Have you tried recording your own singing voice in a studio?
It usually doesn't sound anything like you thought it would the first time you hear it. It can almost sound… bad.
You know you sound good and other people have told you the same thing.
So what gives?
Don't worry. Just like many singers, you may sound horrible the first time that you studio. But that's not how it has to be forever. You can significantly improve your sound through these tips and tricks on better vocal recordings.
1. Prepare Before Recording
Do not rush into the vocal booth before you are ready. Standing in a studio about to record vocals can be very intimidating for new singers. So practice a lot before recording.
Try recording yourself prior to hitting the studio and listen back to note what you like and correct what you don't like. Establish the right key and smooth out any range difficulty. Your vocal technique should be good enough to avoid wasting time in the studio with lots of takes and auto-tuning. That also means it's better to have your lyrics and melody memorized so you're not fumbling around.
2. Microphone Technique
Your preparation should also include standing in front of a microphone. In the studio, microphone to mouth distance remains constant. Since you will be standing relatively still as you record your song in a studio, it will be better to get used to it beforehand. Singers with little experience behind microphones make fidgety head movements, which can ruin the recording. Common microphone techniques are:
Volume Control
Move closer to the microphone as the volume gets softer and farther as the volume gets louder. This will help level out volume fluctuations, which can help reduce the amount of compression needed later on.
Avoid Popping And Sibilance
Pronouncing words containing P's and B's that produces extra bursts of air is known as popping.
Sibilance is the excessive hissing when producing S's and F's sounds. You will not notice these extra bursts of sound in daily conversation but will be painfully obvious in recordings.
Adjusting your angle and distance from the microphone can help reduce traces of popping and sibilance.
Control Breath Sounds
Turning your head to the side with each breath will help avoid those breathing sounds that need to be edited out later on.
3, Select The Right Microphone
Before you start recording, run through a verse using different microphones at a time.
Record three separate tracks without changing the EQ and volume settings then listen back. Doing so will help you choose which is the right microphone for you. A microphone mismatch can distort the quality of your voice. Match the personality of the microphone to the uniqueness of your voice to sound great in recording.
4, Shape Your Vowels When Singing
Shaping your vowels allows you to give more emotion when you are singing. It also allows you to use your voice to flow within the instrument track. Vowels are the sound of your voice, let the consonants take a secondary role. Good studio singers know how to shape their vowel sounds and use them to end their words with more character.
5. Communicate Through Your Song
As you sing your song, the lyrics must become your own communication.
Mean what you say phrase by phrase - use emotion.
Your phrasing should relate to your emotion and should be believable within the style of the music. Making your lyrics and emotions pop through a recording is important to coming up with your own unique style that is felt by listeners. This also comes back to comfort in the studio - not being nervous and doing what you can to avoid those nerves (like memorizing your songs, practicing beforehand, etc).
6. Song Delivery
Let your voice and emotion reach through your recording to your listener's heart. Bring out the same energy and believability as you would in a live performance to create an emotional effect. It can be hard in the studio.
But to accomplish this, imagine that you are singing to someone. Sing the song as if the person is in front of you and the lyrics are directed at them. Connect with the listening audience as you would to a live audience. It will shine through on your recording.
Mistakes and flaws become more visible after recording. If you do not like the way you sound, just follow these steps and practice more. It won't be long before you improve your vocals and head towards becoming a professional singer that can belt out a great recording in a single take. You can do it!
Wednesday 30 November 2016
Sunday 27 November 2016
8 Tips For Better Vocal Recordings
For the overwhelming majority of recorded music - particularly pop music - vocals are both the lead and the finishing touch of your musical masterpiece. Providing you've done your homework and taken great care throughout the recording process, your track should now be ready to shine. So how do you capture the perfect vocal? A good place to start would be to read our previous post on recording vocals In addition, following some basic guidelines listed below will help you form good habits in the name of professional sounding vocals.
1. Make sure the singer warms up
The importance of warming up before any vocal session cannot be stressed enough. The vocal chords are a muscle, and just like warming up before exercising, it is essential to perform warm-up exercises to ensure your voice is ready to perform. Failing to do so can result in vocal strain, which can lead to a poor performance or even a damaged voice!
2. Choose the right mic
Once your singer is performing at their best, the first point in the signal chain is your microphone. For this reason, it is essential to choose wisely. You can make an informed decision by understanding the basics of microphones In general, there are two main categories: dynamic and condenser microphones.
Condenser microphones are the default choice when recording vocals. However, dynamic microphones are typically less expensive and even have some distinct advantages over condenser microphones for certain applications. For example, when recording loud rock, hip-hop, or heavy metal vocals, the subtle detail and sensitivity of a condenser mic can be a hindrance. In fact, to name a Shure example - Michael Jackson, John Lennon, and Anthony Kiedis famously used the Shure SM7 on many well-known records.
3. Consider room acoustics
Another key element in achieving great results at the start of your signal chain is room acoustics. Often overlooked, the sound of your recording space has a huge impact on the sonic signature of your recordings. Unfortunately, in most home studios the acoustic environment leaves something to be desired, and, for this reason, countless recording projects fall at the first hurdle. The absurd thing is, bad acoustics are entirely preventable - even on a low budget.
A free solution is to hang a duvet behind the singer. This common trick - although not the most attractive solution - will help to prevent unwanted reflections from reaching the mic.
If you're able to install a more permanent and aesthetically pleasing solution, companies such as Primacoustic make specially tailored room kits to help tame reflections in a variety of studio sizes.
Dynamic mics can also play a part in dealing with less than stellar room acoustics Essentially, because a dynamic mic is less sensitive than a condenser mic, it is easier to achieve a higher ratio of direct to ambient sound.
4. Make them comfortable
A comfortable singer will invariably deliver a more confident, and most importantly, in-tune vocal performance. Studios can be quite cold or alien places for musicians and taking the time to make the environment as comfortable as possible can make all the difference. Perhaps the most important aspect here is room temperature. Air conditioning can play havoc on a vocalist's airways and throat, so although it's important to keep temperatures to a comfortable level, you might want to think about switching this off beforehand.
Additionally, never underestimate creating the right creative ambiance. As ‘hippy' as it may sound, creating the right mood and lighting within your studio can have a big impact.
Music should reflect real human emotions, and anything you can do to encourage creativity should be encouraged (no, I don't mean drugs).
5. Take time over the headphone mix
Ensuring the vocalist can adequately hear the mix should be considered an additional element as part of making them feel comfortable. Taking a few extra minutes to make sure they can hear themselves and the track clearly can save you hours of retakes or editing later down the line. Some singers respond particularly well to a little reverb added to their personal mix, which can help them hear more clearly and improve pitch accuracy. Also, don't forget to combine your monitor mix with a set of decent closed-back headphones to help prevent signal leaking back into the mic.
6. Use a pop filter
When using a condenser microphone, pop filters are essential to preventing unwanted explosive consonants from distorting the capsule. Once again, the input stage of any signal chain is the most important. In other words, it's far better to get things right at this stage of the game than to attempt remedial surgery later in the game. Besides which, it is very very difficult, if not impossible to remove explosive consonants once they're recorded. Long story short, if a pop filter is not in your recording arsenal, it should be.
7. Avoiding sibilance
Aggressive high-frequency sibilance from ‘S' and ‘T' sounds can destroy a perfectly good vocal take. Specialist compressors - referred to as de-essers - are often used to tame the sibilance with varying degrees of success. A better approach is to avoid nasty sibilance noise in the first place by applying strategic microphone placement & selection. In the event of such a problem, first try a different microphone, and if the problem persists, try moving the microphone just above or below the singers mouth. In all cases, a certain degree of experimentation is required to find the best microphone & placement for your singer and application.
8. Easy on the reverb
With most effects, less is almost always more. It can be tempting to apply large amounts of reverb to a vocal with the illusion that it will make for a bigger sound. In actual fact, the opposite is almost always the case. A small amount of reverb applied to a vocal recorded in a dry-sounding space will give a nice sense of space. Add too much, though, and you risk washing the vocal out; reducing focus and giving the impression of distance. For a focused, up-front sounding vocal, you want to hear more of the direct sound and less of the room ambiance. The opposite is true if you wish to make something sound further away.
1. Make sure the singer warms up
The importance of warming up before any vocal session cannot be stressed enough. The vocal chords are a muscle, and just like warming up before exercising, it is essential to perform warm-up exercises to ensure your voice is ready to perform. Failing to do so can result in vocal strain, which can lead to a poor performance or even a damaged voice!
2. Choose the right mic
Once your singer is performing at their best, the first point in the signal chain is your microphone. For this reason, it is essential to choose wisely. You can make an informed decision by understanding the basics of microphones In general, there are two main categories: dynamic and condenser microphones.
Condenser microphones are the default choice when recording vocals. However, dynamic microphones are typically less expensive and even have some distinct advantages over condenser microphones for certain applications. For example, when recording loud rock, hip-hop, or heavy metal vocals, the subtle detail and sensitivity of a condenser mic can be a hindrance. In fact, to name a Shure example - Michael Jackson, John Lennon, and Anthony Kiedis famously used the Shure SM7 on many well-known records.
3. Consider room acoustics
Another key element in achieving great results at the start of your signal chain is room acoustics. Often overlooked, the sound of your recording space has a huge impact on the sonic signature of your recordings. Unfortunately, in most home studios the acoustic environment leaves something to be desired, and, for this reason, countless recording projects fall at the first hurdle. The absurd thing is, bad acoustics are entirely preventable - even on a low budget.
A free solution is to hang a duvet behind the singer. This common trick - although not the most attractive solution - will help to prevent unwanted reflections from reaching the mic.
If you're able to install a more permanent and aesthetically pleasing solution, companies such as Primacoustic make specially tailored room kits to help tame reflections in a variety of studio sizes.
Dynamic mics can also play a part in dealing with less than stellar room acoustics Essentially, because a dynamic mic is less sensitive than a condenser mic, it is easier to achieve a higher ratio of direct to ambient sound.
4. Make them comfortable
A comfortable singer will invariably deliver a more confident, and most importantly, in-tune vocal performance. Studios can be quite cold or alien places for musicians and taking the time to make the environment as comfortable as possible can make all the difference. Perhaps the most important aspect here is room temperature. Air conditioning can play havoc on a vocalist's airways and throat, so although it's important to keep temperatures to a comfortable level, you might want to think about switching this off beforehand.
Additionally, never underestimate creating the right creative ambiance. As ‘hippy' as it may sound, creating the right mood and lighting within your studio can have a big impact.
Music should reflect real human emotions, and anything you can do to encourage creativity should be encouraged (no, I don't mean drugs).
5. Take time over the headphone mix
Ensuring the vocalist can adequately hear the mix should be considered an additional element as part of making them feel comfortable. Taking a few extra minutes to make sure they can hear themselves and the track clearly can save you hours of retakes or editing later down the line. Some singers respond particularly well to a little reverb added to their personal mix, which can help them hear more clearly and improve pitch accuracy. Also, don't forget to combine your monitor mix with a set of decent closed-back headphones to help prevent signal leaking back into the mic.
6. Use a pop filter
When using a condenser microphone, pop filters are essential to preventing unwanted explosive consonants from distorting the capsule. Once again, the input stage of any signal chain is the most important. In other words, it's far better to get things right at this stage of the game than to attempt remedial surgery later in the game. Besides which, it is very very difficult, if not impossible to remove explosive consonants once they're recorded. Long story short, if a pop filter is not in your recording arsenal, it should be.
7. Avoiding sibilance
Aggressive high-frequency sibilance from ‘S' and ‘T' sounds can destroy a perfectly good vocal take. Specialist compressors - referred to as de-essers - are often used to tame the sibilance with varying degrees of success. A better approach is to avoid nasty sibilance noise in the first place by applying strategic microphone placement & selection. In the event of such a problem, first try a different microphone, and if the problem persists, try moving the microphone just above or below the singers mouth. In all cases, a certain degree of experimentation is required to find the best microphone & placement for your singer and application.
8. Easy on the reverb
With most effects, less is almost always more. It can be tempting to apply large amounts of reverb to a vocal with the illusion that it will make for a bigger sound. In actual fact, the opposite is almost always the case. A small amount of reverb applied to a vocal recorded in a dry-sounding space will give a nice sense of space. Add too much, though, and you risk washing the vocal out; reducing focus and giving the impression of distance. For a focused, up-front sounding vocal, you want to hear more of the direct sound and less of the room ambiance. The opposite is true if you wish to make something sound further away.
Recording Studio Tips
Q) What are the sonic characteristics that define the pop recordings made in the late Sixties? When we hear a classic song by the Beatles or the Byrds or the Zombies, we immediately know they were recorded in the Sixties, whether we are familiar with the song or not. What is it that tips out ears off?
Is there something about the EQ? Is it a matter of compression? Is it in recording techniques? -Kevin
All of the above. To understand this, go from the source to the final product. The bands then were influenced by earlier sounds, and so their playing had a characteristic based on those influences. Their instruments were constructed in such a way as to produce certain tones. This is why many vintage instruments are so valued. Their very construction altered the tone. For instance, a 54 Stratocaster had individual cuttaways made closely fitted to each pickup. In new models, one large "swimming pool" hole is where all three pickups sit. It sounds different!
Next, when the artists were in the studios, all of those vintage Neumann mics were nearly brand new! All tube electronics (very slow slew rate) and bulldozer-solid construction was used in very minimal circuit consoles. Crude (by today's standards) monitor speakers were the "lens" that the engineers "looked through", so a whole eq curve was the model - far different from today's listening systems.
The studios themselves were designed differently, and had a sound. The tape of yesteryear had a sound, and the machines were made like tanks.
The attitudes were different then too. It was rare for the musicians to make production decisions, especially at mix time. Engineers were more a quirky, conservative breed, with mostly a classical recording background. Mastering engineers were mysterious scientists with glasses, shirt-and-ties and thinning hair, who rarely even met the artists.
Think of the clients they had in those days - the big bands, the one-day-a-song recordings made by everyone playing at once, and very little multitracking.
In those days, there weren't samplers and loops and presets and Pro Tools. The players had to PLAY it correctly, or it didn't make vinyl. They had to be creative with physical objects, vs. computer-driven mass-marketed synths.
The singers knew that they would have to sing every chorus, not just one... and then the rest would be flown in via sampling or digital cloning. So they had a whole different intent when they rehearsed and recorded. The engineers didn't have 48 tracks to take a zillion different versions and then patch together the best take. The take was the take.
So there was a different flavor, a different context.
I know consideration had to be made for bass levels so that the stylus wouldn't jump on record-players.
Bass peaks and phase content, to be more exact. Many mastering engineers had equipment that made the signal mono from 60hz-down, and a total roll-off at 20hz. But since many consumer speaker systems and turntable systems were colored in their response, it didn't matter as much as it does today, with our super-duper-boom-a-mudo hyper Jogman listening systems.
It's become a bit of a personal quest for me to record a song that sounds like an AUTHENTIC Sixties
Sounds like fun to me!
I realized how hard it is to actually pull off.
I think what's hard is getting people to turn off their auto-tune gizmos and be called to sing each chorus, sing it in tune and in the pocket. People don't realize how much training the engineers of yesteryear gave to musicians. Nowadays, recording at home robs artists of the invaluable feedback they'd get from an experienced expert who knows in a heartbeat when the track isn't grooving, the arrangement is cluttered, or the part is being overplayed.
I understand that, in comparison to modern music, the recordings I'm talking about are probably seriously technically flawed.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. From where I sit, I don't think we have to buy rules. We buy results. Music in the 60's was special, if not magical. Record companies had many more musically sophisticated people in places of power, and far less lawyers calling the shots. Entertainment had a certain excitement from the newness, and some extent the shock value, but it wasn't as disturbing as some of today's styles. There was more hand-holding and fewer jagged little pills.
But I'm interested in embracing and duplicating those flaws.
Start with tight drum booths and deadened drum heads. Classic mics, consoles, amps, instruments, and arrangements based on minimalist overdubs. Add in analog tape, great miking methods, natural room reverbs, leakage, basic passive eq.. and musicians who want to give peace a chance instead of gunning down their enemies in the hood.. and you'll have a great start!
I think that making magic, whether it's musical or otherwise is what life's all about. Your own touch is part of making heard that which is yet unheard.... and mixing differences together can have cool results. Drum loops are a great example where an old groove gets shaped into a new technological hook.
Even in our daily lives, we can co-mingle our differences if we have an open mind to greater possibilities. It's just a bonus way to create something original. Now, I do have to acknowledge that in the past our spiritual differences have lead to some serious issues.....but there's good news even about that...
Principles of quantum physics are setting new foundations for scientific stuff that explains the previously unexplainable. (Thousands of years ago a television would have been unexplainable, right?) Today's new discoveries are so fantastic that the distinctions will start to fade between what is called "normal" and what is called "holy." That could mean that our spiritual differences can start to hold unified ground, where before, we perceived great oceans between us all. Woah, that was heavy! Far out man! So like musical differences can blend into a new groove, life differences of all people can hold a new tone of harmony and love for one another. Now there's a '60's concept for ya! Peace!
Is there something about the EQ? Is it a matter of compression? Is it in recording techniques? -Kevin
All of the above. To understand this, go from the source to the final product. The bands then were influenced by earlier sounds, and so their playing had a characteristic based on those influences. Their instruments were constructed in such a way as to produce certain tones. This is why many vintage instruments are so valued. Their very construction altered the tone. For instance, a 54 Stratocaster had individual cuttaways made closely fitted to each pickup. In new models, one large "swimming pool" hole is where all three pickups sit. It sounds different!
Next, when the artists were in the studios, all of those vintage Neumann mics were nearly brand new! All tube electronics (very slow slew rate) and bulldozer-solid construction was used in very minimal circuit consoles. Crude (by today's standards) monitor speakers were the "lens" that the engineers "looked through", so a whole eq curve was the model - far different from today's listening systems.
The studios themselves were designed differently, and had a sound. The tape of yesteryear had a sound, and the machines were made like tanks.
The attitudes were different then too. It was rare for the musicians to make production decisions, especially at mix time. Engineers were more a quirky, conservative breed, with mostly a classical recording background. Mastering engineers were mysterious scientists with glasses, shirt-and-ties and thinning hair, who rarely even met the artists.
