By Mark Marshall
Vocal sessions can be a some of the most challenging moments of making a record. Not because vocalists are difficult (we all know they are. Let's keep that to ourselves though), but because the human voice is affected greatly by environment and use.
Here are 11 tips to make your next session more consistent.
1. Speed Limit
We all love our coffee as a pick-me-upper. But what we might not realize is that caffeine dehydrates your vocal chords.
Dehydration is an enemy of vocalists. You should recommend every singer limits caffeine consumption either in soda, tea, energy drinks or coffee during tracking.
2. Boozehound
Alcohol also dehydrates the vocal chords.
Save the scotch for after the vocal tracking as a celebration. Whatever you think you gain in getting loose”, you lose in stability.
Alcohol also numbs the vocal chords. This can prevent you from knowing if you're doing damage. We all love a good party, but don't let it affect your performance.
3. H2-Woah”
Even if you're not drinking caffeine or alcohol, you still ned to keep drinking water.
Keep the hydration going. Always have extra bottles of water around or buy a Brita filter to clean tap water.
4. Voices Carry
I can go on about headphone mixes… Oh wait, I already did
It's vital that vocalists hear themselves very well. It's also really important the sound is flattering. This means adding reverb and compression (aka makeup).
After you get your levels set — which should be fast, as singers can be restless — put the makeup on fast.
5. Put Me In Coach
Everybody is budget-aware these days and for good reason. But, if you can spare a little extra bread, having a talented vocal coach there can really save you time and strain.
It has nothing to do with a vocal coach giving you tips on the style of singing. Nobody is trying to kill your mojo. It has everything to do with making sure the singers voice always stays in a safe place. The vocal takes will be more consistent and the singer won't wear out as fast.
Plus, if the vocalist is struggling, a vocal coach will know the dialogue to help out. They're not there as a dictator, simply as support for team artist.” I highly recommend this for less experienced singers on recording sessions.
6. Closing Time
Never book more than a 3-4 hour vocal session. Even 3-4 hours of singing is overkill. However, it's not likely in any session that the vocalist will be singing the full 3-4 hours. Unless they are struggling, in which case I suggest you check out tip #5 again.
Voices get tired. The more exhausted a singer gets, the more they strain. This could lead to improper singing and damage. Voices are sensitive and always being used for talking and yelling at the younger generation.
If you're overdubbing vocals as opposed to tracking live with a band, limit the session to one song a day. Split the vocal sessions up. Half of the day work on instrument overdubs or
editing. The other half, work on vocals. You're likely to get much better performances this way.
7. Wrap It Up
One can end up lost in a roundabout (who's been stuck in these while driving around Europe?)
Singers will keep saying, let's do it again.” They may plow over perfectly good takes.
Here's what I try to do: In the beginning I'll let them do 1-3 takes to get warmed up. After that, we listen after every take. This way they can keep dibs on what is working and if their mind is playing tricks on them.
It's important to prevent destructive cycles.
8. I Crossed Out The Options
Don't make a vocalist try different mics for an hour. You'll burn them out.
You need to be good enough at your job that you can narrow down the mics to audition to about 3. You're wasting valuable performance time. It's not going to matter if the 10th mic you tried blew the rest out of the water if you'll be capturing a strained performance.
Also, too much setup time can ice singers. You want things to flow and give them as little time to build up insecurities as possible.
9. Smokestack Lightening
I don't think I need to tell you how bad smoking is for anyone, let alone singers.
If you do smoke, don't think you can just quit a few days before a session and all will be good. Your voice will go through a change. My recommendation? Stop smoking. If not permanently, at least several weeks before tracking.
If you smoke recreational herbs (you know what I'm talking about Colorado), look into a vaporizer. Make sure to get a good vaporizer though. The cheap ones still burn a little. A good vaporizer is much kinder to your throat. Even with a vaporizer, I would recommend cleaning yourself up for sessions.
10. Cheat Sheet
Funny things happen on sessions. You can blank for no apparent reason.
You can prevent frustration by having a printed set of lyrics in front of the singer. That way, there is no guessing. Straight to the point.
