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There's a story about Rolling Stones and the recording of their song "Angie" (their only ballad that hit #1 in the US). The backing parts of the song were all recorded without Mick being in the studio. He comes in to record the lead vocals and realizes that the song is out of his range. Bad key for Mick. Bad timing for this little detail! What did they do? The producer, Jimmy Miller, decided to slow the tape down enough to drop the key of the song to where Mick could sing it. Then he recorded the lead vocals over that, and they sped the whole thing back up. Of course, Mick sounds like a little boy on the track, but hey...
I was reminded of this story earlier this month when a client in my studio ran into a similar problem (I won’t say who, but you know who you are!) They had the whole group come in and lay down their parts for a song. The soloist wasn’t able to come in until the very end of this one. When she arrived, the Music Director mentioned to the soloist, "Oh yeah, we changed the key of this one for the CD." This was a big problem, since the key she was used to singing in was already very low in her range. Three half-steps down would not be possible for her.
Of course, Producer-extraordinaire Freddie to the rescue! I raised the pitch of the guide-track to the key she wanted, she sang her solo with just the guide, then I shifted her track down again. Now, this shifting on the solo sounded pretty synthetic, so I had her record in the new lower key as well, just faking it on the lowest notes. Then I replaced those bad low notes with the shifted ones, and Voila! You’d never know this group didn’t talk to each other.
My point here is not to illustrate how to fix the problem in the studio. I would like to talk a little about communication during the process of recording your album. Once again, I would leave heroic fixes like this to your Mixer/Producer, but I bet you could save a little time (=money) if you never had to make fixes like this one. The easiest way to avoid such potential disasters is to talk to each other about any change to the songs on the album...ahead of time!
Now there's probably a reason the Music Director felt the need to drop the key of this song. Maybe it was too high for the sopranos. Maybe it was sounding too bright and cheery. Anytime you change the key or tempo of a song that you’re used to singing, you must always check with the entire group, especially the soloist and the VP. Maybe the key is too high or low for the soloist (or a particular backing part). Maybe the tempo is too fast or too slow for the VP to handle (or a particular backing rhythm). Unless you ask the singers themselves, don’t assume that you know the answer just because you arranged the song.
It is always a good idea to double and triple-check the key and tempos of your guide tracks before you lay down any parts. I always get last minute questions, just before the song is completely mixed, like "it feels kind of slow, can you speed it up a bunch?" This could be remedied by having the whole group sing along with the tempo in the guide ahead of time. Yes, it's possible to speed up the song, but should the song have to suffer the sonic consequences of your lack of forethought? I don't think so.
Talk! Talk with each other. Do it before you get into the studio. Pleeeeese!?
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