Tips and Tricks for Recording Vocals

[Audioblysk]

Hello all! I am currently working on a bunch of new tunes, a few of which have vocal parts that are going in over the next week or so and I am totally out of my element recording vocals. Everyone involved has pretty good pitch and is singing in their range so melodyne will be used sparingly if at all...

 

But do you guys have any tips for recording vocals that are absolute 'must know' status or have worked for you? Methods of tracking, compression, reverb or really anything will help, I'm trying to do a crash course so to speak.

 

Most of the tracks are acoustic instruments meeting synths and drum machines/sampled drums so they are fairly beefy tracks with a good deal of low end fun. I have a Rode NT1-a and a Sennheiser MD 421 II for my microphone game, a dual channel ART VLA comp, A tube channel strip and live 9, just so you guys have an idea of what equipment I'd be running it thru.

[MisterE]

i cant claim to have done anything like that on any kind of really serious level, but i feel like if you intend to do any fx/eq/comp/etc processing after recording (and imo you should), you should just try to focus on getting a good sounding recording and worry about sculpting it later. i feel like if its something you havent done much, the chances of you getting the sound exactly the best way on recording it are going to be smaller than they would if you had been doing it for years (really that goes without saying).

 

mainly what im driving at is for example, don't compress too much when recording, save that for mixing. maybe like a bit of subtle compression to even it out a bit, or maybe a limiter to catch loud peaks. then you can fine tune and experiment with compression settings forever after its recorded, in the context of the mix. same goes for effects or any kind of tone/coloration treatment. if you record something like that up front then you're stuck with it.

 

probably what i just said is common sense kinda but its all i have to contribute. good luck

[ascdi]

I am not at all an expert at this, but here are some opinions:

 

Go to tape with the “dead”est room/vocal booth sound you can get. IMO, nothing sounds more like “amateur vocal recording” than hearing weirdly inappropriate room sound in the vocal track, especially if the rest of the track is dry, bassy, or somewhat electronic. You can always add some slapback or reverb later, but there’s no way to get room echo out once you have it.

 

Do literally one billion takes. It can be awkward to “direct” someone (or to force yourself) to sing the first verse 90 times, but you’ll be glad you did later so you can do a comp of the best lines, fly in doubles out of somewhere, or whatever.

 

IMO, people are used to hearing very finely crafted vocal comps in all but the sloppiest musical styles, so even a slight bit of pitch weirdness or tiny momentary rhythmic problem will jump out at the listener in the context of your track. So get as many good takes as you can so you can be really picky later about how to stitch together the performance.

 

Processing-wise, I always used the Waves Renaissance Vox plugin on vocals, which sadly I decided to not purchase anymore (because fuck Waves). But that plugin starts with a really great gate, which always worked wonders for me. Try doing a high pass filter, then into a gate (to basically duck everything except the most definitive vocal information in the track), then into a cranked compressor.

 

IMO the sound of “pop music vocals” is basically that close-miked hyper-realistic sound which results from getting a good vocal signal and then really zooming in on it like a microscope. Which is what a gate and a compressor together will do.

 

Good luck!

[anigbrowl]

Pro engineer here, worked in music for a few years now work in film.

 

Soften the room as much as you can, there's a reason studios stick someone in a vocal booth. It's easier to deaden a small room like a closet than a large one. If you're stuck with a regular one try to pick one with bookcases and lots of soft furniture and or heavy curtains. Face the singer towards the curtains.

 

Pop shield, you need one or every word with a P or a B is going to make a puff of air on the microphone diaphragm and you will cry. To can buy them for about $30 or make one from a coat hanger and sheer fabric like nylon stocking. Foam windshields do not cut it for large diaphragm microphones. You want a shock mount too.

 

Microphone should be about 8-9 inches from the face, about the width of an outstretched hand. If it's any closer you'll get what's called the proximity effect, and it will sound much much bassier. This (plus massive amounts of compression for FM transmission) is how radio DJs seem to have such deep voices. But you don't want that because it will eat up a lot of your headroom and when you EQ away the excess bass later it will sound weak.

 

Use the NT-1A for vocals. It's a great little mic, punches far above its weight. The Sennheiser is better as instrument mic, unless you've got Janis Joplin or someone with a similarly powerful set of lungs.

 

Give the singer closed-back headphones. Open backed ones are a little better for listening, but they bleed when recording. Beyerdynamic DT1s if you have cash or Sony MDR-7506 of you don't, but which also happens to be what I prefer as the Beyerdynamic ones are heavier and it gets tiring to wear them after a while.

 

Get the hottest cleanest recording you can. Obviously if you have a sexy preamp that's win but there's nothing wrong with using a mixer preamp on a decent quality desk like a Mackie VLZ or something. Watch your levels like a hawk, if you clip the sound ain't coming back so less is more. You could do worse than have a tape running too as well as going into the computer. If you are going direct into an audio interface where you don't have a physical fader to adjust then put a gentle limiter on the input and expect to lose the first few takes.

 

It takes a while for a singer to get warmed up but take a break every few takes so they don't strain their vocal chords. Water or cups of tea. No coffee, orange juice or dairy drinks and preferably no smoking. Non-professional singers often overdo it a bit, don't send them off with a sore throat.

 

Yes, you should do a lot of takes, but don't feel you absolutely must comp it to death unless you're working ina very commercial genre like pop. If the singers are not pitchy but have good natural expression, balance pitch perfection against the flow of the performance. This is just something you'll have to feel your way with. Try making a comp from all the different takes that's as absolutely perfect as you can get it, and also a version with the best single take, get people to listen to both and tell you which one they like better.

[ascdi]

^ Good stuff! ^

[mcbpete]

Aye, cracking stuff - cheers man :)