01 · Process
Removed the click for opening verses and recorded whole performances instead of comping syllables. One microphone, one position, three sessions.
All case studies
Simone Reyes — Velvet Hours · 2024
Getting a performance instead of a take
Record a five-track R&B EP that sounded like the artist actually sings, and build a live identity around it.
My role
Producer, co-writer, mixing engineer, creative director for the launch shows.
01 · The objective
Record a five-track R&B EP that sounded like the artist actually sings, and build a live identity around it.
02 · The challenge
Two previous studio attempts had produced flawless, lifeless vocals. The songs were strong; the process was the problem. Confidence, not technique, was the bottleneck.
03 · What I did
02 · Production
Kept room tone in the mix — chair creaks, breath, traffic through the window. Strings arranged to follow vocal phrasing rather than the grid.
03 · Creative direction
A warm, low-light staging language for the launch night that matched the intimacy of the record instead of fighting it.
04 · Promotion
One private playback for press and regulars before release; the launch show announced only to that room first.
04 · The result
- 610K
- Streams to date
- 18%
- Save rate
- Sold out
- Launch night
- 2 of 5
- Tracks retained in live set
- Vocals are now tracked in single passes as standard.
- Booked her first headline room off the launch night.
- Press coverage focused on the performance, not the production.
05 · Proof
“He kept the takes where my voice cracked. That's the whole EP. Nobody had trusted me like that in a studio before.”
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