Music Production Podcast for DIY Music Producers and Artists | Inside The Mix
If you're searching for answers on topics such as: what is mixing in music, how I can learn to mix music, how to start music production, how can I get better at music production, what is music production, or maybe how to get into the music industry or even just how to release music. Either way, you’re my kind of person and there's something in this podcast for you!
I'm Marc Matthews and I host the Inside The Mix Podcast. It's the ultimate serial podcast for music production and mixing enthusiasts. Say goodbye to generic interviews and tutorials, because I'm taking things to the next level. Join me as I feature listeners in round table music critiques and offer exclusive one-to-one coaching sessions to kickstart your music production and mixing journey. Get ready for cutting-edge music production tutorials and insightful interviews with Grammy Award-winning audio professionals like Dom Morley (Adele) and Mike Exeter (Black Sabbath). If you're passionate about music production and mixing like me, Inside The Mix is the podcast you can't afford to miss!
Start with this audience-favourite episode: #175: What's the Secret to Mixing Without Muddiness? Achieving Clarity and Dynamics in a Mix
Thanks for listening!
Music Production Podcast for DIY Music Producers and Artists | Inside The Mix
#194: I Asked a Pro Vocal Coach How to Prepare a Singer for a Recording Session (ft. Rich Bozic)
Capturing great vocal takes starts long before hitting record. In this episode, vocal coach and recording expert Rich Bozic shares how to record professional vocals in a home studio, with practical tips that work whether you’re using high-end gear or a modest setup.
We cover how to prepare a singer for a vocal session, from effective pre-session communication to creating a stress-free environment. Rich also explains how to warm up your voice before recording, sharing warm-up routines that improve tone, prevent fatigue, and help artists deliver their best performances.
If you’ve ever asked, “What are common mistakes to avoid when recording vocals?”, this episode delivers. Rich highlights issues like ignoring vocal fatigue, poor headphone mixes, and misreading body language—mistakes that sabotage sessions before you realise it. You’ll also learn how to get studio-quality vocals on a budget, with guidance on microphone choice, headphone monitoring, and remote recording setups.
Whether you produce your vocals or work with singers, this conversation will sharpen your skills, improve session outcomes, and help you capture confident, pro-level performances—no matter your studio size or budget.
Links mentioned in this episode:
Follow Face Your Ears
Follow RJB Music Production
Follow Bozic Voice Studio
Listen to #191 (ft. Justin Hochella)
Book your FREE 20 Minute Discovery Call
Follow Marc Matthews' Socials:
Instagram | YouTube | Synth Music Mastering
Thanks for listening!!
So if you're going to be using your voice, sometimes, like people who don't sing, they're like yeah.
Marc Matthews:I'll just, I'm just talking.
Rich Bozic:You know what do I have to worry about? Doing? Things like some humming. Like, say, you're taking your shower in the morning nice, hot shower, get that steam in there, because steam is great for the vocal folds. Humming a little bit and moving your voice around just like a mmmm and kind of testing what's going on with your voice. Some basic humming. Make sure your teeth are apart on the inside, close the lips, try to get a lot of buzzing in your face going. You don't need an instrument to give yourself pitch. You could just do the humming. Then something you could start doing is from the humming you could segue into, just pick a vowel and do the same thing, oh, and just move your voice around a little bit. Use it a little bit, right?
Marc Matthews:Hey Inside the Mix podcast fans. It's Nate Kelms. Follow me on Instagram at Nate Kelms or go to my website, natekelmscom and contact me there. You are listening to the Inside the Mix podcast. Here's your host, mark.
Rich Bozic:Matthews.
Marc Matthews:Welcome to Inside the Mix, your go-to podcast for music creation and production. Whether you're crafting your first track or refining your mixing skills, join me each week for expert interviews, practical tutorials and insights to help you level up your music and smash it in the music industry. Let's dive in. Hey, folks, before we dive into this episode, my new song, half-life, dropped on Friday, that's Friday, the 2nd of May. Click the link in the episode description. If you like the idea of melodic dystopian house, give it a spin and let me know what you think, as your feedback means a lot. Let's dive into this episode episode. Welcome to Inside the Mix.
Marc Matthews:I am joined today by Richard, or known as Rich, bozic, an experienced singer, voice teacher and songwriter. So Rich, along with his co-host, justin Herschella, hosts the Face your Ears podcast. They help musicians bring their creative ideas to life through approachable, fun and informative discussions. And Justin was on a previous episode and had I done my due diligence, I would know the number of that episode, so I'll put the links in the episode description. So, after listening to this episode, go back and listen to Justin's chat with me as well, where we go into his favorite Logic Pro shortcuts and DAW shortcuts as well. So Rich also runs RJB Music Production as well. So in this episode we're going to delve into the nuances of working with singers in the studio. Quite a new topic for the podcast.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, yeah, yeah, offering insights to help producers and artists optimize their vocal recording sessions. Rich, welcome to the show.
