Recording Vocals

T

twsknight

New member
I was just wondering if there are any Dos and Don'ts to recording vocals?

I've recorded some for a song and I basically went through all the inserts in Cubase to see how I could improve them and then did a little bit of EQing to try and get the best sound I could, but I'm not 100% happy with it.

At the moment i'm putting the mic through a toneport gx which goes through gearbox before hitting Cubase. I intend to get a presonus firebox in the future, but I imagine that won't make too much difference when recording vox.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks
 
twsknight said:
I was just wondering if there are any Dos and Don'ts to recording vocals?

I've recorded some for a song and I basically went through all the inserts in Cubase to see how I could improve them and then did a little bit of EQing to try and get the best sound I could, but I'm not 100% happy with it.

At the moment i'm putting the mic through a toneport gx which goes through gearbox before hitting Cubase. I intend to get a presonus firebox in the future, but I imagine that won't make too much difference when recording vox.

Any advice would be great.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I use a Presonus Firebox. Although it has a pre amp, I don't think it will "color" your voice at all - it's strictly signal in, signal out as far as I can tell.
Don't be surprised if you are never happy with your settings. Unless you are a rocket scientist, or an engineer, you might never push the right buttons.

EQing is a good start. Your voice will probably be a little heavy in one frequency or another. I think I cut mine around 200hz (about 2dB)

Everyone is different. One trick it to clone your vocal track and then delay one of them about 20 ms. This fattens up the sound. It's similar to reverb, but not exactly like it. As far as reverb goes, I like to use Sonitus "short and sweet" preset. I use Sonar and it comes with Sonitus plug-ins.

But any reverb should do the job for you. Just increase the room size until you can just hear a little slap back and then back it off until you are not sure that it's there.

It will till be there, but just not as wet.

Another trick I do is I wrap some thin foam around the mic and attach it with cable ties. This is a pop filter that lets you get up close to the mic and prevent "plosions."

HTH
 
First, make sure you're not tracking too hot. That's where a lot of people go wrong right off the bat.

SCREAM into the mic and get a level of around -10dBFS. And hopefully, don't hit that hot again.
 
Do you mean you are not happy with the raw tracks, or how they sit in the mix?

If it's the raw track, it's probably because you are not used to hearing your recorded voice. That just takes time to get used to. Realize that the mic "hears" your voice differently than your ears do. Your voice is being conducted through your jaw bone and skull as well as through the air to your timpanic membrace. So what you hear is way different than even I would hear if you were talking to me. Also, our voices change slightly when we sing.

Now if it's in the mix, then yes, eq the conflicting freq's out of your vocal track. But also look at adding compression, but don't ever do it. Compression helps to level out the vocal track by squashing the louder parts down and in turn bringing softer passages up. The effect is to bring the total percieved volume up, and helps the vocals to stand out in the mix. Same with reverb. Add it as Xeries explained. Be weary about how much reverb you add to the rest of the mix. Overdoing it can ruin a good mix.

Lastly, remember that good tracking beats good mixing hands down. Watch your levels going in, use a pop filter, and rehearse the vocals several times before you track.
 
Thanks, just for the record, it wasn't actually my voice I was recording, and I was refering to it in the mix. Trying to get the very clearest, crispest vocal sound basically. I tried adding reverb but I couldn't get it sounding right.

I was basically looking for tricks of the trade. Compression I played with, but it was more the clarity of the recording. I think I just had the input volume up too high. I should have explained this in my first post really.

The long story basically is I'm getting a band together with a few friends that I've played in different bands with before, and I'm trying to get things set so that we can maximise our time and really getting gigging quickly. So, I wanted a record a decient demo that I can give to venues, which can later be turned into an EP that we can sell. Recording guitar seems like very little problem. Bass I've almost got how I want it. Drums I know what I need I just need cash to buy stuff and vox are what I really want to get perfect because I think they're the most important part to get right. It's a punk band, so all the real melody is going to be in the vocals, hence I want them sounding as clear and professional as possible.
 
I like to make sure theres a duvet or egg crate behind and in front of me. Without this my voice sounds hollow. Maybe try something like that. You might find it helps the tone of your voice because more frequencies end up getting to the microphone.
 
You might want to try a different mic for the singer, matching a mic's response to a singer's range will make a big difference. FWIW this applies to the mics you use for live performances too.
 
so not to stray from the question at hand but i read in another mixing forum that as far as getting a stereo image of vocals you should dub a second track versus just copy,click, drag.
 
Try EQ'ing some high end into the signal. This may introduce some more "crisp" of a quality to the recording.
 
UnityRecordings said:
so not to stray from the question at hand but i read in another mixing forum that as far as getting a stereo image of vocals you should dub a second track versus just copy,click, drag.
Click to expand...

uhhh, yes, if by stereo image you mean two tracks that aren't exactly the same, which would only double the original volume.
 
By cloning a track in software and offsetting a little bit, you wouldnt be doubling the volume...this would only be the case if you just cloned the track with no offset.
 
But you'll have rather nasty phase cancellation if both of those tracks are identical... And you'll still be very close to doubling the volume.
 
Like was said, I almost always track my vocals with compression. It helps a dynamic vocal performance translate well into a tight, punchy track. A lot of people will tell you recording vocals anything but dry is heresy, but I find my vox tracks ALWAYS end up better when I use compression as an input effect... pretty substantial compression too, like 1:8.
 
davesol said:
By cloning a track in software and offsetting a little bit, you wouldnt be doubling the volume...this would only be the case if you just cloned the track with no offset.
Click to expand...

offsetting was never mentioned, and has already been pointed out, that's a rather poor solution
 
dude i remember when walters was around, he always used to say how cute corban's avatar was, haha. awesome.
 
Xeries said:
Everyone is different. One trick it to clone your vocal track and then delay one of them about 20 ms. This fattens up the sound. It's similar to reverb, but not exactly like it.
Click to expand...

That's what I was refering too. I guess I should have quoted in my earlier post.

I agree, a better solution would be to record a second vocal track, and then pan each track...but then that's just me speaking with limited experience.
 
Experiment! I've always had good luck using an SM57 for my vocals, even though most used the 58.

Thousands of mics out there nowdays. Experiment!
 
For the record, this answer is not intended to bust your balls. It's just an acknowledgement that most people spend their whole lives concentrating on the things that *don't matter*!
1. Find a really good singer
2. Give them a song that suits them. and an arrangement that they like.
3. Put the singer in a really good-sounding room.
4. Catch the singer on a day when the singer is sounding good.
5. Put whatever microphone that produces sound compatible with the arrangement in front od said singer. It might be the cheap one, or not. Find the shoe that fits the foot.
6. Plug the mic into the best general mic preamp you have.
7. As Massive Master pointed out- Don't record too hot, and *don't* clip!


If you fail to do these things-Pop filters, EQ,FX, gain-staging, re-amping,de-essing, compression, and remastering won't help. If it doesn't suck in the first place, dealing with any track is much easier.

That is simply the most important thing I have learned about recording things.-Richie
 
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