Think of the clients they had in those days - the big bands, the one-day-a-song recordings made by everyone playing at once, and very little multitracking.
In those days, there weren't samplers and loops and presets and Pro Tools. The players had to PLAY it correctly, or it didn't make vinyl. They had to be creative with physical objects, vs. computer-driven mass-marketed synths.
The singers knew that they would have to sing every chorus, not just one... and then the rest would be flown in via sampling or digital cloning. So they had a whole different intent when they rehearsed and recorded. The engineers didn't have 48 tracks to take a zillion different versions and then patch together the best take. The take was the take.
So there was a different flavor, a different context.
I know consideration had to be made for bass levels so that the stylus wouldn't jump on record-players.
Bass peaks and phase content, to be more exact. Many mastering engineers had equipment that made the signal mono from 60hz-down, and a total roll-off at 20hz. But since many consumer speaker systems and turntable systems were colored in their response, it didn't matter as much as it does today, with our super-duper-boom-a-mudo hyper Jogman listening systems.
It's become a bit of a personal quest for me to record a song that sounds like an AUTHENTIC Sixties
Sounds like fun to me!
I realized how hard it is to actually pull off.
I think what's hard is getting people to turn off their auto-tune gizmos and be called to sing each chorus, sing it in tune and in the pocket. People don't realize how much training the engineers of yesteryear gave to musicians. Nowadays, recording at home robs artists of the invaluable feedback they'd get from an experienced expert who knows in a heartbeat when the track isn't grooving, the arrangement is cluttered, or the part is being overplayed.
I understand that, in comparison to modern music, the recordings I'm talking about are probably seriously technically flawed.
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. From where I sit, I don't think we have to buy rules. We buy results. Music in the 60's was special, if not magical. Record companies had many more musically sophisticated people in places of power, and far less lawyers calling the shots. Entertainment had a certain excitement from the newness, and some extent the shock value, but it wasn't as disturbing as some of today's styles. There was more hand-holding and fewer jagged little pills.
But I'm interested in embracing and duplicating those flaws.
Start with tight drum booths and deadened drum heads. Classic mics, consoles, amps, instruments, and arrangements based on minimalist overdubs. Add in analog tape, great miking methods, natural room reverbs, leakage, basic passive eq.. and musicians who want to give peace a chance instead of gunning down their enemies in the hood.. and you'll have a great start!
I think that making magic, whether it's musical or otherwise is what life's all about. Your own touch is part of making heard that which is yet unheard.... and mixing differences together can have cool results. Drum loops are a great example where an old groove gets shaped into a new technological hook.
Even in our daily lives, we can co-mingle our differences if we have an open mind to greater possibilities. It's just a bonus way to create something original. Now, I do have to acknowledge that in the past our spiritual differences have lead to some serious issues.....but there's good news even about that...
Principles of quantum physics are setting new foundations for scientific stuff that explains the previously unexplainable. (Thousands of years ago a television would have been unexplainable, right?) Today's new discoveries are so fantastic that the distinctions will start to fade between what is called "normal" and what is called "holy." That could mean that our spiritual differences can start to hold unified ground, where before, we perceived great oceans between us all. Woah, that was heavy! Far out man! So like musical differences can blend into a new groove, life differences of all people can hold a new tone of harmony and love for one another. Now there's a '60's concept for ya! Peace!
Sunday 20 November 2016
Acoustic Guitar Techniques
Recording The Acoustic Guitar
While the acoustic guitar remains one of the most simple instruments by design, it also remains one of the hardest to get a great sound on in the studio. It's really not brain surgery, but knowing some of the basic laws of physics doesn't hurt. Unfortunately, I skipped school that day and didn't learn my physics, so I had to learn how to get a great acoustic guitar sound one mistake at a time. After making those mistakes, I sat down and formulated these laws which are considered to be the Ten Commandments of recording the acoustic guitar (by me anyway).
For the sake of argument I'm going to assume that if you're reading this, you own a 4 track, or an 8 track recorder, a fairly small console, some basic outboard equipment, and you don't own any $2,000 microphones. If you own 13 foot long console and a 48 track digital machine, you can skip this article because you probably know what I'm about to tell you.
Rule 1 • A condensor mic will almost always sound better than a dynamic mic for acoustic guitars. There are several condensor mics that are currently on the market in the $350 price range that sound great on acoustics.
Rule 2 • New strings will always sound better for recording than old.
Rule 3 • Skinny strings sound brighter than fat ones (can you believe I get paid to write crap like this?!)
Rule 4 • The sound you get has a great deal to do with the dynamics of the player.
Rule 5 • Get down on your knees and position your ear as if it were the microphone while somebody else is playing the guitar. Move your ear around to find "sweet spots". You'll learn more from that, than you will by reading this article. Don't try it with an electric guitar!
Rule 6 • If you have somebody that is assisting you on the session, have them move the mic around what you think will be the sweet spot while the player is practicing the part he or she is about to lay down. Have your assistant wear headphones so you can communicate with him while the moving of the mic is taking place.
Rule 7 • A limiter/compressor will almost always help you get a better sound.
Rule 8 • Don't believe everything you read. I only have seven commandments, not ten.
Let's get right to it. If the sound you want to get is a country/pop, strummed sound similar to the Eagles "Lyin' Eyes", here's the formula: Place the microphone about 6 to 8 inches from the guitar's sound hole, but angle the mic toward the area where the fretboard and the sound hole meet. If you point the mic directly into the sound hole, it will be very full - probably much too full, and very boomy. Use a compressor/limiter to knock down any peaks (3:1 ratio), and set the threshold a little lower to give it a slightly "squashed" or tighter sound. Set the threshold higher to just limit the peaks and give a more open sound. You may need to EQ out some boominess. If so, try rolling off some bottom (100Hz), or cutting a couple of db at 300Hz. To add some "silk" on the top end, try something in the 8-10K range, but be careful, to much will add noise to the track. Positioning the mic so it angles toward the pick will give more attack-less sweetness.
For that John Cougar Mellenkamp sound, try medium gauge strings, a little more compression, and try adding a little EQ around the mids - lets say 700Hz-1.2K. That will give you a sound that is a little more "woodsy" (a highly technical term).
"Ya, well what about Melissa Ethridge," you say. Try this on for size. Use a guitar with a built-in pick up and a microphone to boot. You will undoubtedly get some phase anomalies, but that's part of the sound. Experiment with moving the mic closer and farther. That will affect the phase relationship of the two sound sources. Sooner or later, you'll hit on something that will put a smile on your face. You can pan the two signals left and right to get a broad stereo sound, but make sure that if you check the sound in mono, that there's still some signal left. Keep an eagle ear on Mr. Phase, he can be a tricky bugger.
And now ladies and gentlemen, for the most often heard acoustic guitar sound at the 1993 Grammys it's that Eric Clapton classical/gut string guitar! Piece of cake. Once again, use a condensor mic, but place it about ten inches away from the guitar. As a matter of fact, try placing it about 3 to 4 inches up the neck, but aim it at the players picking fingers. This angle will reduce boominess by virtue of the mic's cardioid polar pattern producing a natural roll off when it's aimed off-axis, while simultaneously delivering the attack of the fingers. Try and say that three times in a row! The added distance will pick up some of the guitar body's resonance. A compressor/limiter is a must for this case because of unexpected peaks. A 4:1 ratio is a good place to start, but set the threshold fairly high so that the most of the guitar's natural dynamics are left in tact.
When mixing acoustics guitars for rock or alternative tracks, you will usually have an electric guitar or two in the track as well. My personal preference is to pan the acoustic and electric across from each other. Send one full left, and the other full right. You'll quickly discover that the electric will overpower the acoustic and the most effective way to even them out is to compress the acoustic a little bit more than what you may have already done going to tape so you can bring the acoustic's level up high enough to compete with the electric.
Another simple but effective trick is to have the acoustic and electric guitars play parts that counter each other rhythmically (giving them each their own space), and have them each play in a different octave. That will give you a full sounding track that remains open and airy at the same time. You can also make an acoustic guitar sound bigger or more rock-like by panning the original to one side and a delayed signal (short delays are best) of the same guitar to the other side. That effect can be taken one step further by using the pitch change option on your delay to "de-tune" one of the guitars just a pinch (one cent is a good place to start). The delay will provide the brain with the psychoacoustic information it needs to perceive the guitar as bigger, while the pitch change will make it appear "fatter."
Funny how fatter is always better in the world of recording, but not in the case of the human body. Just a tangential observation must be time to go.
While the acoustic guitar remains one of the most simple instruments by design, it also remains one of the hardest to get a great sound on in the studio. It's really not brain surgery, but knowing some of the basic laws of physics doesn't hurt. Unfortunately, I skipped school that day and didn't learn my physics, so I had to learn how to get a great acoustic guitar sound one mistake at a time. After making those mistakes, I sat down and formulated these laws which are considered to be the Ten Commandments of recording the acoustic guitar (by me anyway).
For the sake of argument I'm going to assume that if you're reading this, you own a 4 track, or an 8 track recorder, a fairly small console, some basic outboard equipment, and you don't own any $2,000 microphones. If you own 13 foot long console and a 48 track digital machine, you can skip this article because you probably know what I'm about to tell you.
Rule 1 • A condensor mic will almost always sound better than a dynamic mic for acoustic guitars. There are several condensor mics that are currently on the market in the $350 price range that sound great on acoustics.
Rule 2 • New strings will always sound better for recording than old.
Rule 3 • Skinny strings sound brighter than fat ones (can you believe I get paid to write crap like this?!)
Rule 4 • The sound you get has a great deal to do with the dynamics of the player.
Rule 5 • Get down on your knees and position your ear as if it were the microphone while somebody else is playing the guitar. Move your ear around to find "sweet spots". You'll learn more from that, than you will by reading this article. Don't try it with an electric guitar!
Rule 6 • If you have somebody that is assisting you on the session, have them move the mic around what you think will be the sweet spot while the player is practicing the part he or she is about to lay down. Have your assistant wear headphones so you can communicate with him while the moving of the mic is taking place.
Rule 7 • A limiter/compressor will almost always help you get a better sound.
Rule 8 • Don't believe everything you read. I only have seven commandments, not ten.
Let's get right to it. If the sound you want to get is a country/pop, strummed sound similar to the Eagles "Lyin' Eyes", here's the formula: Place the microphone about 6 to 8 inches from the guitar's sound hole, but angle the mic toward the area where the fretboard and the sound hole meet. If you point the mic directly into the sound hole, it will be very full - probably much too full, and very boomy. Use a compressor/limiter to knock down any peaks (3:1 ratio), and set the threshold a little lower to give it a slightly "squashed" or tighter sound. Set the threshold higher to just limit the peaks and give a more open sound. You may need to EQ out some boominess. If so, try rolling off some bottom (100Hz), or cutting a couple of db at 300Hz. To add some "silk" on the top end, try something in the 8-10K range, but be careful, to much will add noise to the track. Positioning the mic so it angles toward the pick will give more attack-less sweetness.
For that John Cougar Mellenkamp sound, try medium gauge strings, a little more compression, and try adding a little EQ around the mids - lets say 700Hz-1.2K. That will give you a sound that is a little more "woodsy" (a highly technical term).
"Ya, well what about Melissa Ethridge," you say. Try this on for size. Use a guitar with a built-in pick up and a microphone to boot. You will undoubtedly get some phase anomalies, but that's part of the sound. Experiment with moving the mic closer and farther. That will affect the phase relationship of the two sound sources. Sooner or later, you'll hit on something that will put a smile on your face. You can pan the two signals left and right to get a broad stereo sound, but make sure that if you check the sound in mono, that there's still some signal left. Keep an eagle ear on Mr. Phase, he can be a tricky bugger.
And now ladies and gentlemen, for the most often heard acoustic guitar sound at the 1993 Grammys it's that Eric Clapton classical/gut string guitar! Piece of cake. Once again, use a condensor mic, but place it about ten inches away from the guitar. As a matter of fact, try placing it about 3 to 4 inches up the neck, but aim it at the players picking fingers. This angle will reduce boominess by virtue of the mic's cardioid polar pattern producing a natural roll off when it's aimed off-axis, while simultaneously delivering the attack of the fingers. Try and say that three times in a row! The added distance will pick up some of the guitar body's resonance. A compressor/limiter is a must for this case because of unexpected peaks. A 4:1 ratio is a good place to start, but set the threshold fairly high so that the most of the guitar's natural dynamics are left in tact.
When mixing acoustics guitars for rock or alternative tracks, you will usually have an electric guitar or two in the track as well. My personal preference is to pan the acoustic and electric across from each other. Send one full left, and the other full right. You'll quickly discover that the electric will overpower the acoustic and the most effective way to even them out is to compress the acoustic a little bit more than what you may have already done going to tape so you can bring the acoustic's level up high enough to compete with the electric.
Another simple but effective trick is to have the acoustic and electric guitars play parts that counter each other rhythmically (giving them each their own space), and have them each play in a different octave. That will give you a full sounding track that remains open and airy at the same time. You can also make an acoustic guitar sound bigger or more rock-like by panning the original to one side and a delayed signal (short delays are best) of the same guitar to the other side. That effect can be taken one step further by using the pitch change option on your delay to "de-tune" one of the guitars just a pinch (one cent is a good place to start). The delay will provide the brain with the psychoacoustic information it needs to perceive the guitar as bigger, while the pitch change will make it appear "fatter."
Funny how fatter is always better in the world of recording, but not in the case of the human body. Just a tangential observation must be time to go.
96 Vocal Production Tips
01
We generally recommend that if you're aiming for really pro-sounding vocals it's easier to have a real preamp on the go, keeping good signal levels on the way in. If you haven't got access to one of these, however, you can always try throwing in something that provides the same sort of flavour. Plug-ins such as PSP's Mix Saturator 2 offer some handy preamp settings that quite convincingly mimic outboard saturation and compression.
02
It's vital to get the best mic position for your vocalist. While it's usually best to start from right in front of the mic, some people's voices may sound better a little closer or further away, or even to the side. If your singer's voice has a nasal quality, for example, you might want to place the mic slightly above their nose rather than in front of or below it. Experiment until you find the sweet spot.
03
Many vocalists sing better when they tilt their head back a little, as it opens up their vocal chords. The easiest way to take advantage of this is to place the mic slightly higher than the singer's mouth, angled down towards them - this will encourage them to tilt their head back as they sing.
04
It might sound a little obvious, but before doing a vocal take, it's a good idea to make sure your singer has a clear idea of where the lines should be placed. There's nothing wrong with having them scribbled down on a piece of paper, but generally speaking, a singer who doesn't know the lyrics probably isn't that sure how to sing them either.
05
Make sure you keep track of your singer's position (even if your singer is you). You will often find yourself taking breaks, or coming back to re-record a line, and it's very important to make sure the vocals are coming from the same position each time - if not, they might not sound the same. It goes without saying that you should keep track of where the mic was, too.
Artificial stereo spread effects can push a vocal back in the mix, so try to keep them for backing or quieter layered vocals.
06
Adding an artificial stereo spread effect to a vocal can be a great way of giving it real presence, but it also has the effect of taking away some of the vocal's punch and causing it to lose some of its prominence in a mix, so is often not ideal on the lead vocal. Instead, try using it for backing vocals or layered words, or for specific effect on certain words.
07
Chorus effects are great, but one of the best ways to achieve chorusing is to actually record multiple takes of the vocal. You can then take a few of these and layer them - try panning a couple slightly and leaving one centred, or thinning out the underlying two a little with EQ and more heavily compressing the central one for added impact.
08
You can thicken up a thin-sounding vocal by using a synth layered underneath it that subtly plays the same notes. You can even use a sidechained gate on the synth, triggered by the vocal, to ensure they only play together. Alternatively, try using something like Waves Tune, which will export the notes of your vocal as a MIDI file. Then compress the synth and vocal as one.
09
There are plug-ins out there, like Antares Punch, which are designed to accentuate the more punchy parts of a vocal, but you can also achieve something similar using gating or even an expander on your compressor. With a gate, for example, you just need to set it up so that only the punchy parts of your vocal open the gate, and then apply a small amount of gain reduction.
10
One of the great ways to keep a vocal punchy but still interesting is to use some of your additional takes to layer key words. These could be words that are significant in a lyrical sense, or that work well with the groove, or that enhance the arrangement. Just be sure not to overdo it - use them sparingly enough that they keep their impact when they appear.
Try chopping your vocal up and loading the parts into a sampler, then applying some groove quantise to them.
11
We often talk about adding groove quantise to musical and rhythmic parts, but it can also be very effective on a vocal line. How you do this is up to you - Live users might try putting warp markers on the individual words of the track and then applying quantise, but we like putting the vocal in a sampler so the quantise can affect the length of the words as well as their placement.
12
A vocal line can sound a little jarring when it first appears, so try introducing it by taking the first word, reversing it and playing it into the normal version. You can use this effect anywhere, in fact - and don't forget that you can also timestretch the length of the reversed part to fit the space. Reverse reverb within your vocal can have a similar effect.
13
Once you've spent ages carefully ridding your vocal track of background hum, the cha-chinks of ice in a glass, coughs, comments and all the other bits of assorted noise that you only notice on a vocal track once it's been pumped with compression, it's often easy to forget how cool some of them can sound when sequenced into your track. Try it!
14
The easiest way to get rid of breath noise is to use a gate. You want to set it up very carefully to make sure you aren't losing any important parts of the words - a useful rule of thumb is to keep your attack and release times relatively slow. When in doubt, take it easy and manually remove any problem parts. There are de-breathing plug-ins that can help, too.
15
Breath noise can be problematic, but it's also vital on some vocals - completely removing it can make a vocal sound artificial and over-processed. Sometimes the words and breaths will slide between each other, so make sure you set any gain reduction carefully to leave some of the vocal in the track.
Whether manually or with a plug-in like Vocal Rider, try using old-fashioned volume controls to balance your vocal.
16
We often tell you to compress a vocal to achieve a balanced level, but before you do that, you want to ensure that the volume is level too. What's the difference? Well, compressing squashes the signal and makes it more powerful, but it also changes the overall character of the sound. Try riding the fader manually, changing the levels of individual word clips or using something like Waves' Vocal Rider to achieve a more natural-sounding result.
