{ "schemaVersion": "v1", "slug": "pitchy-in-a-perfect-world-the-art-of-vocal-comping", "title": "Pitchy in a Perfect World (the Art of Vocal Comping)", "kind": "solo", "listenUrl": "https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/lovemusicmore/episodes/Pitchy-in-a-Perfect-World-the-Art-of-Vocal-Comping-e2kv107", "contentStartSec": 115.31, "publishedAt": "2026-10-14", "source": { "provider": "whisper", "model": "faster-whisper:base", "normalizedSchema": "v1", "transcribedAt": "2026-06-09T10:02:50.788Z" }, "paragraphs": [ { "startSec": 115.31, "endSec": 140.55, "text": "What's good?Everybody, Scoobert Doobert here.Excited to talk to you about recording vocalsand vocal comping.So I just watched this video that my wife showed me.And I didn't realize that people did know what vocal comping is.And I'm really excited to dig into itbecause it's a really strange thing,I think for a non-musician and then for musicians alike,I think it's something worth revisiting and considering" }, { "startSec": 140.55, "endSec": 163.63, "text": "because it's so important.So what is this vocal comping, vocal compiling,is the act of taking a lot of different vocals.So you record a song like 10 different times, singing it.And then you take the best of those 10 times.There's something that the Beatles even did, right?Like you would physically cut out little bits of that tape,splice it together and be like,that's this best take in the chorus" }, { "startSec": 163.63, "endSec": 189.07, "text": "and then take two has got the best bridgeand then take 12 has got the best outro.So we're just gonna splice them all together.In digital recording, we can go even more intense, right?We can cut it up so that it's not just the best section,it's not just the best line, it's the best syllable.It's the best tea, you know, like you can get so minute in there.And that's one of the best ways that I think about using it" }, { "startSec": 189.07, "endSec": 217.83, "text": "is, say for example, you have an entirely beautiful line,but you never hit the D at the end of the lyricor something like, I was swept away and wandered.I don't know what, wandered.But like you just kind of like hold out the wander,just kind of goes away.See, grab from another take, there wasn't as good,but it's kind of good little at the very endand you splice that in." }, { "startSec": 217.83, "endSec": 238.99, "text": "And now all of a sudden you have a perfect take,you don't have to make the singer have to go back inand try and recapture that magic.It was perfect except for that little consonantwas never hit.So that's kind of like this vocal comping thing.But in modern modern music, it has gotten kind of extreme,which is not necessarily a good or a bad thing, right?It's just a genre thing." }, { "startSec": 238.99, "endSec": 263.23, "text": "In the more acoustic-y kind of authentic stylesof music, quote unquote authentic, you usually comp less.It's usually more like you're sitting in a roomwith the singer and they are authentically being themselvesand they are going to make human mistakesand that is accepted and celebrated in this style of music.But then you go all the way on the other side,like top 40 pop." }, { "startSec": 263.23, "endSec": 286.03, "text": "A lot of the times you want to hear the melody, perfectly.You don't almost, don't want the personality,the singer to get in the way of the melody.A lot of the times you want to sing along.You want it to be like the platonic idealof whatever that song is supposed to be.So you're going in really hard to find all of the best syllables,all of the best performances,and you're going to create a super cut." }, { "startSec": 286.03, "endSec": 310.83, "text": "Some of these vocalists, they'll sing like 100, 200 takes.And what these producers will do is they'll have the lyric sheetsprinted out and they will highlightas they're singing the takes like,oh, take 105, they sing this word better.And then take 212, they sing this line better.And then they'll go in on Pro Tools or whatever they're usingand compile them, comp them.And so that's what comping is." }, { "startSec": 310.83, "endSec": 335.35, "text": "And I wanted to shout out my new substack,which is a blog slash email newsletterthat is going to accompany these solo pods, especially.And we'll roll it out.I'll do even more stuff with music theoryand kind of like breakdownsand increasing your creativity and stuff.But I definitely want to invite you to subscribe to that as wellbecause I think that's going to make these conversationsthat much more rich." }, { "startSec": 335.35, "endSec": 358.07, "text": "And I'll be able to reference videos nowso you can check out these videos.So the video that my wife showed me was David Lettermanwith Billie Eilish and Finneas O'Connell taking a lookat what the vocal