I was going through some older releases by the likes of Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, some of the old crooners, etc., and noticed a lot of recordings are missing a vocals credit. Is this just the result of ‘laziness,’ or is there a reason for it (e.g. avoiding redundancy; style guidelines; etc.).
Also, what’s the difference between “lead vocals” and “vocals”? I’m guessing lead vocals is when there is a backing vocal group, and vocals is if the singer is alone (or perhaps in a duet), correct?
Likely it’s the former. I didn’t used to add vocal credits unless they were specifically named in liner notes.
“Vocals” is a general credit that can encompass any type of vocal performance. There’s no set guide for any of this AFAIK. I usually use “vocals” if there’s only one known vocalist and/or I’m unsure if there are any backup vocals.
Ah, OK, thanks! I usually edit classical releases, and they tend to be quite detailed as far as advanced relationships go. I just wanted to be sure that if I started editing the recordings of a popular music release and adding ‘vocals’ advanced relationships, someone wasn’t going to turn around and be like, ‘wtf are you doing?!’, lol.