Rich Bozic:How are you? Thanks, mark. Thanks for having me. This is fun Straying, straying from the home podcast venturing out.
Marc Matthews:It's an odd experience, isn't it? When you're on the other side of the microphone, as it were, when you because I've done this a few times when you're the one being interviewed, but it's quite nice.
Rich Bozic:Yeah, it's a change. It's a positive change.
Marc Matthews:Exactly that, and also I've said this before when you have other podcasters on, you know they're going to have a decent microphone as well. You can have that nice clarity going through which? Makes it a lot easier for me to edit.
Rich Bozic:Any opportunity to use the gear again? Yeah, exactly yeah exactly, exactly.
Marc Matthews:So, folks, in this episode as long as we get through we are going to explore creating a comfortable studio environment, effective session planning, recognizing and managing vocal fatigue, considerations for vocal recording and building effective communication. So the idea is, by the end of this episode, you'll have practical knowledge to enhance your vocal recording sessions and collaborate more effectively with singers. So let's dive straight in. All right, so we are in a situation here where we've got a singer, we've got a vocalist. Uh, how can producers create a comfortable and welcoming studio environment for singers so rich? Can you talk about the key elements that contribute to a singer's comfort in the studio?
Rich Bozic:Absolutely so. The obvious one, the low-hanging fruit communication, right. So, connecting with the singer ahead of time. If someone calls you random cold call, they want to come in, they have a project they want to record, you probably want to hop on a meeting before that and establish exactly what's going to happen, whether it's just a lead vocalist or do they also want to incorporate some backup vocals? Are they doing the backup vocals or is someone else doing it? And then obviously, however, you run your studio imparting that information to them. Obviously, however, you run your studio imparting that information to them. When you talk to them, you might want to encourage them to. What I like to do is I encourage the singer to maybe send me some lyrics with some notes on it of things they're trying to achieve in different sections.
Rich Bozic:Some ideas, maybe even general kind of descriptors in different sections, like I want this section to sound kind of airy and I want this section to come out and be louder and full, and also maybe some expressive notes. Like I'm trying to have more of a sad feel here, I want to be angry at this part. That kind of stuff is helpful because then it could help you when we get to that section talking about mic placement, but also can give you an idea of how to pace the session as the engineer. So you've done that work ahead of time. You've established your session. I know some people they will. Most of us we work live, but sometimes we do run sessions remotely as well. I've done a few sessions where I've worked remotely with the client to help them get the job done. So if that's the case, let them know what they need to install, what they need to click on to log in. Just be clear, like nice and clear. Oftentimes, sending a follow-up email or text with this is what to expect and this is when we're starting. This is where you come in when you get here and kind of the protocol for how you tend to operate in your studio. I know that I'm all right with singers coming in and warming up a little bit in my studio. I'll even help them out, sometimes as part of the session because I am a voice teacher and oftentimes I am recording clients I will be like, let's do a little warm up here, or did you warm up ahead of time, or do you want me to warm you up? And sometimes I could set people's mind at ease if they get a moment to kind of sing in the studio a bit. And oftentimes I'll even start setting up the mic for them, getting the headphones on them, and slowly start playing around with levels while they're warming up to get a feel for their voice. So so that helpful. So when they arrive, they're here, they're ready, the artist is here.
Rich Bozic:Different people respond to different temperature environments differently. Singers are high maintenance. All right, let's just get that out of the way. Singers are high maintenance. So you want to be like, you want to encourage them? Dress in layers, so if you get cold you can put your jacket on, if you get too hot you can take off some of the layers. Because all of this physical comfort is a big deal with singers, because we carry our instrument with us wherever we go. Right, so, dressing in layers.
Rich Bozic:Also, having a place for them to set their stuff down and maybe to sit down and relax, because sometimes we got to gather our thoughts, like we're about to sing and we got to gather our thoughts. We need a moment to just chill for a second. So having a comfortable chair nearby or a seating area, having access to a restroom if they need to step aside and kind of pray in a room by themselves before the recording, things like that Access to some water or if they don't bring their own, that could be always a nice thing. And then sometimes even Wi-Fi. And the reason for that is sometimes I'll have singers who'd be like, oh, I forgot my notes, but I have it in my Google Drive, you know, and you want to be able to get to that very quickly.
