HI James,

THis alternative band I mentioned, 5 pieces, 2 guitars, bass drums and
singer, different members also played a variety of other instruments.
This was the band that used my lady's AFrican war drums for
auxillary percussion on one of their cuts, think I mentioned that.  I
wished I could have put those in a big room to
capture.

Anyway, on with this story.  The singer was fair, when he'd
relax.  Getting him to relax though so that his posture and
other factors would combine for a good vocal take was
difficult.  HE sort of stood slouched, which didn't help him for good
breathing.  OF course, the guitarist and principal
songwriter wrote these songs that required the singer to
deliver long flowing lines without good places for a catch
breath.  HIs stance didn't lend to a good clear airway.

But even worse, the kid was just a nervous Nellie in the
studio.  We'd bring him over, I'd record him in a room with
low ambient lighting and an area light for his cheat sheet
when/if needed.  But then, as soon as he knew that this one
was a keeper take he'd tense up his body, breathing would go to heck, and
we'd be punching in phrases all night.

So I'd fool the kid.  Bring him in, hand him the headphones, get the mix in
his cans where he was happy with it then
"let's do a dry run through this make sure that there are no level
changes that will surprise the blind man."

We'd record him clear through the song, then I'd say "come
on in and listen to this, I was recording."

HE never did catch on, but often it was easier to capture
the main vocal track that way, and do a couple of punch-ins
to fix things.  OTherwise most of the vocal track would
require punches.

Regards,
           Richard
--- timEd 1.10.y2k+