Recording engineer Brady Barnett and Multi-Platinum.com released another training video, this time featuring engineer Bil VornDick. This release focuses on vocal production. I watch a lot of music production videos. I’m of the opinion that you can never stop learning, but not all videos are created equal. There are some very bad videos out there, but luckily Multi-Platinum.com consistently delivers quality.

I got a sneak peek of Vocal Production before it was released and I’m very pleased with what I saw. The danger in doing a “live” training video, as opposed to a screen recording of Pro Tools or other app, is that you could lose your viewers very quickly.

Sometimes watching people do their job isn’t all that exciting, but Vocal Production made this video in a such a way that you want to watch more.

One of the great things about the video is that VornDick explains why he is making changes throughout the video. At the very beginning, he is testing mics with the vocalist, changing out different mics until he gets the sound he is looking for.

Instead of just changing out the mics, he talks to the viewers and tells us what makes different mics better for different vocalists. That’s a huge part of the learning process.

Between some of the scenes, VornDick gives viewers some tips for vocal recording. These are priceless. For instance, he said to have a bag of potato chips handy because it will help get rid of flem for the singer.

VornDick also says that some people have problems with allergies when they come to the East Coast of the US. He has honey on hand for the singer’s tea to help them through it.

There are some tips on getting the singer to feel the song, sing with emotion rather than trying to be in tune. VornDick said he would rather have a singer with emotion, than one that always tries be in tune.

There is one process that VornDick did with the singer that I didn’t know happened at all. He sat down and went over every single word of the lyrics. He let her know what words needed to be emphasized and where she needed to improve the pronunciation of certain words.

The great thing is that VornDick didn’t just tell her what needed to be done, he was teaching her. It was a learning process for the singer and for the viewer. It was interesting to watch this progress throughout the video. I’ll admit, sometimes this seemed long, but it was a great process to see. If it had have been cut, I don’t think I would appreciate everything that was going on to produce the vocals.

The camera work throughout the video is really good too. Bad camera work in a live video can be very distracting, but the guys did a great job. There are a couple of times that things got a bit shaky, but not enough to ruin the scene.

Overall Vocal Production is a great video. I learned a lot during the five hours of footage and you can never complain about learning from a Grammy Award winning producer like Bil VornDick.

Vocal Production costs $44.95 and is available for download from Multi-Platinum.com.