Is it better to track a vocal dry or with a little wet effect?

[semsem612]

Which is better to track a vocal dry without any effect then adding the effects on mixing or to track it with a little amount of reverb, delay or any other effect?

 

[gecko zzed]

Which is better to track a vocal dry without any effect then adding the effects on mixing or to track it with a little amount of reverb, delay or any other effect?

My choice: track without any effects at all, and add them later.

Some singers like to hear a bit of reverb, and in some cases, the song is one where the voice needs reverb. In those cases, I endeavour to feed reverb to the singer, but not record it.

 

[mjbphotos]

If you 'print' the FX to the track, you're stuck with it as is. If someone insists on doing this, arm a second track and record the signal dry at the same time!

 

[Dogbreath]

I record dry but put some reverb in the cans.
I add the effects (if any) in the mix.

 

[Schwarzenyaeger]

My choice: track without any effects at all, and add them later.

Some singers like to hear a bit of reverb, and in some cases, the song is one where the voice needs reverb. In those cases, I endeavour to feed reverb to the singer, but not record it.

This. You can often tell if a singer is new to recording if they listen to themselves through a cue mix and go "Woah, I sound so weird, like really small!". They aren't aware that the reverb is missing in the headphones if you don't add it!
Give the singer some slight verb into the cue mix but record them dry as dust.

 

[Simman]

Track dry but put effects, not just reverb but something similar to what might be the final effects in the cans. Can make a huge difference IMO especially if you plan on using delays during mixing since the singer can actually time/sing/phrase against those delays. Difficult to do if all they hear in their head is dry or just reverb.

 

[semsem612]

Thank You all very much for your great advice.

 

[RawDepth]

I don't know whether you are adding effects on-the-way-in with hardware or adding it in the recording software, but here is something to consider...

It is helpful to properly understand how most DAW software mixers work while recording. I used to think that, (during the recording operation,) any effects I added in the mixer were being recorded onto the track permanently. Not so. In most DAWs, the incoming signal is split into two identical paths. One part is sent straight to the hard drive for writing the track .wav file. The other part is sent through the software mixer for simultaneous playback/monitoring. Any effects added on the mixer are only heard in the studio/control room monitors/phones and not being added to the track file until later when you perform some sort of export, bounce, or final mix operation.

On the other hand, if you are adding effects using hardware pieces prior to the DAW software, then those effects are permanently written to the audio file.

 

[wavewarrior]

Yeah, just put some delay or reverb in the singer's "cans" and cut the track clean; you'll be glad ya did.

 

[StuGort]

The only time I ever "print" to a track is if my guitar sound is capturing the feel I was attempting to get. That's because when I write a song I primarily use guitar to compose and arrange it. Every other track gets recorded dry so I have the latitude to use whatever effects might compliment that "feel".

If a singer needs hear effects when they track you can usually put that into their headphone mix with some kind of aux or other isolated mix.