A scratch vocal is a vocal performance that a singer records to provide a reference track that music

producers Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

and audio engineers can use as they craft other pieces of the recorded song. Most of the time, the singer ultimately re-records the vocal performance after production is complete. However, there are a number of exceptions to this rule, such as " The Piña Colada Song" by

Rupert Holmes David Goldstein (born February 24, 1947), better known as Rupert Holmes, is a British-American composer, singer-songwriter, dramatist and author. He is widely known for the hit singles "Escape (The Piña Colada Song)" (1979) and " Him" (1980). ...

, where the re-recording lacked the desired energy and spontaneity, or "

Superstar A superstar is someone who has great popular appeal and is widely known, prominent, or successful in their field. Celebrities referred to as "superstars" may include individuals who work as actors, musicians, athletes, and other media-based profe ...

" by

The Carpenters The Carpenters (officially known as Carpenters) were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen (1950–1983) and Richard Carpenter (born 1946). They produced a distinct, soft, musical style, combining Karen's contr ...

, where the scratch was so well performed that a re-record was deemed unnecessary. Scratch vocals are also often used in the production of feature-length

animated Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most ani ...

films to bring storyboards to life as "animatics," in which storyboard frames are synced to the relevant dialogue, together with a rough soundtrack generated on a synthesizer. Animation directors "hire temporary voices to help find their way through various script revisions, visual renderings and other steps of the process." Scratch vocals may be obtained from professional

voice actors Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...

(who may or may not be well-established in the voice-over community but are generally unknown to the general public) or from anyone around the studio willing to chip in a line or two (as well as friends or family members). For lead roles of animated films, scratch vocals are nearly always replaced in the final cut by vocal tracks recorded by

bankable star In the film industry, a bankable star is an actor (movie star) "capable of guaranteeing box-office success simply by showing up in a movie." The bankability of an actor includes their films' box office track record, professional demeanor, and othe ...

s or experienced character actors. However, in the rush to meet deadlines, if the scratch vocals for a minor role are good enough, the director may skip auditions and simply use the actor who recorded the scratch vocals in the role. This is how many animation studio employees (and their friends and family members) end up with minor credits as cast members on their studio's products. If scratch vocals for a lead role are exceptionally good, the studio may approve casting of the scratch vocalist in the lead role—as occurred with

Pixar Pixar Animation Studios (commonly known as Pixar () and stylized as P I X A R) is an American computer animation studio known for its critically and commercially successful computer animated feature films. It is based in Emeryville, Californ ...

's ''

Turning Red ''Turning Red'' is a 2022 American computer-animated fantasy comedy film produced by Pixar Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It was directed by Domee Shi in her feature directorial debut, written by Sh ...

'' (2022).

References

{{reflist Music production Musical terminology Film sound production