Rich Bozic:So just sometimes having even posted like a guest login for people to do that, other things, once you get them in front of the mic, they're warmed up, they're ready to go. They might need a music stand or something to set any notes on, maybe a little table nearby to set their water, whatever, so they don't set it right near your mixing console or next to your expensive gear, because sometimes people forget about that. Yeah, that's a whole other story. I don't know if you've ever had a catastrophe a water catastrophe in the studio.
Marc Matthews:I have. As soon as you mentioned that, I was in a studio and it was an audience console and I put a beer. So on the right-hand side we had the Pro Tools rig and everything, and then you had the console and the beer was just in front of it and I turned to talk to one of the others in the control room while the singer was there and I knocked the beer all over the console.
Rich Bozic:Oh.
Marc Matthews:God, and it just died. What it died? It died and my head was in my hands and it's one of those moments I've not had many of them, but I just usually I've got a plan of action and at that point I was like l to go to the toilet a minute and I just I just went to the bathroom and I sat on the toilet and I just just sat there. I looked at the back of the door and I thought I don't really know what I'm gonna do here, because it wasn't my studio. Uh, I was, uh, it was a hot. I was hot desking in air quotes, as it were. And uh, in the end I went back and I was like, look, let's go to nando's. And uh, so this is uh, I don't know if you get a Nando's in the United States, but basically it's like you can buy a chicken. I think it's. He's the Portuguese of South Africa and I can't remember what it is. So we went there and I was like we'll come back tomorrow and we'll see if it's working. We came back.
Rich Bozic:Oh God.
Marc Matthews:With a hairdryer. I lifted up the console, took it apart a bit, got the hairdryer in back to life. Gradually came back to life and, uh, the only thing is one of the group group channels. Uh, didn't come back to life.
Rich Bozic:But yeah, that as soon as you mentioned it there.
Marc Matthews:I just had flashbacks, man. I was just like, and ever since then I've made sure all liquids are on the floor. Uh, so if it gets kicked over on the floor, easy, you can just let it dry, whatever. Yeah, but yeah, 100% man with you.
Rich Bozic:Oh yeah, oh, yeah man yeah, yeah, that's, that's a good one. Uh, I've seen, uh, pianos get uh soaked, uh like, oh, you know guitars, everything, so yeah, so you know a consideration, um, another thing, uh, to consider, um is the atmosphere in the room. Uh, what I do, I mean, as you can see, I got a little bit of the. I got the hue lights going on in here and I could change the colors, and so, like, I'll ask the singer, what do you like, what do you want? And I'll maybe set the atmosphere.
Rich Bozic:I mean that's like bonus, that's bonus Bozic Voice Studio kind of perk, right, so don't feel pressured, but sometimes creating an atmosphere could be nice, put them in the mood. Obviously setting the thermostat at a comfortable temperature. Also, if you do run a home studio and I always have my protocol that I follow before I record, as I did for this session I have the utility closet down here, so I turn off the main heat and the boiler for the hot water heater right, yeah, yeah yeah, so I crank the heat earlier in the day, before the session, and then, like when it's winter, to get it nice and toasty, and then I shut it all off when the session starts.
Rich Bozic:It's just that there's no like sudden boom kicking on of like heater. Um, so something to consider, right, temperature, uh and uh. It's funny, justin and I we were, we were kind of uh, just tossing around ideas as we were thinking about, um, you know, doing these episodes with you, and uh, one thing was, uh, the humidity. Like he was like what about humidity? And I'm like, well, I mean, it's hard to control the humidity in a room, but I know like, uh, one thing, as when I would go to new york auditions and whatnot, like without fail, and this is like a singer thing, like a singer walks out and it didn't go well, and automatically like, oh, that room was just so dry the humidity was off and it's like you don't want to give them an excuse.
Rich Bozic:Yeah, but yeah, so, and we yeah, and so those are basic, some basic things that might be helpful.
Marc Matthews:So, yeah, there's a lot to unpack there. So it's all in essence, really, you make it as a comfortable environment as possible, the most conducive environment, and removing any barriers or any friction to recording as as much as you can there, and it's all. What you mentioned as well is the reaching out and having the conversation beforehand and establishing that rapport and that understanding and outlining the expectations as well as to what the session is going to entail. But what you mentioned there which is quite interesting, which was in person and remote. So I do some remote work as well myself, notably with regards to coaching, with mixing and music production, and I use a platform called audio movers so we can stream and record even in real time. So when you've got that singer in person with you, obviously there's a lot you can control there in terms of the environment, the atmosphere, the humidity, for example, as you mentioned when it's remote.
