Amerie's production and recording techniques

jazzy655 · 25th February 2006

So... I'm listening to Amerie's "Touch" album right now. Really like it. Is she the best singer...no. do they do a great song pulling nice songs out of her...yes.

BUT! and this is a big j-lo butt. i can tell they are doing a lot of work on her afterwords(nothing wrong with that). i'm noticing the majority of her harmonies sound more like they just duplicated the track and delayed it. actually maybe they stacked 2 different takes and duplicated those. either way, i'm def hearing duplicates. they sounds WAY too exact to be real overdubs.

i also hear this on other peoples stuff. beyonce, keyshia cole, pretty much everyone.
it seems like there is 2 different types of harmony sounds in r&b.

1. 1 or 2 takes, duplicated, almost purposely sounding artifical. scratch that...they're totally MEANT to sound perfect and unatural.

2. actual stacks of many many takes. ( think musiq soulchild and d'angelo) where it sounds really really warm and thick.

both have their place, just depending on which sound you want.

my question is to some of the experienced guys, are you actually just duplicating tracks to get the first version of harmony i mentioned, or is there some effects that most cats are putting on top of the multing?

and, that is what it's called right?? multing i mean...

by the way, i'm listening to "Like it used to be" from the amerie album specifically.

con?one · 25th February 2006

actually, there's not alot being done to a's voice at all.

jazzy655 · 25th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by con?one

actually, there's not alot being done to a's voice at all.

well maily i'm hearing lots of editing. i think due more to the style of the producer.
why do you say? do you have inside info?

filterayok · 25th February 2006

i know some demo singers that can match doubles, triples, and quads so perfectly they phase------i wouldn't be too quick to assume its artificial----i see people talk about doubling tracks with slight delays, or duplicating tracks---for me thats rediculous-- it sounds like an effect, not a double--the only way to effectively make doubles out of an existing take, is you'd have to take every word, nudge it randomely out of time, then process the pitches of each word randomely up and down a few cents----and why the hell would you ever do that?? any unnaturalness in bgv's is either coming from autotune, or maybe they threw a slight chorus on there---i've only ever seen bgvs recorded in quads per note, sometimes six if the producers really feeling saucy

and a "mult" usually refers to the place on the patchbay where you bring a signal, in order to be able to then patch that signal out to different places simultaniously====i think you mean "stack?"

con?one · 25th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by jazzy655

well maily i'm hearing lots of editing. i think due more to the style of the producer.
why do you say? do you have inside info?

yes

babyface_finsta · 25th February 2006

Nope... Not as much editing as you would think... when A is singing over a Rich joint... well at least her first Album anyway... I was at the studio when alot of it was Track and Mixed... There were tons of takes... but not a lotta punching in... Rich doesn't play that... Everytime I spoke to Ken on how he mixed it... he'd bitch... but it was more about the Credits being messed up more than anything...

As far as production for Crazy in Love and One Thing... both loops...

babyface_finsta · 25th February 2006

As far as equipment used... etc etc etc... http://www.cuerecording.com/aroom.htm

HDGuru · 25th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by babyface_finsta

As far as equipment used... etc etc etc... http://www.cuerecording.com/aroom.htm

Damn their rates are low at that studio.

**TonyBelmont** · 25th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by babyface_finsta

Nope... Not as much editing as you would think... when A is singing over a Rich joint... well at least her first Album anyway... I was at the studio when alot of it was Track and Mixed... There were tons of takes... but not a lotta punching in... Rich doesn't play that... Everytime I spoke to Ken on how he mixed it... he'd bitch... but it was more about the Credits being messed up more than anything...

As far as production for Crazy in Love and One Thing... both loops...

What mic were they using?

babyface_finsta · 25th February 2006

U87/47... That seems to be all they ever use...

**TonyBelmont** · 25th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by babyface_finsta

U87 or 47...

Cool... that makes sense.

