technology Virtual Session Musicians
Entry posted by MisterB in VIrtual Studio Technology
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This first blog entry is being written just as we see an exciting new development in virtual vocalist tech, with the addition of rapping to Dreamtonic’s Synthesizer V, and on the eve of the release of Toontrack’s EZkeys2. Synthesizer V and EZkeys are two of the products I use in every production I do, and have not only allowed me to reveal my musical voice but also to write songs in record time. Since downloading Synthesizer V in August of 2022, I have co-written 9 vocal songs, handling the music composition and production completely. That’s enough for an album!
My previous efforts to write vocal songs have taken months each, as I fumbled my way through the writing and recording process, then re-writing after a vocal session, and then re-recording after trying to fit in a busy singer’s schedule and studio time. Loss of my fresh supply of university trained singers led to me giving up writing vocal songs completely when I changed my career back in 2017. I released a 100% instrumental EP as part of the worldwide production RPM Challenge back in 2021, but there was no question, I was missing something from my musical desires.
While some talented a-holes are able to play just about every instrument known to man, and sing with a beautiful tone with a five octave range at that, most of us are not so talented. Back in the 1980’s, I would probably be a tape op, and maybe go on to be a producer. Never a performer. I have played as a side musician on a number of commercial album releases, including one or two popular ones (relatively speaking), but those days are long gone. However, it does highlight a side of song production that has always existed - the use of session musicians.
Products like EZkeys are often looked down on by musicians as being cheats, but they are really no different than employing session musicians, and there’s absolutely no need for any animosity toward people who use these products. Whatever tools people use to break down barriers and enable them to get their voice heard has to be a good thing.
I’ll use another blog post to explain my process for writing vocal lines in Synthesizer V. While you might think that this is a long winded process, that would be much quicker done by a real singer, the reality is that its the inspiration of WHAT to write that holds up the process. Armed with inspiration, I can write a verse and have it sung back to me in a manner of minutes, and we’re not talking 59 minutes and 59 seconds here… literally 10 or 15 minutes is all I need. Uninspired, it takes a lot longer, and the final production usually needs some clean up, but its really not that involved of a process. Coming up with the ideas is the difficult part, and Synthesizer V helps there too - you can put in a pretty random line and manipulate it to your hearts content, until you have something you’re happy with. It’s not constant re-writes… its manipulation.
I wanted to make this first entry pretty short, so I'll leave it there, but if this is something you are interested in, I hope it won't be long before blog entry number two.
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