12. Positive Vibrations
It seems really obvious, but refrain from negative comments.—
These 11 tips should greatly improve your next vocal session.
Showing posts with label better. Show all posts
Showing posts with label better. Show all posts
Friday, 6 January 2017
Thursday, 15 December 2016
26 Tips And Tricks For Mixing Better Vocals
I'm Scott Hawksworth, the founder and editor of When I first became interested in music production and home recording, I had no idea where to begin. Now, music production is my passion! I built Recording Excellence to share what I've learned with the world - and with you.
26 Tips and Tricks for Mixing Better Vocals
Vocals are the most important part of any mix (well, unless it's an instrumental with no vocals, but I digress). Unfortunately, vocals are also the most difficult thing to get right” in any mix. In this article, I've put together 26 tips for mixing vocals that you can apply RIGHT NOW. It's not easy to get a great vocal sound (especially if you're newer to mixing), but it IS possible to follow some basic tips, tricks, and rules of thumb to ensure you give yourself the best opportunity to have your vocals shine.
Resist the temptation to only solo the vocal to make EQ or compression changes — These tips aren't presented in any meaningful order, but if they were… this would be the still be the number one tip. No one listens to music in solo, they listen to the ENTIRE MIX. So why would you ONLY work on your vocals without the context of the rest of the mix? Listen to the vocal and make adjustments BOTH in solo and in the mix.
Get it Right at the Source — You'll here this sentiment a lot when it comes to recording and mixing. The biggest tip for better vocal mixing is to make sure you're recording vocals well in the first place.
Use a quality mic (and don't be afraid to change up mics depending on the singer).
Make sure you have a pop filter/shield (seriously, you can get them for cheap).
Record vocals in most sound optimal area you can (doesn't need to be a professional studio, but any place that cuts down on ambient noise and reflections is good).
Use proper miking techniques.
Don't be afraid to ask for a retake (or do one yourself if you're the vocalist) if the performance wasn't as good as you think it could be.
Don't forget to make use of De-essing and Autotune/Pitch Correction when necessary… but don't go overboard - It's easy to go crazy with plugins that remove sibilance (de-essing that's too aggressive can take out some of the sparkle in the highs). It's also easy to go to crazy with Autotune (unless you're mixing for T-Payne or something). They are powerful tools that can and SHOULD be used… but the point is, do so with intention!
Understand vocal ranges and frequencies — It's good to be familiar with these when mixing and especially using EQ. Here's a helpful chart:
If possible, consider the mic used to record the vocal when mixing — If you're mixing something you recorded, you should know what mic you used and be familiar with its strengths and weaknesses AKA the frequency areas that can be problematic. Tackle those first for cuts and boosts!
Consider the singer when mixing — If you're very familiar with the singer (let's say it's you), you might know that they have sibilance at a specific frequency. You know what you'll need to attack first then. You can even figure this out with a new singer just by listening to the first verse or chorus. If it's a problem in one phrase… it's likely to be in another.
Cut before you boost — This is my go to EQ tip , so of course it has application with vocals. It's tempting to boost away, but I'd encourage anyone to make cuts to the vocal first. It's a more subtle, and can yield better results.
Filter superfluous low end — High-pass (low-cut) filters are a tremendous tool to use when mixing anything, and vocals are no different. As such, it can be a solid idea to just roll off anywhere from 80-150Hz (depending on the mix, and the singer!) before you do anything else to the vocal.
Still getting a boomy vocal? Cut some more — Anywhere from 200-350Hz can be good to apply some cuts to.
Still not sounding right? Try even MORE surgical cuts — mid-to-high nasal frequencies when cut can improve a vocal… anywhere from 800Hz to 4kHz can be a good place to focus on.
You can boost a little too, but be smart with it — I like to boost the high-end just a little bit from time to time to give the vocals a bit of a lift. Nothing crazy!
Trust your ears — Okay this is a lame tip, and it's probably cliched at this point (because it can apply to anything in mixing), but it's still worth mentioning. If it sounds good to you, and sounds good across multiple listening platforms… chances are it IS good. Trust yourself, you're the mixing engineer!
