Quotes About Recording

Jim Cavanaugh, from the Isaac Ray Center in Chicago, invited Dr. Kent Kiehl into the proceedings. Kiehl recorded their initial meeting in his book, The Psychopath Whisperer.

On No Doubt's second visit to Paisley Park, sometime around 1999, we were working on a song with Prince called Waiting Room,' which would later be released on our Rock Steady album.

The standard way to record a meeting is to list people's names, the topics, and action items. The visual way is to doodle a rectangle (the table) populated by figures (the participants) sitting around the table with their comments as cartoon word balloons.

The short story and the truth is that I was taking vocal lessons here in New York... One day, instead of my lesson, the piano player and I went into a studio... and we put down some demos... Those demos got to Quincy Jones through an agent... He listened to them, he called me, and we started to record.

If you are recording, you are recording. I don't believe there is such a thing as a demo or a temporary vocal.

It's the actual recording of the vocal that is the most boring thing you'll ever do in your life.

In many ways, I've chosen to be plain, almost too plain, too self-effacing. Like, if I record a vocal and I don't like the way it sounds, I would have them turn it up and take the reverb off it to make it as plain as possible.

'Can't Get Closer' I originally recorded in about half an hour, just on my bed with a microphone. I actually re-recorded the song with a cleaner vocal take, but I decided to leave the demo version on there, just because I felt that instant where it was created is what captured the most emotion.

Harmonies come really naturally to me. I don't have to labor too hard over them. I'll sing a lead vocal, and then I will immediately have all of these other ideas for vocal harmonies. I think that some of the most fun parts of recording, for me, are the vocal harmonies.

I record stuff all the time, like little vocal things. I write random things down... Sometimes I just get things stuck in my head and I record them, and that actually becomes a song quite a lot of the time.

Singing and playing live can be difficult. Like, in the studio, I would record either the music track first or the vocal first. I don't necessarily do them together.

I did recording sessions as a musician as well as a background vocalist and enjoyed every minute of it. I remember singing harmony with Waylon Jennings on a few songs that were hits. Chet Atkins always put me up so high that I strained to hit every note. It was a lot of fun.

I'd gotten used to recording background vocals perfectly, doing 18 takes of them until they line up. Not recognizing the inherent beauty in each performance, but just making something good.

The music comes first. Final lyrics are usually written very close to recording the vocals.

I can remember the first time I ever recorded my vocals on to a beat. Cat Coore from Third World - a legendary Jamaican band - had a little demo set up at his house. I'm very good friends with his eldest son, Shiah, who plays with me now. So we were rhyming over a track by the dancehall artist Peter Metro. I've still got it somewhere.

It's no longer necessary to slave over the vocals. I don't sing the lyrics until I write them, and singing is the very last thing I do. I record the entire track, and then I worry about lyrics and vocals. The music will suggest where the words are going to a certain extent.

But when I record my next studio album, of course I'll do the lead vocals.

I don't believe that recordings should sound radically better than the artist, I think that's dishonest. For example, I'm not a great singer but if I spent enough time tweaking my vocals, I could sound like one. But I don't, what you hear is pretty much what I sing.

I'm always saying in the studio, 'My vocals are too loud!' or 'My vocals have too much effect on them!' I like some of it, but I'm not a fan of loading effects onto my voice.

It's amazing what you can do in your bathroom! I would do vocals and stuff on my computer that would need to be sent to London or New York for things to be added on, and I was thinking they always say you sound good in the bathroom - but then I'd kick the bin, or someone in the next room would flush the chain or something and I'd be like 'oh no!'

I don't even like to sing in front of my own band members so it's easier for me if they send me the music and I record my vocals in my own studio.

In my own studio, I can just lock the door and record myself, do layers of vocals not knowing how they are going to turn out, and just scrap it if it doesn't work. It's my space. I'm running everything.

When you open your mind up, and you go into a creative state, you can't just switch if off. When you have an idea, a creative impulse, and then you ignore it, it can keep you up when you just want to go to your bed - which is why it's great to have voice recorders on your phone!

When I was in the recording studio, I needed to concentrate on what my voice was doing, which is rather difficult if you can't actually see what you are supposed to be singing.