves because one of the headphone is off, but at the same time hear the melody line without any background music (drums, guitar, etc.) to distract him/her. Please tell me what you think about this technique?

Golden tip, there, Ronan. Can’t thank you enough. I’ll be using that on myself.

Here’s is how I usually approach songs that have a really hard lead vocal part (as a singer and as a producer)

I lay down several takes, maybe two or three, then leave only the one that I like the best and mute the others (sometimes it’s needed to take a phrase or two of one of the others track i’ve already laid down).

Then I leave that one semi-good vocal track on and record another one (almost as if I was laying down double tapes). Then mute the older one and leave the last one on and record a double of that one, and so on, as many times as studio time and vocal chords allow.

So, in the end I pick one or two really good vocal tracks. Sometimes I choose to actually leave it doubled in the mix. Sometimes when I really like a bit or two of one track I cut and paste it into the final vocals. But in the end I usually get a really good result that sounds natural, like a real good life performance, or maybe a really well worked vocal studio track.

That’s how I usually do it, whatchathink?

PD: I’ve discovered sometimes it helps to have the vocal harmonies or backing vocal parts somewhat loud in the headphone mix in order to really nail the leading vocal notes and stay the hell in pitch, in tune, hitting it out of the park! hehe