comp actually looks like.All of these little lines and colorsrepresenting different take, different take, different take,different take over the course of, you know,only 15 seconds of audio.There's 15 different vocals." }, { "startSec": 358.07, "endSec": 380.83, "text": "And it was very kind of informative to see his reactionto like, I've never seen anything like this before.He even makes the joke.It's like being at my cardiologist,like this is such a different skill.So yeah, check out that video.Check out the sub-stack.There's a link in my bioor you can go to lovemusicmore.substack.comto check it out and subscribe.So how do you sing as a singer" }, { "startSec": 380.83, "endSec": 405.99, "text": "knowing that the comp is going to happen?And there's a really specific way,I think to sing for a compversus singing for a full take.Singing for a full take,you are in the performance mentality.It's like you're up on stage.Singing for a comp,you're trying to get at a bunch of different iterations.So when you're singing for a comp,I recommend switching the resonance chambers" }, { "startSec": 405.99, "endSec": 422.51, "text": "as you are singing to explore them over takes.You know, so like maybe the first five takesyou sing it normal, like you would in a performance.And then the next five takes,you're gonna sing it a little bit lowerwith like a round or kind of throat.And then the next five takesis gonna be a little more nasally.I'm gonna be smiling a little bit moreas I'm pronouncing these wordsis shifting pronunciation," }, { "startSec": 422.51, "endSec": 448.47, "text": "resonance chambers, intentionality, rhythm, vibe,phrasing, are you laying back a little bit against the beator are you really being intenseand hitting every syllableand pushing it a little bit.You know, do both,because sometimes the magic comes fromlike grabbing 10 seconds of draggingand then 10 seconds of pushing.And then it is maybe a phrasethat you wouldn't have done just naturally," }, { "startSec": 448.47, "endSec": 469.95, "text": "but that ends up being the hook of the song.Like the magic sauce is the factthat you had two different mindsets.You spliced them together.And then now when you go perform it liveyou keep that in mind.You're like teaching yourself.You're arranging on the fly as a vocalist,but you're doing it in a waythat's separating the editor from the singer.And it's really, really trickyto do both at the exact same time." }, { "startSec": 469.95, "endSec": 491.59, "text": "And that's what comping kind of a Let's Us dois I think it lets you be a little bit more free knowinglike I'm gonna compile this later.Let's just try some stuff.And I also think that's one of the defining factorsbetween old style music and new style musicis the newer vocalist is experimenting a little bit morewith these different placements, I guess.And you're trying to do new stuff, right?" }, { "startSec": 491.59, "endSec": 512.83, "text": "It's less of a, I'm gonna go for just a classicstraight up performance on wax.It's like I'm going to try and make this song special and new.And comping allows you, I think,to take some more of that risk, at least it does for me.So that's how you sing for the comp.You don't wanna just repeat yourself,do the same thing over and over and over again.That's more the classic style, right?" }, { "startSec": 512.83, "endSec": 533.91, "text": "You're just going for pitch, pretty much.You're gonna perform this thing ten timesand you're gonna pick the best pitch.This is instead I'm going to iterate.I'm going to try new stuff.And then one of the things that I put into the sub-sack toowas talking about vowel modification.So when you were a vocalist,especially as you're going up to higher and higher notes,you kind of change the way your mouth shaped, right?" }, { "startSec": 533.91, "endSec": 557.79, "text": "That's like a very weird thing.If you listen to journey, it's like all over that.Those super, super high hair metaly bands,they're not singing true vowel sounds.I don't sing that way really.So it's a little bit harder for me to demonstrateand just sing for you.That's why I put in some videos on the sub-sack.One of the other reasons why we comp thoughis not just to find the best pitch or the best rhythm." }, { "startSec": 557.79, "endSec": 581.99, "text": "It's also to find the right emotion for this section.And by trying different emotions as you're in the vocal booth,you are allowing yourself to maybe come upwith things that are antithetical to the meaning of the song.And that can really, really hit hard.If you are singing a happy kind of stylewith a really sad lyric,it makes the listener a little bit more intrigued, uncomfortable" }, { "startSec": 581.99, "endSec": 604.83, "text": "and then gives you a depth to why are they singing thisin a happy