It was vocal day today. The weather wasn’t too kind though. One moment it was burning hot and the next thing we knew, the sky opened with rage, pouring waterfalls accompanied by sounds of angry thunder and blinding lightning. It beats the sub woofers of all the clubs in the country put together.

We started off recording the lead vocals for Scratch. Recording instruments are a lot easier than vocals. It is by far the most difficult to nail. The pitch has to be just right, not too emphasized as it may sound like one is trying too hard and not too effortlessly as it may come in short of the target pitch. Then comes the tempo and timing of the vocal lines against the tempo of the song itself has to be just right. Each word would also require attention for proper pronunciation to ensure the flow of the diction. With all that in mind sometimes, it could be a little difficult to set the right “feel” and mood for the particular tune. All I did was dimmed the lights in the vocal room, close my eyes and spill the lines straight from the heart.

It could get a little frustrating when the flow just doesn’t move. “Cut, one more time. Watch the pitching. Watch the tempo. Timing’s out. One more take. Yes, that’s good, but a little faster. Timing’s good, but you need to hit the pitch. One more” You get the idea? But it’s all good. I’d prefer nailing the tracks on pitch and on time as close to perfect as possible rather than leaving them sloppy.

Kim is such a brilliant engineer and he as a sharp ear for pitch, timing and tempo.

After the lead vocals were recorded, we headed out for lunch.

We resumed with backup vocals after lunch. Now this was interesting, harmonizing to the chorus which I have never done before for the entire duration of Scratch’s existence. It was fun and refreshing. It can get a little tricky, synchronizing each word of the chorus.

I also did some electric guitar fills for Silence since we had a little time left to kill.

All in all, the vocals sound pretty satisfying, but there needs to be some tweaking and re-recording here and there. All is good though.