17
When recording a vocal, have your lyrics written out on a sheet and have three different- coloured pens to hand. When the vocalist sings a part of the vocal right, draw a line through that part with a pen. When they sing the same part well again on a subsequent take, strike the part through with a different colour. Don't stop recording until you have all three colours through every line!
18
Sometimes when you're on a deadline, have been looking forward to recording a vocal or have been planning it for ages, you might be tempted to go ahead with a recording even if your singer has a cold or otherwise isn't in the best condition. Check with the vocalist first - they know their voice, and they'll be able to make the best assessment of whether they're up to the job. Singing with a cold or sore throat is at best pointless, and at worst harmful. You'll all get frustrated, and waste your time.
19
We think it's always worth trying a vocal in a different key, just to see how it sounds. It can be very easy to get stuck in your ways, but it only takes a minute to sing a line in a different key. You might decide it sounds horrible, but you could also be pleasantly surprised. You might even decide to put a cheesy (sorry, 'epic') key change in the track.
20
You can add a lot of extra excitement to key bars or phrases in your track by adding some panning effects. This works on anything, but with vocals, it's ideal used on backing vocals or double-tracked words. The strength and speed of the panning are entirely up to you, but one thing that's often worth doing is softening the extremity of the pan.
Applying a little creative processing on key lines of a vocal is a great way to add emphasis and effect.
21
A lot of vocal processing is about achieving a consistent sound throughout, but that doesn't mean you can't accentuate some key lines. Try using some extreme processing - for example, you can put one phrase through an EQ and make it sound like it's coming down a phone line (cut below 300Hz and above 3kHz), to make it stand out.
22
To make a vocal sound more intimate, use very strong compression. The sounds you are trying to pull out are the breath and mouth noise of your vocal, as these are the sounds we associate with somebody speaking very close to our ears. With this in mind, it's also a good idea to keep your vocals quite dry too, for a more natural sound.
23
Remember that your vocal is usually not just another part of your track - it is your track. There will be musical elements that people like, and riffs that people love, but it's best to treat your vocal as the hook in almost every instance, as that is quite simply how most other people will view it.
24
Processing is great for adding emphasis to a vocal, but you can add interest by using some real gear too. For example, try recording a version of your vocal into an iPhone (you can set this up to run at the same time as you're capturing the vocal with a proper mic), or you might consider recording through a megaphone or guitar amp.
25
Try capturing vocals in different places. Generally dry is good, but if you have a great echoing hallway, or even a roof or a field… why not? When recording outside your main enemy will be wind, so you'll need either wind baffles or a foam cover, but if you want a completely dry vocal, free from reverb and reflection, it's hard to beat the middle of a field on a misty morning!
Singing slightly flat is a common problem among vocalists, so we often pitchshift the whole part up a few cents.
26
Most vocalists you are likely to encounter will sing a little flat rather than sharp, and this can often sound quite noticeable and unpleasant. One quick fix for a lot of vocal parts is simply to nudge the whole thing up by 5 to 25 cents. You'll be amazed how many vocals this will help.
27
Try different mics, if you have them, including cheap and old ones. Obviously if you're capturing an opera singer's voice, this could be considered something of a waste of their gift, but sometimes the character and flaws of the mic can really add something, even if only used as a layering effect.
28
While it is true that you can get awesome results with a relatively cheap microphone, good singers deserve a decent mic, and one that suits them. If you have access to a few different mics, try them out on different singers and you'll often hear little plosives or mouth noises that aren't audible on other mics. When aiming for expensive-sounding vocals, get a mic that suits your singer.
29
With automation available on almost everything in the studio now, it's incredibly easy to become a control freak with delay and other processing - so go for it! We like adding some delay to a few key words or parts of our vocal to create excitement. It can work with reverb and other effects too - and for added impact, try those effects on a bus and add an auto-panner.
30
Vocoded vocals can be quite hard to make intelligible. There are any number of more modern plug-ins out there now that are designed to make things clearer, and they usually do a great job, but it can still be really useful to ask your vocalist to enunciate clearly and to try to put some unnatural emphasis on the plosives and individual syllables.
Giving your vocalist a little reverb in their headphones will help them tell whether they are singing in key.
31
You should always try to give your singer some reverb in their cans while they're singing (unless they don't want it). The idea Giving your vocalist a little reverb in their headphones will help them tell whether they are singing in key is to keep their confidence high by giving them a good impression of their own voice, and to give them something they can pitch to.
Your vocalist can't listen and sing at the same time - at least, not like the engineer can listen - but with reverb, they can hear the pitch.
32
If you have the opportunity, and know you are working with a great singer, leave the mic running while they warm up (after checking with them that it's OK to do so). You could strike gold, even if you only catch a little phrase to drop in at the start of a track (think Amy Winehouse). Failing that, you might get some great archive material to use when VH1 run a special show to commemorate the 30th anniversary of your first album…
33
For a thicker vocal sound, don't just add reverb and delay on busses. Try adding them directly to the channel and then following that with some compression to really pull the elements together. Slap-back delay (with very fast delay times) is a perfect candidate for this kind of thing. It's also important to keep release and feedback times short to avoid making a mess.
34
You should try to have one set of headphones for the singer, and another set for you to listen out for any problems on the recording. It's far too easy, when you're just listening to a singer without cans, to miss a little bump from a ring or button on the mic stand that can completely ruin a recorded phrase.
35
No matter how carefully you've set your initial input level, singers will sometimes stray into louder territory than you planned, so even if you've tested their loudest note and left ample headroom, keep a stern eye on the incoming level to watch for clipping.
Grouping vocals helps pull different takes together and makes it easier to create separation between sections.
36
It's usually worth grouping the various parts of your vocal track so that you have one group (or channel) for the lead vox, one for doubled words and breath effects and one for the backing vocals, and then adding compression. This will pull all the vocal parts together nicely and make them seem more coherent, and will make it easier for the listener to differentiate the vocals from other elements of the track.
37
Generally speaking, the place for a vocal is in the centre of a mix. It sounds obvious, but listen to almost any great rock or pop recording and you'll hear that while the instruments might be dotted all over the place, the vocals are usually centred, and it's no accident. The vocal is normally the key element, and centring it makes it, well, central. We're also used to people speaking to us from the front, so it feels more personal.
38
Be very wary of anything that makes noise when recording. Even quiet noise will be amplified, including the slightest rustle of paper - this is why it's handy for the vocalist to have the lyrics memorised. Other culprits include rattling bracelets, necklaces and change or keys in pockets. Get rid of them before you start!
39
It's a good idea to always have a dictaphone or similar portable recording device ready. You never know when inspiration might strike, and even in a studio full of equipment, nothing quite beats the immediacy of hitting one button for instant recording. It can be digital, analogue… anything! They key is having instant, reliable recording at the touch of a button.
40
Although various kinds of, ahem, stimulants have been considered beneficial to the creative process by many a great musician, generally speaking, people sing better sober. Stick to a nice cup of tea - it will warm the singer's throat and wake them up. Try to steer clear of milk, though, as it acts as a coagulant in the throat and can have a really adverse effect on a singer's voice.
Chopped-up vocals will almost always sound better with a little octave-wide pitchshifting on individual words.
41
When chopping up parts of your vocal line and pitchshifting them, it's often hard to know where to begin. A good place to start is shifting an octave up. Alternatively, play a scale and pick notes that work in quick sequence. And whenever you repeat a syllable or vocal noise a few times, try shifting one up or down an octave. Experiment with the pitchbend, too.
42
It's usually worth grouping the various parts of your vocal track so that you have one group (or channel) for the lead vox, one for doubled words and breath effects and one for the backing vocals, and then adding compression. This will pull all the vocal parts together nicely and make them seem more coherent, and will make it easier for the listener to differentiate the vocals from other elements of the track.
43
One of the best ways to get vocals to cut through a mix is to use sidechain compression on competing musical parts. Instead of turning up the vocal, insert a compressor on the competing parts and let your vocal control the sidechain to duck the music. Don't overdo it - you shouldn't hear the music pump, but with careful attack and release times your vocal will magically appear in the mix.
44
One of the most common sources of noise on a vocal recording is the backing track itself, bleeding out of the headphones. One simple way to avoid this is to use closed over-the-ear headphones. If your singer likes to have only one cup over their ear, try panning the headphone signal so it's not bleeding into the mic.
45
If you don't have access to a singer but need to get a vocal down, you could try using a voice-altering plug-in, speech box or vocoder and recording your own version. You might be pleasantly surprised at how often you can come up with interesting, if classically imperfect, results.
Sidechain compression can be used to help individual words or phrases cut through the main vocal.
46
Sidechaining isn't just a good way to get your vocal to cut through a mix, it's also a good way to get a vocal to cut through… your other vocals. You might want, for example, one bit of backing vocal - or perhaps a bit of a spoken word or vocal noodling - to cut through. Apply a sidechain-enabled compressor to your main vocal group, and then use the one you want to stand out to duck it (just make sure it's not in the same group, ducking itself!).
47
We've all been here before: you're comping and editing a vocal, and you realise you haven't followed your own advice about keeping track of the vocal takes to make sure you've got a decent version of every line. So you're tweaking away, trying to get that one word to sound right. Stop. Call the singer and ask if they can either come into the studio to redo it, or record a new take and send it over.
48
When writing a song, get a guide vocal down as soon as possible - it needn't be the definitive take, but it will help you get on with constructing the whole song, which will provide you with clues about how to handle your vocals. Quite often, though, you'll capture something nice and raw - it's surprising how often a rough take becomes the final version.
49
Break up your vocal by using a doubled layer at the end of every verse or half-verse. If you've already double-tracked your vocals, this will mean adding another layer - one of the reasons why we suggest always getting at least three takes of a vocal. When recording, try getting a whole take sung as a harmony, ready to place wherever you need it.
50
This tip may raise the ire of the traditional songwriters out there, but in this day and age, the chorus of your song doesn't need to sound that great in its raw form. Modern music (pop, soundtrack and club alike) is replete with examples of pedestrian phrases or words that have been made into a chorus by being chopped, processed and generally mucked about with.
So if you have a great verse but can't nail that chorus, just record anything and play around with it. After all, what have you got to lose?
If you've chopped up your vocal and loaded it into a sampler, try applying some octave-wide pitchbend.
51
Whenever you're using chopped-up, pitch-effected vocals, it's always worth trying a bit of pitchbend action, particularly on held notes. Set the pitchbend range to 12 semitones, play the vocal back and sweep it up and down. Naturally, for this to work, you need a very powerful Auto-Tune-style device, or to chop up the phrase into individual words in a sampler - and of course, there's nothing to stop you using both!
52
Auto-tuning devices are powerful tools, and they're also very versatile. If you tend to work with very fast response time settings, try making them slower for a natural effect. If you normally go slow, try some faster, T-Pain-style changes. And don't forget that you can automate the effects throughout the track. Sometimes, less is more.
53
When asking your singer to do double takes of a vocal, it's worth having at least one running in the background as a guide - otherwise, if you decide to layer them, the differences in timing can make the vocals sound disjointed. Plug-in tools such as VocALign can do a great job of matching the timing of vocals, but it's always easier to get it right from the start.
54
If you want some variation on your backing vocals but only have one singer, try doing them yourself. Usually even the most tone-deaf person can sing monotone, and you'll be amazed how much a monotone version of a vocal, on the root note of each passage, can thicken up and add interest to a vocal part.
55
It's great to take chances and experiment, but if you're going for a specific type of track, chances are there will be a specific type of processing that goes best with it. Spend a bit of time listening to the types of effects that are used in comparable tracks - don't just use the same old effects on every vocal.
When using voice synths for harmonies, keep things simple to avoid an voerly Kraftwerk-like vocal sound.
56
When using harmonising plug-ins such as Neptune's voice synthesizer, it's usually best just to use one note at a time for energetic pop. Playing chords will have the effect of making your track sound like a choir or acapella group, or like an old Kraftwerk-style vocoded vocal. Single-note harmonies sound like reinforcing backing vocals.
57
If you haven't got many backing vocals - or sometimes even if you do - it's often worth finding one key word or phrase that you can repeat. Ideally this will have some resonance with the rest of the song, but it needn't. The key is to make sure it sounds punchy and catchy. More often than not, you'll find that this is the listener's favourite bit.
58
When processing your vocals, it's tempting to bounce them down with the de-essing and breath removal effects applied, just to save some CPU cycles. Fair enough, but keep in mind that you might want to change these later, as when other effects such as compression and EQ are applied, they might disappear or get accentuated further. Wait until you're sure before doing anything that you can't undo.
59
Sometimes a singer just isn't in the mood. Learn to recognise the signs, and suggest a break or a rain check. Don't get us wrong - if your singer spends more time sulking than singing then it might be time to look elsewhere, but vocalists can often be quite highly strung (it takes a certain type of person to get on stage and sing), so it helps if you know how to placate them..
60
If you're using any kind of Auto-Tune/Neptune-esque device, keep an eye out for a vibrato control. Subtle amounts will sound natural, heavy amounts not so much, but either one can sound fantastic if used in the right way and the right context. As with all types of processing, we suggest trying automation to switch it on and off in different places.
Add some excitement to a track by using ascending harmonies and a harmonising device like Record's Neptune.
61
A great way to get anticipation and excitement to a build in a track - when moving from verse to chorus, for example - is to layer some ascending harmonies. Pick a good harmony note, then while the main vocal stays on one level, take the harmonies up in musically fitting increments (these will depend on the track, of course). If your chorus is in a different key, try making your last harmony note meet the root note of the chorus.
62
Pay careful attention to the order of your effects. It seems obvious, but if you have a compressor before a de-esser or a breath removal plug-in, it will make it much harder for that plug-in to distinguish what is meant to be there and what isn't. This is particularly important when dealing with plug-ins that rely on dynamics, but it applies to all effects.
63
Sometimes the oldest tricks are the best, and slap-back delay has been around for quite a while. Use a very small delay time, with no feedback, and you'll get a thickening sound that's reminiscent of the best of The Beatles. Unlike a lot of vocal effects, this can often be used on the main vocal without it losing its grounding and punch.
64
As an alternative to thickening your vocal track by layering on another sound and treating them as one, try playing a musical riff that follows your vocal. It needn't be prominent in the mix. If you have a tool that will create a MIDI file from your vocal, try doing that. It will have a load of smaller notes from the slides in it, though - you'll need to ditch them and stick to the core notes.
65
Compression is key with vocals. If you want your vocal to cut through a mix, you'll need some level of compression to get consistent weight - how much depends on the track. A soft vocal needs some dynamic range, but if your singer was belting it over a shredding backing track, don't be afraid to push the compression all the way up to limiting.
Delay makes a great reverb subsitute (or adjunct) as, unlike reverb, it needs not completely fill out your mix.
66
Reverb is a great tool for giving extra space and width to vocals, but it can also be a very dominating effect. As an alternative option, try some subtle delay. The key to not overpowering your vocal is to ensure that the delays are EQ'd - if your delay doesn't have EQ, put it on a bus and apply some EQ from there. A little bit of top- and bottom-end cut will thin it out and sound like reverb, but without the muddying tail.
67
Don't just use sidechaining to help your vocal pop through. If you have a musical part (say a piano or guitar) that's playing the same notes as the vocal, try using a sidechain gate on your vocal, taking its input from the musical part, to chop your vocal with the music. It's like our layering suggestion, only more obvious and extreme.
68
When you are making a vocal track, make sure the vocal comes to the fore and is the most prominent part of the mix - this usually means a certain amount of level. Singers always want their vocals louder, while the producer is often focused on the music. The genius is usually somewhere in the middle. Listen to other songs on your studio speakers and we reckon you'll be surprised just how loud the vocals are in most of them.
69
If you don't have a vocalist but want to get used to working with vocals, try experimenting with acappellas. It will give you some pointers about recording good vocals, even if only through observation, and it will definitely teach you a lot about placing vocals and making the most of what you have.
70
Timing is everything. If your vocal lacks energy, try applying a little pre-delay to it. Or better yet, chop up your vocal and add delay or pre-delay to certain parts, to create a tailored groove. And try using a bigger amount than with percussion - generally 1 to 3ms will be very noticeable with drums, but with vocals, you're going to need to hit about 3 to 5ms or more to even notice the difference.
De-breathing plug-ins are a great quick fix, but manually editing the breaths can be much more effective and creative.
71
De-breathing plug-ins can be fantastic for reducing the overall level of breath noise, but for real punch and effect, it's worth chopping your vocal parts manually, taking out certain breaths or finishing words in a more clipped way. Fit your vocal to the melody and groove of the music.
72
We often talk about using sidechain pumping on a bassline to give it groove and fit it into the mix better, and the same thing can be done with a vocal part. How much bounce you add depends entirely on the track and the vocal, but even when used subtly, it can pull a vocal right into the track without it disappearing into the mix entirely.
73
You might want to try using glitch effects on certain parts of a vocal for emphasis. There are a couple of ways to do this. Sometimes we like to simply bounce a version of our vocal with our mangling plug-in of choice and use the parts that work; other times we automate the wet/dry balance. Either way, it's often also worth trying to mix some of the original signal over the results.
74
If you have four versions of the same chorus line, try taking the last two, layering them under the first two and then repeating both for the second half of eight bars. Not only will this generate a nice chorusing effect, but it will also create a subtle repeating variation, giving the listener something to latch onto and keeping them from feeling like things are on a static loop.
75
As we've said before, you should always get three takes of a vocal. Try offsetting your third vocal in relation to the main vocal, perhaps a half-bar or a bar later. Now let the vocals play all the way through and wherever the extra vocal sounds great filling in the gaps, leave it in. Then just strip out all the other parts you aren't using.
Dropping your sidechain kick on a vocal can help certain words or phrases stand out, particularly with chopped vocals.
76
If you are using ducking on your vocal, try taking the sidechain off for key phrases to help the vocal stand out (if it's set up properly you can make it get louder when the sidechain kick is removed). This can be particularly useful when you have some rhythmically chopped vocals, or harmonies that are bouncing off each other.
77
Vocals have a lot of messy frequencies in them, particularly if you've recorded them yourself. Get used to trimming out all the bottom end you don't need with EQ. Just be sure not to take the weight out of the voice. You want it to sound natural, but not like the deep, soothing baritone-style vocal you get on talk radio.
