recording vocals... need tricks and tips

[xperimental]

im recording the vocals of my singer with an AKG mic (forget which model but it was $100 at guitar center). Now i know its not exactly a good vocal mic for recording, but unfortunately its all i have now. My vocalist isn't exactly an awesome singer but i just need some tips or tricks to make his voice sound a littler better, or do anything else i can. Would duplicating vocal tracks help? Any ideas?

 

[wes480]

not the best mic, not the best singer...a winning combination

hmmm, seriously though....if I were in your position...I'd get him a pop screen...make sure his distance from the mic is ok, and constant...

and keep trying passages until we get something that sounds good...

In the end, have about 6 run throughs of the song...

And then various problem areas...

Use digital to your advantage and piece together all of the best segments.

if you want the voice to sound more "full" or something, then sure, try doubeling it...panning it 10 and 2 maybe across the stereo image.

Straight doubeling can help if there are some shaky parts - in terms of smoothing out errors...but, this will also give kind of a weird effect on the vocals.

compression and reverb will likely be your friends

 

[chessparov]

Give your singer a 2 track backing cassette or CD that has ONLY
the melody on it, and if possible on the next track put the entire
shebang on it that they're going to sing to in your studio.
That way the singer can get more comfortable with it by practicing
with it on their own time. Your sessions will go a lot faster IMHO.

Chris

 

[BrettB]

not the best mic, not the best singer...a winning combination

hmmm, seriously though....if I were in your position...I'd get him a pop screen...make sure his distance from the mic is ok, and constant...

and keep trying passages until we get something that sounds good...

In the end, have about 6 run throughs of the song...

And then various problem areas...

Use digital to your advantage and piece together all of the best segments.

if you want the voice to sound more "full" or something, then sure, try doubeling it...panning it 10 and 2 maybe across the stereo image.

Straight doubeling can help if there are some shaky parts - in terms of smoothing out errors...but, this will also give kind of a weird effect on the vocals.

compression and reverb will likely be your friends

Be carefull, when you have to sing a difficult passage many times, keep breaks between them, maybe even quit working when something doesn't go, and try the next day again. When you have to sing 'I love You' 20 times, you don't mean it any more, and credibility is as important as the right pitch.

I agree on the compression and reverb part, just essential to record vocals, everybody will hear the difference. Doubling depends on what kind of song. If the singer improvises some stuff he can't do anymore the second time it's off course out of the question. When he did many takes to get one good one, don't torture him or her to do it again to double.


Btw, the voice is an instrument that is easily influeced by stress. Maybe you can yell at your guitarist when he isn't playing correct, even the 20th time (although that's not my technique) but always try to be positive to a singer, and make him or her hear is faulths, but also give her a compliment on another part.

 

[xperimental]

ok ive got one more question... what the hell is compression? I put some reverb on the vocal track, and indeed it does sound better. However I'm using Cakewalk Sonar XL and just used the reverb included in the program. Does anyone have any favorite reverb plugins, that would sound better? Please help on compression though... thanks all..

 

[barryh]

what the hell is compression?

http://www.studiocovers.com/articles3.htm

Somebody posted this site recently and I've found it pretty helpful. -Barry