Vocal Production
with rob kleiner
at studio edison
An in-demand expert at drawing out first-rate performances from some of the most talented singers working, Rob Kleiner’s GRAMMY-nominated vocal productions can be heard on recordings by icons (Kylie Minogue, Britney Spears) and chart toppers (Sia, The Weeknd), as well as up-and-coming indie artists (Forest Claudette, KIRBY).
If you’re ready to reach a new level of performance, Rob Kleiner and Studio Edison offer a full suite of vocal services including vocal production, vocal coaching, vocal tuning, and vocal comping.
But what is vocal production? And what should you expect when working with a professional vocal producer or vocal production service? Here, you’ll learn answers to these questions as well as why Rob Kleiner and Studio Edison should be your next choice for expert vocal recordings.
ZZ Ward
Til the Casket Drops
Sia & The Weeknd
”Elastic Heart”
David Guetta & Sia
”Titanium”
Britney Spears
Britney-Jean
Andra Day
”Forever Mine”
Foxy Shazam
Burn
Tell Us About Your Project!
We’ll respond within 24 hours
Join the Best Vocalists in Pop, Rock & Soul at Studio Edison
Serengeti
Kaledoscope
Labrinth & Billie Eilish
”Never Felt So Alone”
Kylie Minogue
Kiss Me Once
Madison Beer
”Dead”
vocal production services at studio edison
Vocal Recording &
Vocal Production
Capturing clear, professional-quality vocal tracks with the right mic techniques and studio setup.
Vocal Coaching
Rob will guide you through tone, phrasing, and emotional delivery to achieve your
absolute best performance.
Interested in working with Rob Kleiner & Studio Edison on Your Next Vocal Project?
Harmony &
Background Vocals
Work with Rob on arranging layered harmonies and backing vocals to add depth & texture to your songs.
Ready to reimagine your vocals?
Dip a toe into tuning and comping?
Or maybe you have other questions about vocal production or vocal recording?
Ask away! We’re here to help your journey.
Reach out and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.
Vocal Comping &
Vocal Tuning
Selecting the best takes, refining pitch and timing, and creating a polished, natural-sounding final vocal.
why choose rob kleiner & studio edison for your vocal production?
Rob Kleiner’s credits include a who’s who of A-list artists including The Weeknd, Billie Eilish, Andra Day, James Blake, and Britney Spears.
Known for both his quality and speed, Kleiner’s regular clients also include Interscope, Universal Music, Warner, Ultra, Atlantic Records, Sony, HBO, Fox, and Netflix.
In-studio time at Studio Edison includes use of the newly designed studio located in Hollywood, CA. An in-home project studio with a relaxed atmosphere and stocked with professional hardware and software.
When done right, it’s not just sound…
it’s soul.
The Art & Challenge of Vocal Production
Ask any experienced producer and they’ll tell you: recording a great vocal is both the most rewarding and the most difficult part of making a record.
Unlike a drum kit or a guitar amp, the human voice is not a fixed instrument. It changes with mood, health, fatigue, and even the energy in the room. On top of that, a vocal carries more emotional weight than any other element in a song—making its successful capture a delicate dance between technical precision, psychological insight, and creative intuition.
Recording a great vocal is like chasing a ghost:
fleeting, unpredictable & deeply personal.
It demands technical expertise, emotional intelligence, and humility Enough to let the artist shine.
what is vocal production & what does vocal production mean in music?
Vocal production is the process of planning, capturing, and shaping vocal performances to fit the creative vision of a song or project. It combines artistic direction, technical recording, and emotional guidance to ensure the vocals sound polished, expressive, and stylistically appropriate.
Vocal production goes beyond simply pressing “record.” A vocal producer—or sometimes the main producer filling that role—oversees every aspect of how the vocals sound, feel, and emotionally connect with the listener.
What is the difference between a vocal producer & a music producer?
A vocal producer and a music producer are two distinct but highly collaborative roles in the creation of a song. While their work can sometimes overlap, they each have a unique focus that is essential to the final product.
The primary difference lies in their scope: a music producer is the director of the entire song, while a vocal producer is the director of just the vocal performance.
The Vocal Producer
A vocal producer is a specialist who focuses exclusively on the vocal performance. Their job is to get the best possible vocal take from a singer, both technically and emotionally. They work closely with the artist in the studio to:
Direct the Performance: Coaching the singer on their delivery, tone, and emotion for each part of the song.
Vocal Arrangement: Guiding the artist on layering harmonies, ad-libs, and background vocals to enhance the lead vocal.
Technical Perfection: Ensuring the pitch, timing, and enunciation are flawless.
