Jewel's recording process

[ItBeThatWay27]

My friend was talking to me about how he records his music and how he records the vocals and then later plays guitar to the vocals and aligns them on the computer and I never put much thought into that. I guess a lot of artists do that... and it made me think does Jewel do that? I guess I always assumed she recorded Pieces of You style with just her and her guitar or later on her and her band. I am not sure how the whole process works but does anyone know anything about her recording process? Are her vocals and music layered together after they are recorded or are they recorded at the same time?

[last_dance_rodeo]

I would think they are recorded at the same time but I'm not sure. Good question

[strengths.with.faults]

the enhanced video thing on 0304 might help ?? im not sure

[ItBeThatWay27]

Well I assume 0304 was recorded seperately due to all the synthesizers and all that extra stuff put into it, but I wonder mainly about the other albums like Spirit, This Way, and GAIW??

[strengths.with.faults]

ok lol i have no idea.. dude

[JewelWiki]

Record an album like she likes it. Produce it. Show it to a friend. Re-record and have someone else produce it. Profit. (Or not.)

I kid.
I imagine that she records most of the things simultaneously, although with different microphones...like a microphone for her voice, then one for her guitar, etc. Then everything else is probably added in later

[ItBeThatWay27]

Originally Posted by strengths.with.faults

ok lol i have no idea.. dude

ha haha:lmao2:

[fabiojj]

Jewel has said she didn't like the way Spirit was recorded, because they recorded every instrument separately and then she would just sing it for a wall. When she did Joy, the production was all done and she just came for the vocals, because she was in the middle of a tour. For This Way, she chose to record live with the band, using different microphones and she probably was in a different booth from them. Some instruments/effects were probably added later, but you can totally get the live feel in songs like Cleveland and Love Me Just Leave Me Alone. 0304 I think was done much in the Spirit way, although I could see some of the songs being done with a live band. I don't know about the GAIW recording process. It was a long one though, because she recorded the whole album producing it herself than she scrapped that and got Rob Cavallo to co-produce it with her. I'd say she used a live band in most of the tracks, but i don't know for sure.

[Little Bird]

She said in the making of GAIW that all the vocls on each song on GAIW were recorded in one go. Obviously, it was recorded over and over but it's not bits of the vocals stuck together. It's nice to know it's all one take.

I'd say there's a bunch of post production done afterward, maybe a small element of backing music done before the vocal and the rest afterward but I don't know for sure.

[ItBeThatWay27]

So some of the vocals on the songs could be from different takes? Like one verse from TAKE 1 and the next verse from TAKE 2 and so on... ?
That's a little depressing. I guess I just like the idea of it being recorded straight through live, instruments and all.

[Little Bird]

Well I'm not counting the backing vocals silly The main vocals are all one take. Well that's what jewel said in the 'Making of GAIW'

[ItBeThatWay27]

oh ok ha haha ha yeah I obviously knew that the background vocals were a seperate take... haha I was like gosh making songs is like editing a film.. just splice the takes you like together

[lindawmn]

If you go onto the Taylor guitars website (www.taylorguitars.com) and look for the online issue of "Wood and Steel", there is an interview by Jewel on there and she talks about the recording process.

Linda

[ItBeThatWay27]

thank you Linda

[DreamsLast]

Originally Posted by ItBeThatWay27

So some of the vocals on the songs could be from different takes? Like one verse from TAKE 1 and the next verse from TAKE 2 and so on... ?
That's a little depressing. I guess I just like the idea of it being recorded straight through live, instruments and all.

Almost every musical artist out there has their albums produced this way. Bits & pieces of different vocal takes stuck together to SOUND like it's from one take. Some albums are more obvious than others though. It has to be done well so we don't realize they've done it. I agree with Jewel that it should be done with one take; it's MUCH more natural that way. There's some artists that are merely studio creation because of this phenomenon. They can't sing their own songs LIVE, that's how I can tell.

Another way to tell is that the phrasing and breathing done between verses or lines in the song don't sound the same or line up. Like when the artist is finishing one phrase and going into another, and if you or I are singing along, we need to take a breath in a normal spot and the artist is still singing or going into a high note without a breath sound. Don't know if that made sense, but to me it did!! HAHA

I saw an in-studio session by Sugarland on a DVD I have. How they did it was they had each instrumentalist/vocalist in a different studio booth and they all played or sang together at the same time. It was pretty cool to see. Even then, I'm sure they spliced parts here and there to get the best sounding result. While I think the way recording sessions are done are different, I'm pretty sure that the producing/editing/mastering is essentially the same with most.