10 Tips To Produce Better Vocal Recordings (Part 2)

If you didn’t catch part one, check out 10 Ways to produce better vocal recordings, this is part two. Utilize these 10 tips to easily record better vocals in your home or project recording studio. Let’s make some music!

6) Don’t Process During Recording

There are certainly different schools of thought, but it’s a great idea to get used to doing little or no processing while recording.

Recording ”dry” forces you to get it right at the source by implementing the basics better. Mic selection, mic placement, and technique.

You can use a low cut filter to roll off the muddiness below 90-100hz if you find it helpful/necessary. You can also utilize the software monitoring in your DAW software if that’s offered by your platform. This is a great way to record a “dry“ signal while monitoring virtual effects on the track.

7. Good Headphone Mix

A good headphone can make a significant difference in the singers ability to deliver an exceptional performance. Remember recording your voice using microphones and electricity is just not a natural process. Whereas a singer can much more freely gauge how they sound relative to their acoustic environment, wearing headphones and singing along to a mix is different animal.

Each vocalist will probably prefer different elements in their headphone mix, but the first step is to prompt the singer to identify what they do or don’t like. This clarity is good for the engineer and the singer, even if you’re both.

What this does is encourage the singer to understand and develop their preferences so they can perform better and feel more comfortable. While at the same time allowing you to serve the singer and aid in getting the best results.

Some things to keep in mind when finding the right headphone mix:

if it is difficult for the vocalist to hear themselves perform, they don’t like to monitor their voice in the cans, they have a hard time staying in tune, or are having a hard time staying in time, try some of the following...

Try one ear in, one ear out, and if possible turn off the signal in the unused headphone to reduce bleed.

Try inverting the phase of the vocals cue feed.

Try increasing or reducing the volume levels of the singers headphone mix to find the right balance.

Increase/reduce reverb (a good reference and starting point is to keep reverb time below 1second)

Try changing the chord positions and register of midi performed instrumental parts which can sometimes accent the voice better, make it easier to sing to, or just add new inspiration for the vocalist.

Try increasing certain elements of the rhythm section to help trigger better timing.

Try cutting frequencies on accompaniment tracks on competing frequencies that will best be reserved space for the recorded vocal track.

8) Record Everything

If you’re singer is working on a part or singing the song, you should be recording the vocals. ALWAYS be recording. Some of the best performances are the ones where the “practice” takes “accidentally“ get recorded. Sorta tricky, but justified if it produces a better performance.

9. Don’t Stress.

The environment and emotional state both matter for the singer. If you are the engineer you should control and facilitate the an atmosphere that is conducive to the type of performance required. Comfortable, relaxed, and encouraging.

Obviously getting on the performers about how crappy of a performance that last one was doesn’t help much. You should be particularly mindful in your communication since singers can be extra sensitive to criticism at times.

Don’t have to treat them like spoiled british royalty, be direct, but dress up and expand on the positives, then add a couple areas of improvement in there as well.

If you are the singer and also the engineer, its best to not stress about a performance, or when you are having an issue, just take a breath, and take a break. Remember this... Take a breath, and take a break.

10. Don’t overdo it.

Which leads us nicely into our last tip. This is critical to your singers voice, and your keeping a cool calm head... Just as your ears fatigue, so does the voice. NEVER push the voice to hard. This can be very destructive.

When hitting a stuck spot, roadblock, or point of exhaustion, a natural tendency for a lot of people (including myself) is to push even harder, hammer it out, keep going, soldier through it.

In a recording environment, this is NOT the route to take. This will add stress to the environment, and can have negative impact on the voice, not to mention the performance.

Please remember that recording vocals and making music is fun! This is not brain surgery, this is not war, this is creating and mixing sound and story. For god’s sake, enjoy it!