78
Rather than boosting your vocal with EQ to make it pop through the mix, try cutting out some of the corresponding frequencies in the competing parts (guitars and synths are the usual culprits). We can't stress enough that boosting should be done in moderation to add a little edge - cut should always be your first port of call when trouble-shooting frequency issues.
79
As you'll no doubt be aware, recording and comping vocals can be a pretty messy and confusing business on the screen. For this reason it's always a good idea to bounce down an instrumental track and place it in a fresh project before you start. This makes recording easier and more responsive (no latency or glitching) and makes it far easier to comp the vocals, ready to import into your actual project file.
80
Parallel compression can work really well with vocals. It preserves the natural rhythm and expression, but still lets you fatten things up a little. Or if you have two layered vocals, try compressing one of them heavily, while leaving the other quite natural.
Bit-crushing plug-ins are ideal for adding presence and bite to any part of a mix, and vocals are no exception.
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One way to give your vocal some sparkle and presence without having to add EQ (which can just add to the mess), is to use a bit-crushing plug-in such as the free TAL-Bitcrusher. Whether you apply this with extreme settings or just use a smidgen is up to you, as is whether you apply it to a solo vocal line, layer or entire group.
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If you have a multiband compressor that allows an external sidechain, try making only some of the frequency range pump rhythmically. You can preserve the top end of the vocal and still create the impression of pumping - this tends to keep vocals audible in the mix while giving things bounce.
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Many vocalists find it easier to hit the right notes if they sing powerfully. If your singer is regularly missing notes, try asking them to sing with more force. Just remember that this will tire out their voice much faster, and none of the subsequent takes are likely to match the early ones, so it is generally best saved until towards the end of a session.
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Reverb fills out a vocal section and can give it much more character and life, but it can also really obscure it. Try using a sidechain compressor on your vocal's reverb (or indeed any reverb bus) to duck the reverb while the vocals are sounding. You usually want pretty fast attack times, but try to get the release to open in time with your track.
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When you are comping vocals, it's best to be decisive. If your sequencer offers automatic comping facilities, start by making a copy of a take, and then be utterly ruthless. Don't worry about what you might need later - just get stuff you're happy with. If you find a line missing, you always have the back-up, and if you can't get it resung, you can slather on the processing to disguise the flaws!
Improve the presence of your vocal by centring any lower frequencies with an application like Sonalksis' StereoTools.
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If you have a stereo enhancing tool with the ability to centre frequencies below a certain point, try adding an artificial stereo widener to your vocal and following it with a stereo enhancer plug-in, then setting the crossover to about 1kHz. You're aiming to keep the vocal centred and weighty, but also adding a little width to the space at the top end.
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It sounds obvious, but make sure your singer is singing in their ideal range. If you've already made a track and they've come in to do a vocal on it, and the vocal is good but the range is a strain, try shifting the key of the track. These days this is usually easy to do (unless your track was played and recorded live), and often it can transform a track even before you've put the vocal in.
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When you have two layered vocals, you can add some stereo spread and excitement by adding a tremolo or other rhythmic panning tool to one of the layers. Make sure it's lower in the mix, to keep things grounded, and try thinning the panned sound out a little with some EQ to make sure the track stays centred.
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In most cases you want your vocal nicely panned, but sometimes, when the lyrics are recounting (or actually are) a conversation, it can be a good idea to pan the alternating lines from one side to the other. For an absolutely exquisite example of this, have a listen to Level by The Raconteurs , Jack White's superlative-defying side project.
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Reverse and gated reverb are usually used on drums, but with the right timings they can add enormous impact to a vocal. You generally don't want them running all the way through a track, but judicious use can transform a lonely-sounding vocal.
Chorus and doubling effects can be used on backing vocals without taking away too much punch and presence.
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Doubler and chorus effects are great for thickening vocals, but they also take away from the punch. Try using them on a bus or on one of two layers to ensure that at least one part of the vocal is strong and dominant. The same goes for phasing and flanging. Keep the levels on the dry side to start with, then raise them slowly during the final mix session.
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A powerful vocal, suddenly removed, can leave a perceived empty space in the busiest of tracks. Set up a delay bus and send some of your vocal channel to it over the course of the last line before the vocal drops out, and let the delays ease the vocals out gently. Using a panner or some kind of pitch modulating effect (such as Audio Damage's Discord 3) will add further interest.
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Sometimes a live vocal performance can sound amazing, but once you record it, you're stuck with it. To get a similar effect on a studio-recorded vocal, play it back through some speakers, then record that playback and layer it underneath your original. Since this is almost exactly what happens with live feedback, the result will be strikingly similar.
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For some real bite on your vocals, you can't beat a bit of distortion, and almost every DAW now comes with some kind of guitar pedal and amp simulator, so make use of them. The trick, as ever, is to strike the right balance between bite and intelligibility - unless you just want a mangled vocal, in which case, go for your life!
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Whenever you are making a track with vocals, it automatically becomes a 'song', and when producing songs, it's almost always a good idea to start with the radio edit. This flies in the face of many electronic producers' instincts, but it is much easier to spin out a good club cut from a radio edit than working the other way around. More importantly, it helps you concentrate on the power of your vocal.
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All these tips are guidelines, and there's no need to think that you should apply all, or any, of them on every occasion. Rules are there for a reason, but they are made to be broken, and at least half the pearls of wisdom here were discovered by accident - indeed, many of them were heresy when they first arrived on the scene.
Don't be afraid to ignore all of our advice if you think your stuff sounds great - just make sure it sounds great to other people too!
We generally recommend that if you're aiming for really pro-sounding vocals it's easier to have a real preamp on the go, keeping good signal levels on the way in. If you haven't got access to one of these, however, you can always try throwing in something that provides the same sort of flavour. Plug-ins such as PSP's Mix Saturator 2 offer some handy preamp settings that quite convincingly mimic outboard saturation and compression.
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It's vital to get the best mic position for your vocalist. While it's usually best to start from right in front of the mic, some people's voices may sound better a little closer or further away, or even to the side. If your singer's voice has a nasal quality, for example, you might want to place the mic slightly above their nose rather than in front of or below it. Experiment until you find the sweet spot.
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Many vocalists sing better when they tilt their head back a little, as it opens up their vocal chords. The easiest way to take advantage of this is to place the mic slightly higher than the singer's mouth, angled down towards them - this will encourage them to tilt their head back as they sing.
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It might sound a little obvious, but before doing a vocal take, it's a good idea to make sure your singer has a clear idea of where the lines should be placed. There's nothing wrong with having them scribbled down on a piece of paper, but generally speaking, a singer who doesn't know the lyrics probably isn't that sure how to sing them either.
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Make sure you keep track of your singer's position (even if your singer is you). You will often find yourself taking breaks, or coming back to re-record a line, and it's very important to make sure the vocals are coming from the same position each time - if not, they might not sound the same. It goes without saying that you should keep track of where the mic was, too.
Artificial stereo spread effects can push a vocal back in the mix, so try to keep them for backing or quieter layered vocals.
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Adding an artificial stereo spread effect to a vocal can be a great way of giving it real presence, but it also has the effect of taking away some of the vocal's punch and causing it to lose some of its prominence in a mix, so is often not ideal on the lead vocal. Instead, try using it for backing vocals or layered words, or for specific effect on certain words.
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Chorus effects are great, but one of the best ways to achieve chorusing is to actually record multiple takes of the vocal. You can then take a few of these and layer them - try panning a couple slightly and leaving one centred, or thinning out the underlying two a little with EQ and more heavily compressing the central one for added impact.
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You can thicken up a thin-sounding vocal by using a synth layered underneath it that subtly plays the same notes. You can even use a sidechained gate on the synth, triggered by the vocal, to ensure they only play together. Alternatively, try using something like Waves Tune, which will export the notes of your vocal as a MIDI file. Then compress the synth and vocal as one.
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There are plug-ins out there, like Antares Punch, which are designed to accentuate the more punchy parts of a vocal, but you can also achieve something similar using gating or even an expander on your compressor. With a gate, for example, you just need to set it up so that only the punchy parts of your vocal open the gate, and then apply a small amount of gain reduction.
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One of the great ways to keep a vocal punchy but still interesting is to use some of your additional takes to layer key words. These could be words that are significant in a lyrical sense, or that work well with the groove, or that enhance the arrangement. Just be sure not to overdo it - use them sparingly enough that they keep their impact when they appear.
Try chopping your vocal up and loading the parts into a sampler, then applying some groove quantise to them.
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We often talk about adding groove quantise to musical and rhythmic parts, but it can also be very effective on a vocal line. How you do this is up to you - Live users might try putting warp markers on the individual words of the track and then applying quantise, but we like putting the vocal in a sampler so the quantise can affect the length of the words as well as their placement.
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A vocal line can sound a little jarring when it first appears, so try introducing it by taking the first word, reversing it and playing it into the normal version. You can use this effect anywhere, in fact - and don't forget that you can also timestretch the length of the reversed part to fit the space. Reverse reverb within your vocal can have a similar effect.
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Once you've spent ages carefully ridding your vocal track of background hum, the cha-chinks of ice in a glass, coughs, comments and all the other bits of assorted noise that you only notice on a vocal track once it's been pumped with compression, it's often easy to forget how cool some of them can sound when sequenced into your track. Try it!
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The easiest way to get rid of breath noise is to use a gate. You want to set it up very carefully to make sure you aren't losing any important parts of the words - a useful rule of thumb is to keep your attack and release times relatively slow. When in doubt, take it easy and manually remove any problem parts. There are de-breathing plug-ins that can help, too.
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Breath noise can be problematic, but it's also vital on some vocals - completely removing it can make a vocal sound artificial and over-processed. Sometimes the words and breaths will slide between each other, so make sure you set any gain reduction carefully to leave some of the vocal in the track.
Whether manually or with a plug-in like Vocal Rider, try using old-fashioned volume controls to balance your vocal.
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We often tell you to compress a vocal to achieve a balanced level, but before you do that, you want to ensure that the volume is level too. What's the difference? Well, compressing squashes the signal and makes it more powerful, but it also changes the overall character of the sound. Try riding the fader manually, changing the levels of individual word clips or using something like Waves' Vocal Rider to achieve a more natural-sounding result.
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When recording a vocal, have your lyrics written out on a sheet and have three different- coloured pens to hand. When the vocalist sings a part of the vocal right, draw a line through that part with a pen. When they sing the same part well again on a subsequent take, strike the part through with a different colour. Don't stop recording until you have all three colours through every line!
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Sometimes when you're on a deadline, have been looking forward to recording a vocal or have been planning it for ages, you might be tempted to go ahead with a recording even if your singer has a cold or otherwise isn't in the best condition. Check with the vocalist first - they know their voice, and they'll be able to make the best assessment of whether they're up to the job. Singing with a cold or sore throat is at best pointless, and at worst harmful. You'll all get frustrated, and waste your time.
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We think it's always worth trying a vocal in a different key, just to see how it sounds. It can be very easy to get stuck in your ways, but it only takes a minute to sing a line in a different key. You might decide it sounds horrible, but you could also be pleasantly surprised. You might even decide to put a cheesy (sorry, 'epic') key change in the track.
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You can add a lot of extra excitement to key bars or phrases in your track by adding some panning effects. This works on anything, but with vocals, it's ideal used on backing vocals or double-tracked words. The strength and speed of the panning are entirely up to you, but one thing that's often worth doing is softening the extremity of the pan.
Applying a little creative processing on key lines of a vocal is a great way to add emphasis and effect.
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A lot of vocal processing is about achieving a consistent sound throughout, but that doesn't mean you can't accentuate some key lines. Try using some extreme processing - for example, you can put one phrase through an EQ and make it sound like it's coming down a phone line (cut below 300Hz and above 3kHz), to make it stand out.
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To make a vocal sound more intimate, use very strong compression. The sounds you are trying to pull out are the breath and mouth noise of your vocal, as these are the sounds we associate with somebody speaking very close to our ears. With this in mind, it's also a good idea to keep your vocals quite dry too, for a more natural sound.
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Remember that your vocal is usually not just another part of your track - it is your track. There will be musical elements that people like, and riffs that people love, but it's best to treat your vocal as the hook in almost every instance, as that is quite simply how most other people will view it.
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Processing is great for adding emphasis to a vocal, but you can add interest by using some real gear too. For example, try recording a version of your vocal into an iPhone (you can set this up to run at the same time as you're capturing the vocal with a proper mic), or you might consider recording through a megaphone or guitar amp.
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Try capturing vocals in different places. Generally dry is good, but if you have a great echoing hallway, or even a roof or a field… why not? When recording outside your main enemy will be wind, so you'll need either wind baffles or a foam cover, but if you want a completely dry vocal, free from reverb and reflection, it's hard to beat the middle of a field on a misty morning!
Singing slightly flat is a common problem among vocalists, so we often pitchshift the whole part up a few cents.
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Most vocalists you are likely to encounter will sing a little flat rather than sharp, and this can often sound quite noticeable and unpleasant. One quick fix for a lot of vocal parts is simply to nudge the whole thing up by 5 to 25 cents. You'll be amazed how many vocals this will help.
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Try different mics, if you have them, including cheap and old ones. Obviously if you're capturing an opera singer's voice, this could be considered something of a waste of their gift, but sometimes the character and flaws of the mic can really add something, even if only used as a layering effect.
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While it is true that you can get awesome results with a relatively cheap microphone, good singers deserve a decent mic, and one that suits them. If you have access to a few different mics, try them out on different singers and you'll often hear little plosives or mouth noises that aren't audible on other mics. When aiming for expensive-sounding vocals, get a mic that suits your singer.
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With automation available on almost everything in the studio now, it's incredibly easy to become a control freak with delay and other processing - so go for it! We like adding some delay to a few key words or parts of our vocal to create excitement. It can work with reverb and other effects too - and for added impact, try those effects on a bus and add an auto-panner.
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Vocoded vocals can be quite hard to make intelligible. There are any number of more modern plug-ins out there now that are designed to make things clearer, and they usually do a great job, but it can still be really useful to ask your vocalist to enunciate clearly and to try to put some unnatural emphasis on the plosives and individual syllables.
Giving your vocalist a little reverb in their headphones will help them tell whether they are singing in key.
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You should always try to give your singer some reverb in their cans while they're singing (unless they don't want it). The idea Giving your vocalist a little reverb in their headphones will help them tell whether they are singing in key is to keep their confidence high by giving them a good impression of their own voice, and to give them something they can pitch to.
Your vocalist can't listen and sing at the same time - at least, not like the engineer can listen - but with reverb, they can hear the pitch.
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If you have the opportunity, and know you are working with a great singer, leave the mic running while they warm up (after checking with them that it's OK to do so). You could strike gold, even if you only catch a little phrase to drop in at the start of a track (think Amy Winehouse). Failing that, you might get some great archive material to use when VH1 run a special show to commemorate the 30th anniversary of your first album…
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For a thicker vocal sound, don't just add reverb and delay on busses. Try adding them directly to the channel and then following that with some compression to really pull the elements together. Slap-back delay (with very fast delay times) is a perfect candidate for this kind of thing. It's also important to keep release and feedback times short to avoid making a mess.
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You should try to have one set of headphones for the singer, and another set for you to listen out for any problems on the recording. It's far too easy, when you're just listening to a singer without cans, to miss a little bump from a ring or button on the mic stand that can completely ruin a recorded phrase.
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No matter how carefully you've set your initial input level, singers will sometimes stray into louder territory than you planned, so even if you've tested their loudest note and left ample headroom, keep a stern eye on the incoming level to watch for clipping.
Grouping vocals helps pull different takes together and makes it easier to create separation between sections.
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It's usually worth grouping the various parts of your vocal track so that you have one group (or channel) for the lead vox, one for doubled words and breath effects and one for the backing vocals, and then adding compression. This will pull all the vocal parts together nicely and make them seem more coherent, and will make it easier for the listener to differentiate the vocals from other elements of the track.
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Generally speaking, the place for a vocal is in the centre of a mix. It sounds obvious, but listen to almost any great rock or pop recording and you'll hear that while the instruments might be dotted all over the place, the vocals are usually centred, and it's no accident. The vocal is normally the key element, and centring it makes it, well, central. We're also used to people speaking to us from the front, so it feels more personal.
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Be very wary of anything that makes noise when recording. Even quiet noise will be amplified, including the slightest rustle of paper - this is why it's handy for the vocalist to have the lyrics memorised. Other culprits include rattling bracelets, necklaces and change or keys in pockets. Get rid of them before you start!
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It's a good idea to always have a dictaphone or similar portable recording device ready. You never know when inspiration might strike, and even in a studio full of equipment, nothing quite beats the immediacy of hitting one button for instant recording. It can be digital, analogue… anything! They key is having instant, reliable recording at the touch of a button.
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Although various kinds of, ahem, stimulants have been considered beneficial to the creative process by many a great musician, generally speaking, people sing better sober. Stick to a nice cup of tea - it will warm the singer's throat and wake them up. Try to steer clear of milk, though, as it acts as a coagulant in the throat and can have a really adverse effect on a singer's voice.
Chopped-up vocals will almost always sound better with a little octave-wide pitchshifting on individual words.
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When chopping up parts of your vocal line and pitchshifting them, it's often hard to know where to begin. A good place to start is shifting an octave up. Alternatively, play a scale and pick notes that work in quick sequence. And whenever you repeat a syllable or vocal noise a few times, try shifting one up or down an octave. Experiment with the pitchbend, too.
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It's usually worth grouping the various parts of your vocal track so that you have one group (or channel) for the lead vox, one for doubled words and breath effects and one for the backing vocals, and then adding compression. This will pull all the vocal parts together nicely and make them seem more coherent, and will make it easier for the listener to differentiate the vocals from other elements of the track.
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One of the best ways to get vocals to cut through a mix is to use sidechain compression on competing musical parts. Instead of turning up the vocal, insert a compressor on the competing parts and let your vocal control the sidechain to duck the music. Don't overdo it - you shouldn't hear the music pump, but with careful attack and release times your vocal will magically appear in the mix.
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One of the most common sources of noise on a vocal recording is the backing track itself, bleeding out of the headphones. One simple way to avoid this is to use closed over-the-ear headphones. If your singer likes to have only one cup over their ear, try panning the headphone signal so it's not bleeding into the mic.