Marc Matthews:Obviously we do encounter, as you mentioned there about with singers, uh, being quite can be quite high maintenance oh yeah highly strong, maybe um sweeping statement when it's remote. What considerations do you need to take into account there? Because obviously there's a there's there's less that you can control with regards to their environment. How do you tackle that if it's slightly starting to go a touch downhill? Let's say Sure.
Rich Bozic:So I've run into a few different things that I could, I guess, highlight that were issues that I stumbled upon doing remote. Obviously, like you have all the logistical things of do they have the? Do they know how to use the basics of firing up their DAW? Can they connect to the platform you're using? I use Muse for those sessions because then I could take control of their screen and actually run the DAW while they're recording, and sometimes there's a little bit of latency, but it all depends on the connections and really, whether the the gods are with you that day, right? So so the some of the things that I've run into is I've had students who have those like booths, like those cloth or whatever, like felt home booth things that they build. Those things are cool and they actually isolate the sound, but they can get really hot as well. And I've had like singers feel like, oh, like I'm going to pass out, I need to take a break, you know. So you got to. What I would recommend is open the flap to that thing as often as possible If they're dealing with one of those kind of booths or they're recording in a closet or whatever. Just like ventilate whenever you get a chance just to kind of keep things comfortable.
Rich Bozic:I also like to send the singer ahead of time. You know some things to consider, like as I would, when they're coming to my home studio for their environment. Like some of the same considerations temperature, make sure you have everything nearby easy to access, stress, low stress. Also, make sure the timing of the session works for anything. If you know lawn crews are coming like every Thursday around a certain time, might not be a good day to schedule right. So Home Studio brings, let's see here Like yeah, familiarity with the equipment is key as well. A lot of times I mean thank goodness for Muse, because you can kind of take over to a certain extent. But sometimes even scheduling a session ahead of time just like meet up, let's meet up, and just like turn on your rig and like really that's the biggest obstacle that can get in the way is when technically, things start going crazy.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, yeah.
Marc Matthews:So, again, I think it just comes down to preparation, doesn't it? I think, once again, even with a remote session, is the preparation and, again, having that conversation beforehand and knowing what equipment they have. On the other end and I learned this, probably the hard way is to not assume that everybody knows. So if I were to start talking to them about, okay, what resolution are you recording at, and not automatically assume that they know what I'm talking about and with terminology and everything like that. So, yeah, I learned that the hard way, most definitely um. Back to my teaching days as well.
Marc Matthews:So, yeah, all that, all that sort of research and that's and that development of that rapport and just, yeah, research in general really, and just getting all that ahead of time, yeah, it can significantly help. But one thing you mentioned there and this kind of segues on nicely to the, to the next topic here is um. It also goes back to the humidity part as well. When they're saying they're getting hot in the, in the, in the um, the vocal booth and whatnot, so recognizing and addressing signs of vocal fatigue. So how do you approach taking breaks and managing the singer's workload to prevent fatigue?
Rich Bozic:So I've been teaching for about 25 years and, as I mentioned earlier, a lot of the people I work with in the studio are people whose voices I'm familiar with and who I know really well because I've been teaching them for a while. I will sometimes record people who I'm not as familiar with, but things I guess that I could impart to people maybe who aren't voice specialists. So keep an eye on body language, first and foremost. If you see the singer grabbing their throat a lot or, like stretching their neck out a lot, showing signs of, like, some kind of strain, you could always take a moment Like this is where pacing comes in to the equation Like, perhaps maybe we can look at this section and comp a little bit while you get a chance to rest. If you're feeling and be direct, ask them how are you feeling? Are you feeling a little strained? Do you need a moment to just loosen up for a second? So body language.
Rich Bozic:Second thing is, if you start to hear excessive throat clearing because the way you know it's time to they'll often start clearing the throat because the body will start producing more mucus to protect the vocal fold. So you'll hear, you'll start to hear throat clearing and what you do is you don't want to. You want to gently be, like you know, take it easy with the throat clearing. Why don't you grab something to drink and just, you know, have a seat for a moment. Let me just do a little bit. You can do a little something in the recording, start comping and whatnot, or playing back, doing a little bit of listening or strategizing at that moment to make use of the time. But ultimately the thing with that is you've got to make sure the singer is well rested and hydrated ahead of time, because drinking water in the moment can help a little bit with the some of the mucosal layer in the throat, but on the vocal folds themselves the water never touches it because the vocal folds are in the larynx. The epiglottis closes over that area when we swallow and the water goes down the esophagus. It never touches the vocal folds. If it does we would start choking. So you got to make sure that the singer is hydrated ahead of time.