way?Like are they happy that they broke up?Or are they choking back tears?Or like it gives you that three dimensionality of,oh, why did they choose to do that?And vocal comping allows you to try different choices.See what sticks.Don't think too hard about I'm going to nail the perfect thingand that's that." }, { "startSec": 604.83, "endSec": 624.67, "text": "It's I'm going to throw a bunch of pain at the walland then the producer and I are going to collect that paintand then check it out.One other thing that I think is super importantis you're not necessarily done after you do the comp.You can go back and hit some more vocals.Some, this is what I do a ton of the times,is like I'll be writing the song,quote unquote, in the vocal recording booth." }, { "startSec": 624.67, "endSec": 644.51, "text": "So I won't have lyrics, I won't have melody,I'll have some sort of instrumentationand I'm laying it down.That's the first time I've ever sang that.So I'm necessarily I'm having to figure outwhat is the meaning of that song,like how is it supposed to be performed?I'll comp it, I'll listen to it and I'll go,okay, cool, I get it.And then I'll just clear out that take and do it again." }, { "startSec": 644.51, "endSec": 667.95, "text": "Because the comping is kind of like my creative explorationphase and then I will kind of get the contoursof what I'm going for and then I'll go do another10 takes around those contours.So it gives me that moment of freedomand then that moment of execution separates them.And every once in a while, I will like the compbetter than my full take and you just roll with that." }, { "startSec": 667.95, "endSec": 690.39, "text": "Or I'll do a comp that's a little bit more intensive.I do this a lot for vocal doubling.So it's like this is the perfect vocal take, right?You did 20 vocal takes, you take every perfect,few perfect being relative, of course,like perfect for the song.Every few words is a different takeor whatever you have maybe a stretch of 10 seconds of this takeand then a stretch of 20 seconds of that take." }, { "startSec": 690.39, "endSec": 713.71, "text": "And then I double it and I try to make the doublejust be a full take.So then you get the best of both worldswhere you have one that's very human, authentic,sometimes pitchy, but that's cool.Like I think that that's a bold choiceto be pitchy in a world of perfect, right?Especially if it's a choice.Like I can sing this perfectly in pitchbut like I'm trying to give you humanity here.And there's a beautiful thing" }, { "startSec": 714.23, "endSec": 738.19, "text": "when you're doubling the vocalbecause now you have two takes.You have two things that are interactingwith each other playing with each other.You have one that is the platonic idealand the other one that is the human recreation of that.And it ends up creating a lot of vibe because pitch,and I'll do this on a synthesizer episode at some point,pitch is an interesting topic.Pitch is not as perfect as you think it is." }, { "startSec": 738.19, "endSec": 762.67, "text": "And a lot of the coolest synthesizer soundsare where you have one pitch that is detunedlike say 10 cents, like a little bit flat.And then another pitch that is tuned a little bit sharpand they are rubbing against each other.So the real pitch isn't betweenbut the two things that you're playing are centered around it.So it's like there's a nucleus in the two electrons dancing.And that creates this weird cool tension," }, { "startSec": 762.67, "endSec": 784.79, "text": "this choracy effect.And you can do that just by having one vocalthat is Melodyne and one vocal that is not.And they're going to create pitch conflict with each otherwhich is nice, it sounds cool.And that's all that we're here for, right?To make it sound cool.It's not about making it sound perfectbecause if you make it sound perfectyou might as well be using a computer end to endwhich also is cool." }, { "startSec": 784.79, "endSec": 807.35, "text": "And you can check out in the sub-stacksome examples of that, Vocaloid Music.I dropped in a crazy video, Vocaloid Music.That is really fun.But it's also that's not what we're going formost of the time when we're recording a real human vocalist.If you want that it might as well just pop in the computerand have the computer sing.So what is the perfect comp is genre-dependent.Popier the song, more comping." }, { "startSec": 807.35, "endSec": 835.51, "text": "I usually do less poppy, more acoustic,less comping I usually do.But again, these are all expectations.You push off or lean into them.And that's art is the conversationbetween convention, expectation, surprise.And the degrees to which you do each of those things.And applying that across the board,it's not just like, what am I doing with my genre?What am I doing with my