Jump to Comments This week on Tracks 101 we'll be covering some basic recording tips for recording vocals. Now you would be surprised how many people think they know what they are doing and have actually no clue at all. A lot of people have heard me complain about clipping, well today will be no different as i will cover that topic as well. Anyways lets get started with the basic setup for recording. Some things to keep in mind when choosing a place to record a.k.a. your live room - Can your artist be comfortable here? is it private enough? is there enough room to swing your arms and jump around if needed? - Will your cables reach for monitor headphones and mic cables - are the room acoustics good? is there too much reverb/reflection of sound? - is the rooms ambient noise too loud? - what is the polar pattern of your microphone, the shape of the range of your microphone. In the old days, a lot of people would use a bathroom or a closet. out of the two the closet is the better place to record because the clothing in the closet will act like a sound baffle. However, the bathroom is more private and will let a singer be able to hear their own voice with the room reverb. you can record in the same room as monitor speakers and the recording equipment, this room is usually called the control room. the trick to recording in rooms with noise or live monitor speakers, is to make sure your microphones directionality or polar pattern doesn't cross into the output of your speakers, this causes feed back and other issues, such as picking up the monitor signal.

i have made this diagram to explain what i mean.

so now that we have an idea of where to place the microphone we will want to put a pop screen /filter in front of the microphone. a Pop screen is usually put 4-7 inches in front of the front of the microphone. Not only do they protect your mic from picking up the pops and breathes, but it also makes your artist use the microphone properly. It forces them to have the microphone away from their face instead of in their mouth, like a lot of inexperienced musicians tend to do.

Alright so now you have your microphone placed, your pop screen in front of the mic, and your headphones or monitor speakers leveled for comfort. you must now test your headroom and setup your mixer input levels. which involves my favorite subject, clipping.

Your audio recording software should be open, and you should have some sort of VU level monitor or Peak Meter. This should show you the input level of your recording. speak, yell, sing or do anything that you plan on recording at the volume you plan on recording it, and watch the VU/Peak meter. At your loudest, your VU/Peak meter should not exceed 75% and if you see any red you have hit - 0 dB and the damage is done, you have clipped. i generally like to keep the levels between 25-75% because that leaves enough headroom to put effects and layering and any thing below 25% will have a lot of ambient noise recorded in the mix.

below is a visual representation of good audio vs clipping audio.

So now that you know where to place your mic, you know how to avoid feedback, and you know how to setup your basic levels for recording, we will move on to practice tracks and then recording and mixing.

Some people like to do punch-ins, Lil' Wayne is a great example of a punch-in artist. I personally do not like these artists, but when it comes down to it, the final product is what sells. The thing is most people are not punch-in artists and even if they can record with punch-ins, it will still sound like a punch-in recording even if you can mix well. So the trick to not recording with punch-ins and getting a couple of good clean takes is to record a practice track.

A Practice track is a rough draft take of the track where the timing of your vocals is correct and the expression of the vocals is close to what is wanted on the final product. this track doesn't have to be perfect, but you will use this track as a training guide for your vocals. You will naturally mimic the track as you practice with it, so the better quality it is the better you will perform at the time of recording. Once you have a practice track recorded, i would take about week with the practice track and practice your vocals with it anywhere you can. Once you are confident you know your vocal piece, then you are ready for the final recording.

Final recording isn't easy, your artist has to be ready to go and comfortable, and they usually aren't. If you are the producer, it is your job to keep the artist comfortable and ready to perform. Smoking and Drinking before hand is a big no-no. if you are a singer and not a rapper (or rappist) then you will want to protect your voice for a couple days before recording, i would recommend no smoking or drinking, and no un-necessary yelling or screaming, really anything that would strain you vocal chords.

The trick to recording vocals is getting as many good clean takes as possible, and then mixing them together in a blended fashion rather then a chopped fashion (i am referring to the punch-in style).

When i record, i record a main take, then an overdub or accompaniment take (harmonizing with the original take), then another overdub /accompaniment take (usually with different vocal expression and either higher or lower pitch on the voice) and then lastly an ad-lib or Hype man take. Also, your vocals in general should be 4-6 dB louder then the instrumental tracks (mixed), unless you are specifically trying for a quiet vocal effect.

After i have my 3-4 different takes, i layer them together and using panning, effects sends and EQs to separate the sounds, widen the sound and warm up the vocals. I will leave the main take with some slight reverb on an effects send, use a 2:1 ratio compressor (light compression, the kind you would use on a complete mix), and lastly for the EQ settings i would bring up the mid range/ bandpass on this take to warm up the vocals. I would then layer the harmonizing take over the top of the main take, but i would use some effects to widen the mix. if you don't have a chorus effect or widening effect a cheap trick is to use two effects sends.

First route your channel to two effects sends and discount the route to the main out. then turn the pan of one of the effects sends to 60% left pan, and the other to 60% right pan. Now what you have just done is a basic widening trick, you have created stereo voices of the same signal. At this point i would change the EQ on the main channel for this take, and i would bring the high end end up a tiny bit, around 1 dB gain.

At this point your vocals should sound rather full. if you have another overdub take to mix in, try the same panning trick as above only keep the panning a little closer to the center. so instead of 60% left or right pan, try something like 30-45% left or right, this will give you more of a choir like effect.

lastly, we will want to mix in the Adlib/ Hypeman track. I usually have fun with this track, I will put a vocal effect or distortion on this track to give it some flavor and make it stand out from the rest of the vocals. I really like stereo delays on hypeman tracks, but they are a double-edged sword if overused. The other thing about this track is, it should almost never be dead center, please put a little pan on this or have it pan from left to right, but just leaving this flat in the center is boring and it will be stale to your listener rather quick.

At this point, you will want to go through the takes, and if you are a perfectionist like myself, you will nitpick the pops and the breathes and chop them out. The best way to remove these pops and imperfections is not actually a straight chop, but a fade out and fade in. even if its rather quick, it will be a smoother less noticable transition then a straight chop, unless you have no sound surrounding the bit that you are removing.

So with the above tips and tricks you should be able to record some decent, warm and basic vocals. Feel free to experiment (because its fun), but remember to make backup copies of your work before you do! I hope that you learned something from the above, and if you didn't please send me an email with a topic you think i should cover! Thanks For Reading,

-Proper

Laproper@gmail.com