Rich Bozic:But if you run into it in the moment, oftentimes just a little bit of like, just stop for a second rest, see if you could calm things down and sometimes things will settle enough to move on. So but throat clearing is like a sign you could see things down and sometimes things will settle enough to move on. But throat clearing is like a sign you could see right away. Sometimes it could be something in their throat. They just need to go into the bathroom and gargle some hot water for a second and that could clear it up. Then you have the audible signs.
Rich Bozic:So things like a little bit of hoarseness creeping in. Let's say you did a few takes with the singer. Everything sounded clear. You're kind of getting familiar with their sound. But now you're starting to hear a little bit of extra hoarseness creeping in, a little roughness in the sound.
Rich Bozic:Oftentimes it'll appear at the beginning of a phrase.
Rich Bozic:Sometimes there'll be might even be a slight vocal when the vocal folds are getting inflamed. There might even be a delay in onset. When the voice is getting tired the vocal folds won't connect right away, or at the ends of phrases things will get cut off a little bit. You might hear voice cracking, so like especially at the extremes of the range when someone's singing extra low, either the voice will start bottoming out or you'll hear a flip or a crack going into it. Either their voice will start bottoming out or you'll hear a flip or a crack going into it, or even in the high range when they're going for the high notes. Every time they're going for that high note it's starting to crack and flip.
Rich Bozic:So that could signify there's a little bit of fatigue setting in, maybe a little inflammation in the vocal fold. Oftentimes a break, just a little bit of a break, let things settle down, could resolve those issues. They might need a little extra time, like go have a seat, let me do a few things, come back and then things like shift in tone, a little bit of trouble matching pitch, where maybe earlier in a session it seemed okay, but now all of a sudden we're getting a lot of pitch problems. That could be a little bit of vocal fatigue, but also mental fatigue as well.
Marc Matthews:Right, yeah, some really interesting stuff you said in there. Because this is this conversation couldn't come at a more perfect time for me, really, because I've been experiencing some. I'm not a singer, but obviously I do a lot of talking for the podcast and in my in my day-to-day as well, with a content creation and whatnot, and I've noticed this. So you mentioned that inflammation of the of the vocal chord, but the vocal chords right yeah, the way you describe vocal folds now vocal cords is the old school term.
Rich Bozic:Oh is it. Yeah, there we go.
Marc Matthews:I've just heard something new there there's me parading around saying vocal chords, yeah, and it's vocal folds, but I've noticed that this is going to sound random, but I've got a.
Marc Matthews:I've got a cat and I don't know if you're a cat owner or you know any cat owners and occasionally I like to meow at my cat randomly, but I can't. I can't do it at the moment because when I do it I feel a bit of a bit of pain in my in my voice, and I've been to the gp and whatnot. So it's all under investigation, but I have noticed this. And, again going back to what you said, what I said previously, I'm not a singer but because I use my voice a lot and I'm doing a lot of delivery in particular, I have noticed that strain and it's something that I need to be aware of and I need to work on and rest my voice, which I find really hard to do because I talk a lot throughout the day. But, yeah, the way you've described everything is really interesting and it's making me think more now about my own approach myself when it comes to delivering the podcast. You know Sure.
Rich Bozic:If I may offer this one's on the house, a little routine. A little routine that you could do like as someone who's not, you know, like you're not trying to, you know, be a full-on singer but you use your voice a lot for anyone out there, like, even, sometimes, people in their job. Like I teach a lot of people who are, like, maybe, school teachers or gym teachers and they they're speaking a lot or raising their voice a lot. So there are little things you can do to prep for the day. So if you know you're going to have I don't know how many podcasts you do in a day, is it usually like one or do you do more sometimes?
Marc Matthews:well that you've got the podcast the podcast themselves but I also create a lot of content as well, so I'm talking over that content creation also, so it's probably a few hours a day.
Rich Bozic:Okay, so what you could do, what I always encourage people is first thing in the morning. If you know you're going to be using your voice a lot, well obviously try to get a good night's rest, of course. Second is hydrate right away, early in the morning Because, remember, it takes about a bit of time for your body to digest that fluid to get to all of the necessary parts in the body. So, like right away, I usually have two tall glasses of water first thing in the morning, maybe some tea, and so remember, regular water, not beer flavored water, regular water.
Rich Bozic:right, that goes to whiskey, yes yes, so doing that kind of thing Then there are a few simple things you can start doing. So what I would avoid is going in cold. So if you're going to be using your voice sometimes people who don't sing they're like yeah.
