[MUSIC]
So we're in the studio today.
I think we're going to record a song called,
Call Me by one of my former students.
He's an alumni. Brian Walker.
Brian, thanks for coming to do this.
Yeah, no problem.
I also have one of our Berklee engineers.
I have Sam Stallings with us here today.
Hi Sam, how are you?
Hello.
The composition, Call Me,
it's something that you wrote recently, is that correct?
Yeah, I wrote it earlier this year.
You work in the box,
I think you started in Ableton, is that true?
Yeah, I do a lot of stuff in the box,
but I've been getting more into hardware synthesizers lately.
I just bought a Juno-60,
which is a good synthesizer for adding pads and stuff like that.
The course is pretty awesome in it.
A lot of the students that we've been watching this course are also working in the box,
they are working at home with their own homes set-ups.
What do you have at home?
I have Ableton. I use a mix on NS-10's.
I use Pro Tools for mixing generally.
Okay. NS-10, that's what we have here today in the studio.
So the composition, Call Me,
was that written about a specific thing or a specific event?
Yeah. That one was actually written about a person in particular,
and something I was going through at the time.
What I would love to do is maybe listen to a little bit of it.
Listen to what the emotional content is and assess it as a producer,
to see what I could maybe highlight.
Yeah.
Let's listen from bar nine.
Play it from bar nine.
[MUSIC]
That's great. So I noticed that you emphasize some of the lyrics with a double.
Yeah.
What was the reason for doing that?
Just to create contrast and interest.
So if I have the same thing happening for the whole song,
just one mono lead vocal,
then the listeners are going to get bored.
So I have certain things that I want to accent.
So I double up the vocals.
Usually, I decide if it's too much later.
So in this song, in particular,
I doubled up sitting under the stars, kissing in your car.
But then later, in mixing,
I might decide that it's too much stereo imagery. [OVERLAPPING]
Right.
Of course, to be stereo so I might put it
like faint in the background or try it without it.
So my goal for commercial vocal production is to really hone in on
the lead vocal as one continuous experienced throughout the composition.
A lot of what you've done in your work is brilliant,
but even when you peel back all the layers,
there's usually that one compelling vocal performance.
So, when you are doing the composition,
did you do it sectionally like verse and chorus,
and bridge, and things like that?
Or did you sing it all one take-down?
Usually, I copied after.
So I record all the vocals for the verse,
and then pre-chorus, chorus, bridge.
Do you get the doubles from a happy accent,
if you recorded it three or four times,
"Oh, let me open up that other vocal."
Yeah. I do that a lot. Then if I don't
have a good enough vocal take, then I'll re-record it.
Right. So what I would love to do today is to move into your composition with
the intention of nailing what you already have emotionally,
but bringing it to another level.
Because oftentimes, when we're producing ourselves,
we're not the best at being able to
critique how much we're able to give or even how much to push ourselves.
Right.
So hopefully, that's where we'll go today with the session,
and I'm looking forward to hearing how it sounds.
Yeah. It'll be fun.
Great.
[MUSIC]