How to prep for an upcoming studio invite??

Furious_Phil

To any of you studio vets out there,

I have an opportunity to do the vocals for a few pieces on a new studio collaboration project.
The genre is "Symphonic Metal", so I am trying to prime my headspace on how to prepare for it.
It is all original material, and I have not heard any of it yet, so this may be one of the toughest things I've done yet.
(Lyrics are written, I just need to give them life)

Immediately it brings to mind singers like Geoff Tate, Jeff Scott Soto, Rob Halford or Bruce Dickinson... (How about for you??)

One thing I do now for melody discovery is to play the track back and record myself against it while I just vowel my way through it.
Using this method, I've come up with some material ranging from decent to haunting.

How would you go about preparing for the unknown; to hopefully have some rawking licks and exotic melodies ready to fire out on command?

@Gaston_Jauregui
@highmtn

Gaston_Jauregui

hey @Furious_Phil thanks for asking, well I also go through the song too, vowel through it,and might get some lines, but if something comes to my head lyrically before, its better, because i will try to phrase the melody according to what I would say (sing) as if I were speaking, sometimes when we come up with a melody first and then try to fill the words, the words tend to have accentuation where they arent supposed to, and sound kind of weird, and sometimes people wont understand the lyric , though sometimes I might not care, depending on how good the melody and lyric is haha, but I always think i should try to give priority to the lyric, and then the melody, because the right accentuation will give you the idea of the rhythm (on who im saying this to and how im saying it to that person while i listen to the song, tells me how fast or slow in rhythm i should say it) and where the high and low pitches should go, regardless of HOW HIGH and HOW LOW, (you can decide that according to the chord tones) but i mean, that´s one process, like i said sometimes things come with just voweling it through and saying singing some lyric you wrote down on a notebook,


also another way, is when im looking for a hook or something catchy i try to think of a percussion hook as if I were doing a drum fill in the middle of the song and then i try to sing words on the drum fill hits with different notes, and this might give me different melodies

now, when i have the whole thing down
I personally like to write the lyrics down or even print them, mostly when I don´t know the song well, I put an accent or mark on the highest spot and syllable of every melody line, and also mark the breaths of each line, this helps me picture the map of the whole song, and helps me anticipate the highest part of what am I gonna sing, on every line, this way it never surprises me while singing, to me personally this is key to get to the note easier as an example : on Nightrain from guns n roses on the last time axl sings "Loaded like an airplane.... " which is kind of the hardest and highest part
I would write down beside the original lyric
ll Loaded laeg an áerblane ll
ll fláen laeg an aerblane ll
ll sbéden laeg a sbaesbraen_oan mar daem danaed ll


this are some things I personally go through, when im gonna write or sing something or record something i don´t know, so hope i was helpful, and didnt confuse you with so much processes haha

highmtn

Do you have the lyrics yet, or is that yet to be supplied? Because if you have some demo tracks of the music, and lyrics that just need melodies and "life" you should be listening to the tracks and experimenting with rhythmic hooks and riffs, and working off of the chord structures to "find" the best melodic runs that add counterpoint to the existing instrumentation.

Furious_Phil

I may get some rough mixes in a week or so...
Going into this cold and relatively blind is going to be a massive test of my ability to adapt to the unknown.

I really do appreciate your input on how you break down, assess and notate the roadmap of the song-in-progress!
Every little bit helps

[Deleted User]

I feel the same way approaching my own songs. I've never sang any of my songs before so this thread is a valuable one for me as well.
I have/had no clue how to approach coming up with melodies, and harmonies with the voice for original material. I pretty much just "hear things" when I'm listening to the music. No rhyme or reason. I would like to change that somehow. Hopefully the tips given on this thread will push me in the right direction.

Peace, Tony

Furious_Phil

For sure, and if you know of any other people on here that have serious studio time, please "@" them in

[Deleted User]

The only other person I can think of beside who you mentioned is Ken himself, but if there are others out there who can contribute, please do!

Peace, Tony