Marc Matthews:I'm just talking what do I have to worry?
Rich Bozic:about Doing things like some humming. Say, you're taking your shower in the morning nice hot shower, get that steam in there, because steam is great for the vocal folds Humming a little bit and moving your voice around just like a mmmm and kind of testing what's going on with your voice. Some basic humming make sure your teeth are apart on the inside, close the lips, try to get a lot of buzzing in your face going. You don't need an instrument to give yourself pitch, you could just do the humming. Then something you could start doing is from the humming you could segue into, like just pick a vowel and do the same thing, oh, and just move your voice around a little bit, use it a little bit and then what you want to center in on.
Rich Bozic:When you're someone who speaks a lot Like I remember when I first started teaching I would fry my voice by the end of the day After like three hours of teaching I'd be done. Now I teach eight to 10 hours a day and I'm and afterwards I'll do recording sessions and go to rehearsals and have band practices and all kinds of stuff. Right, yeah, yeah, and it's just a matter of doing these little warm-ups and also, throughout the day, checking in. How do I feel? Maybe I need to drink more water, right. Maybe I need to do another one of those little humming moving around kind of exercises to reset my voice. Pay attention to the way your voice feels when you're speaking. If you're starting to talk down here and get a little raspy and gravelly and getting things starting to tighten up, reset your voice to a more comfortable pitch where you feel like it's ringing clearly and easily. I'm easily understood and it feels good. And then not to go too crazy with this, but pace yourself when you speak, like take the opportunity to breathe, right, don't feel like you have to, like just go on an endless stream of you know sound oftentimes Cause I deal with clients who have damaged voices as well, like rock singers who just go too crazy with their band or R&B singers, or even like the gym teachers who fry their voice, you know, yelling at kids.
Rich Bozic:Oftentimes. What I notice with people who've damaged their voices, the one thing that is always something they have to learn, that seems to be a unifying factor, is this idea of pacing. Allow yourself to breathe. People won't walk away from you. If you take a breath, they'll keep listening. Right, so just a few little things. I didn't want to go on too far into that tangent. Maybe we can meet some other time and talk just technique or whatever, I don't know.
Marc Matthews:But yeah, yeah, I, I'd be well up for that because, um, what you said, that makes perfect sense and it's something that that, in particular, the the exercises as well, because, especially the way to think of it is, if I go out for a run, I warm up before I go for a run and I also warm down once I've been for a run as well and I need to do the same when I'm using my voice, when I met, when, because I'm flexing, is it classified as a muscle?
Marc Matthews:the vocal folds? Are they classified as a muscle around there?
Rich Bozic:well, there are muscles around the vocal folds that pull the vocal folds together to create the vibratory cycle. Uh, the vocal folds are like layers of of tissue in there that move independently, but it's not like um, it's not like the way the vocal folds are. It's not like I gotta. It's not like the way the vocal folds are. It's not like I got to strengthen this muscle, like I'm going to the gym to make my vocal folds like ripped.
Marc Matthews:Right, it's yeah, it's more like yeah it's more like coordination.
Rich Bozic:It's more like and I and I'm just, it's like developing a golf swing. I don't golf, but I've heard the golf swing is important. It's like a coordination thing. It's not brute force. Same with the vocal fold it's not brute force, it's coordination.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, fantastic stuff. Lots to take in there. Like I said, this couldn't come at a better time for me in particular with my I have to it's probably have to do in the podcast now for sort of five years and I'm doing more and more talking throughout the day with my day-to-day, so it's certainly something that I know I need to be more aware of, just as not being a singer, but just in general, because I suppose, like you say, you just assume oh, it's only my voice, I can talk and I'm doing it now and I don't need to warm up, but I really do so, I think, in the interest of time.
Marc Matthews:I think it's important that we move on to the next topic here, and that is capturing high quality vocal recordings. So can you share how you approach microphone selection and placement as well, to suit different vocalists? Sure, sure.
Rich Bozic:So become independently wealthy so that you could afford to buy all the different microphones? No, no, I joke. I joke a little bit. I joke a little bit. What I use actually is the. It's the L22, the Townsend Sphere they used to call it. It is the modeling microphone that it's like a dual diaphragm stereo microphone that I think universal audio acquired from Townsend Labs, I think, and it's a stereo mic, dual diaphragm. It takes up two channels in my Apollo and what it allows me to do is when you capture you put the there's a plugin called the sphere plugin and you pop that baby into the console. I don't know what interface you use, but the UAD ones have like a separate kind of window that pops up. That's the console where you set yeah, yeah.