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If you don't have access to a singer but need to get a vocal down, you could try using a voice-altering plug-in, speech box or vocoder and recording your own version. You might be pleasantly surprised at how often you can come up with interesting, if classically imperfect, results.
Sidechain compression can be used to help individual words or phrases cut through the main vocal.
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Sidechaining isn't just a good way to get your vocal to cut through a mix, it's also a good way to get a vocal to cut through… your other vocals. You might want, for example, one bit of backing vocal - or perhaps a bit of a spoken word or vocal noodling - to cut through. Apply a sidechain-enabled compressor to your main vocal group, and then use the one you want to stand out to duck it (just make sure it's not in the same group, ducking itself!).
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We've all been here before: you're comping and editing a vocal, and you realise you haven't followed your own advice about keeping track of the vocal takes to make sure you've got a decent version of every line. So you're tweaking away, trying to get that one word to sound right. Stop. Call the singer and ask if they can either come into the studio to redo it, or record a new take and send it over.
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When writing a song, get a guide vocal down as soon as possible - it needn't be the definitive take, but it will help you get on with constructing the whole song, which will provide you with clues about how to handle your vocals. Quite often, though, you'll capture something nice and raw - it's surprising how often a rough take becomes the final version.
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Break up your vocal by using a doubled layer at the end of every verse or half-verse. If you've already double-tracked your vocals, this will mean adding another layer - one of the reasons why we suggest always getting at least three takes of a vocal. When recording, try getting a whole take sung as a harmony, ready to place wherever you need it.
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This tip may raise the ire of the traditional songwriters out there, but in this day and age, the chorus of your song doesn't need to sound that great in its raw form. Modern music (pop, soundtrack and club alike) is replete with examples of pedestrian phrases or words that have been made into a chorus by being chopped, processed and generally mucked about with.
So if you have a great verse but can't nail that chorus, just record anything and play around with it. After all, what have you got to lose?
If you've chopped up your vocal and loaded it into a sampler, try applying some octave-wide pitchbend.
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Whenever you're using chopped-up, pitch-effected vocals, it's always worth trying a bit of pitchbend action, particularly on held notes. Set the pitchbend range to 12 semitones, play the vocal back and sweep it up and down. Naturally, for this to work, you need a very powerful Auto-Tune-style device, or to chop up the phrase into individual words in a sampler - and of course, there's nothing to stop you using both!
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Auto-tuning devices are powerful tools, and they're also very versatile. If you tend to work with very fast response time settings, try making them slower for a natural effect. If you normally go slow, try some faster, T-Pain-style changes. And don't forget that you can automate the effects throughout the track. Sometimes, less is more.
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When asking your singer to do double takes of a vocal, it's worth having at least one running in the background as a guide - otherwise, if you decide to layer them, the differences in timing can make the vocals sound disjointed. Plug-in tools such as VocALign can do a great job of matching the timing of vocals, but it's always easier to get it right from the start.
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If you want some variation on your backing vocals but only have one singer, try doing them yourself. Usually even the most tone-deaf person can sing monotone, and you'll be amazed how much a monotone version of a vocal, on the root note of each passage, can thicken up and add interest to a vocal part.
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It's great to take chances and experiment, but if you're going for a specific type of track, chances are there will be a specific type of processing that goes best with it. Spend a bit of time listening to the types of effects that are used in comparable tracks - don't just use the same old effects on every vocal.
When using voice synths for harmonies, keep things simple to avoid an voerly Kraftwerk-like vocal sound.
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When using harmonising plug-ins such as Neptune's voice synthesizer, it's usually best just to use one note at a time for energetic pop. Playing chords will have the effect of making your track sound like a choir or acapella group, or like an old Kraftwerk-style vocoded vocal. Single-note harmonies sound like reinforcing backing vocals.
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If you haven't got many backing vocals - or sometimes even if you do - it's often worth finding one key word or phrase that you can repeat. Ideally this will have some resonance with the rest of the song, but it needn't. The key is to make sure it sounds punchy and catchy. More often than not, you'll find that this is the listener's favourite bit.
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When processing your vocals, it's tempting to bounce them down with the de-essing and breath removal effects applied, just to save some CPU cycles. Fair enough, but keep in mind that you might want to change these later, as when other effects such as compression and EQ are applied, they might disappear or get accentuated further. Wait until you're sure before doing anything that you can't undo.
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Sometimes a singer just isn't in the mood. Learn to recognise the signs, and suggest a break or a rain check. Don't get us wrong - if your singer spends more time sulking than singing then it might be time to look elsewhere, but vocalists can often be quite highly strung (it takes a certain type of person to get on stage and sing), so it helps if you know how to placate them..
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If you're using any kind of Auto-Tune/Neptune-esque device, keep an eye out for a vibrato control. Subtle amounts will sound natural, heavy amounts not so much, but either one can sound fantastic if used in the right way and the right context. As with all types of processing, we suggest trying automation to switch it on and off in different places.
Add some excitement to a track by using ascending harmonies and a harmonising device like Record's Neptune.
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A great way to get anticipation and excitement to a build in a track - when moving from verse to chorus, for example - is to layer some ascending harmonies. Pick a good harmony note, then while the main vocal stays on one level, take the harmonies up in musically fitting increments (these will depend on the track, of course). If your chorus is in a different key, try making your last harmony note meet the root note of the chorus.
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Pay careful attention to the order of your effects. It seems obvious, but if you have a compressor before a de-esser or a breath removal plug-in, it will make it much harder for that plug-in to distinguish what is meant to be there and what isn't. This is particularly important when dealing with plug-ins that rely on dynamics, but it applies to all effects.
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Sometimes the oldest tricks are the best, and slap-back delay has been around for quite a while. Use a very small delay time, with no feedback, and you'll get a thickening sound that's reminiscent of the best of The Beatles. Unlike a lot of vocal effects, this can often be used on the main vocal without it losing its grounding and punch.
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As an alternative to thickening your vocal track by layering on another sound and treating them as one, try playing a musical riff that follows your vocal. It needn't be prominent in the mix. If you have a tool that will create a MIDI file from your vocal, try doing that. It will have a load of smaller notes from the slides in it, though - you'll need to ditch them and stick to the core notes.
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Compression is key with vocals. If you want your vocal to cut through a mix, you'll need some level of compression to get consistent weight - how much depends on the track. A soft vocal needs some dynamic range, but if your singer was belting it over a shredding backing track, don't be afraid to push the compression all the way up to limiting.
Delay makes a great reverb subsitute (or adjunct) as, unlike reverb, it needs not completely fill out your mix.
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Reverb is a great tool for giving extra space and width to vocals, but it can also be a very dominating effect. As an alternative option, try some subtle delay. The key to not overpowering your vocal is to ensure that the delays are EQ'd - if your delay doesn't have EQ, put it on a bus and apply some EQ from there. A little bit of top- and bottom-end cut will thin it out and sound like reverb, but without the muddying tail.
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Don't just use sidechaining to help your vocal pop through. If you have a musical part (say a piano or guitar) that's playing the same notes as the vocal, try using a sidechain gate on your vocal, taking its input from the musical part, to chop your vocal with the music. It's like our layering suggestion, only more obvious and extreme.
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When you are making a vocal track, make sure the vocal comes to the fore and is the most prominent part of the mix - this usually means a certain amount of level. Singers always want their vocals louder, while the producer is often focused on the music. The genius is usually somewhere in the middle. Listen to other songs on your studio speakers and we reckon you'll be surprised just how loud the vocals are in most of them.
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If you don't have a vocalist but want to get used to working with vocals, try experimenting with acappellas. It will give you some pointers about recording good vocals, even if only through observation, and it will definitely teach you a lot about placing vocals and making the most of what you have.
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Timing is everything. If your vocal lacks energy, try applying a little pre-delay to it. Or better yet, chop up your vocal and add delay or pre-delay to certain parts, to create a tailored groove. And try using a bigger amount than with percussion - generally 1 to 3ms will be very noticeable with drums, but with vocals, you're going to need to hit about 3 to 5ms or more to even notice the difference.
De-breathing plug-ins are a great quick fix, but manually editing the breaths can be much more effective and creative.
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De-breathing plug-ins can be fantastic for reducing the overall level of breath noise, but for real punch and effect, it's worth chopping your vocal parts manually, taking out certain breaths or finishing words in a more clipped way. Fit your vocal to the melody and groove of the music.
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We often talk about using sidechain pumping on a bassline to give it groove and fit it into the mix better, and the same thing can be done with a vocal part. How much bounce you add depends entirely on the track and the vocal, but even when used subtly, it can pull a vocal right into the track without it disappearing into the mix entirely.
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You might want to try using glitch effects on certain parts of a vocal for emphasis. There are a couple of ways to do this. Sometimes we like to simply bounce a version of our vocal with our mangling plug-in of choice and use the parts that work; other times we automate the wet/dry balance. Either way, it's often also worth trying to mix some of the original signal over the results.
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If you have four versions of the same chorus line, try taking the last two, layering them under the first two and then repeating both for the second half of eight bars. Not only will this generate a nice chorusing effect, but it will also create a subtle repeating variation, giving the listener something to latch onto and keeping them from feeling like things are on a static loop.
75
As we've said before, you should always get three takes of a vocal. Try offsetting your third vocal in relation to the main vocal, perhaps a half-bar or a bar later. Now let the vocals play all the way through and wherever the extra vocal sounds great filling in the gaps, leave it in. Then just strip out all the other parts you aren't using.
Dropping your sidechain kick on a vocal can help certain words or phrases stand out, particularly with chopped vocals.
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If you are using ducking on your vocal, try taking the sidechain off for key phrases to help the vocal stand out (if it's set up properly you can make it get louder when the sidechain kick is removed). This can be particularly useful when you have some rhythmically chopped vocals, or harmonies that are bouncing off each other.
77
Vocals have a lot of messy frequencies in them, particularly if you've recorded them yourself. Get used to trimming out all the bottom end you don't need with EQ. Just be sure not to take the weight out of the voice. You want it to sound natural, but not like the deep, soothing baritone-style vocal you get on talk radio.
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Rather than boosting your vocal with EQ to make it pop through the mix, try cutting out some of the corresponding frequencies in the competing parts (guitars and synths are the usual culprits). We can't stress enough that boosting should be done in moderation to add a little edge - cut should always be your first port of call when trouble-shooting frequency issues.
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As you'll no doubt be aware, recording and comping vocals can be a pretty messy and confusing business on the screen. For this reason it's always a good idea to bounce down an instrumental track and place it in a fresh project before you start. This makes recording easier and more responsive (no latency or glitching) and makes it far easier to comp the vocals, ready to import into your actual project file.
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Parallel compression can work really well with vocals. It preserves the natural rhythm and expression, but still lets you fatten things up a little. Or if you have two layered vocals, try compressing one of them heavily, while leaving the other quite natural.
Bit-crushing plug-ins are ideal for adding presence and bite to any part of a mix, and vocals are no exception.
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One way to give your vocal some sparkle and presence without having to add EQ (which can just add to the mess), is to use a bit-crushing plug-in such as the free TAL-Bitcrusher. Whether you apply this with extreme settings or just use a smidgen is up to you, as is whether you apply it to a solo vocal line, layer or entire group.
82
If you have a multiband compressor that allows an external sidechain, try making only some of the frequency range pump rhythmically. You can preserve the top end of the vocal and still create the impression of pumping - this tends to keep vocals audible in the mix while giving things bounce.
83
Many vocalists find it easier to hit the right notes if they sing powerfully. If your singer is regularly missing notes, try asking them to sing with more force. Just remember that this will tire out their voice much faster, and none of the subsequent takes are likely to match the early ones, so it is generally best saved until towards the end of a session.
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Reverb fills out a vocal section and can give it much more character and life, but it can also really obscure it. Try using a sidechain compressor on your vocal's reverb (or indeed any reverb bus) to duck the reverb while the vocals are sounding. You usually want pretty fast attack times, but try to get the release to open in time with your track.
85
When you are comping vocals, it's best to be decisive. If your sequencer offers automatic comping facilities, start by making a copy of a take, and then be utterly ruthless. Don't worry about what you might need later - just get stuff you're happy with. If you find a line missing, you always have the back-up, and if you can't get it resung, you can slather on the processing to disguise the flaws!
Improve the presence of your vocal by centring any lower frequencies with an application like Sonalksis' StereoTools.
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If you have a stereo enhancing tool with the ability to centre frequencies below a certain point, try adding an artificial stereo widener to your vocal and following it with a stereo enhancer plug-in, then setting the crossover to about 1kHz. You're aiming to keep the vocal centred and weighty, but also adding a little width to the space at the top end.
87
It sounds obvious, but make sure your singer is singing in their ideal range. If you've already made a track and they've come in to do a vocal on it, and the vocal is good but the range is a strain, try shifting the key of the track. These days this is usually easy to do (unless your track was played and recorded live), and often it can transform a track even before you've put the vocal in.
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When you have two layered vocals, you can add some stereo spread and excitement by adding a tremolo or other rhythmic panning tool to one of the layers. Make sure it's lower in the mix, to keep things grounded, and try thinning the panned sound out a little with some EQ to make sure the track stays centred.
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In most cases you want your vocal nicely panned, but sometimes, when the lyrics are recounting (or actually are) a conversation, it can be a good idea to pan the alternating lines from one side to the other. For an absolutely exquisite example of this, have a listen to Level by The Raconteurs , Jack White's superlative-defying side project.
90
Reverse and gated reverb are usually used on drums, but with the right timings they can add enormous impact to a vocal. You generally don't want them running all the way through a track, but judicious use can transform a lonely-sounding vocal.
Chorus and doubling effects can be used on backing vocals without taking away too much punch and presence.
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Doubler and chorus effects are great for thickening vocals, but they also take away from the punch. Try using them on a bus or on one of two layers to ensure that at least one part of the vocal is strong and dominant. The same goes for phasing and flanging. Keep the levels on the dry side to start with, then raise them slowly during the final mix session.
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A powerful vocal, suddenly removed, can leave a perceived empty space in the busiest of tracks. Set up a delay bus and send some of your vocal channel to it over the course of the last line before the vocal drops out, and let the delays ease the vocals out gently. Using a panner or some kind of pitch modulating effect (such as Audio Damage's Discord 3) will add further interest.
93
Sometimes a live vocal performance can sound amazing, but once you record it, you're stuck with it. To get a similar effect on a studio-recorded vocal, play it back through some speakers, then record that playback and layer it underneath your original. Since this is almost exactly what happens with live feedback, the result will be strikingly similar.
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For some real bite on your vocals, you can't beat a bit of distortion, and almost every DAW now comes with some kind of guitar pedal and amp simulator, so make use of them. The trick, as ever, is to strike the right balance between bite and intelligibility - unless you just want a mangled vocal, in which case, go for your life!
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Whenever you are making a track with vocals, it automatically becomes a 'song', and when producing songs, it's almost always a good idea to start with the radio edit. This flies in the face of many electronic producers' instincts, but it is much easier to spin out a good club cut from a radio edit than working the other way around. More importantly, it helps you concentrate on the power of your vocal.
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All these tips are guidelines, and there's no need to think that you should apply all, or any, of them on every occasion. Rules are there for a reason, but they are made to be broken, and at least half the pearls of wisdom here were discovered by accident - indeed, many of them were heresy when they first arrived on the scene.
Don't be afraid to ignore all of our advice if you think your stuff sounds great - just make sure it sounds great to other people too!
Friday 18 November 2016
Audio Recording Basic Training Chapter 8 Excerpt
Lead Vocal Mic Placement
Just like with a great sounding instrument, many times with a good singer you'll get the "sound" automatically just by putting him/her in front of the right microphone. On the other hand, with a bad or inexperienced singer even a high priced microphone or signal processing won't add the polish you're looking for. That said, if you start with the correct technique, you're half-way there.
There are a number of things to remember before you begin to place the mic:
The best mic in the house won't necessarily get the best vocal sounds, so don't be afraid to experiment with different mics.
Decoupling of the stand from the floor will help get rid of many unwanted low-frequency rumbles that occur from truck traffic, machinery being used down the street, footsteps, and things that are even lower in frequency than normal hearing. Just place the stand on a couple of mouse pads or a rug for an inexpensive solution.
One of the main things that you're trying to do with mic placement is eliminate pops, lip smacks, and breath blasts.
An easy way to have a vocalist gauge the distance from the mic is by hand lengths. An open hand is approximately eight inches while a fist is about four inches. By saying, Stay two fists away”, the vocalist can easily judge his distance and usually doesn't forget (see Figure 8.2).
Exercise Pod: Recording The Lead Vocal
E8.1: Recording Lead Vocal
A) Place the mic even with the vocalist's lips about one hand away (see Figure 8.2) and have the him sing the verse of a song. Did you hear any pops or breath blasts?
B) Move the vocalist back to about two hands away and sing the same part of the song. Turn up the gain so it's the same as before. Did you hear any pops or breath blasts now?
C) Move the vocalist back to one hand away and readjust the gain. Place the mic even with the vocalist's nose and have the him sing the verse of a song. Did you hear any pops or breath blasts? Did the sound of the vocal change? Is it more or less defined?
D) Now place the mic even with the vocalist's eyes and point it down towards the lips (see Figure 8.3). Have him sing the verse of a song. Did you hear any pops or breath blasts? Did the sound of the vocal change? Is it more or less defined?
E) Now place the mic even with the vocalist's lips about one hand away again. Either change the pickup pattern to omnidirectional or change the mic to one with an omni pattern.
Have him sing the verse of a song again. Did you hear any pops or breath blasts? Did the sound of the vocal change? Is it more or less defined?
F) Place the mic so there's no breath blasts or pops.
E8.2: Adding A Compressor
A) Go back to your favorite mic, place it at either nose or eye level, point at the lips and continue.
B) Insert a compressor into the signal chain either on an insert in the console or preamp, or placed between the preamp and DAW input.
C) Set the Attack And Release controls to medium, the Ratio to 4:1, and raise the Threshold until there's 2dB on vocal peaks. Can you hear the compressor when it kicks in? Does it change the sound of the vocal?
D) Decrease the Attack time (make it faster) until it catches more of the peaks and there's 5 or 6dB on vocal peaks. Can you hear the compressor when it kicks in? What happens if you lengthen the Release time? Does it change the sound of the vocal?
