An engineering residency at Spotify’s Noteable Studio, under the mentorship of Berklee College of Music, helped Filipino‑Canadian producer and engineer Ramera Abraham realise her passion and talent for vocal production. “What it really gave me was the opportunity to be alone, with an artist in the room with me. Just myself and another creator in a room, which was brilliant,” she reflects. Abraham has since worked with artists including Nick Cave and Warren Ellis, Elton John, Little Mix and many more.
At the moment I can’t stop listening to
I’ve recently discovered that Beyoncé has released a cappella versions of her tracks from Renaissance, and I’ve basically been using those as study materials. I’m trying to listen to what effects she’s using, what kind of stylistic arrangements she’s going for, which lyrics she’s emphasising in those tracks... You can also hear where they have maybe gained up some of the plosives, which I think is interesting.
I’m listening to a lot of Elyanna: she mostly sings in Arabic. She’s like, the Arab Beyoncé. I’m really trying to listen to the inflections in her voice. The way she sings is so different to how we would stylise an English pop vocal, I think. So, I’m just trying to expand my horizons a bit. Also artists like Victoria Monét and Tyler Lewis; with them it’s all about the vocal arrangements. With Tyler, for example. I like picking out what her influences are, because I think that she uses a lot of what I would reach for as well. Obviously, she’s South African. So musically she’s going for a lot of amapiano, but I can hear lots of R&B in the way that she sings, in her intonation and everything. I think vocal production is 100 percent about the performance. It’s the performance from these artists that is going to pull you in to the song itself. The production could be crazy. But if the vocal performance falls flat, then I don’t think you have a hit, personally!
The first thing I look for in a studio
Their vocal chain and their valve mic selection. That tells me a lot about the kind of work that studio does, as soon as I see the mic list. Analogue warmth on a vocal is a must for me, especially with the volume of pop and R&B records that I’m working on. So, if you give me a [Telefunken ELA M] 251, a [Neve] 1081 and a [Tube‑Tech] CL‑1B, I’m a happy girl. I just love that expensive, gooey, full‑bodied sound. That being said, you know, some of the greatest performances have been captured on, like, a [Shure SM] 57. And that’s cool. If I don’t have access to those things, it’s up to me as the engineer to warm up the vocal plug‑ins, do my best with what I have: with EQ, and in some cases now I’ll just bring the vocal home and run it through my own CL‑1B!
Ramera Abraham: The best mic is the mic that you have. You just have to be able to be flexible.
Usually with live stuff, especially where there’s a lot of instruments involved, I’ll reach for a [Shure] SM7B. Because I think that will do the best job, period. But in some cases maybe the artist has said ‘I don’t like it! It’s too heavy, can I just have a [Shure SM] 58?’ And then I have to really remember that the most important thing is that the artist is comfortable. And if they’re uncomfortable, that’s first and foremost going to affect the performance. So if the artist is comfortable, I will absolutely get the job done with just a 58. And it’s surprised me more than once! The best mic is the mic that you have. You just have to be able to be flexible.
The person I would consider my mentor
There are three, really. They’ve all played sort of different roles, but I’ll try not to make this too long. There’s my Dad, who has taught me a lot about being self‑employed, because he is as well. I grew up in a single‑income household, but was blessed to have him around all the time. So I watched him work really hard for everything that he has. And I think that instilled something in me to also work really hard, to do my best.
The second one would be Kamille. She motivates me to keep going. Even though there have been so many days where I’ve felt like quitting, she’s just always been there for me. She’s been my main cheerleader this whole time. She knew me when I was a runner, sharpening pencils, and she’s just supported my journey ever since then.
And the third mentor, I would say, is Jerry Barnes from Chic. He is their bass player and he let me engineer a session with him and their drummer Ralph Rolle, one month after I had graduated. And I was honestly just bricking it! I was so nervous, but he walked into the studio just cracking jokes and wanting to have a laugh. Just saying, ‘Oh, yeah, let’s experiment with this. Let’s try that.’ And it just changed my whole perspective on how to approach sessions. And I just remember that day thinking, ‘Oh, my gosh, they’re going to be very picky. I have to get the sound just right’. But it was really the opposite of that. It was just about capturing the right vibe in the room. And that taught me the most important lesson. And we’ve been in touch ever since.
