What You Can Learn from the Vocal Production of Katy, Gaga & Ke$ha - Tuts+ Music &

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AUDIO PRODUCTION

What You Can Learn from

the Vocal Production of
Katy, Gaga & Ke$ha
by Björgvin Benediktsson 21 Jan 2013  5 Comments

Hyped up, overproduced girl pop. Love it or hate, but you can't deny the amazing vocal
sounds these producers and engineers come up with. It obviously all starts with “the
talent” but there is more to the vocal sound than you think. A quick listen on the radio
won't educate you on the depth of these vocal productions. This article will give you a
few examples and tips you can take away from the songs of Katy Perry, Lady Gaga and
Ke$ha.

Arrangements
Pop song structure is simple by design. Tight verses and catchy choruses are created
for mass consumption and record-sale stardom. But production arrangements are often
very complex, even if it's hidden in the simplicity of the song structure.

I bet that you wouldn't be able to pick out every little nuance from every little instrument
in any modern pop song in only one listen. While doing research for articles such as
these I listen to these songs over and over and every time I discover something new.

This is especially true when it comes to the vocal parts.

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Obviously, the vocals in these songs are the most important part. They are always front
and center and the absolute key to the song's success.

But it isn't just the simple one-vocal lead that makes the song so interesting. It's what
the producers and mixing engineers do to the vocals that creates so much extra
interest in the production.

Vocal Layering
Many modern pop songs follow the same type of vocal arrangement. The production
sets the mood by starting off with a sparse vocal production. Usually the vocal is quite
naked in the beginning compared to the end of the song. This acts as a great way to
add onto the vocal, build interest and add dynamics.

Don't throw all of your backing vocals, effects and harmonies into the first few phrases
of the verse. You have to take the listener on a journey and feed him one cool vocal
breadcrumb at a time. The first verse usually starts with the lead vocal only, singing a
strong melody to get you hooked on what's to come. Harmonies or vocal doubles starts
showing up in the second verse with the party going crazy in the chorus.

A good way to make the chorus even bigger than the verses is not only to add extra
vocal parts, but also change up the reverbs and delays. If you're going for the typical
tight verse and big chorus you can mix up the vocal by having a tight slap delay or a
short plate in the verse and then a bigger hall reverb in the chorus. You don't
necessarily need to add a big reverb to the main vocal, you could add it to a double and
bury it in the mix to create the illusion of a bigger space around the lead vocal.

I'll talk about three case studies of a great vocal production, using Katy Perry's powerful
backing vocals, Lady Gaga's tight rhythm and Ke$ha's crazy effects.

Katy Perry's Backing Vocals

Katy Perry has a really strong voice and is really good at harmonizing with herself. In
“Wide Awake,” her harmonies are especially interesting, with the backing vocal
doubling her line with only a few phrases harmonized here and there. This gives the
melody added depth at various intervals, keeping the listener engaged since the
production is always changing back and forth from a simple doubled vocal to a pretty
harmony.

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Another aspect of “Wide Awake” that I think is cool is the use of the “I'm Wide Awake”
phrase in lieu of an instrument. I can see the production having started off as a simple
chord strum and then changed to this vocal motif to create an interesting vocal
backdrop to the verse.

It's also very prominent in the bridge where Katy is singing a different melody with the
“wide awake” motif contrasting in the background. This helps to connect the different
parts of the song by combining contrast and familiarity at the same time.

Lady Gaga's Rhythm

Lady Gaga's rhythm in “Bad Romance” is really a showcase in how much the
performance matters. The synth arrangement in the verses is tight and is made to
sound pretty simple, although I doubt it actually is. But the tight, quantized synth and
the four to the floor drum pattern gives Lady Gaga the perfect backdrop to riff her
vocals in such a groovy and rhythmic way.

“Bad Romance” is also a showcase in how to make a chorus feel bigger by piling on
extra reverb and depth on the backing vocals.

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Another good trick I learned while looking at Lady Gaga's production was mixing
engineer Robert Orton's vocal delay tricks in “Just Dance". He sends the vocal to
multiple delays that all have their separate aux channel. That way he can process each
individual delay differently.

Not only does this give the vocal some very nice depth by combing half, quarter and
eight notes but by processing each delay with different processors such as
compression, distortion, tape emulation etc, he adds a completely different dimension
to each effect.

Try that out next time you're working with vocal delays. A little bit of processing on each
delay can add a completely different type of depth to your vocal sound.

Ke$ha's Effects
Ke$ha's shtick are her crazy vocal effects. She's almost like a deranged guitar player
that likes to pile on every type of modulation to her sound. She has a cool sound that's
just enhanced by all the tape-stops and pitch warps.

This is evident in almost all of her songs, but nowhere as spectacularly as the bridge of
“We R Who We R.” In the bridge there is some heavy editing to create that choppy,
sample'esque type of effect. I can't say this would work for any type of production, but
it works for Ke$ha and she owns it.

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“We R Who We R” is a great example of how to create a whole breakdown section by

using the same vocal phrase, editing it in a bunch of different, weird ways and then
adding it on top of a sparse breakdown arrangement to connect to the bridge and
subsequent chorus.

If you want to do this sort of crazy editing to your vocals, use a separate audio track for
all the extra processing. That way you can control the effects easily while preserving the
original, “normal” vocal sound.

MusicRadar has a good article on how to create the typical, tape-stop, slow-down,
warped pitch vocal sound that's in most of Ke$ha's songs.

Conclusion
I would recommend, especially if you don't listen to this kind of music regularly, to sit
down and listen to a different perspective. It's always a good idea to get out of your
comfort zone and get ideas from somewhere new. And if you get the production idea
for a sick new metal song from a Katy Perry album, I won't tell anybody. I promise.

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About Björgvin Benediktsson

Björgvin Benediktsson is
an audio engineer and
writer. He is an Alumni
from the SAE Institute and has been
working in the audio industry since
2006. He has been writing about
music production since 2008. Check
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Bjorgvin Benedikts • a year ago

Dr. Luke did the Katy Perry and Ke$ha production, along with other
co-producers and writer while Nadir "RedOne" Khayat did Bad
Romance. There is also a link to one of the mixing engineers in the
article. Advertisement
2 • Reply • Share ›

Marcioz Bjorgvin Benedikts • a year ago

Yep. This post is more about RedOne than the artists
1 • Reply • Share ›

julio • a year ago

you should mention the producers/engineers that worked on these
tracks
1 • Reply • Share ›

elry • a year ago

nice insight
1 • Reply • Share ›

andy • a year ago

thanks, interesting perspective, keep the tuts coming
1 • Reply • Share ›

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