E) Set the Output control of the compressor so that the record level is about -10dB on the meters.
You've Got To Hear Yourself
In order for a vocalist to stay in tune, she's got to hear herself. How much she hears herself will actually determine if she stays in pitch or not.
Some singers sing sharp when they sing too hard because they push themselves over the top of the correct pitch when they're not loud enough in the headphones so they sing harder to compensate. The secret is to either have more vocal or less of everything else in the monitors or phones, but be aware, pitch and timing problems also occur if a singer hears too much of the vocal and not enough band in the mix.
If the vocalist is singing flat, turn him down a little or add more of everyone else in the mix. Less vocal makes you want to sing harder (and possibly raise your pitch slightly) and vice versa.
Sometimes the mix is too dense and having a mix with fewer instruments can help with a pitch problems.
Boost the bass guitar (the root of all chords) and kick drum (the root of all rhythm) to help the singer with pitch and to stay in the pocket.
Turn down anything that's heavily chorused and turn up anything that has a more "centered" tonal frequency (like a piano).
Sometimes listening to only the rhythm guitar instead of two guitars (if there are two in the mix) can be helpful since some singers can hear their pitch better from a simple tonally-centered instrument than from screaming guitars or airy synth patches.
Copyright 2014-2016 Bobby Owsinski Media Group
Just like with a great sounding instrument, many times with a good singer you'll get the "sound" automatically just by putting him/her in front of the right microphone. On the other hand, with a bad or inexperienced singer even a high priced microphone or signal processing won't add the polish you're looking for. That said, if you start with the correct technique, you're half-way there.
There are a number of things to remember before you begin to place the mic:
The best mic in the house won't necessarily get the best vocal sounds, so don't be afraid to experiment with different mics.
Decoupling of the stand from the floor will help get rid of many unwanted low-frequency rumbles that occur from truck traffic, machinery being used down the street, footsteps, and things that are even lower in frequency than normal hearing. Just place the stand on a couple of mouse pads or a rug for an inexpensive solution.
One of the main things that you're trying to do with mic placement is eliminate pops, lip smacks, and breath blasts.
An easy way to have a vocalist gauge the distance from the mic is by hand lengths. An open hand is approximately eight inches while a fist is about four inches. By saying, Stay two fists away”, the vocalist can easily judge his distance and usually doesn't forget (see Figure 8.2).
Exercise Pod: Recording The Lead Vocal
E8.1: Recording Lead Vocal
A) Place the mic even with the vocalist's lips about one hand away (see Figure 8.2) and have the him sing the verse of a song. Did you hear any pops or breath blasts?
B) Move the vocalist back to about two hands away and sing the same part of the song. Turn up the gain so it's the same as before. Did you hear any pops or breath blasts now?
C) Move the vocalist back to one hand away and readjust the gain. Place the mic even with the vocalist's nose and have the him sing the verse of a song. Did you hear any pops or breath blasts? Did the sound of the vocal change? Is it more or less defined?
D) Now place the mic even with the vocalist's eyes and point it down towards the lips (see Figure 8.3). Have him sing the verse of a song. Did you hear any pops or breath blasts? Did the sound of the vocal change? Is it more or less defined?
E) Now place the mic even with the vocalist's lips about one hand away again. Either change the pickup pattern to omnidirectional or change the mic to one with an omni pattern.
Have him sing the verse of a song again. Did you hear any pops or breath blasts? Did the sound of the vocal change? Is it more or less defined?
F) Place the mic so there's no breath blasts or pops.
E8.2: Adding A Compressor
A) Go back to your favorite mic, place it at either nose or eye level, point at the lips and continue.
B) Insert a compressor into the signal chain either on an insert in the console or preamp, or placed between the preamp and DAW input.
C) Set the Attack And Release controls to medium, the Ratio to 4:1, and raise the Threshold until there's 2dB on vocal peaks. Can you hear the compressor when it kicks in? Does it change the sound of the vocal?
D) Decrease the Attack time (make it faster) until it catches more of the peaks and there's 5 or 6dB on vocal peaks. Can you hear the compressor when it kicks in? What happens if you lengthen the Release time? Does it change the sound of the vocal?
E) Set the Output control of the compressor so that the record level is about -10dB on the meters.
You've Got To Hear Yourself
In order for a vocalist to stay in tune, she's got to hear herself. How much she hears herself will actually determine if she stays in pitch or not.
Some singers sing sharp when they sing too hard because they push themselves over the top of the correct pitch when they're not loud enough in the headphones so they sing harder to compensate. The secret is to either have more vocal or less of everything else in the monitors or phones, but be aware, pitch and timing problems also occur if a singer hears too much of the vocal and not enough band in the mix.
If the vocalist is singing flat, turn him down a little or add more of everyone else in the mix. Less vocal makes you want to sing harder (and possibly raise your pitch slightly) and vice versa.
Sometimes the mix is too dense and having a mix with fewer instruments can help with a pitch problems.
Boost the bass guitar (the root of all chords) and kick drum (the root of all rhythm) to help the singer with pitch and to stay in the pocket.
Turn down anything that's heavily chorused and turn up anything that has a more "centered" tonal frequency (like a piano).
Sometimes listening to only the rhythm guitar instead of two guitars (if there are two in the mix) can be helpful since some singers can hear their pitch better from a simple tonally-centered instrument than from screaming guitars or airy synth patches.
Copyright 2014-2016 Bobby Owsinski Media Group
Thursday 17 November 2016
Advanced Guitar Micing And Mixing
Another long guide on the art of mic'ing a guitar cab with 2 different microphones to achieve a fuller sound. Also includes tips for use on mixdown to get that "pro" sound.
Electric Guitar Mic'ing.
There are two fields of thought on Mic usage when mic'ing guitar cabinets / amps. Using a Dynamic mic like a Shure SM-57 gives a very "gritty" sound, but often lacks top end sparkle that makes the sound cut through in a mix meaning you have to apply lots of EQ and / or reverb to get a usable sound. Using a Condenser mic will often give a more detailed sound with more "fizz", but often lacks lower-frequency response and as a result can sound too "thin" and "transparent".
In this tutorial I will outline the setup and procedures for combining these two mic's to enjoy the benefits of both, allowing you to achieve a "richer" electric guitar sound from your home studio setup. I will also be covering some basics on treatment and practices to employ to push that sound even further upon mixdown.
Equipment used:
Guitar Amp - The amp you use is pretty much down to what you have - bear in mind that the bigger the amp, the "phatter" the end sound (in most cases). Also, bear in mind that it is best to drive the amp pretty hard when recording the sound, as the desirable distortion elements will not kick in at low volumes (especially when mic'ing Tube (Valve) Amps. As a result, it is sometimes more desirable to crank up a small amp and record that, rather than using a large amp, but having to run it at lower "power levels" due to neighbors, or the wife :)
If you have a range of practice and "stage" amps, try them out, find the one which one sounds best at the volume levels you can operate at.
Dynamic Mic - In this tutorial I will be using a Shure SM-58 - ideally an SM-57 is more desirable (but I don't have one! :), however nearly any dynamic mic will do the role sufficiently.
Dynamic mics can take very extreme SPL's (Sound Pressure Levels) and as a result, you can shove them right next to the cone to really pick up the "roar" of the amp. Dynamic mics, due to their build design, also have a tendency to have a slower "transient response" - I won't go into detail here, but this is again very desirable to close mic'ing a cab.
Condenser Mic - In this tutorial I will be using a Rode NT-1 (or NT1A ), however any LARGE DIAPHRAGM condenser mic will be sufficient (note that you should use a large diaphragm mic, a small diaphragm mic will not capture the same tonality - feel free to experiment, by all means, but that's not how I work :) Condenser mic's are quite a bit more delicate than dynamic mic's, as a result you shouldn't shove one of these right next to the cone, the high SPL's could possibly damage the mic - keep it at least 4 inches away and you should be fine.
Condenser mics will usually have a very good "transient response" leading to a very dynamic and "open" sound.
Pre Amps / Mixing Console - In this tutorial I will be using 2 mics, one of which (The NT-1) requires Phantom Powering. I personally use my Behringer MX3282a, however any desk should do the job nicely (Even the MX802 is capable for this task). If you have the option of using a high quality channel strip (like a Joe Meek VC3Q for example) then use it to feed the Condenser Mic in this setup and you can use the compression settings to you advantage when tracking.
Recording Medium - Most of you will be recording onto computer, I will leave how to hook everything up and getting your software running smoothly until another tutorial.
Method:
Wherever possible, set the guitar amp up in a separate room to your studio / control room. If you have a vocal booth, nearby spare bedroom or even a cupboard, use that. Set up the amp as usual, dial in your preferred settings and have a quick jam to check that everything is working ok and sounding the way you like it. Remember that if you are using a Tube Amp you need to let it "warm up" for at least an hour before you start recording or the tonality of the sound may change as the valves change in temperature.
Start off by positioning the condenser mic. Using a stand set it up about 12-15 inches away from the speaker and so that the capsule is facing towards one of the cones. If your cab has 2 or more cones then concentrate on just one cone, try not to place the mic's in between the cones as the sound will nearly always be weaker.
Now you need to plug the Condenser Mic into a channel on your Mixer / Preamp. Ensure that the Phantom power on your Mixing desk / preamp is turned Off, this is important, plugging an XLR lead into a Condenser mic when the Phantom Power is on can easily damage the Microphone. Once it is plugged in at both ends (Mic and Channel Strip), then turn on the Phantom Power, wait about 10 seconds for it to level out. Bring the channel fader up to Unity (0dB) and set all the EQ's flat. Start off with the gain all the way down. Get a friend, your sessionist or anyone else to play the guitar while you adjust the gain trim - make sure that the signal does not peak and averages around 0dB on the mixer (Note, we are only dealing with the MIXER here, not the recording medium yet!).
Now we need to setup a "headphone mix". Plug a pair of headphones into the "headphone" out of your mixer / preamp. You should now be able to hear the guitar in your headphones via the Condenser mic - so far so good :)
Turn up the headphone volume nice and loud and venture back into the room where the Guitar Amp is setup. You need the headphones nice and loud so that you hear the sound that the mic is picking up rather than the sound of the actual cab. Now position the Condenser mic so that it is in the sweet-spot. Spend a good few minutes moving the mic around slightly until you are confident it is picking up the best possible sound - it should sound "airy" and "open" - don't worry that it does have much "grit" about it, we will address that in a minute :).
Once you are happy with the positioning, go back into your control room. Make sure you shut all the doors between the two locations and use pillows / towels / duvets / quilts / family pets to block any gaps where sound is leaking through. Now listen to the sound of the cab back through on your studio monitors - if you are happy with the sound, you are ready to move onto the next mic - if not, put the headphones back on and venture back into the "live room" to reposition the mic again.
When you have got the sound you are after with the one condenser mic, you are ready to place the dynamic mic (SM-58 in my case) to add more "depth" and "grit" to the sound. When placing the Dynamic mic ensure that you don't knock the Condenser mic accidentally as you will then have to reposition it to get an optimal sound. Get the dynamic mic right up next to the grill, I place mine about 2inches away slightly off axis pointing towards the centre of the speaker - These close mic'ing techniques are already covered in another tutorial available here at Home Recording Central.
Now that the mic is in position it is time to head back into the control room. Turn the fader all the way down to -Inf on the Condensers's channel and turn the Dynamic's channel up to Unity - as before, make sure the EQ is set to flat and then slowly adjust the gain until you get a strong signal that fluctuates around 0dB. The dynamic mic should sound pretty good by itself - we're done! both mic's are in place and we are ready to record?
Nah, that's far too easy...
Here comes the real catch of using two or more mics on a single sound source - our good friend "phasing" - this bit is FUN!
From here on the Condenser Mic (Rode NT-1) will be running on Channel 1 and the Dynamic Mic (Sure SM-58) on channel 2; just for the sake of simplicity.
Set channel 2's fader to -Inf dB so that you are now not hearing any sound from either of the mics. Bring up channel 1's fader to Unity again and you will now only be getting the sound from the condenser Mic, now, bring up channel 2's fader.. whats happening.. the sounds getting thinner?! Yep - that'll be the phasing.
Phasing occurs because the Mics are receiving two different "waveforms" (like you see on the computer screen in your Sample editing program) - Because the mic's are recording from the same source (the guitar amp) and are very close together, these waveforms will cancel each other out when they are mixed together resulting in a very thin sound as opposed to what the two mics would sound like if they were "in-phase" (which would be "phatter" than just the one mic).
Obviously this is not a good guitar sound, what the hell are you going on about jues, you made me read all this way and you have created a crap guitar sound. Hold on, this bit's a touch fiddily, but you'll be pleasantly supprised when we get it right :)
Have both channels set to unity and both panned centrally - pop on the headphones again and go back into the "live room". Do not adjust the position of the Condenser Mic, that is find where it is, the easiest one to adjust is the dynamic mic (the SM-58), pick it up and move it about very slowly while someone else is playing the guitar - as you move the position of the mic, so the phasing will shift - it will sound a bit like a jet plane going overhead and sounds a bit wierd - eventually you will find the meeting point of the waveforms and as if by magic the signals will go "in phase" - go back into your control room and check it on the monitor speakers - you will know when you get it because the sound will no longer sound thin and lifeless, but all phat and creamy. If you have a very willing friend, it's preferable to send them into the control room to move the Dynamic Mic around while you listen on the speakers. Shout at him to stop when he finally gets it in the right position and the two signals go "in-phase".
Once you have got the two mics "in-phase" you must do your best not to move them - very slight movements shouldn't be a major problem - but large knocks will almost certainly move them enough to put the signals out of phase again - in which case you will need to go back and readjust the positioning (and hit the person who just knocked the mic's :)
Right, so we have a phat, in-phase guitar sound coming though into the mics - excellent, we are now ready to track this sound onto your recording medium (in my case, I use Cubase SX). Ideally we want to record both mics separately so that we can apply different EQ, compression, reverb, delay, and volume settings to each one if we need to. As we are only using two channels, you need not worry about using AUX sends or groups - just pan Channel 1 hard left and Channel 2 hard right - you will now have one mic coming out of each of the two speakers and with a it of luck into the respective Left and Right inputs on your computer.
And away you go, play along to the track, monitoring on your studio speakers - remember not to monitor too loud or it may bleed across from the control room into the live room - if you are getting a bit of "bleed" then you need to use more pillows, etc to block any gaps that the sound is travelling though, or just turn it down in the control room a bit. When you have finished your take you will have two separate recordings - one for each mic.
Hurrah - we're done, you can now pan these signals central on the computer and adjust the level of them and apply a bit of EQ to get the sound you are after. As far as the levels go I will start with the condenser mic up at unity and then mix in the dynamic mic signal until it adds the required amount of "grind" to the sound...
"Okay, this sounds pretty phat - but it's not PHAT! C'mon, you promised PHAT guitar sound!" :)
Okay, here are my tips to using that mic setup to achieve a REALLY phat sound - but these are my tips - so be careful who you give them out to :D
First up is the good old time honoured classic of double tracking. I double track every single guitar part that I record. This very simply involves playing the part as per usual and then going back and recording it again (make sure that you solo the first performance, as it may put you off if you listen back to it when you record the second). Then just pan the first take hard left and the second take hard right. Obviously your playing needs to be pretty tight for this to work, but as long as you (or your sessionist) is fairly competent it will work great - this technique along will improve the phatness of the sound by a great amount. There is also a trick whereby you flip the phase of one of the takes, thus putting it out of phase with the other - this creates a psycho-acoustic illusion whereby there seems to be a very large "hole" in the middle of the stereo field, you'll find that vocals, bass and drums fit beautifully in this gap - tho it is entirely up to you as to whether you like this sound or not.
Next up is the use of compression. I'm not going to give a detailed explanation of compression here, there are plenty of articles available on that subject alone. The things to bear in mind is that you are after a really "crunchy" feel when compressing electric guitar (especially the distorted parts).
Set the ratio to about 4:1 and have the attack around 18-25ms and the release to about 20-30ms. Now lower the threshold slowly - get it to just the right spot and the sound will become a damn sight crunchier, push it too far and it will become too "flat" and "smooth" sounding - this maybe what you are after, but I'm personally not :) Clean guitar sounds can sometimes benefit from a slightly longer release to exaggerate the playing - experiment with the attack and release to get the sound you are after.
Because we used two mics we have the option of either compressing them individually or compressing the combined result - I personally go for the latter option (by placing the compressor on a bus and bussing the two signals to that), but you can easily experiment with different settings for the dynamic and condenser mics. Bear in mind that the dynamic mic is meant to add "grit" and so leans to the side of "over-compression" where as the condenser mic is used to capture the "air" and "fizz" and so probably wants a bit less - however, let your ears be the judge.
I personally wouldn't even touch EQ until you are doing the final mix of the tune when all the instruments are in place - go easy on the EQ, don't use too much and try to cut rather than boost - you may want to apply a Low Pass Cut under 120Hz to make a bit of room for the bass guitar if it's betting a bit lost - also, cutting at around 800Hz can give a bit more "thrash" to the sound.
Go _very_ easy on reverb on the Distorted sound. If you really want to use a bit of 'verb, then choose either a plate program or a small room program and send only a small amount - if you can hear the reverb then you have probably applied a bit too much - too much reverb will only muddy the mix, stealing frequencies away from the other instruments resulting in your mix sounding a mess. Clean guitar is a different story - clean guitar will sound much warmer with a bit of plate, room, or even chamber reverb on it - make sure the decay times are not set too high unless the piece is very laid back - stay under about 2 seconds, and again, don't send too much or it will sound messy and amateur.
Tap delays can also sound really good on clean guitar (not distortion!), use small taps (start with one at around 40-75 depending on the tempo of the track) (remember BPM x 0.6 = Time in Milliseconds) - you can add up to two or three taps before things start getting a bit messy, if you plugin (or outboard) has filters built in, use them to good effect to "filter away" the later taps - if you also offset the taps in the stereo field it can sound VERY pleasing.
As a last pointer, I will recommend that it is a good idea to do a track in "sections" - if there are both clean and distorted parts in the song, then do a first take and get all the distortion parts down, then go back and do another take and get all the clean parts down on a separate track (as in Lane) - this way you will avoid any timing issues or noises created by pressing pedals / stomp boxes - it also makes it easier to apply effects only to certain sections of the song.
