Top Vocal Recording Tips

For an excellent vocal recording session, you first need to make sure your singer is comfortable with their surroundings, and they are under no pressure while they are recording. They also need to be able to focus. The easiest way to make sure the singer is not distracted is to make sure that it is only them and the producer in the studio when they are recording.

You also need to make sure that the room you are recording in is in good enough shape to be used as a studio. You would want a sound proof room with little to no echo so that the audio that you are singing doesn’t bounce off the walls and if someone is outside the room you cannot hear them. If you can hear people outside the room, you may be able to hear them on the recording and that will also cause a huge distraction to the vocalist.

Pop shields between the microphone and the singer help eliminate the unnatural “b” and “p” sounds. If you do not have one of these you can use panty hose stretched around a wire, this is a cheap fix but it works until you can afford actual equipment.

Make sure that the singer is provided a good microphone; this could be the difference between creating a hit and creating horrible sounding audio. Remember the saying, you get what you pay for, in this situation that is the case. The recommended microphone to use when recording is a large diaphragm condenser microphone. Also the microphone should be at the right distance from the singer. They should not sound too far away, but you also don’t want them sounding like they are standing right over the microphone. The right distance is about a foot away from the vocalists face.

Reverb on the vocals in the audio can also help make the audio sound stronger and is more acceptable to the listening ear. Also singing again over the track will help make the vocalist’s voice sound a lot stronger. Singers may also sing to the side of the microphone which will help eliminate some sounds that will sound harsh when they are spoken directly into the microphone.

One final vocal recording tip you should always remember is to listen to what you want you music to sound like before you begin, get a good idea of it in your head and go from there. Also make sure that you are always checking the audio and fixing it as you go, rather than doing a whole song over and over until you have it right.