Rich Bozic:Complicating it all even more, but you know whatever, it is what it is um, and so I use the sphere plugin.
Rich Bozic:And what's nice about this microphone is um.
Rich Bozic:It allows you to record and then after the fact you can go in and change the microphone. So it has a bunch of different presets, I think, for around like, I want to say like 40 something, 30, 40 something microphones in there, the classic ones that will cost you like $30,000 or whatever, and then like the more common ones, and then you can go in there and post recording because it records with the dual diaphragm you can. You can change the sound, which I find awesome, because then I'm not as worried about it ahead of time. I mean, I have a few of my go-to's in there that I like, depending on the kind of voice I'm dealing with. But sometimes it's fun to explore if you, if you get um, you know a voice, a quirky kind of voice that doesn't fit any of the, you know main categories that you might split up in your mind and you could try different things with it. So that's how I, uh, I guess, avoid having to. You know, I mean it'd be nice to have all those microphones, but you know um.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, I totally get you and it's microphones. But you know, yeah, I totally get you, and it's like you said right at the beginning. I know it was quite a candid response, but it was the regards that if you haven't got all that money, I've got this Shure SM7B that I'm using here and I've got another audio technical microphone and so I've got two microphones.
Marc Matthews:I did used to have a relatively large collection, but it wasn't sort of like a high-end one, so I think, any sort of modeling, and you, I do the same with guitars as well. I used to have a uh, a messer 4x4 with a pb6 505 on top, but then I got rid of that and I went and totally in the box just so I could open up the range of sounds that I could create using my guitar. So the microphone that's with that setup is, in terms of response for the actual microphone itself, because there's going to be a response from that microphone, I'm assuming. It's not entirely flat with that one.
Rich Bozic:Yeah well, I mean, there's a lot of capability of manipulating the sound. It's just a lot, a lot of options. I think what they've basically done is they've created an algorithm for each kind of microphone where they try to emulate that flat response from each or the character I'm sorry, the character of each microphone, right, the best that they can, and then you can use it at your discretion and you can even go in there and mess with the patterning of the cardoid patterning and all that business if you really want to get deep with it. In our case, in RJB Music Production, burak, who's our mixing mastering engineer, he has that same software mastering engineer, he has that same software. So once I capture everything and I I pick a microphone in kind of an alignment with what the singer is looking for as much as possible, and then I pass it on to Barack for mixing and mastering and he could go in and further tweak that as he communicates with the singer, to refine it even more if need be yeah, interesting stuff.
Marc Matthews:So it's a lot of it's done in post in theory. Then, once you've done the recording, in terms of that microphone selection, because when you're recording a vocalist they were, because I don't know if you do this, but I remember when I was in recording sessions and I'd often put reverb in the in the headphone mix, just because everybody loves reverb and makes things sound better. And if you can, make a vocalist think that they sound incredible, then they're going to perform better in theory.
Rich Bozic:Reverb is what I like to call the mama's milk of effects, exactly, exactly that.
Marc Matthews:It is. It is indeed milk of effects. Exactly, exactly that it is. It is indeed um. So what key questions are you asking yourself when it comes to that sort of headphone mix for a vocalist? When it comes to microphone selection, I suppose it depends on the vocalist themselves. But, yeah, are there any key questions? You ask the vocalist like what do you want to hear in your headphones from this microphone?
Rich Bozic:yes, that's a great question. Yeah, um. So what I um, what I uh like to do is, uh, my process is uh. For that, the initial thing I do right away is I put I have a like a preset, that I use a uad plugin that I put in that I the the reverb is just amazing. I start with that and then I say how does that sound, how does that feel? And if they're like, yeah, like I like that, so I don't, I don't mess with what's not broken, right.
Rich Bozic:But I know that some people like to add things like compression and other, maybe even a delay or something like that. I'll only do that if, um, by request, um, because I want the singer, uh, I want, I don't want too many things affecting, like the um kind of the conception of their voice. I want them to keep, I want to keep it simple so they feel like it's just their voice in a space and then they can worry about all of the effects and whatnot later with the mixing and mastering uh portion of things. Kind of, keep the eye on the prize. Like, what are you trying to express in this vocal session? We're not trying to um produce uh the vocals here on that level, uh, so my I err on the side of simplicity, unless I get a special request.
Marc Matthews:Yeah, makes sense. Yeah, keep it simple, keep it straightforward. That way there's less factors involved. And then in anything in life, when there's more things involved, more factors, there's more to troubleshoot, of course.