Make sure your vocals fit in your mix (especially when it has guitars) — Guitars can sometimes crowd out vocals, so making a cut to those guitars between 900Hz and 3kHz can help solve that issue.
Make your choruses stand out by doubling and panning — Need that chorus to really pop? Double the vocal, pan all the way left and all the way right in the chorus. Voila! Here's a great article to learn more about doubling if you're unsure about it.
Don't be afraid to get creative with panning — In general, you want to keep vocals panned more traditionally… but if the song calls for it (maybe it's conversational, or references space in some way), some alternated left/right panning can be awesome. When I was a young and angry teenager, I loved this Kid Rock song Where You At Rock” (Parental Advisory - explicit lyrics!) which makes use of this technique.
IN GENERAL… EQ before you compress — This is not a hard and fast rule, it can be broken, but I often find myself EQing before I compress. If you're EQing to fix flaws or get a certain sound (which you should be 🙂 ), compression will just make those problems louder and potentially create MORE work for you. If you have mud in the vocal, the compressor will just make that worse (and in fact the mud could trigger the compressor more than you'd like). Avoid those potential pitfalls by just EQing first as a general rule.
If possible, try out different compressors — Not everyone has access to multiple compressors (be they analog or digital), and that's okay. But if you DO have access to multiple compressors, try out different ones on the vocal. See which you like best, and go with it.
Don't compress the life out of the vocals — Compression is a fantastic tool, but excessive compression KILLS vocals. If you're compressing everything hard and start to notice the life seeping out of your mix… dial it back.
Note: In some genres really heavy compression is desirable for the vocal… but the point is, watch out for over-compression!
Be smart and deliberate with the reverb… AKA don't overdo it! — I love so much of the music I'm sent by Recording Excellence subscribers… but I've come across times where artists are using WAY too much reverb on their vocals and it becomes a muddy mess. A little bit can really add some great life to vocals and serve the song well, too much sounds awful.
Really be careful with that effect!
Plates, halls, and rooms, oh my! — When it comes to reverb, using a plate (mono), and some hall or room (stereo) can serve you well. You'll find that stereo hall or room can help big time with glue to keep the tracks tighter. Again don't overdo the reverb.
Smart use of delay can really serve the vocal well — For example, if the vocal is particularly powerful at a point in the song and then suddenly gone the emptiness can be noticeable.
Set up a delay bus and then send a bit of your vocal to it (before the vocal drops out) and let the delays be the thing that let's the vocals drop out more gently.
De-breathing plugins are great, but so is manual chopping — Unless you really want that breath in your music, you should be tackling this issue in some way. Chopping instead of using a plugin is more time consuming, but can really preserve vocal punch.
Utilize volume automation, and ride it a bit — Don't let the compressor do all the work (again it can crush the life out of a vocal).
Side-chains are your friend — Above I talked about how you can use cuts to guitar to help… but if your guitar and vocal won't stop battling it out in the mix, don't hesitate to sidechain that bad boy and duck it out of the way when the vocal is going.
Simplify, man! — There's always a temptation to be fancy when it comes to mixing vocals… but if it's sounding good, why add extra effects and processing if you don't need it? Don't be afraid to just STOP and be happy with the vocal. (P.S. If you got my Simpsons reference , we can be best friends)
Reference your favorite vocal tracks — I'm probably sounding like a broken record to some, but referencing is so key to mixing, I just can't say it enough. Do you know of a song in a similar genre that you absolutely love the vocals on? Listen to it for a moment while you're mixing and try to go for that sound!
So there you have 26 tips for mixing better vocals. Did I miss any? Were there any you disagreed with? Let me know on Facebook or Twitter!
Learn How to Record, Mix and Produce Beautiful Music.
Home recording doesn't have to be a headache. You can immediately up your game when you download my free guide, The Home Recording Cheat Sheet, A to Z - A 26 Point Checklist to Instantly Improve Your Music. Enter your email and I'll send the free guide straight to your email inbox!
Scott
Scott Hawksworth is 's founder and editor. In addition to playing piano for over 15 years, Scott has performed in choruses, bands, and solo. His passion for music led him to learn more about music production and home recording. Scott lives in Chicago with his wife and two cats, Dylan and Sebastian.
