A+A: Getting Into Flow & Capturing The Perfect Vocal Take
New segment - You ask and I answer your questions.
Welcome to a new segment in the Sound + Creativity newsletter called Ask + Answer (A+A).
My intention here is to take your questions and put my own creative philosophy, experience and advice to the test by answering your burning questions to the best of my ability.
The inspiration behind this segment came about from the countless questions I get on threads, IG stories, DMs and via email. On a typical week I tend to block out a chunk of time to answer them, so I figured "Why not share the best ones with everyone?".
This new segment will also allow me to be more accessible for those who might not be able to afford my 1 on 1 services, digital products, or my upcoming courses — It's my attempt to scale my own personal experiences and what I've learned so far in my 10 years of making music.
While I do admit the flow and structure will be different from my usual newsletters I still plan to keep them practical with actionable advice, and mindset tips you can apply instantly.
Lastly, for those of you wondering on how you can get your question featured there's no real criteria I'm looking for. My plan is to simply choose the questions I feel will provide the most value for all readers.
Finally, let's get started with this first edition.
Reader @terrencetimeless asked on threads:
I have no problems if I’m just creating—even when I don’t feel like it—because I can have zero expectations. But I struggle “disregarding how I feel”when it comes to recording vocals for example, because I know I gotta get things “right”, and I’m always convinced I gotta be in the zone for it. Any tips on how I can shift my mindset?
So there's quite a few tips I can give here but first thing to understand here is the current problem Terrence is facing:
He seems to have no problem getting into flow and putting in the time even when he feels the resistance on the production side of things, but the problem seems to arise when trying to record vocals and trying to capture that perfect take.
And rightly so…
There's a big difference between fiddling with software, manipulating sound through a computer screen and trying to capture an emotional vocal recording — you're essentially trying to capture a raw emotion and many times you might not even know what the right recording is supposed to sound like.
As he mentioned, the struggle comes from knowing he has to get things "right" and but also getting in the zone for it (which he is correct, note here that has a sense of awareness of what's holding him back — as I always say, self-awareness is a superpower as a creative).
But what tips can I offer him to finally help him shift his mindset and get him in the zone to finally get those "perfect" vocals?
Here's what I suggest:
1) Gain clarity by defining what success looks like for YOU
For Terrence this means defining what he means when he says "right". In this case "right" being the winning vocal take.
It's extremely important to have this clarity especially when trying to complete your song. Just telling ourselves to get it "right" can be problematic because it's vague and probably only an idealistic expectation of your potential.
Imagine if instead of aiming to get it "right" you simply set a more concrete goal?
For example, why not set a goal to record 50 vocal takes?
Setting a concrete goal like this does 2 things for you:
It gives your a clear tangible and quantifiable goal you can hit.
Quantifying and setting specific goals increases your odds of accomplishing them.
According to a study by Dominican University of California people who set specific, actionable goals are 33% more likely to achieve them compared to those who do not. This statistic supports the fact that taking specific steps toward nurturing their creativity, increases their likelihood of success.
Now let's keep going deeper with this example of recoding 50 vocal takes. After you record these 50 takes you'll be able to choose the best one or just splice or combine many takes together (It worked for Billie Eilish, it can work for you too).
But did you how different this feels as opposed to just trying to get it "right"?
There was a clear shift in focus and that directly affects how we approach this issue.
Because instead of focusing on getting it right (qualitative and subjective) we focus on the quantity of our ideas, which is tangible and achievable.
That's not all you also tap into a powerful theorem which I call The Principle of Creative Yield.
The Principle Of Creative Yield is the idea that the number of unsatisfying ideas you create is directly proportional to the number of fulfilling musical ideas you create. The more you produce, the higher the likelihood of generating standout pieces.
That's not all, by focusing solely on output instead of quality, you demand from yourself but it also allows you to practice, warm up and increases your odds of recording that "right" or "perfect" take.
It's a win win all around.
So that's my first tip, define what right is to you. From there make a conscious effort to quantify the outcome you want and make it a tangible concrete task.
2) Getting into the zone to record vocals
Something else Terrence mentioned was getting into the zone.
In other words, getting into the appropriate headspace to record. What many would also call flow state.
While this can also be achieved through a quantity approach I'll be the first to admit focusing on numbers and sheer quantity can seem quite robotic for some artists (but this is just an unavoidable part of making anything great).
In fact, many of us get into music because we want to capture something more, something special and magical that almost feels outside of ourselves.
And we know from experience by doing so, this becomes another avenue for us to get to these "perfect" takes, or that serendipitous melody that seemed to come out of nowhere and we can't believe we wrote ourselves.
It's also how many countless artists explain how they've come up and captured their most iconic works — Especially when trying to capture raw and authentic vocals as Terrence wished to do.
So that's what I want to focus on in this tip, how would I go about accessing this zone and this state of mind?
From my own personal experience I believe this is achieved by opening our heart and unleashing our inner childlike energy.
While the music I produce nowadays tends to be instrumental and not very lyrical I have experimented with vocals in the past.
This led me to develop some strategies to get the best vocals out of myself.
What I found worked best was piggybacking off emotionally and mentally taxing moments in my day to day life. This strategy seemed to consistently bring out what I deemed the best out of me.
And it's nothing complicated, it's a simple 2 step process which I've found consists of:
1) Living life.
2) Recording vocals immediately after emotionally charged moments.
Some examples of emotionally charged moments include:
After receiving good / bad news
After an epiphany / revelation
After watching a good movie
After a break up
After exercising
The key is to harness the emotional moments in life and quickly try to capture that emotion through your pre-written material. Or maybe it's just capturing what comes to mind after one of these moments and that can become the seed to something new.
The point here is to simply try and capture the raw emotion.
I do realize that for most of us there won't always be momentous events like this in our day to day lives, which is why I also like to manufacture these emotions and rile myself up with emotions before recording vocals.
Here are some ways I achieve that:
Plan my recording session immediately after a tough work out.
Play some music and dance to warm up body and record right after.
Call a friend up (one you can have a stimulating conversation with) then record after you hang up.
Personally, these are the best ways in which I've been able to get into the zone, especially when it comes to recording vocals.
With these 2 tips, I feel like Terrence should be able to consistently get into the zone and as a result get a take he's satisfied with.
At least this is how I would approach it, hope this helped.
That's all from me today, hope you enjoyed this new segment.
Until the next one.
— Hermes
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