Tips for vocalist new to studio recording

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cadillac6661

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Singing into a dynamic mic in a dive or other type venue is one thing. Singing into a large diaphragm condenser mic in a dead room is quite another it would seem. Any tips on things like annunciation for example? Any help is greatly appreciated you guys are AWESOME!
 
It's a skill. You need to learn it. In particular you need to work out what distance to be from the microphone at any time, depending upon what you're singing and how to change that distance when required. Get closer and the signal gets hotter, but you also start picking up proximity effect, which emphasises bass frequencies - perhaps this is what's required, perhaps not. Get further away for the "big" notes and you can sound like you've just moved into the next room if you overdo it.

You may need, depending upon your voice and pronunciation style to work on controlling plosives and sibilance. Knowing when to turn the head just a fraction and other techniques.

You'll need to work out how you sing best and where your voice sounds best... is it singing straight ahead at the mic, or where the mic is slightly higher and you're singing up, or slightly lower and singing down.

Sing. Listen. Adjust. Sing. Listen. Adjust. Sing. Listen. Adjust.

Oh, and always make sure you're singing into the correct side of the mic.... it happens.:D
 
Also worth bearing in mind that your voice is like any other element of a track it will need to be treated differently for different track environments, so that when recorded and mixed it sits with everything else and sounds like it belongs. All very well crooning into a mic and thinking it sounds good, then singing with the track only to find it doesn't cut through the mix or it is tonally at odds. I appreciate that vocal takes can be treated post recording, but I know from experience that getting somewhere near to the desired sound from the outset saves a lot of grief further down the path towards getting a track finished.

Tim
 
All good advice.
Also, I find that some vowel sounds need to be exaggerated in order to sound like the word it's actually supposed to be. Like instead of singing "follow", sing "FAR~LOW". It sounds stupid as you do it, but when you listen to it, it sounds like you're singing "follow".
I tend to enunciate my words but I've developed a fast mouth over the years so it sounds relaxed and not like elocution lessons. Enunciation however, isn't that important in some songs. But I'd say learn to stretch vowels and get around lots of words and syllables, fast and in tune. It soon becomes normal so even if you're forcing rhymes and squeezing in syllables, you can make it sound relaxed and natural. Or tense and natural. Or angry and natural. Or sarcastic and natural. Or miserable and natural. You get the idea.
 
in terms of performance, an engineer once gave me some good advice. The microphone can't see emotion, it can only hear it. So to get 100% of whatever emotion you're wanting to convey recorded, you need to put in 110%. ie; overdo it slightly :)
Ham it up!

Sonic
 
Armistice said:
So awesome you didn't bother to acknowledge or thank any of the contributors...
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That would be because I haven't been here in a few days? I do apologize for that! Between my 60+ hour a week job, rehearsals and kids I sometimes forget to check for responses daily at the different forums I frequent occasionally.


I appreciate all the tips immensely! Folks like you are what makes trying new things worth it.
 
cadillac6661 said:
I sometimes forget to check for responses daily at the different forums I frequent occasionally.
Click to expand...
Being part of multiple forums is like being a serial liar. You have so much to keep remembering !
 
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