DIY Recording Guys · Vadim Kharaz and Benjamin Hull

55: Vocal Production Tips and Tricks (Brandon Tomei)

February 2, 2021·1 hr 7 min·5 clips

Brandon Tomei explains how he finds vocal melodies that give him goosebumps through mumbling and experimentation.

Vadim opens with a practical update. The old How to Record Your Band ebook has been shortened, revised, and folded into the DIY Recording Guys world as Digital Recording Basics. The link stays the same. He also mentions bonus emails with starter gear recommendations that he and Ben have talked through for beginners. Then the conversation loosens up. A question about whether a melody or part has been subconsciously borrowed turns into the kind of studio-room problem every writer eventually meets. One example stings in a funny, recognizable way. Someone remembers feeling like an entire college song had shown up fully formed, then later realizing it was an Audioslave song. The point is not to panic. It is to notice when something feels original because the source has been sitting quietly in your head. A harmony part pushes that idea further. During a vocal production moment with Not Gary, a naturally sung harmony starts sounding familiar to the room. They chase the memory for a few seconds and land on a Pocahontas song, which is ridiculous and useful at the same time. They keep the part. That choice opens the better question: when does influence become a ripoff, and when has the new setting changed the idea enough? Their answer stays practical. If the new version is not identical, a different singer, tone, or production context can move it away from copy and toward influence. This never turns into a lecture. It sounds like two engineers sorting through the awkward calls that happen while a vocal track is actually being built. The episode closes by pointing listeners toward both engineers' studios and the DIY Recording Guys Facebook group.

As heard by us

A grounded vocal-production conversation about harmonies, borrowed instincts, and making familiar ideas feel like your own.

Vocal production becomes a study in instinct, memory, and arrangement on this episode of DIY Recording Guys. Vadim and Benjamin circle a problem every songwriter knows: the moment a new melody or harmony arrives fully formed, then starts to sound a little too much like something…

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Why you'd press play

When a harmony starts sounding oddly familiar, this helps you decide what to do with it.

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