Session Management: Managing the vocal recording session to keep the artist comfortable and focused, and selecting the strongest takes to use in the final song.
The Music Producer
A music producer is the creative and technical leader of a recording project. They are responsible for the overall vision of the song, acting like a director of a film. Their duties include:
Arrangement: Guiding the structure of the song, from verses and choruses to bridges and outros.
Instrumentation: Deciding on the instruments, sounds, and overall sonic palette.
Recording: Overseeing the recording sessions for all instruments, ensuring the performances are high-quality.
Creative Vision: Making creative decisions that tie all the different elements of the song together to create a unified and compelling piece of music.
Project Management: Managing the budget, timeline, and personnel to get the song finished.
Why DOes Vocal recording Matter So Much?
Vocals are often the first thing a listener connects to. They carry the lyric, the melody, and the emotional core of the song. If the vocal feels uninspired or overly processed, even the most pristine mix will fall flat. Legendary GRAMMY-winning producer and songwriter Larry Klein explains it best:
“I’m still trying to capture a kind of honesty and genuine emotion … The technical part of the act of getting a great vocal is the relatively minor part of the process … The big part is setting up an atmosphere and reacting to situations … The rest of it really lies in the minutiae of imperfection. That’s where the poetry really is.”
Klein’s words highlight something crucial: great vocals are not about perfection; they’re about truth.
Vocal producers must create an environment where the artist feels safe enough to deliver that truth.
Why It’s So Hard to Get Vocal Recordings Right
If great vocal recording were just about gear, every major studio would deliver flawless results. But the reality is more complex.
Producers have to juggle multiple roles: technician, psychologist, coach, and sometimes therapist. A big part of the job is reading the singer—knowing when to push for another take, when to stop, and when to completely change the plan.
Recording vocals can be grueling, both for the artist and the team. Long hours, repeated takes, and the pursuit of an elusive “perfect” performance can wear down even the most seasoned professionals.
What Makes a Great Vocal Producer?
The best vocal producers understand that their role is as much about feeling as it is about faders. They create a zone where the artist can forget the microphone and inhabit the song. They know when to step in with technical adjustments and when to disappear. They recognize that imperfections are often makes a performance unforgettable.
6 key elements of vocal production
What is a Vocal Arrangement?
A vocal arrangement is the creative blueprint that structures all the vocal parts in a song. It goes beyond just the lead vocal to include every single backing vocal, harmony, ad-lib, and vocal effect. A well-crafted vocal arrangement serves to enhance the song's melody, add depth and texture, and help tell the emotional story. Think of it as a choir director's master plan: they decide where a harmony will enter, where the vocals will be stacked for a big chorus, or where a subtle ad-lib will add a touch of personality. The arrangement is what gives a song its vocal identity, turning a simple melody into a rich and compelling listening experience.
What are Vocal Harmonies?
Vocal harmonies are different notes that are sung simultaneously with a main melody to create a richer, fuller sound. Unlike stacking, which involves layering the same note, harmonies add musical interest by using different pitches that complement the lead vocal. The most common harmonies are based on musical intervals like a third or a fifth above or below the melody, which create a sweet and pleasing sound. When used in a well-thought-out vocal arrangement, harmonies can evoke a sense of warmth and complexity, making a chorus feel more powerful or a verse sound more intimate and emotionally resonant.
Is It Difficult to record backing vocals & harmonies?
Recording backing vocals and harmonies can be challenging, especially for a new artist. The main difficulty lies in consistently staying in tune with the lead vocal and matching the tone and delivery across multiple takes. Backing vocals and harmonies are meant to blend, so any imperfections in pitch or timing can become very noticeable. The process requires a lot of patience and focus to get right, as even a slight waver in pitch can throw off the entire arrangement. However, with practice and the right tools, like pitch-correction software, it becomes a much smoother and more rewarding process.
How can a vocal producer help improve your harmonies?
A vocal producer is a specialist who can significantly improve your harmonies by acting as both a creative partner and a technical expert.
On the creative side, they can help you write and arrange harmonies that best serve your song, suggesting new ideas and voicings that you may not have thought of. Technically, they guide the recording session to ensure that your pitch is flawless and your vocal tone is perfectly suited for blending.
They are also masters of the comping process, meticulously piecing together the best parts of each harmony take to create a single, seamless track. A great vocal producer ensures that your harmonies sound effortless and powerful, even if it took a lot of work to get there.
What is Vocal Tuning & Why Is It Important to Your Sound?
Vocal tuning, also known as pitch correction, is the process of adjusting the pitch of a vocal performance to correct subtle inaccuracies or to create a deliberate artistic effect. It is a fundamental part of modern music production, used on a vast majority of commercially released songs today.