I was looking at the mic list and was thinking maybe the C24.

babyface_finsta · 25th February 2006

Yeah studios out here dont have many different mics to choose from... I was in there earlier this week and asked if the had a Sony C800... basically cus I heard cool things about them on here... and the engineer looked at me like I was a crackhead... actually I'm waiting for someone with the Knowledge and Knowhow to open up some competion studiowise out here... it'll be a winning lottery ticket... other than this spot you might as well tropp down to VA Beach...

Due to the shortage of available studio time... I just handle my business at home... or record outta state... to many artist booking 2-3 hours here and there that you just cant complete a project in a timely manner...

jazzy655 · 25th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by con?one

yes

well there you go

KevWest · 26th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by HDGuru

Damn their rates are low at that studio.

$70 an hour and ur tellin me they cant afford to upgrade to upgrade to PT 7 or atleast 6 lol. and i bet u its LE or mpowered too lol.

**TonyBelmont** · 26th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by xabiton

$70 an hour and ur tellin me they cant afford to upgrade to upgrade to PT 7 or atleast 6 lol. and i bet u its LE or mpowered too lol.

It says it's a MIX plus system....

MarkusColeman · 26th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by xabiton

$70 an hour and ur tellin me they cant afford to upgrade to upgrade to PT 7 or atleast 6 lol.

The clients probably bring along their rigs and engineers. If you look at the client list, I guess, not many of these low-profile artists cared about it being there or not.

babyface_finsta · 26th February 2006

Dont let the client list fool ya... a lot of those projects were Remixes... to this day the most talented people "To Me"... have been Faith Evans and Chucky Thompson... seen Faith smoke close to an O thru out a day... write 5 songs and bang um out (like it was absolutely nothing)... all while her moms was twisting L after L for her... and Chucky (Bad Boy fame)... I've seen him grab a guitar with 2 strings... out of tune... and freak the shit outta it... while buggin ou in the lounge I asked him why he didn't ask for another guitar... he said something to the extent that he didn't know how to play one... and more strings woulda confused him...

kojo · 26th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by babyface_finsta

Dont let the client list fool ya... a lot of those projects were Remixes... to this day the most talented people "To Me"... have been Faith Evans and Chucky Thompson... seen Faith smoke close to an O thru out a day... write 5 songs and bang um out (like it was absolutely nothing)... all while her moms was twisting L after L for her... and Chucky (Bad Boy fame)... I've seen him grab a guitar with 2 strings... out of tune... and freak the shit outta it... while buggin ou in the lounge I asked him why he didn't ask for another guitar... he said something to the extent that he didn't know how to play one... and more strings woulda confused him...

LMFAO at Faith being a pothead, but i shouldnt be surprised, didnt she get caught with coke a few years back?

MarkusColeman · 26th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by babyface_finsta

... seen Faith smoke close to an O thru out a day...

that puts sampling "Every breath you take" into a different light. lol

Flymax · 27th February 2006

Who played the phat beat on 1Thing?

cap217 · 27th February 2006

That is a good rate, the studio I am an engineer at is $65/hr and down to $50/ hr with block rates... we have th same setup but run PT HD3 192 with an SSL G+.... lacking on the high end mics though!

goldphinga · 27th February 2006

Its an old meters break from the track Oh Calcutta! chopped and re-assembled by Rich Harrison.

**toolskid** · 27th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by FLYMAX

Who played the phat beat on 1Thing?

ZIGABOOOOOOOOO!!!!!

nukmusic · 27th February 2006

Quote:

Originally Posted by cap217

That is a good rate, the studio I am an engineer at is $65/hr and down to $50/ hr with block rates... we have th same setup but run PT HD3 192 with an SSL G+.... lacking on the high end mics though!

link?