26 Tips and Tricks for Mixing Better Vocals
Vocals are the most important part of any mix (well, unless it's an instrumental with no vocals, but I digress). Unfortunately, vocals are also the most difficult thing to get right” in any mix. In this article, I've put together 26 tips for mixing vocals that you can apply RIGHT NOW. It's not easy to get a great vocal sound (especially if you're newer to mixing), but it IS possible to follow some basic tips, tricks, and rules of thumb to ensure you give yourself the best opportunity to have your vocals shine.
Resist the temptation to only solo the vocal to make EQ or compression changes — These tips aren't presented in any meaningful order, but if they were… this would be the still be the number one tip. No one listens to music in solo, they listen to the ENTIRE MIX. So why would you ONLY work on your vocals without the context of the rest of the mix? Listen to the vocal and make adjustments BOTH in solo and in the mix.
Get it Right at the Source — You'll here this sentiment a lot when it comes to recording and mixing. The biggest tip for better vocal mixing is to make sure you're recording vocals well in the first place.
Use a quality mic (and don't be afraid to change up mics depending on the singer).
Make sure you have a pop filter/shield (seriously, you can get them for cheap).
Record vocals in most sound optimal area you can (doesn't need to be a professional studio, but any place that cuts down on ambient noise and reflections is good).
Use proper miking techniques.
Don't be afraid to ask for a retake (or do one yourself if you're the vocalist) if the performance wasn't as good as you think it could be.
Don't forget to make use of De-essing and Autotune/Pitch Correction when necessary… but don't go overboard - It's easy to go crazy with plugins that remove sibilance (de-essing that's too aggressive can take out some of the sparkle in the highs). It's also easy to go to crazy with Autotune (unless you're mixing for T-Payne or something). They are powerful tools that can and SHOULD be used… but the point is, do so with intention!
Understand vocal ranges and frequencies — It's good to be familiar with these when mixing and especially using EQ. Here's a helpful chart:
If possible, consider the mic used to record the vocal when mixing — If you're mixing something you recorded, you should know what mic you used and be familiar with its strengths and weaknesses AKA the frequency areas that can be problematic. Tackle those first for cuts and boosts!
Consider the singer when mixing — If you're very familiar with the singer (let's say it's you), you might know that they have sibilance at a specific frequency. You know what you'll need to attack first then. You can even figure this out with a new singer just by listening to the first verse or chorus. If it's a problem in one phrase… it's likely to be in another.
Cut before you boost — This is my go to EQ tip , so of course it has application with vocals. It's tempting to boost away, but I'd encourage anyone to make cuts to the vocal first. It's a more subtle, and can yield better results.
Filter superfluous low end — High-pass (low-cut) filters are a tremendous tool to use when mixing anything, and vocals are no different. As such, it can be a solid idea to just roll off anywhere from 80-150Hz (depending on the mix, and the singer!) before you do anything else to the vocal.
Still getting a boomy vocal? Cut some more — Anywhere from 200-350Hz can be good to apply some cuts to.
Still not sounding right? Try even MORE surgical cuts — mid-to-high nasal frequencies when cut can improve a vocal… anywhere from 800Hz to 4kHz can be a good place to focus on.
You can boost a little too, but be smart with it — I like to boost the high-end just a little bit from time to time to give the vocals a bit of a lift. Nothing crazy!
Trust your ears — Okay this is a lame tip, and it's probably cliched at this point (because it can apply to anything in mixing), but it's still worth mentioning. If it sounds good to you, and sounds good across multiple listening platforms… chances are it IS good. Trust yourself, you're the mixing engineer!
Make sure your vocals fit in your mix (especially when it has guitars) — Guitars can sometimes crowd out vocals, so making a cut to those guitars between 900Hz and 3kHz can help solve that issue.
Make your choruses stand out by doubling and panning — Need that chorus to really pop? Double the vocal, pan all the way left and all the way right in the chorus. Voila! Here's a great article to learn more about doubling if you're unsure about it.