lyrics?" }, { "startSec": 835.51, "endSec": 857.51, "text": "It's like, what am I doing with the individual decisionsof how often am I switching in between vocal takes?That's part of it too.One other big point, and this was super hard for mefor a while is, and that's kind of what this projecthonestly was, was taking a step back.For a while, I was really into like,let's, you know, I've got the tools.I'm going to sing it a million times" }, { "startSec": 857.51, "endSec": 880.03, "text": "and I'm going to take it and make it perfect.And this project, I, most of the thingsthey did in the early days, no comping, no melody,no nothing, I've come full circle to thatwhere I do, I try to do just enough, you know,so that it still is poppy, but I try not to do very muchbecause I don't like it too much.I don't like the way it sounds.I don't think it ends up lasting as wellunless it's super pop, anyway." }, { "startSec": 880.03, "endSec": 910.32, "text": "But try to zoom out, take a breath.When you're doing this, it's so easy to get caught upin the feeling of make it perfect.Show my skills.Nobody's going to listen to it like that.When you're producing a song,I usually have to do it in my headphonesbecause it drives everyone else around the house crazybecause you're listening to the same 10, 15-second loopfor an hour and a half.It's crazy people stuff, you know?" }, { "startSec": 910.32, "endSec": 934.08, "text": "And no one's going to hear your song that way.So try to do that in, in doses.Try to zoom out, I'm constantly starting over the songfrom the very beginning, even if I'm working at the endjust to give myself the forest for the trees.It's the same thing with soloing, like when you're mixing,you're listening to one thing, I solo, you know, I do that.A lot of, there are a lot of old mixing engineers" }, { "startSec": 934.08, "endSec": 951.56, "text": "that are like, oh, never solobecause you always have to hear everything's related to each other.It's like, yes, but sometimes you just want to hearthe song on its own or the track on its own, but whatever.Don't do too much of it because then yeah,you're focused on the tree, you're making the perfect treeand then you put it in context and it sounds weird.Always take that breath, look at the stream" }, { "startSec": 951.56, "endSec": 977.44, "text": "rather than the tributary.You can zoom in but always be sure to zoom outbecause that's the easiest way to comp yourselfout of any emotion and just write off the cliff.So to recap, singers, sing to the comp,try to make a decision from the beginning,like how much am I going to be,how hard am I going to be going on this?Experiment with different emotions, different pronunciation,different rhythms and feel." }, { "startSec": 977.44, "endSec": 1003.42, "text": "And even pitch, like try to attack the pitches from aboveor below, try to scoop in more, try to hit them dead on.All those kinds of things are part of articulation.And then recording engineers, zoom out.Make the mix, make the comp work for yourather than the other way around.You're not beholden to these tools, use them as tools.If you guys enjoyed this podcast,I would love to invite you to subscribe" }, { "startSec": 1003.42, "endSec": 1024.26, "text": "and also check out that substack for additional information,lovemusicmore.substack.com.You can check out my music and kind of my takes on the takeson scoobertdoobert.pizza,that's where you can find all of my links,some on Spotify, all the streaming services.And it just dropped a new album called I, like the letter I.And I would love to invite you to check that out." }, { "startSec": 1024.26, "endSec": 1049.38, "text": "There's a lot of vocals on that, quite a bit of comping.But quite a few of the tunes are very organic.You know, it kind of runs the gamut.Some of the tunes I comped like a lotand pulled in a bunch of takes.Some of them I didn't comp at all.See if you can tell the difference.Might surprise you.I also did some great vocals with one of my favorite artistsin the world, her name is Lou Roy." }, { "startSec": 1049.38, "endSec": 1071.66, "text": "And she's sang a bunch of background vocalson the record as well.She also did a cover with me while back of the Abbasong.She's awesome, you should check out her music too.But yeah, check out I, it's on Spotify.Bandcamp is the best place to support musicians.So I definitely recommend checking out there.And I hope you enjoyed this podcastand the accompanying blog slash newsletterthat goes along with it." }, { "startSec": 1071.66, "endSec": 1075.02, "text": "Thanks again for listening.I'm Scoobert Doobert, and I'll see you next week." } ], "correctionsApplied": [ { "id": "scoober-dubbert", "count": 1, "note": "Host intro name ASR typo" }, { "id": "scooberdubert-url", "count": 1, "note": "Outro URL ASR typo" } ] }