What is Vocal Tuning?
Vocal tuning uses specialized software (such as Auto-Tune, Melodyne, or Waves Tune) to manipulate the pitch of individual notes within a vocal recording. Unlike simply shifting a track up or down, these tools can precisely analyze the pitch of each note and either subtly correct it to be perfectly in tune or "snap" it to the nearest pitch for a more robotic, synthesized effect.
Why Is Vocal Tuning Important to Your Sound?
Vocal tuning has become an essential studio tool for several reasons, all of which contribute to a more professional and polished sound.
Vocal Tuning Allows for Technical Perfection—Or Something Quite Like It
The most common use of vocal tuning is to achieve technical perfection—or something close to it. Even the most talented singers can have slight pitch variations or "wavering" notes that are difficult to control in a recording. An experienced vocal tuning service will correct these minor imperfections, ensuring a flawless and pitch-perfect performance without the need for endless retakes.
Vocal Tuning Gives the Performer Increased Confidence & Freedom
Knowing that pitch can be fine-tuned in post-production can give a singer the freedom to focus on the emotional delivery and nuances of their performance without the anxiety of hitting every note with absolute perfection. This often leads to more expressive and powerful performances, resulting in an improved final product.
Vocal Tuning Allows for Creative & Artistic Effects
While its primary use is subtle, professional tuning by a vocal tuning service can also be used as a creative tool. The distinct, robotic sound of an aggressively tuned vocal has become a signature effect in genres like hip-hop, R&B, and pop. When used creatively, it can serve as a stylistic choice that adds a unique character to the sound.
Vocal Tuning Can Saves Time & Money
In the past, achieving a perfect vocal take could require countless hours in the studio. Vocal tuning significantly streamlines the recording process, allowing producers and artists to achieve an exceptional result in less time, which is both more efficient and cost-effective.
In short, the work a vocal tuning service does is not about turning a bad singer into a good one. It's about taking a great performance and making it perfect, ensuring that the vocal—the most important part of a song—is as powerful and polished as it can be.
What is Vocal Comping & How Can It Improve My Vocal Recordings?
Vocal comping, short for vocal compilation, is the process of creating a single, flawless vocal track by piecing together the best parts from multiple takes. It is a fundamental part of modern music production and a standard practice used by nearly every professional producer and engineer today.
What is Vocal Comping?
Instead of trying to capture one perfect vocal performance from start to finish, a vocal producer or engineer will often have a singer perform a song multiple times. These various takes will have different strengths: one take might have a particularly powerful first verse, another might have a stunning chorus, and a third might have a beautifully emotive bridge.
Vocal comping is the art of meticulously listening to all these takes and then surgically combining the best phrases, words, or even syllables from each one to create a single, seamless master vocal track.
How Does Vocal Comping Improve Your Music?
Vocal comping is a critical technique that brings numerous benefits to your music, enhancing both the technical quality and the emotional impact of the performance.
Vocal Comping by a Professional comping service provides Technical Perfection
It guarantees that every single note, word, and breath in the final vocal track is the best possible version. This eliminates minor imperfections, pitch inaccuracies, or timing issues that might be present in a single, raw performance.
Vocal Comping Can Ensure Emotional Consistency
Comping allows a producer to maintain the emotional intensity of the performance. For example, a singer might deliver a powerful chorus in one take but a weaker one in the next. By comping, the best emotional performance for each section of the song can be highlighted, creating a more impactful and compelling final vocal.
Compiling Vocal Tracks Gives Freedom to the Artist
Knowing that a perfect take isn't required in one single pass gives the singer the freedom to focus on their emotional delivery and nuances, rather than being overly concerned with technical perfection. This can lead to more relaxed, authentic, and expressive performances.
Vocal Comping by a Professional Comping Services Saves Time & Is Cost Effective
Trying to get one perfect vocal take can take hours, even for a seasoned professional. By allowing the artist to do multiple takes and then comping them, the process is far more efficient, saving valuable time in the studio and often reducing costs.
In essence, vocal comping by a professional vocal producer or comping service is a key reason why the vocals you hear on professional recordings sound so powerful and flawless. It is a behind-the-scenes process that ensures the most important part of the song—the vocal performance—is as good as it can possibly be.
Studio Edison is Ready to Take Your Music to New Heights?
CONTACT
Interested in working with Rob Kleiner & Studio Edison on Your Next Vocal Project?
Ready to reimagine your vocals?
Want to dip a toe into pro tuning and comping?
Have other questions about working with a vocal producer or vocal recording?
Ask away! We’re here to help your journey.
Reach out and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.