Sound design: editing vocals

Vocal transformation

After the demo stage of my album After 1989, I scrapped a song called Niemandsland, featuring a marvellous vocal performance by Rachel Goodman. Since the lyrics were critical for the concept, I repurposed them for the new lead single Skinny Kid.

Despite the two songs having different tonality and tempo, I decided to salvage Rachel’s parts as backing vocals and counterpoint to Dan Ecclestone’s lead.

Before and after

Rachel Goodman’s performance in Niemandsland (an unpublished demo scrapped in 2017) and the same chorus section edited and adapted for Skinny Kid. The tempo jumped from 78 to 105.

The painstaking process of transforming a vocal performance from one song to another was done using Logic Pro and Soundtoys.

Working on both the pitch and the formant, I strived to obtain a new track that sounded coherent with the new lead single without showing notable artifacts.

Robert F. Kennedy eulogy clean-up

I love restoring audio for historical speeches. A famous eulogy given by Robert Francis Kennedy in 1968 after Martin Luther King’s assassination was used in this song. iZotope RX was the only tool I used.

Historical speech: before

Historical speech: after

Reviews

Simone is a gifted musician, producer and all round creative, with every project we have worked on being greatly improved by his talents. Impressive technical proficiency with various DAW’s (ProTools, Wavelab, RX) as well as the creative knowledge to craft with them what ever is required for the project. When working with Simone, his precise and detailed manor make him an excellent addition to any project or team. Chris Pavey**, Chris Pavey Mastering

Related topics

AUDIO EDITING

INDIE ARTIST

MIX

PRO TOOLS

REAPER

RECORDING

SOFTWARE

SOUND DESIGN

WORK