
To begin with
Every voice is different. Settings that help the voice belonging to the top-selling artist to be at the top of the charts, might do nothing to help your voice. In fact , such settings might even injure it. Keep that in mind as you read advices regarding frequency details, etc .
Your voice is unique. And what is unique, has to be cured as such. That’s why opinions about microphones vary so much. Make it happen say this though – the better the vocal recordings, the easier it is to mix them properly.
1 . Equipment
Say you take a picture of a sunset over Paris with a old, two megapixel camera. It’s going to be a great picture nonetheless. But if you try to make a poster out of it, you’ll end up with a fuzzy, pixelated mess. What the pixels and camera quality in order to your eyes, bits and studio equipment are to your personal ears.
Expensive, high end studio equipment can indeed give you a sensation of what makes it expensive, or to put it correctly, features that make it different. Using it is a good way female vocals train your ear canal. But never suppose that quality lies in the price, because for example I said, every voice is unique and just because something is expensive doesn’t mean it makes your voice sound considerably better. With that said, if you ever have the chance to record with different studio apparatus, different mics, different workstations etc ., please do so! It will give you the opportunity to consider the best arrangement for your voice.
2 . Conditions
Keep recording sessions dry. You can add every reverb, each room ambience you can think of with just a few clicks, but it is impossible to remove recorded room ambience from your signal. So , do everything possible to keep your room dry. If you have a good booth, you are probably in a good situation. If you don’t have one, make an attempt to build one (it’s easier than you think-just Google “vocal booth selfmade” to get some inspiration). If you don’t have time or the revenue for it (you don’t need a lot), at least try to divide your recording area from the rest of your room and for some reason.
- Panning and Track Numbers
Everybody has a different route to panning and the number of vocal tracks that are necessary. I’m going to just tell you my opinion.
The lead vocals for sentiments are usually placed in the center. If you want to give your listener a certain intimacy, it’s always better to use only one vocal track. It just makes your mix clear and it makes the listening experience significantly better. I’m not a fan of doubling the entire verse. With subtle differences between the two takes – including the consonants that never get matched up perfectly – it just will make your vocals sound messy. If you want a clear lead componente, only use one track.
The next thing I would do is definitely record two tracks in which you double certain parts of often the verse. Pan them both in opposite directions (15 towards 40), and reduce their volume. You have to hear a difference relating to the doubled part and the part without doubles, but do make it that obvious. Just so that it gives your vocals and the meaning of what is being said in certain segments more power. Doubling is quite common in all kinds of song, especially in rap music. If you are singing, rather than rapping, use caution when doubling because it can make your vocals sound far too artificial and too pop-ish. On the other hand, if you are going for that place sound, doubling might be a great tool for you!
In the agreement, you can record two vocal tracks and pan them between 30 to 60 – one to the left side, one to the right. Another option would be to record a third track, which happens to be placed in the center, but not as loud as the lead words in your verses.
Some people record one lead track in addition to double it (copy and paste it) and manage them differently (EQ, compressor, pitch, etc . ) This will be another great tool to make your vocals sound different using some parts of the song, just like the panning advices I above mentioned. Try it out and see how you like it.
- Equalizing Vocals
At the start, add a low cut filter on every vocal track. It’s quite common to raise the frequencies from 2 kHz and up just for female vocals, and 3 kHz and up for men’s vocals. Frequencies between 6 and 8 kHz are sensitive because this is the place where the S sounds tend to be home. Be careful here. What sounds good and clean on your studio monitors, might feel like needle-sticks to your ear when ever listening with earphones. Always double- and triple-check your individual mix on different playback devices like monitors, headphones, earphones, etc .
If the S is too sharp, reduce it all. You can either add a native de-esser in your DAW by using a dynamic equalizer, or by manually reducing just about every single S in your vocal recording. The latter is the most time consuming, but gives you the most control. Keep in mind that equalizers and de-essers don’t recognize consonants, they recognize frequencies. And some rimant might share the same frequencies as the S. So mainly apply native de-essers with caution.
- Reverb
When ever adding reverb, keep in mind that the lead vocals should ordinarily be just that – leading. So , adding too much reverb is disadvantageous. Only use small room reverbs. You must not even recognize the reverb, except when it’s gone. In addition it depends on the instrumental. If there’s a lot going on in your own instrumental already, a big reverb would probably be too much for those song. Yet if your instrumental has much room/space, reverb on vocals can be very effective.
- Breathing Sounds
Of course , your vocal recordings will include breathing sounds. Whether the appearance of such breathing sounds should be strong or weaker is a question of personal taste. In my opinion, they are extremely important. That doesn’t really mean they should be extremely loud though. It means you should edit all of them separately and with great care.
If a breath is too high decibel, then reduce its volume. If it is too long, then replace it with a good breath from the same take or by another one. If a breath makes a certain part feel very hectic, then remove it. If it feels like a breath can be missing, add one.
These adjustments can improve the circulate of your recordings and make your individual takes feel more cohesive. They can also be used as a kind of glue to stick a couple consecutive takes together to make them feel like they were taped at once!
But: Don’t double them, and don’t cut these. Always fade in and fade out.
- Consonants
If you have recorded one lead vocal track and not one but two doubling tracks for a phrase such as, “I’m looking at the exact mist, ” you mind encounter a rattling racket at the end, because the three T’s of “mist” will not appear at the exact same time. You can either move them closer alongside one another, so the rattling sound disappears, or you can remove two of these people. Fade out the tracks you removed the consonant out of to avoid unwanted cutting sounds.
- Breaks
Many people refrain from breaks because they want to finish their project or apart from believe breaks are necessary. But human senses get accustomed to together good and bad stimulations. You might not recognize something in a room, if you happen to just came in from the sun, but once your little brown eyes adjust, you will notice all sort of things you had missed. As you enter a restaurant, you might perceive good smells, however , after you have been sitting at your table for a while, your opinion of those smells vanishes. The same thing happens with your ears. If you are mixing vocals for a couple of hours, you might think they sound good plus clear, but the next day, you might just feel ashamed at how colorless they sound.

