There is no need to struggle with recording vocals. Relax and take a deep breath. Then give your vocalist a thumbs up and hit record. Or hit record before you give the thumbs up….err…oh no…you just missed that perfect breath into the first verse. Now it’s ALL RUINED!
WHAT. EVER.
Don’t worry about every little technicality when recording vocals. Just make sure everybody is comfortable and loving what they are doing. However – in all seriousness – if something is lacking in the vocal department the song can lose momentum and weight.
So what to do then?
How ’bout some tips?
1. Make sure he’s comfortable singing
First and foremost, make sure he can sing. There’s nothing worse than trying to squeeze a super performance out of a subpar singer. He will most likely stay in the vocal booth all day trying to squeeze out notes that aren’t right for him. This makes him uncomfortable and it sounds like shit to you. Make sure he can sing and feels comfortable singing before you hit record. It will save a lot of time.
2. Recording vocals with the right microphone
Sometimes a different microphone can make all the difference to a singer. His voice might sound dull and uninteresting on the last microphone you used, but on that new one you haven’t tried before his vocals suddenly shine and cut through like never before.
If you have extra mics lying around, be sure to test them, even though they might be less expensive, or god forbid a dynamic! And if you don’t have extra mics to use, maybe you could spend some money on renting out a few quality mics to try out. Consider it an investment. Recording vocals with a great mic gives that extra sweetness to a song.
3. Position the mic correctly
Just like any other instrument recording, you have to place your microphone correctly. Make sure the singer isn’t standing too closely as this gives the vocal a low end boost called the proximity effect. However, if you need a little extra low end and then you should definitely make him sing as close as possible to the microphone.
But if you want a different sound, experiment with different positions of both the singer and the mic before you decide which way you want to cut it. Making him sing farther away gives a different sound, and making him sing sideways gives another result. Experiment until you are satisfied.
4. Get a pop filter
This is an essential tool in recording vocals. A pop filter eliminates plosives like the “p” sounds from a singer. P sounds have more energy and tend to be harder to deal with, if not downright impossible without the use of a pop filter. You can eliminate most of the plosives by tying a pencil or a pen vertically down over the front of the microphone. The pencil diverts the plosives resulting in a very effective budget strategy.
5. Eliminate background noise and unwanted acoustics.
Kill your room acoustically if it’s a horrible sounding room to begin with. If you are recording vocals in a good sounding, acoustically treated room, make sure there aren’t any unwanted noises. This can be from the computer that might be humming in the background or background noise from the street.
Make sure your room is dead and quiet before you record, because there is nothing worse than hearing some unwanted noise in the middle of your greatest vocal take.
6. Don’t be afraid to do punch-ins
Some vocalist can get through a vocal track in one take. One take and they are done and gone. But most singers take a little while longer, with some verses or phrases being better than others.
You can either compile the best vocal take from various run throughs, or you can punch the vocalist in multiple times until every phrase is great. Check out my tutorial on how to comp tracks together in Logic Pro.
With a little editing it will sound like a magical singer completely dominating his vocal track.
Conclusion
Keep these tips in mind next time you are recording vocals and see if you can’t squeeze a little more magic out of your melody. Help the page going by stumbling this to your friends or sharing the page on Twitter or Facebook using the box below! Every litte bit counts!
For a helpful crash course in teaching you everything you need about recording vocals, check out Recording Killer Vocals by HomeStudioCorner here.
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2 Comments on "Relax! Recording Vocals is Easy"
Thanks it`s easy and clear advice.
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