A very extensive lead vocal workflow

Tracking the last track for this next EP “Somebody” has been quite the challenge. First, I was singing in ways I normally don’t and also trying different microphone combinations (yes, I was checking the phase).

How I went about it was on Day one, I had two tracks, one for Mic 1 and Mic 2. Did ONLY 3 takes nothing more. Waited a day, then listened to each pair of playlists. Rated each verse, each chorus, each part on a scale of 1-5. I would be never hesitant to just mute a segment, if it was just off. Even the delete key was used a number of times.

I repeated the above process for 2 additional days of tracking with different combinations and creation of 3 master comps one for each day.

After this I had 3 playlists, each containing a pair of lead vocal tracks. From there I critiqued the 3 finalist even further and created another comp consisting of what I thought was the best for the song version from those 3 separate day takes.

Now I am left with ONE master playlist of lead vocals consisting of 2 tracks, each with a different microphone (and maybe from different days). Next is the volume, eq, and compression phase. Whatever is required so I can finalize the track with some tasty lead lines and a solo before final mixing.