Recording vocals

The vocal line is often the most important part of of a song, and flaws in a vocal recording are immediately obvious because the human voice is so familiar.

However, you can get a good professional result by following a few guidelines and using some tricks of the trade.


The singer
The singer should be familiar with the material, physically relaxed, and under no mental pressure. Most perform best standing up in a comfortable but not over-warm temperature. If they are easily distracted send everyone but the engineer / producer out of the studio.

Concentrate on getting the singer’s headphone mix right  - some reverb helps. A system which allows vocalists to adjust their own listening level will make life a lot easier and a good headphone mix really helps to encourage a good performance.


Use a pop shield
Always place a pop shield between the singer and the microphone or you will get unnatural 'pops' on plosive 'b' and 'p' sounds that can't be fixed afterwards. The pop shield may be a commercial model or a DIY job comprising stocking material over a wire coathanger frame or even a fine metal or plastic sieve or chip-pan splash guard. Any of these will do the job without affecting the tone of the mic. Foam wind shields are virtually useless in combating pops.


Choice of mic
Use a good microphone: it doesn't have to be anything too special, but you should avoid low-cost 'bargain' models or those designed  for use with home stereos or portable cassette recorders. Professional studios generally use condenser microphones, but a good back-electret mic or even a good dynamic vocal mic can produce excellent results.

The mic should suit the singer. Singers with thin or excessively  bright voices may actually sound better with a dynamic mic, such as the Shure SM58, while those needing more of an open sound would benefit from a capacitor or back-electret mic. If you have several mics to choose from, try a test recording  with each and see which is most flattering to the vocalist.

Use an appropriate mic pickup pattern - most project studio vocal recordings are made using a cardioid or unidirectional mic. These pick up less sound from the sides and rear. However, an omni mic of a similar quality generally imparts a more natural, open sound  and that can be useful if you're working with a singer who tends to sound thin or boxy. If you work a couple of inches closer to an omni mic, you'll get close to the same 'direct sound to room sound' ratio you'd achieve with a cardioid.

Put the mic at the right distance - too close and you'll increase the risk of popping and the level will change noticeably every time the singer moves slightly. Cardioid mics also exhibit a bass-boost 'proximity effect' that varies as the singer's mic distance varies. However, if the singer is too far away from the mic, the room reflections will colour  the sound, making it seem distant and boxy. Usually, a mic distance of around six to nine inches (15-24 centimetres) is ideal.

Minimise the room's influence on your sound. The mic picks up both direct sound from the singer and reflected sound from the room. Reduce the room's contribution by keeping away from the walls and by improvising screens using sleeping bags or duvets behind and to the sides of the singer.


Mic technique
Use mic technique to help control level - if the singer can be persuaded to pull back from the mic slightly when singing louder notes, there's less risk of overloading the recorder or mic preamp, and you won't need to use so much compression to even things up. An experienced singer can also lean into the mic on quieter, more intimate passages to exploit the proximity effect. However, to prevent an inexperienced singer getting too close to the mic, position the pop shield about three inches (7.5 centimetres) from  the mic.

Mount the microphone on a stand if possible. Only let the singer hold the mic if to do otherwise would compromise their musical performance and make sure they keep their hand clear of the rear of the basket, as obstructing this area can affect both directional and tonal characteristics of the mic.

Go for the best vocal performance you can get but be prepared for more than one take. More often than not you'll have to punch in and out around phrases  that need re-doing, but if you have enough tracks, get the singer to do the whole song several times and then compile a track from the best parts of each take.


Use of compression
Use some compression - even well-disciplined vocalists tend to sound uneven against the very controlled dynamics of a pop mix, so it helps to apply a little compression while recording. Use less compression than you think you’ll  finally need with a compressor that has a reasonably neutral characteristic. Aim to achieve 5-8dB of gain reduction on the loudest signal peaks. If the compressor has an auto mode, use it.

You can use more compression on the vocal track after it has been recorded. Try both subtle and heavy compression to see which works best  with the track, though if you're using a lot of compression you may need to gate the vocal track first. This will prevent noise build-up in the pauses between phrases. It's at the mixing stage that a compressor with an obvious character can be used to make a vocal seem bigger.

Don't use a gate while recording - it can ruin an otherwise perfect take, so save it until the mixing. Use the gate before any further compression, but don't  gate so hard that you remove all the breath noises preceding words, as these are part of the character of a vocal performance - the recording will sound unnatural without them.


Using EQ
Be careful with EQ: on most budget desks the EQ only sounds decent when used sparingly or to cut unwanted frequencies. Mid-range boosting usually results in a nasal or phasey sound, so use as little EQ as you can. If you've picked the right mic, and taken the time to fine-tune its position during recording,  you shouldn't need much corrective EQ anyway. When EQ is used for creative purposes use a good-quality outboard equaliser, because the difference between a budget EQ and a really good one is immense. Avoid using too much high-end, as this will enhance sibilance, bring up background noise and may make the end result fatiguing to listen to.

Use only a little reverb - vocals recorded in a dry acoustic environment need reverb to give them a sense of space and reality, but don't use more than the song really needs. Generally, busy songs need less and slower ballads with more space in the arrangement can use more.

If the vocals are very brightly* recorded, they may cause any added reverb to sound sibilant. Instead of de-essing the vocals  (which often sounds unnatural), try instead de-essing just the feed to the reverb unit. You can also experiment with the reverb type and tonality to minimise sibilance and spitting.
* A 'bright' sound has presence, meaning a tiny amount of echo.

If you do have to de-ess vocals, try to use a split-band de-esser rather than the simpler compressor with an equaliser in the side-chain, as the split-band approach produces fewer undesirable side effects. Try to avoid sibilance by moving the mic slightly or by using a different mic, rather than trying to fix it afterwards. Pointing the mic slightly above or below  the singer's mouth sometimes helps.


Using echo
If using echo or delay effects on a vocal, try to get them in time with the song, either by calculating the  delay needed to match the tempo or by using the tap-tempo facility if one is available. For a less obviously rhythmic echo, try a multi-tap delay with irregular tap spacings.

Listen from outside the room and see if the song has the same balance as something you might hear on the radio. The vocals are the most important part and should be well forward, but not so far forward that they sound 'stuck on' to the backing.