My go‑to reference track or album
Anything written and produced by the ‘big three’ who, to me, are MNEK, Tre Jean‑Marie and Kamille. Oh, also, anything produced by D’Mile. MNEK, Tre Jean‑Marie and Kamille have worked on Little Mix, FLO, Mabel, Anne‑Marie... They’re all about that punchy, sassy vocal, which doesn’t hold back on performance; it’s a lush, thick arrangement that just goes, throughout the track. It’s pop hit after pop hit. When I was an assistant, that’s what I kept hearing, day in and day out, when we were working on the Little Mix albums. And all of that just really stuck.
With D’Mile, obviously, he’s worked with Victoria Monét, Silk Sonic, Mary J Blige, Janet Jackson, to name a few! Anything he’s touched makes me pull a ‘stank’ face and want to dance. That is my own goal, that’s what I want to make other people do when they listen to something I’ve worked on. I love music that you can just get lost in and groove to. If I had to choose one track, I’d say ‘Leave The Door Open’ by Silk Sonic — I mean, who is not going to list that as their reference track!? Even though that obviously pulls from a lot of Motown stuff. But it’s that fat, tapey drum sound, the call‑and‑response sections, the top of your lungs singalong parts. That gets me. Those are the things that I really try to achieve.
My top tip for a successful session
Leave your ego at the door. Remember that everything you do is to serve the record and the artist’s vision, and that’s it. Especially with with vocal production. Being mindful of the language I’m using, the tone you employ when you’re correcting somebody or even when you’re just proposing an idea. That’s so important. It all kind of just boils down to... don’t be rude to other people in your session! I have been in many sessions where I’ve been spoken down to by the producer, or the producer has spoken down to the assistant — in front of the artist. And all it does is create a divide. And as soon as that happens, you’ve lost the session. Learning how to manage people in a session isn’t something that can easily be taught, I would say. But reading the room is important. Just remember that you have to preserve this environment where the artists and the collaborators feel safe. They need to feel safe in order to create their best work. And the way you act and treat people in a session is the thing that’s going to decide whether or not you get to come back.
The studio session I wish I’d witnessed
Thriller! I want to see Quincy Jones and Michael Jackson in action. How did that concept come up? Thriller is just so iconic. It tells a completely fresh and fictional story, and now that Linn Drum is used on every single pop record. And I believe that the Thriller vocals were recorded on an SM7. It’s just so iconic. All those records. We hear a lot of those influences in pop records today, and that’s why everyone wants to know: what did they do on those original recordings?
I’d also love to sit on a vocal tracking session with Ariana Grande or Rosalía. They both produce and record their own vocals, so I just want to be a fly on the wall and watch them both in their element and see what makes them comfortable.
The producer I’d most like to work with
I’m gonna have to say Timbaland or D’Mile. Either would be a dream. I think I would just learn so much.
The part of music creation I enjoy the most
Speaking to the artist about what inspired them to create that record. I would say that’s an element that I love, because it informs so much of what happens afterwards. I love being almost... petty as well, with production. Say, there’s a song about a break‑up. And let’s say, this person broke up with someone over text, I would 100 percent want to put, like, a texting ringtone or whatever inside the song. I’d want to try to mimic something to be a nod to the situation that inspired the creation of that song. That’s what I interpret my job to be: to take that information and just make sense of it, and then funnel it into the record on the day.
The advice I’d give myself of 10 years ago
Believe in myself and trust my gut. I always had gut feelings about the direction that my life would take, and how good I was at something. And for some reason, I always just pushed that voice down, never listened to it. I think I’ve always felt like an underdog. But I’ve always had this sort of sixth sense. And when I’ve leaned into her, and I listen to her, I’m usually right about things. Or it takes me to another opportunity. And that’s amazing! So I think If I had learned to do that sooner, I would have a lot more self‑confidence. And I would have handled a lot of different situations better.