25th February 2006	#1
jazzy655 Gear addict Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 434 Thread Starter	Amerie's production and recording techniques So... I'm listening to Amerie's "Touch" album right now. Really like it. Is she the best singer...no. do they do a great song pulling nice songs out of her...yes. BUT! and this is a big j-lo butt. i can tell they are doing a lot of work on her afterwords(nothing wrong with that). i'm noticing the majority of her harmonies sound more like they just duplicated the track and delayed it. actually maybe they stacked 2 different takes and duplicated those. either way, i'm def hearing duplicates. they sounds WAY too exact to be real overdubs. i also hear this on other peoples stuff. beyonce, keyshia cole, pretty much everyone. it seems like there is 2 different types of harmony sounds in r&b. 1. 1 or 2 takes, duplicated, almost purposely sounding artifical. scratch that...they're totally MEANT to sound perfect and unatural. 2. actual stacks of many many takes. ( think musiq soulchild and d'angelo) where it sounds really really warm and thick. both have their place, just depending on which sound you want. my question is to some of the experienced guys, are you actually just duplicating tracks to get the first version of harmony i mentioned, or is there some effects that most cats are putting on top of the multing? and, that is what it's called right?? multing i mean... by the way, i'm listening to "Like it used to be" from the amerie album specifically.

25th February 2006	#4
filterayok Lives for gear Joined: Oct 2005 Posts: 1,465	i know some demo singers that can match doubles, triples, and quads so perfectly they phase------i wouldn't be too quick to assume its artificial----i see people talk about doubling tracks with slight delays, or duplicating tracks---for me thats rediculous-- it sounds like an effect, not a double--the only way to effectively make doubles out of an existing take, is you'd have to take every word, nudge it randomely out of time, then process the pitches of each word randomely up and down a few cents----and why the hell would you ever do that?? any unnaturalness in bgv's is either coming from autotune, or maybe they threw a slight chorus on there---i've only ever seen bgvs recorded in quads per note, sometimes six if the producers really feeling saucy and a "mult" usually refers to the place on the patchbay where you bring a signal, in order to be able to then patch that signal out to different places simultaniously====i think you mean "stack?" __________________ http://www.myspace.com/ericsanicola http://www.Twitter.com/eric_redone Coming Soon: SYCO -Cher LLoyd "Over the Moon" Out on Nickelodeon: COLUMBIA RECORDS: Big Time Rush "Halfway There." Out on ULTRA RECORDS :J Brazil "Girl I'm Tryin" Out on COLUMBIA RECORDS: Big Time Rush "City Is Ours" Out on DISNEY PEARL: "Yanni Voices"

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25th February 2006	#2
con?one Lives for gear Joined: Dec 2005 Location: NYC Posts: 663	actually, there's not alot being done to a's voice at all.

25th February 2006	#6
babyface_finsta Gear addict Joined: Nov 2004 Location: VA Posts: 409	Nope... Not as much editing as you would think... when A is singing over a Rich joint... well at least her first Album anyway... I was at the studio when alot of it was Track and Mixed... There were tons of takes... but not a lotta punching in... Rich doesn't play that... Everytime I spoke to Ken on how he mixed it... he'd bitch... but it was more about the Credits being messed up more than anything... As far as production for Crazy in Love and One Thing... both loops...

26th February 2006	#17
babyface_finsta Gear addict Joined: Nov 2004 Location: VA Posts: 409	Dont let the client list fool ya... a lot of those projects were Remixes... to this day the most talented people "To Me"... have been Faith Evans and Chucky Thompson... seen Faith smoke close to an O thru out a day... write 5 songs and bang um out (like it was absolutely nothing)... all while her moms was twisting L after L for her... and Chucky (Bad Boy fame)... I've seen him grab a guitar with 2 strings... out of tune... and freak the shit outta it... while buggin ou in the lounge I asked him why he didn't ask for another guitar... he said something to the extent that he didn't know how to play one... and more strings woulda confused him...

27th February 2006	#20
Flymax Lives for gear Joined: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,069	Who played the phat beat on 1Thing?

27th February 2006	#21
cap217 Lives for gear Joined: Dec 2005 Posts: 1,008	That is a good rate, the studio I am an engineer at is $65/hr and down to $50/ hr with block rates... we have th same setup but run PT HD3 192 with an SSL G+.... lacking on the high end mics though!

27th February 2006	#22
goldphinga Lives for gear Joined: Mar 2005 Posts: 1,383	Its an old meters break from the track Oh Calcutta! chopped and re-assembled by Rich Harrison.