Working with a couple musical geniuses...

Sun, 09/17/2017 - 3:45pm
Written by GeorgeWhitty
Topics: george whitty, jazz, Piano, recording, recording studio

Or is it Geniii?  Hey everybody:  a few notes on some things I have coming up, and one in progress!  Just finished five days in Portland, OR, working with Gino Vannelli on his new CD, and am again reminded what an incredible musician the guy is.  We did a CD 20 years ago called “Slow Love”, and I was really struck by the depth of his writing, producing, singing, mixing, you name it.  That one took a LONG TIME, as we did almost the entire record in Logic on the computer, programming drums, bass, keys, guitars, horns, strings…I even took a nice little “harmonica” solo on a sound we built out of our own samples in a Kurzweil K2000.  Great record, and 20 years later we picked up right where we left off, but older and wiser. 

Gino’s writing has as much really cool harmony in it as anybody can fit into a contemporary song;  this CD is a kind of “Americana” one, with a small band featuring slide guitar, piano, percussion, pedal steel, harmonica, and some string sections.  But it’s as sophisticated as it gets, yet incredibly friendly to the ear. 

Preparing for Your Best Vocal Recording, by Jeannie Deva

Wed, 10/09/2013 - 4:08pm
Written by Jeannie Deva
Topics: celebrity vocal coach, jeannie deva, Los Angles Singing Lessons, music, music pre-production, music production, recording studio, singing coach

preparing for vocal recording

The most important element of a recording is all too frequently given the least amount of time for preparation and recording. Yes, sadly, it’s the vocals.

Lack of preparation along with little understanding of the art of vocal recording can make it difficult or impossible to achieve a high quality captivating studio vocal within budget. Whether you’re recording a cover song or an original, acoustic or band arrangement, here are several effective steps you can take to improve your vocal recordings.

Song Choice: Sing songs with messages you believe in and which showcase the best qualities of your voice. Unless you’re purposely trying to be an impersonator of another artist such as a tribute band, your song choices should be ones that present who you are as an artist.