Well, guess I've waffled enough - enjoy, and let me know how you get on.
Electric Guitar Mic'ing.
There are two fields of thought on Mic usage when mic'ing guitar cabinets / amps. Using a Dynamic mic like a Shure SM-57 gives a very "gritty" sound, but often lacks top end sparkle that makes the sound cut through in a mix meaning you have to apply lots of EQ and / or reverb to get a usable sound. Using a Condenser mic will often give a more detailed sound with more "fizz", but often lacks lower-frequency response and as a result can sound too "thin" and "transparent".
In this tutorial I will outline the setup and procedures for combining these two mic's to enjoy the benefits of both, allowing you to achieve a "richer" electric guitar sound from your home studio setup. I will also be covering some basics on treatment and practices to employ to push that sound even further upon mixdown.
Equipment used:
Guitar Amp - The amp you use is pretty much down to what you have - bear in mind that the bigger the amp, the "phatter" the end sound (in most cases). Also, bear in mind that it is best to drive the amp pretty hard when recording the sound, as the desirable distortion elements will not kick in at low volumes (especially when mic'ing Tube (Valve) Amps. As a result, it is sometimes more desirable to crank up a small amp and record that, rather than using a large amp, but having to run it at lower "power levels" due to neighbors, or the wife :)
If you have a range of practice and "stage" amps, try them out, find the one which one sounds best at the volume levels you can operate at.
Dynamic Mic - In this tutorial I will be using a Shure SM-58 - ideally an SM-57 is more desirable (but I don't have one! :), however nearly any dynamic mic will do the role sufficiently.
Dynamic mics can take very extreme SPL's (Sound Pressure Levels) and as a result, you can shove them right next to the cone to really pick up the "roar" of the amp. Dynamic mics, due to their build design, also have a tendency to have a slower "transient response" - I won't go into detail here, but this is again very desirable to close mic'ing a cab.
Condenser Mic - In this tutorial I will be using a Rode NT-1 (or NT1A ), however any LARGE DIAPHRAGM condenser mic will be sufficient (note that you should use a large diaphragm mic, a small diaphragm mic will not capture the same tonality - feel free to experiment, by all means, but that's not how I work :) Condenser mic's are quite a bit more delicate than dynamic mic's, as a result you shouldn't shove one of these right next to the cone, the high SPL's could possibly damage the mic - keep it at least 4 inches away and you should be fine.
Condenser mics will usually have a very good "transient response" leading to a very dynamic and "open" sound.
Pre Amps / Mixing Console - In this tutorial I will be using 2 mics, one of which (The NT-1) requires Phantom Powering. I personally use my Behringer MX3282a, however any desk should do the job nicely (Even the MX802 is capable for this task). If you have the option of using a high quality channel strip (like a Joe Meek VC3Q for example) then use it to feed the Condenser Mic in this setup and you can use the compression settings to you advantage when tracking.
Recording Medium - Most of you will be recording onto computer, I will leave how to hook everything up and getting your software running smoothly until another tutorial.
Method:
Wherever possible, set the guitar amp up in a separate room to your studio / control room. If you have a vocal booth, nearby spare bedroom or even a cupboard, use that. Set up the amp as usual, dial in your preferred settings and have a quick jam to check that everything is working ok and sounding the way you like it. Remember that if you are using a Tube Amp you need to let it "warm up" for at least an hour before you start recording or the tonality of the sound may change as the valves change in temperature.
Start off by positioning the condenser mic. Using a stand set it up about 12-15 inches away from the speaker and so that the capsule is facing towards one of the cones. If your cab has 2 or more cones then concentrate on just one cone, try not to place the mic's in between the cones as the sound will nearly always be weaker.
Now you need to plug the Condenser Mic into a channel on your Mixer / Preamp. Ensure that the Phantom power on your Mixing desk / preamp is turned Off, this is important, plugging an XLR lead into a Condenser mic when the Phantom Power is on can easily damage the Microphone. Once it is plugged in at both ends (Mic and Channel Strip), then turn on the Phantom Power, wait about 10 seconds for it to level out. Bring the channel fader up to Unity (0dB) and set all the EQ's flat. Start off with the gain all the way down. Get a friend, your sessionist or anyone else to play the guitar while you adjust the gain trim - make sure that the signal does not peak and averages around 0dB on the mixer (Note, we are only dealing with the MIXER here, not the recording medium yet!).
Now we need to setup a "headphone mix". Plug a pair of headphones into the "headphone" out of your mixer / preamp. You should now be able to hear the guitar in your headphones via the Condenser mic - so far so good :)
Turn up the headphone volume nice and loud and venture back into the room where the Guitar Amp is setup. You need the headphones nice and loud so that you hear the sound that the mic is picking up rather than the sound of the actual cab. Now position the Condenser mic so that it is in the sweet-spot. Spend a good few minutes moving the mic around slightly until you are confident it is picking up the best possible sound - it should sound "airy" and "open" - don't worry that it does have much "grit" about it, we will address that in a minute :).
Once you are happy with the positioning, go back into your control room. Make sure you shut all the doors between the two locations and use pillows / towels / duvets / quilts / family pets to block any gaps where sound is leaking through. Now listen to the sound of the cab back through on your studio monitors - if you are happy with the sound, you are ready to move onto the next mic - if not, put the headphones back on and venture back into the "live room" to reposition the mic again.
When you have got the sound you are after with the one condenser mic, you are ready to place the dynamic mic (SM-58 in my case) to add more "depth" and "grit" to the sound. When placing the Dynamic mic ensure that you don't knock the Condenser mic accidentally as you will then have to reposition it to get an optimal sound. Get the dynamic mic right up next to the grill, I place mine about 2inches away slightly off axis pointing towards the centre of the speaker - These close mic'ing techniques are already covered in another tutorial available here at Home Recording Central.
Now that the mic is in position it is time to head back into the control room. Turn the fader all the way down to -Inf on the Condensers's channel and turn the Dynamic's channel up to Unity - as before, make sure the EQ is set to flat and then slowly adjust the gain until you get a strong signal that fluctuates around 0dB. The dynamic mic should sound pretty good by itself - we're done! both mic's are in place and we are ready to record?
Nah, that's far too easy...
Here comes the real catch of using two or more mics on a single sound source - our good friend "phasing" - this bit is FUN!
From here on the Condenser Mic (Rode NT-1) will be running on Channel 1 and the Dynamic Mic (Sure SM-58) on channel 2; just for the sake of simplicity.
Set channel 2's fader to -Inf dB so that you are now not hearing any sound from either of the mics. Bring up channel 1's fader to Unity again and you will now only be getting the sound from the condenser Mic, now, bring up channel 2's fader.. whats happening.. the sounds getting thinner?! Yep - that'll be the phasing.
Phasing occurs because the Mics are receiving two different "waveforms" (like you see on the computer screen in your Sample editing program) - Because the mic's are recording from the same source (the guitar amp) and are very close together, these waveforms will cancel each other out when they are mixed together resulting in a very thin sound as opposed to what the two mics would sound like if they were "in-phase" (which would be "phatter" than just the one mic).
Obviously this is not a good guitar sound, what the hell are you going on about jues, you made me read all this way and you have created a crap guitar sound. Hold on, this bit's a touch fiddily, but you'll be pleasantly supprised when we get it right :)
Have both channels set to unity and both panned centrally - pop on the headphones again and go back into the "live room". Do not adjust the position of the Condenser Mic, that is find where it is, the easiest one to adjust is the dynamic mic (the SM-58), pick it up and move it about very slowly while someone else is playing the guitar - as you move the position of the mic, so the phasing will shift - it will sound a bit like a jet plane going overhead and sounds a bit wierd - eventually you will find the meeting point of the waveforms and as if by magic the signals will go "in phase" - go back into your control room and check it on the monitor speakers - you will know when you get it because the sound will no longer sound thin and lifeless, but all phat and creamy. If you have a very willing friend, it's preferable to send them into the control room to move the Dynamic Mic around while you listen on the speakers. Shout at him to stop when he finally gets it in the right position and the two signals go "in-phase".
Once you have got the two mics "in-phase" you must do your best not to move them - very slight movements shouldn't be a major problem - but large knocks will almost certainly move them enough to put the signals out of phase again - in which case you will need to go back and readjust the positioning (and hit the person who just knocked the mic's :)
Right, so we have a phat, in-phase guitar sound coming though into the mics - excellent, we are now ready to track this sound onto your recording medium (in my case, I use Cubase SX). Ideally we want to record both mics separately so that we can apply different EQ, compression, reverb, delay, and volume settings to each one if we need to. As we are only using two channels, you need not worry about using AUX sends or groups - just pan Channel 1 hard left and Channel 2 hard right - you will now have one mic coming out of each of the two speakers and with a it of luck into the respective Left and Right inputs on your computer.
And away you go, play along to the track, monitoring on your studio speakers - remember not to monitor too loud or it may bleed across from the control room into the live room - if you are getting a bit of "bleed" then you need to use more pillows, etc to block any gaps that the sound is travelling though, or just turn it down in the control room a bit. When you have finished your take you will have two separate recordings - one for each mic.
Hurrah - we're done, you can now pan these signals central on the computer and adjust the level of them and apply a bit of EQ to get the sound you are after. As far as the levels go I will start with the condenser mic up at unity and then mix in the dynamic mic signal until it adds the required amount of "grind" to the sound...
"Okay, this sounds pretty phat - but it's not PHAT! C'mon, you promised PHAT guitar sound!" :)
Okay, here are my tips to using that mic setup to achieve a REALLY phat sound - but these are my tips - so be careful who you give them out to :D
First up is the good old time honoured classic of double tracking. I double track every single guitar part that I record. This very simply involves playing the part as per usual and then going back and recording it again (make sure that you solo the first performance, as it may put you off if you listen back to it when you record the second). Then just pan the first take hard left and the second take hard right. Obviously your playing needs to be pretty tight for this to work, but as long as you (or your sessionist) is fairly competent it will work great - this technique along will improve the phatness of the sound by a great amount. There is also a trick whereby you flip the phase of one of the takes, thus putting it out of phase with the other - this creates a psycho-acoustic illusion whereby there seems to be a very large "hole" in the middle of the stereo field, you'll find that vocals, bass and drums fit beautifully in this gap - tho it is entirely up to you as to whether you like this sound or not.
Next up is the use of compression. I'm not going to give a detailed explanation of compression here, there are plenty of articles available on that subject alone. The things to bear in mind is that you are after a really "crunchy" feel when compressing electric guitar (especially the distorted parts).
Set the ratio to about 4:1 and have the attack around 18-25ms and the release to about 20-30ms. Now lower the threshold slowly - get it to just the right spot and the sound will become a damn sight crunchier, push it too far and it will become too "flat" and "smooth" sounding - this maybe what you are after, but I'm personally not :) Clean guitar sounds can sometimes benefit from a slightly longer release to exaggerate the playing - experiment with the attack and release to get the sound you are after.
Because we used two mics we have the option of either compressing them individually or compressing the combined result - I personally go for the latter option (by placing the compressor on a bus and bussing the two signals to that), but you can easily experiment with different settings for the dynamic and condenser mics. Bear in mind that the dynamic mic is meant to add "grit" and so leans to the side of "over-compression" where as the condenser mic is used to capture the "air" and "fizz" and so probably wants a bit less - however, let your ears be the judge.
I personally wouldn't even touch EQ until you are doing the final mix of the tune when all the instruments are in place - go easy on the EQ, don't use too much and try to cut rather than boost - you may want to apply a Low Pass Cut under 120Hz to make a bit of room for the bass guitar if it's betting a bit lost - also, cutting at around 800Hz can give a bit more "thrash" to the sound.
Go _very_ easy on reverb on the Distorted sound. If you really want to use a bit of 'verb, then choose either a plate program or a small room program and send only a small amount - if you can hear the reverb then you have probably applied a bit too much - too much reverb will only muddy the mix, stealing frequencies away from the other instruments resulting in your mix sounding a mess. Clean guitar is a different story - clean guitar will sound much warmer with a bit of plate, room, or even chamber reverb on it - make sure the decay times are not set too high unless the piece is very laid back - stay under about 2 seconds, and again, don't send too much or it will sound messy and amateur.
Tap delays can also sound really good on clean guitar (not distortion!), use small taps (start with one at around 40-75 depending on the tempo of the track) (remember BPM x 0.6 = Time in Milliseconds) - you can add up to two or three taps before things start getting a bit messy, if you plugin (or outboard) has filters built in, use them to good effect to "filter away" the later taps - if you also offset the taps in the stereo field it can sound VERY pleasing.
As a last pointer, I will recommend that it is a good idea to do a track in "sections" - if there are both clean and distorted parts in the song, then do a first take and get all the distortion parts down, then go back and do another take and get all the clean parts down on a separate track (as in Lane) - this way you will avoid any timing issues or noises created by pressing pedals / stomp boxes - it also makes it easier to apply effects only to certain sections of the song.
Well, guess I've waffled enough - enjoy, and let me know how you get on.
Wednesday 16 November 2016
3 Tips For Recording Bass Guitar
Bass can be one of the most difficult parts of a mix to get right.” This is because there is no right way to mix the instrument. Your bass needs will likely change drastically from song to song. You'll need a clean, punchy bass sound on one track, while on another you may need a completely different warm and wide bass sound.
Through all of the desired sounds, you've also got to make sure the sound is not too boomy, but you also don't want it to sound too round. As you can see, it gets complicated.
And while there's no master tip that will automatically make your bass sound great every time, here are three tips that you may want to add to your arsenal of bass mixing techniques.
Again, don't be afraid to experiment with all aspects of your bass signal chain until you get the sound you want.
1. Don't Get Predictable with Your EQ Settings
Certainly EQ is one of your best friends when it comes to recording, but using the tool on bass can (and should) get a little complicated. Some instruments have pretty predictable EQ settings. For example, if you put a high-pass filter on an acoustic guitar and then add a slight boost to the high-mids, you'll probably have at least an acceptable sound (though you'll certainly want to tweak for each track).
That predictability is often thrown out the window on bass tracks. The EQ you will use depends not only on how you want the bass to sound, but how you want it to sit in the mix. This often depends on what frequencies other instruments are using. Don't be afraid to try EQ settings you wouldn't think to attempt on other instruments.
2. Double the Bass Track
There are great ways to improve your bass sound by doubling the track and adding different EQ settings and effects to the duplicated track. For example, after getting your original bass track sounding the way you want it, add slight distortion and a high-pass filter to the second track, and mix it low in relation to the first track to give you a wider” bass sound that will also bring a warmth to the lows on your track.
This is just one example, but having the second track allows you to do extreme things to your bass track that will bring surprisingly effective results when mixed with a traditional” bass track. Keep in mind that you'll almost always want to make sure the second track is mixed in very subtly with the original track.
3. Use your EQ to Take Away
Often, you'll get a bass sound that sounds great when the bass track is solo'd, but then never sits right in the mix. Many times this is because the frequencies of another instrument are covering the frequencies you want to hear from the bass track.
Instead of continuing to adjust the EQ of the bass in situations like this, it is often helpful to find the offending instrument (which is often a guitar) and cut the frequencies covering the frequencies you want to hear from the bass. This will allow the bass to shine through the mix the way you want it to.
Through all of the desired sounds, you've also got to make sure the sound is not too boomy, but you also don't want it to sound too round. As you can see, it gets complicated.
And while there's no master tip that will automatically make your bass sound great every time, here are three tips that you may want to add to your arsenal of bass mixing techniques.
Again, don't be afraid to experiment with all aspects of your bass signal chain until you get the sound you want.
1. Don't Get Predictable with Your EQ Settings
Certainly EQ is one of your best friends when it comes to recording, but using the tool on bass can (and should) get a little complicated. Some instruments have pretty predictable EQ settings. For example, if you put a high-pass filter on an acoustic guitar and then add a slight boost to the high-mids, you'll probably have at least an acceptable sound (though you'll certainly want to tweak for each track).
That predictability is often thrown out the window on bass tracks. The EQ you will use depends not only on how you want the bass to sound, but how you want it to sit in the mix. This often depends on what frequencies other instruments are using. Don't be afraid to try EQ settings you wouldn't think to attempt on other instruments.
2. Double the Bass Track
There are great ways to improve your bass sound by doubling the track and adding different EQ settings and effects to the duplicated track. For example, after getting your original bass track sounding the way you want it, add slight distortion and a high-pass filter to the second track, and mix it low in relation to the first track to give you a wider” bass sound that will also bring a warmth to the lows on your track.
This is just one example, but having the second track allows you to do extreme things to your bass track that will bring surprisingly effective results when mixed with a traditional” bass track. Keep in mind that you'll almost always want to make sure the second track is mixed in very subtly with the original track.
3. Use your EQ to Take Away
Often, you'll get a bass sound that sounds great when the bass track is solo'd, but then never sits right in the mix. Many times this is because the frequencies of another instrument are covering the frequencies you want to hear from the bass track.
Instead of continuing to adjust the EQ of the bass in situations like this, it is often helpful to find the offending instrument (which is often a guitar) and cut the frequencies covering the frequencies you want to hear from the bass. This will allow the bass to shine through the mix the way you want it to.
Saturday 12 November 2016
All About Mic Placement For Home Recording Acoustic Guitar
There are many types of microphones, but the most popular type for recording acoustic guitar is the cardioid condenser mic. Inexpensive models such as the Audio-Technica AT2020 or AT2021 start at under $100. If your budget allows, consider popular models like the Shure SM81 or Neumann KM 184. High-end mics can easily cost thousands of dollars. Cardioid mics are usually best for home recording, because they pick up sound primarily from the front and reject sound from the rear, reducing noise and limiting the effect of poor room acoustics. When choosing a mic, be sure it works with the rest of your gear. Condenser mics use XLR cables and require phantom power, which can be supplied by your preamp or computer interface. You can use dynamic mics, which don't require power, but condensers are usually preferred for recording guitar, because they're significantly more sensitive and accurate.