Don't be afraid to get creative with panning — In general, you want to keep vocals panned more traditionally… but if the song calls for it (maybe it's conversational, or references space in some way), some alternated left/right panning can be awesome. When I was a young and angry teenager, I loved this Kid Rock song Where You At Rock” (Parental Advisory - explicit lyrics!) which makes use of this technique.
IN GENERAL… EQ before you compress — This is not a hard and fast rule, it can be broken, but I often find myself EQing before I compress. If you're EQing to fix flaws or get a certain sound (which you should be 🙂 ), compression will just make those problems louder and potentially create MORE work for you. If you have mud in the vocal, the compressor will just make that worse (and in fact the mud could trigger the compressor more than you'd like). Avoid those potential pitfalls by just EQing first as a general rule.
If possible, try out different compressors — Not everyone has access to multiple compressors (be they analog or digital), and that's okay. But if you DO have access to multiple compressors, try out different ones on the vocal. See which you like best, and go with it.
Don't compress the life out of the vocals — Compression is a fantastic tool, but excessive compression KILLS vocals. If you're compressing everything hard and start to notice the life seeping out of your mix… dial it back.
Note: In some genres really heavy compression is desirable for the vocal… but the point is, watch out for over-compression!
Be smart and deliberate with the reverb… AKA don't overdo it! — I love so much of the music I'm sent by Recording Excellence subscribers… but I've come across times where artists are using WAY too much reverb on their vocals and it becomes a muddy mess. A little bit can really add some great life to vocals and serve the song well, too much sounds awful.
Really be careful with that effect!
Plates, halls, and rooms, oh my! — When it comes to reverb, using a plate (mono), and some hall or room (stereo) can serve you well. You'll find that stereo hall or room can help big time with glue to keep the tracks tighter. Again don't overdo the reverb.
Smart use of delay can really serve the vocal well — For example, if the vocal is particularly powerful at a point in the song and then suddenly gone the emptiness can be noticeable.
Set up a delay bus and then send a bit of your vocal to it (before the vocal drops out) and let the delays be the thing that let's the vocals drop out more gently.
De-breathing plugins are great, but so is manual chopping — Unless you really want that breath in your music, you should be tackling this issue in some way. Chopping instead of using a plugin is more time consuming, but can really preserve vocal punch.
Utilize volume automation, and ride it a bit — Don't let the compressor do all the work (again it can crush the life out of a vocal).
Side-chains are your friend — Above I talked about how you can use cuts to guitar to help… but if your guitar and vocal won't stop battling it out in the mix, don't hesitate to sidechain that bad boy and duck it out of the way when the vocal is going.
Simplify, man! — There's always a temptation to be fancy when it comes to mixing vocals… but if it's sounding good, why add extra effects and processing if you don't need it? Don't be afraid to just STOP and be happy with the vocal. (P.S. If you got my Simpsons reference , we can be best friends)
Reference your favorite vocal tracks — I'm probably sounding like a broken record to some, but referencing is so key to mixing, I just can't say it enough. Do you know of a song in a similar genre that you absolutely love the vocals on? Listen to it for a moment while you're mixing and try to go for that sound!
So there you have 26 tips for mixing better vocals. Did I miss any? Were there any you disagreed with? Let me know on Facebook or Twitter!
Learn How to Record, Mix and Produce Beautiful Music.
Home recording doesn't have to be a headache. You can immediately up your game when you download my free guide, The Home Recording Cheat Sheet, A to Z - A 26 Point Checklist to Instantly Improve Your Music. Enter your email and I'll send the free guide straight to your email inbox!
Scott
Scott Hawksworth is 's founder and editor. In addition to playing piano for over 15 years, Scott has performed in choruses, bands, and solo. His passion for music led him to learn more about music production and home recording. Scott lives in Chicago with his wife and two cats, Dylan and Sebastian.
Wednesday, 30 November 2016
6 Awesome Tips And Tricks To Sound Better When Recording Vocals Audio Issues
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!
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!
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.
Saturday, 9 July 2016
10 Tips For Better Low End
By Eric Ferguson
When I'm mixing a song, nothing is more elusive than achieving a perfectly balanced low end. Bass frequencies present unique challenges, and if often takes experimentation, skill, and compromise to deliver a tight and deep mix. This said, when Recording received an email from a reader wondering how to get that big bass sound heard on today's recordings”, I set out to compile some of the tips I've picked up while trying to make professional mixes.
