Recording vocal performances

[Santiago]

Dear Daniel

I'm a big fan of yours, enjoy your albums and your production of other artists enormously.

A constant throughout both types of work is a very strong vocal approach. The records you have produced for different artists often contain my favourite vocal performances from those artists.

It seems to be a mixture of performance, microphone and treatment.

Can you shed any light on how you set about getting those vocals and how do you approach working with vocalists?

And also, how do you approach it as a singer yourself?

Many thanks, and keep up the good work!

Santiago

[Daniel Lanois]

I don't use reverb. I like to use a slap echo with a relevent delay setting. Remember that a muted delay tone creates a sense of distance. I pay attention to the vocal all the time. I don't add the vocal to the track, I add the track to the vocal. If you keep this angle in mind you subconsciously train your brain to build your work around the center.