Stereo recording with two mics is a popular way to record acoustic guitar, but you might begin by experimenting with a single microphone. A mono recording often works well when mixed with other instruments, but even if you're recording solo guitar, it's useful to learn how to use one mic before moving on to stereo. A good initial location is the spot where the guitar neck joins the body, about a foot away from the guitar. One way to fine-tune the placement is to listen to headphones while you move the mic around, but headphones can be misleading. You'll probably get a more realistic idea of the sound by recording a short example, and listening back through your speakers.
You can make substantial changes to the way your guitar sounds on the recording simply by moving the mic small distances. You can also try entirely different mic locations—other good starting spots are behind or below the bridge and centered in front of the guitar, but raised above the soundhole. (Directly in front of the soundhole almost never works.)
The distance between the mic and the guitar also has an effect on the sound. In an ideal acoustic environment, you might get a great sound with the mics as much as three feet away.
But in home recording, you often have to place the mics much closer to eliminate undesirable effects of the room. Cardioid mics have a characteristic known as proximity effect” that creates a deeper, bassier sound as you move the mic closer to a sound source. The effect generally begins at about 16 inches. As you move closer, the sound will be more direct and have more bass. Experiment to see what distance works best in your room and with your guitar. You can also experiment with the angle of the mic. For example, turning a mic in toward the soundhole should produce more bass, while turning it away will produce less.
If the guitar is to be featured prominently in your final mix, you may want to record in stereo, using two mics. One common setup, known as X/Y, uses two mics placed so that the capsules are as close together as possible, and angled at 90 degrees. For X/Y miking you can try the same locations we discussed for mono. There are mic holders designed specifically for X/Y that allow you to place both mics on one stand, which allows for easier positioning.
You can achieve a more spacious sound with a technique known as spaced pairs.” There are many variations to this approach, but a common starting point is to place one mic where the neck joins the body and a second mic near the lower bout behind the bridge (see photo). There are many other common mic patterns, but few hard-and-fast rules, so don't be afraid to experiment
Stereo recording with two mics is a popular way to record acoustic guitar, but you might begin by experimenting with a single microphone. A mono recording often works well when mixed with other instruments, but even if you're recording solo guitar, it's useful to learn how to use one mic before moving on to stereo. A good initial location is the spot where the guitar neck joins the body, about a foot away from the guitar. One way to fine-tune the placement is to listen to headphones while you move the mic around, but headphones can be misleading. You'll probably get a more realistic idea of the sound by recording a short example, and listening back through your speakers.
You can make substantial changes to the way your guitar sounds on the recording simply by moving the mic small distances. You can also try entirely different mic locations—other good starting spots are behind or below the bridge and centered in front of the guitar, but raised above the soundhole. (Directly in front of the soundhole almost never works.)
The distance between the mic and the guitar also has an effect on the sound. In an ideal acoustic environment, you might get a great sound with the mics as much as three feet away.
But in home recording, you often have to place the mics much closer to eliminate undesirable effects of the room. Cardioid mics have a characteristic known as proximity effect” that creates a deeper, bassier sound as you move the mic closer to a sound source. The effect generally begins at about 16 inches. As you move closer, the sound will be more direct and have more bass. Experiment to see what distance works best in your room and with your guitar. You can also experiment with the angle of the mic. For example, turning a mic in toward the soundhole should produce more bass, while turning it away will produce less.
If the guitar is to be featured prominently in your final mix, you may want to record in stereo, using two mics. One common setup, known as X/Y, uses two mics placed so that the capsules are as close together as possible, and angled at 90 degrees. For X/Y miking you can try the same locations we discussed for mono. There are mic holders designed specifically for X/Y that allow you to place both mics on one stand, which allows for easier positioning.
You can achieve a more spacious sound with a technique known as spaced pairs.” There are many variations to this approach, but a common starting point is to place one mic where the neck joins the body and a second mic near the lower bout behind the bridge (see photo). There are many other common mic patterns, but few hard-and-fast rules, so don't be afraid to experiment
Friday 11 November 2016
10 Quick Tips & Techniques For Capturing
1. Tune up!
Slightly out-of-tune strings on a bass may not jump out as much as on guitar (especially in chords), but when that bass line is sitting under other parts in the mix, even slightly off-pitch notes will make their presence known, and sometimes be harder to track down (why does this song sound a little off”?). I'd use a tuner (h/w or s/w), but I'd also always verify by ear, before hitting record, and I'd check tuning periodically as the session progresses—just as with drums, hard players can easily put the instrument out after a few energetic takes.
2. Break in new strings ahead of time
Aside from tuning issues, new bass strings, especially roundwounds, can be very bright, and this may result in a lot of finger noise and fret buzz. If they're changed a day or two before the session, and the bass is played a bit to break them in, there may be less likelihood of problematic noise. In fact, while many players think of them as old-school, flatwounds can sometimes be the best choice, when a fat deep bass sound is called for—it's worth a thought.
3. Record Amp and DI
The easiest way to record bass is to just plug it straight into the console/interface—of course, using the correct instrument-level input or dedicated DI box, and not a standard line input. This will provide a nice, clean, deep tone, but it will likely lack the growl and grit that's often desired—for that, you'll want the sound of an amp. While you can always use a bass amp sim plug-in later, in the mix (see below), there's nothing like the pants-flapping wall of low-end sound coming out of a real bass amp, if one is available. But most engineers will record both—a DI'd signal, and a miked-up amp. They can be combined later on, for the best of both worlds—the clean, round, depth from the DI, with the edge and midrange punch of the amp (but see below, for a caveat).
4. Use an appropriate mic for bass.
If you are recording the output of a bass amp, try to use a mic that will capture more of the low-end than a typical stage mic. An SM57/58 will work, but a mic with a more extended low-frequency response would be a better choice. The Sennheiser 421 is often used, as is the classic kick drum mic, the AKG D112, which has a bumped-up response tuned specifically for low-pitched instruments. I prefer the Electro-Voice RE-20 (you know, the announcer's mic”)—it's more neutral, and it has an extended low-end response, so you'll get not just boom, but real depth.
5. Adjust phase of combined DI and miked-up bass tracks
If you do record the bass both via a DI and a miked-up cab, and combine them later, as suggested above, you'll want to pay attention to the relative phase of the two tracks. Even if the mic is placed very close (an inch or so) to the amp's speaker, that track will still be slightly delayed (on the order of milliseconds), due to that small distance, relative to the DI track.
Small delays like this can cause comb-filtering when the tracks are combined (at close to equal levels), which produces cancellations and reinforcements in the frequency spectrum that can impart a nasal, hollow, or slightly flangey” sound, weakening the tone. You can see the time difference if you line up the waves in the DAW and zoom way in. You can either advance the amp track (via editing) or delay the DI track (via editing or a plug-in) until the two line up—the resulting tone should be fuller, and ultimately sit better, with a more solid low end, in the mix.
6. Limit and/or compress
If ever there was a candidate for compression, bass is it. This instrument has a wide dynamic range (even more so when slap techniques are employed), but it usually needs to sit at a very steady level in the mix. But should compression be applied during recording, to control the levels going down, or later, during the mix, to insure the best blend in the track? Well, the answer is probably both, but with potentially different approaches to squashing the signal. During recording, a Limiter might be the ticket, to control transient peaks that might overload ADCs, producing pops and spikes that can ruin a take. A classic fast VCA compressor/limiter (like the dbx 160) could be employed to handle peaks, without really reducing the player's dynamics at this early stage. Then when mixdown rolls around, more gentle compression can be introduced (like the smooth squash of an optical compressor like the LA-2A), to tighten up the dynamics, as needed for that particular mix. Applying the right kind, and amount, of compression/limiting at all stages will assure you get nice clean recordings, that can be properly squeezed into the mix when the time comes.
7. Don't over-compress/limit
On the same topic, if you do apply some compression during recording, be careful not to overdo it. At this stage, you don't need to hear any effect, it should just transparently control peaks. If you apply the amount of squeeze that may be needed for the mix as the part is going down, it might cramp the player's style—better to leave that for later. Plus, if the signal is over-compressed here, it may bring out the normal squeaks and finger & fret noises so much that it becomes difficult to eliminate them later—this is especially true if the player is really a guitarist who also moonlights on bass. Guitarists who try their hand at bass parts often haven't mastered an experienced bassist's technique for damping the strings, and the little playing noises I referred to, as well as distracting undamped harmonics, can end up overpowering the recording if heavy limiting/compression brings them up (I recently struggled mightily to deal with a bass track that suffered from this flaw).
8. Don't Print effects without a dry version as well
This is sort of a corollary to the DI+Amp suggestion. While effects on bass aren't as common as with guitar parts, some bassists will come in with these big rigs of effect boxes, and want to record their sound”, which often is clearly overprocessed for the song. Rather than argue the point, let the player hear the sound he's used to during tracking, but be sure to also grab a nice clean signal, prior to all the effects, usually straight off the bass via a DI. That way, if your concerns prove all too true come mixdown, you can turn to the dry track, and recreate those favored effects to a more appropriate degree, with studio tools. Even if the effected bass sounds good to you, many pedals and MI effect boxes are noisy, and you might have to recreate the sound anyway, to avoid problematic buzz or hiss from the player's cool-but-dirty toys.
9. Use Plug-Ins to Enhance Recording
Even when the bass track(s) are well-recorded, and sound good, you may want to enhance the bass tone for mixdown with your favorite bass-friendly plug-in processors. Besides the obvious EQs and compressors, there are many distortion processors and amp sims out there suitable for bass. Sometimes a simple tube-warming effect is all you need to add a little subtle fatness, like the many plug-ins that simulate slight tube drive or tape saturation. I always liked the Tech 21 SansAmp on bass, and Pro Tools includes a well-modeled plug-in version of that unit. Most of the popular guitar amp modelers also include options that can add some nice grit & girth to clean bass tracks, including Softube's Bass Amp Room and Logic's built-in B.A.D.—Bass Amp Designer—which, like most bass amp sims, includes models of classic bass amps like the Ampeg SVT and Fliptop, along with modern bass amp & cabinet emulations. Any of these can add that finishing touch to a good bass part, and there are many freeware options as well, for those on a tight budget.
10. Don't Fear the Upright
For the last tip/technique, I'm going to shift gears and talk about recording acoustic—upright—bass. This may seem more daunting, but many of the same techniques apply—I'll mention a few quick items that would be specific to the big box. While the dynamic mics I mentioned above might work fine (especially on stage), a good large-diaphragm condenser would be appropriate in the studio, to capture the high end and air of the acoustic instrument as well as the lows. On stage, the relatively low acoustic volume of the instrument may preclude more distant mic positioning, but you can wedge a small (pencil-type) mic into the bridge, with appropriate foam padding, and this, surprisingly, can often provide excellent sound and much better isolation.
Most upright players (at least the ones who gig regularly) will also have a pickup installed, and once, again, the combination of mic (depth, air) and pickup (midrange punch and growl) can be a winning combination.
And on that (low) note, I'll wrap up. While many bass parts nowadays are probably laid down with samples and synths, by keyboard players and guitarists, what you'll get from a real bassist is more than just his sound, it's the magic in his fingers, and his bass-players' sense of just what to play to perfectly complement the song—it's certainly worth a little extra effect to take advantage of what the true masters of the low-end have to offer.
Slightly out-of-tune strings on a bass may not jump out as much as on guitar (especially in chords), but when that bass line is sitting under other parts in the mix, even slightly off-pitch notes will make their presence known, and sometimes be harder to track down (why does this song sound a little off”?). I'd use a tuner (h/w or s/w), but I'd also always verify by ear, before hitting record, and I'd check tuning periodically as the session progresses—just as with drums, hard players can easily put the instrument out after a few energetic takes.
2. Break in new strings ahead of time
Aside from tuning issues, new bass strings, especially roundwounds, can be very bright, and this may result in a lot of finger noise and fret buzz. If they're changed a day or two before the session, and the bass is played a bit to break them in, there may be less likelihood of problematic noise. In fact, while many players think of them as old-school, flatwounds can sometimes be the best choice, when a fat deep bass sound is called for—it's worth a thought.
3. Record Amp and DI
The easiest way to record bass is to just plug it straight into the console/interface—of course, using the correct instrument-level input or dedicated DI box, and not a standard line input. This will provide a nice, clean, deep tone, but it will likely lack the growl and grit that's often desired—for that, you'll want the sound of an amp. While you can always use a bass amp sim plug-in later, in the mix (see below), there's nothing like the pants-flapping wall of low-end sound coming out of a real bass amp, if one is available. But most engineers will record both—a DI'd signal, and a miked-up amp. They can be combined later on, for the best of both worlds—the clean, round, depth from the DI, with the edge and midrange punch of the amp (but see below, for a caveat).
4. Use an appropriate mic for bass.
If you are recording the output of a bass amp, try to use a mic that will capture more of the low-end than a typical stage mic. An SM57/58 will work, but a mic with a more extended low-frequency response would be a better choice. The Sennheiser 421 is often used, as is the classic kick drum mic, the AKG D112, which has a bumped-up response tuned specifically for low-pitched instruments. I prefer the Electro-Voice RE-20 (you know, the announcer's mic”)—it's more neutral, and it has an extended low-end response, so you'll get not just boom, but real depth.
5. Adjust phase of combined DI and miked-up bass tracks
If you do record the bass both via a DI and a miked-up cab, and combine them later, as suggested above, you'll want to pay attention to the relative phase of the two tracks. Even if the mic is placed very close (an inch or so) to the amp's speaker, that track will still be slightly delayed (on the order of milliseconds), due to that small distance, relative to the DI track.
Small delays like this can cause comb-filtering when the tracks are combined (at close to equal levels), which produces cancellations and reinforcements in the frequency spectrum that can impart a nasal, hollow, or slightly flangey” sound, weakening the tone. You can see the time difference if you line up the waves in the DAW and zoom way in. You can either advance the amp track (via editing) or delay the DI track (via editing or a plug-in) until the two line up—the resulting tone should be fuller, and ultimately sit better, with a more solid low end, in the mix.
6. Limit and/or compress
If ever there was a candidate for compression, bass is it. This instrument has a wide dynamic range (even more so when slap techniques are employed), but it usually needs to sit at a very steady level in the mix. But should compression be applied during recording, to control the levels going down, or later, during the mix, to insure the best blend in the track? Well, the answer is probably both, but with potentially different approaches to squashing the signal. During recording, a Limiter might be the ticket, to control transient peaks that might overload ADCs, producing pops and spikes that can ruin a take. A classic fast VCA compressor/limiter (like the dbx 160) could be employed to handle peaks, without really reducing the player's dynamics at this early stage. Then when mixdown rolls around, more gentle compression can be introduced (like the smooth squash of an optical compressor like the LA-2A), to tighten up the dynamics, as needed for that particular mix. Applying the right kind, and amount, of compression/limiting at all stages will assure you get nice clean recordings, that can be properly squeezed into the mix when the time comes.
7. Don't over-compress/limit
On the same topic, if you do apply some compression during recording, be careful not to overdo it. At this stage, you don't need to hear any effect, it should just transparently control peaks. If you apply the amount of squeeze that may be needed for the mix as the part is going down, it might cramp the player's style—better to leave that for later. Plus, if the signal is over-compressed here, it may bring out the normal squeaks and finger & fret noises so much that it becomes difficult to eliminate them later—this is especially true if the player is really a guitarist who also moonlights on bass. Guitarists who try their hand at bass parts often haven't mastered an experienced bassist's technique for damping the strings, and the little playing noises I referred to, as well as distracting undamped harmonics, can end up overpowering the recording if heavy limiting/compression brings them up (I recently struggled mightily to deal with a bass track that suffered from this flaw).
8. Don't Print effects without a dry version as well
This is sort of a corollary to the DI+Amp suggestion. While effects on bass aren't as common as with guitar parts, some bassists will come in with these big rigs of effect boxes, and want to record their sound”, which often is clearly overprocessed for the song. Rather than argue the point, let the player hear the sound he's used to during tracking, but be sure to also grab a nice clean signal, prior to all the effects, usually straight off the bass via a DI. That way, if your concerns prove all too true come mixdown, you can turn to the dry track, and recreate those favored effects to a more appropriate degree, with studio tools. Even if the effected bass sounds good to you, many pedals and MI effect boxes are noisy, and you might have to recreate the sound anyway, to avoid problematic buzz or hiss from the player's cool-but-dirty toys.
9. Use Plug-Ins to Enhance Recording
Even when the bass track(s) are well-recorded, and sound good, you may want to enhance the bass tone for mixdown with your favorite bass-friendly plug-in processors. Besides the obvious EQs and compressors, there are many distortion processors and amp sims out there suitable for bass. Sometimes a simple tube-warming effect is all you need to add a little subtle fatness, like the many plug-ins that simulate slight tube drive or tape saturation. I always liked the Tech 21 SansAmp on bass, and Pro Tools includes a well-modeled plug-in version of that unit. Most of the popular guitar amp modelers also include options that can add some nice grit & girth to clean bass tracks, including Softube's Bass Amp Room and Logic's built-in B.A.D.—Bass Amp Designer—which, like most bass amp sims, includes models of classic bass amps like the Ampeg SVT and Fliptop, along with modern bass amp & cabinet emulations. Any of these can add that finishing touch to a good bass part, and there are many freeware options as well, for those on a tight budget.
10. Don't Fear the Upright
For the last tip/technique, I'm going to shift gears and talk about recording acoustic—upright—bass. This may seem more daunting, but many of the same techniques apply—I'll mention a few quick items that would be specific to the big box. While the dynamic mics I mentioned above might work fine (especially on stage), a good large-diaphragm condenser would be appropriate in the studio, to capture the high end and air of the acoustic instrument as well as the lows. On stage, the relatively low acoustic volume of the instrument may preclude more distant mic positioning, but you can wedge a small (pencil-type) mic into the bridge, with appropriate foam padding, and this, surprisingly, can often provide excellent sound and much better isolation.
Most upright players (at least the ones who gig regularly) will also have a pickup installed, and once, again, the combination of mic (depth, air) and pickup (midrange punch and growl) can be a winning combination.
And on that (low) note, I'll wrap up. While many bass parts nowadays are probably laid down with samples and synths, by keyboard players and guitarists, what you'll get from a real bassist is more than just his sound, it's the magic in his fingers, and his bass-players' sense of just what to play to perfectly complement the song—it's certainly worth a little extra effect to take advantage of what the true masters of the low-end have to offer.
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