Rich Bozic:And singers are already high maintenance. We don't need to add more. Right, and I speak as a singer. Yeah, I feel like I feel like I could do that, but the the um. The other thing to consider also is what do you want to hear from the track in your headphones that I think is uh, that comes up more often, at least with the people I've worked with. Uh, because sometimes there'll be like some synth part in there where like uh, it's too that needs to come down. Or like I need to hear more of the guitar because that's where I get my notes from. Or I need the drums because that'll keep me in time. Do you want a metronome? Do you not want a metronome? So that kind of stuff.
Rich Bozic:So asking them, when you play the track, can you hear it? Okay, like how does it feel to sing with that? I usually, when I start the session, I'll be like I'll fire up the track and then I'll be like let's just sing it once through mistakes and all just go on, no matter what mistakes and all just to get them to loosen up. We sing the whole song. Then what I do is I analyze the waveforms and I know, okay, this section it's a distance issue from the mic. Maybe they got to back off a little bit, maybe they got to move closer on this section or maybe they're out of tune a lot in this section. Could there be something about the instrumentation? Then I'll start probing and being like you were out of tune a lot here and then they'll be like I couldn't hear myself or I hear that synth again. Not trying to rip on synths. I know you love synths. That's synth again, you know. Yeah, yeah, not trying to rip on synths.
Marc Matthews:I know you love synths, but I know what you mean, though. Synths are quite, um, they can clash a lot with vocals, and that's in that particular frequency range. So often that is that is the case. So, uh, yeah, most definitely, and I think, from what you've said, there is that continuous feedback loop and checking is everything going okay? Can you hear everything? So I think that's paramount. Don't just assume it's a one and done. You've set it, let's record. There's going to be that continuous feedback throughout. I think, pretty much, I would say, like my experience being on both sides of the glass, I think that's the same with most instruments, but, like you say, with vocalists possibly more so. Um, rich, this has been amazing.
Marc Matthews:Thank you so much for sharing your, your insights on this and, um, what I was going to say there as well, is I can tell that you, um, you're sort of a professional with the, with the voice and the vocals, just by the way you talk through the microphone for the podcast today and it is evident and it is so nice to listen to to as well, so I just thought I'd throw that out there you can really tell that you take care of your voice with the way you are talking into the microphone, the way you're delivering as well, and the pauses in the articulation. So really, really, thank you very much for sharing your insights on this so before we wrap up that's my pleasure, my pleasure.
Marc Matthews:Before we wrap up, uh, I just give you the floor now, maybe to talk a bit about face, your ears and and what you're up to with general with regards to music, and where the audience can find you online as well. Sure, sure uh.
Rich Bozic:So, um, face your ears podcast. Uh, justin and I have that going. Um, we are uh, uh, we do it. We release an episode monthly at this point, um, we, we're trying to kick that up a bit, but we cater to the people who just are getting into it, the DIYs who are just starting to get into things, and we're slowly ramping it up. Mark, I listen to some of your episodes. There's a lot of really deep, nitty-gritty, advanced stuff and that's fantastic. We are trying to kind of get people started and get them in and every once in a while we go on a tangent about something a little more technical, but we're catering to that. We also sometimes go into, uh, some side rants about ai and whatnot, and that'd be interesting. I'd love to talk to you about ai at some point. But, uh, yeah, so, so that's. We have some guests on here and there, but we're slowly. We're a small, but a small humble podcast hoping to grow things.
Rich Bozic:And then I, as you mentioned earlier, rjb Music Production is our business venture in the world of recording. Justin um is the lead producer in that case and, uh, burak is Burak Yildirimaz is our uh, mixing, mastering engineer, and then I handle, uh, basically I, I prep, uh, the singers, I help people finish their songs. I deal a lot in that aspect of things prepping the, the structure, the songwriting, the arranging and getting the expression going in the song. And then we put all that together. And then my own personal voice studio is Bozic Voice Studio and you can find it like that, com bozicvoicestudiocom, and I specialize in training voices and coaching people, prepping people for the studio for recordings, working with troubled voices, working with fantastic voices that just need a tune up.
Marc Matthews:So, yeah, that's the. That's the gist Fantastic stuff. I will put links to everything you've mentioned that in the episode show notes. So, audience listening, do go and check out the facial is podcast. Check out rich online as well with those links, and and check out the Facial Ears podcast. Check out Rich online as well, with those links, and also check out the episode with Justin as well.
Marc Matthews:So there's, a few episodes back, so go and check out that one as well, rich. It's been an absolute pleasure. Thoroughly enjoyed this. Thank you for joining me on the podcast today and I will catch up with you soon.