Tip One: Make sure you're mixing the right” bass and kick sounds. Sound choice is difficult because we often don't know if something works until long after it's been recorded. The classic example of this is the need to add kick samples when mixing. Be sure to listen to great records in the style you are tracking and educate yourself as to what has worked for the professionals. Should you have used a synth bass or an upright bass instead of a bass guitar? Did you get the right electric or synth bass sound for the style? Is the kick sound dated, too weak, or too overbearing? Changes to production, arrangement, or instrumentation, although difficult when mixing, can sometimes be the only solution to a low-end dilemma.
Tip Two: Make sure the bass is playing the right part. This may seem unrelated to recording, but a good mix can't be achieved if the kick and bass are fighting. Sloppy performances or parts that do not support each other will make the low-end muddy. Well-defined in-the-pocket bass lines are essential for a tight mix.
Tip Three: Compress the bass and kick. The subject of compression has been extensively explored in Recording's drum and bass columns—check out articles on compression in this library to learn more. Gentle compression on the kick and heavier limiting on the bass help insure that these two instruments are not erratic and stay at the level you desire.
Tip Four: Use eq to carve out a home” for every instrument. Although a well-recorded, full-bodied instrument might sound fabulous in solo, eq is often needed in mixing to cut frequencies that are masking other parts. Is that wonderfully rich rhythm guitar covering the bass? Thin the guitar (and other thick instruments) with a low-cut filter and reserve for the bass its own place. As a side note, I often think of a mix as a layer cake, with individual tracks occupying their own frequency layers. I eq the kick to sit at the bottom, the bass layered above that, followed by guitars and other instruments in their own respective sonic layers.
Tip Five: Thin the bass to make room for the kick. That's right, I just suggested cutting bass from the bass, a move that might seem counter-intuitive when on a mission for deep low end. The truth is that a thick bass will often muddy a mix and cover the kick with unnecessary super-low frequencies. Try putting a low-cut filter on the bass, and gently sculpt away frequencies below 100 Hz. This can help define the bass, while simultaneously saving the bottom frequency range for the kick.
Tip Six: Use midrange to make the bass and kick appear louder. Is the bass hard to hear yet already big enough? Try boosting 800 Hz to 2 kHz and allow harmonics, attack, and squeaks to define the bass in a frequency range far from the touchy low end. You can do the same with the kick, brightening its 2-4 kHz beater snap so the drum pops through the mix independent of its low-end content.
Tip Seven: Use multiple speakers when mixing. This is standard technique for all professional mixers. Check your mix on small speakers to see if the bass and kick can still be heard. Use big speakers to see if your bass is too big. Listen in your car and also check the mix on headphones. Remember that your mix might be played anywhere and you want
your low end to be as compatible as possible with every environment.
Tip Eight: Walk around the room when mixing. Millions are spent to manage low frequencies in professional control rooms. If you are working at home, make sure to listen to your mix from multiple locations, as your control room is probably radically uneven in low- frequency response
Tip Nine: Make a reference disc and compare to it while mixing. Burn a mixed CD of professional recordings you know and love, then compare to these references to see if your low end is thin or too big. You can also use this disc to help learn new speaker systems. Listen to this reference disc in your car and on headphones, as this will better educate your ears to interpret your own mixes.
Tip Ten: Experiment with multiband compression on the stereo buss. Multiband compressors and limiters have grown to be quite popular in today's DAW environment. Multiband compressors split the signal into two or more frequency ranges, then independently limit each band. Using a multiband compressor on the stereo mix can be a great boon, as low frequencies tighten nicely without affecting the rest of the mix. Be careful, though—there's a reason I left this tip for last! Overdone multiband compression can quickly take all life from a mix, and using these compressors effectively takes lots of practice. Once you get good with them, though, they're just one more tool you can use to give your tracks the slammin' low end they deserve.
When I'm mixing a song, nothing is more elusive than achieving a perfectly balanced low end. Bass frequencies present unique challenges, and if often takes experimentation, skill, and compromise to deliver a tight and deep mix. This said, when Recording received an email from a reader wondering how to get that big bass sound heard on today's recordings”, I set out to compile some of the tips I've picked up while trying to make professional mixes.
Tip One: Make sure you're mixing the right” bass and kick sounds. Sound choice is difficult because we often don't know if something works until long after it's been recorded. The classic example of this is the need to add kick samples when mixing. Be sure to listen to great records in the style you are tracking and educate yourself as to what has worked for the professionals. Should you have used a synth bass or an upright bass instead of a bass guitar? Did you get the right electric or synth bass sound for the style? Is the kick sound dated, too weak, or too overbearing? Changes to production, arrangement, or instrumentation, although difficult when mixing, can sometimes be the only solution to a low-end dilemma.
Tip Two: Make sure the bass is playing the right part. This may seem unrelated to recording, but a good mix can't be achieved if the kick and bass are fighting. Sloppy performances or parts that do not support each other will make the low-end muddy. Well-defined in-the-pocket bass lines are essential for a tight mix.
Tip Three: Compress the bass and kick. The subject of compression has been extensively explored in Recording's drum and bass columns—check out articles on compression in this library to learn more. Gentle compression on the kick and heavier limiting on the bass help insure that these two instruments are not erratic and stay at the level you desire.
Tip Four: Use eq to carve out a home” for every instrument. Although a well-recorded, full-bodied instrument might sound fabulous in solo, eq is often needed in mixing to cut frequencies that are masking other parts. Is that wonderfully rich rhythm guitar covering the bass? Thin the guitar (and other thick instruments) with a low-cut filter and reserve for the bass its own place. As a side note, I often think of a mix as a layer cake, with individual tracks occupying their own frequency layers. I eq the kick to sit at the bottom, the bass layered above that, followed by guitars and other instruments in their own respective sonic layers.
Tip Five: Thin the bass to make room for the kick. That's right, I just suggested cutting bass from the bass, a move that might seem counter-intuitive when on a mission for deep low end. The truth is that a thick bass will often muddy a mix and cover the kick with unnecessary super-low frequencies. Try putting a low-cut filter on the bass, and gently sculpt away frequencies below 100 Hz. This can help define the bass, while simultaneously saving the bottom frequency range for the kick.
Tip Six: Use midrange to make the bass and kick appear louder. Is the bass hard to hear yet already big enough? Try boosting 800 Hz to 2 kHz and allow harmonics, attack, and squeaks to define the bass in a frequency range far from the touchy low end. You can do the same with the kick, brightening its 2-4 kHz beater snap so the drum pops through the mix independent of its low-end content.
Tip Seven: Use multiple speakers when mixing. This is standard technique for all professional mixers. Check your mix on small speakers to see if the bass and kick can still be heard. Use big speakers to see if your bass is too big. Listen in your car and also check the mix on headphones. Remember that your mix might be played anywhere and you want
your low end to be as compatible as possible with every environment.
Tip Eight: Walk around the room when mixing. Millions are spent to manage low frequencies in professional control rooms. If you are working at home, make sure to listen to your mix from multiple locations, as your control room is probably radically uneven in low- frequency response
Tip Nine: Make a reference disc and compare to it while mixing. Burn a mixed CD of professional recordings you know and love, then compare to these references to see if your low end is thin or too big. You can also use this disc to help learn new speaker systems. Listen to this reference disc in your car and on headphones, as this will better educate your ears to interpret your own mixes.
Tip Ten: Experiment with multiband compression on the stereo buss. Multiband compressors and limiters have grown to be quite popular in today's DAW environment. Multiband compressors split the signal into two or more frequency ranges, then independently limit each band. Using a multiband compressor on the stereo mix can be a great boon, as low frequencies tighten nicely without affecting the rest of the mix. Be careful, though—there's a reason I left this tip for last! Overdone multiband compression can quickly take all life from a mix, and using these compressors effectively takes lots of practice. Once you get good with them, though, they're just one more tool you can use to give your tracks the slammin' low end they deserve.
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