Vocal Home Recording - Getting Great Takes With Ease

What to expect when you enroll in "Vocal Home Recording - Getting Great Takes With Ease"

Recording Vocals - Getting Great Takes With Less Frustration

Greetings and welcome to this lesson series where you will learn the step by step process on how to set yourself up for success to record great vocals in your home studio.

In this course, we will discuss everything from:

• Gear: The minimum amount you'll need to capture a great vocal performance.

• Microphone choice: Understanding the difference between condenser and dynamic microphones and their respective strengths in the studio.

• Microphone set up and proper singing posture.

• Creating a natural sounding environment inside your headphones to sing as naturally and freely as possible for the best vocal takes working with EQ, compression, and reverb.

• Building balanced headphone mixes to optimize your performance.

• Plus my go to method for writing lyrics in the studio.

In this video, I want to talk about the bare essentials when it comes to what kind of recording gear you will need. Please see the attached PDF for a list of all the necessary gear at an affordable price.

In this video, we're going to discuss dynamic vs condenser microphones. What the differences are and ultimately, which is the best choice for what you do?

Today I'm using the Shure SM7B. This is a dynamic microphone with a cardioid polar pattern meaning that the mic accepts sound in the front, and rejects sound in the back. The SM7B is exceptionally versatile. This dual-band switchable passive EQ offers low cut and presence boost controls. Flat or with the low cut, the SM7B is an amazing mic for male dialog, vocals, but a switch of the presence boost makes it an excellent choice for bright sound sources and sibilant vocalists. Because it can take up to 180dB, it's ideal for anything from the aforementioned vocals to guitar cabinets at full blast, snare drum, toms, and can even smooth out the harsh sibilance of a hi hat when set to flat.

I'll also be using a Samson C01. This is condenser microphone also with a cardioid polar pattern. The overall sound is detailed with warm bass and extended top end making it ideal for vocals, acoustic guitar, overheads, and other sibilant instruments.

In this video, I'm going to briefly touch on recording environments to utilize in your home studio. I've recorded vocals everywhere. From inside my closet, to my car, to high end studios, to home studios inside of basements, to just...straight up basements. You name it!

These days, I track vocals at home using an Isovox 2 which is a portable vocal booth and has been my go to for all of my vocal recordings but if I had to, I would go back and make the most out of whatever I have that's available to me to record. Even if all I have is a closet full of clothes.

In this video, I touch on how shoulder and neck posture can play a bit role in getting the most out of your instrument while circumventing any bad habits that can lead to strain.

True to the title, in this video I walk through how to set up both the condenser and dynamic microphones so I'm going to cover everything from the height of the mic stand, to how to set up your pop filter.

Sidenote: If you'd like to learn more about how to set up an SM7B specifically inside an Isovox 2, feel free to check out THIS video. https://youtu.be/V5CjLsddWas

I'm going to preface this one by calmly suggesting "TAKE THE TIME TO SET THINGS UP PROPERLY!!!"

Usually when I’m recording vocals, I get into this kind of “Go Go Go!” Mode because I’m excited and I want to capitalize on that to capture an energetic performance. That all said, I have made MANY mistakes when I just rush into things without a proper session set up.

In this video, I discuss setting up your audio track to record vocals and setting your recording levels to get the best sound without clipping.

Key terms:

Levels - The amount of signal going to your audio, software, or auxiliary track. In this instance, the level on the vocal track is going to determine how loud the sound will be.

Clipping - An unpleasant distortion that occurs as a result of having recording levels set too high.

Noise Floor - A ratio that determines how much noise versus how much useful signal is found in your sound source. If the noise floor is raised, more noise will be introduced into your recorded audio.

In this video I'm going to cover the first step in how to set up your vocal recording chain. This is hugely important not only in being able to hear yourself better and perform at any volume more freely, but also to record vocals that are more even dynamically speaking. Meaning, they will be much easier to mix.

Key Terms:

Routing -

Auxiliary track -

Vocal chain -

Attached are the eq and compression settings used in this video's example. If you're new to eq and compression, steal these settings to get a jump start and use as a reference to play around with.

Headphone mixes. Making sure that you’re not competing in volume with the track you’re singing to.

In this video, I'm going to discuss and show the importance of what's known as a headphone mix. If you're unfamiliar with the term, a headphone mix is simply the blend of instruments you will be hearing inside your headphones when it's time to record your voice. Just like regular mixing, you can control everything from volume, to panning, and any plugins you prefer to insert on your instruments. For the purposes of this video, I'm going to be discussing making volume adjustments for the most part.

Often times, I would just pull the song I’m working on into my session and leave it at full volume or just quickly Turing it down a few db without really taking the time to test how I’m going to hear myself in the headphones. This has caused everything from straining, to going sharp or flat which would then send me into a downward spiral of perfectionist rage. (Yes I was quite the spaz in my youth) If you take the time to simply test the volume in your headphones while listening to the track to make sure you can hear yourself properly, it makes all the difference in the world.

I know this may sound like a no brainer, but music is a creative endeavor and sometimes, when you’re in the heat of the moment, these little technical things can fall by the wayside. On top of that, singing with headphones on is a completely different environment from singing on stage or in your car, or in the shower and is a bit of a learning curve starting out. So ALWAYS ALWAYS make sure the main track you’re singing to is pulled down a significant amount so that you’re able to hear yourself as naturally as possible.

Using reverbs and delays for a more natural feeling performance.

Like I said before, the environment inside the vocal booth, or isovox, or closet (whatever you have) is going to be very unnatural to your ear. Not only do you have a speaker right on top of both ears, but the sound is very dry. This is ideal by the way if you want to record the cleanest vocal. Unless you want a particular sound printed to your vocal, I’d recommend just recording it dry. However, that does not mean that you can’t have effects on your voice while recording. I highly recommend you insert some kind of reverb plugin to create that sense of space in your headphones and make it feel more natural. I personally like using this particular reverb because I like feeling like I’m in a big wide open space. Especially when I’m stuffed inside the isovox.

Afterwards, I like to include a bit of delay for some added depth. These effects are used in this manner to help me to feel my most comfortable when singing.

As you watch this video, you might be wondering what I’m saying here as you listen back. Well, I’m not actually saying anything other than a bunch of "word sounding sounds" that popped out while I was in the moment with my voice.

The technique I'm referring to in order to facilitate this musical gibberish is what's known as scatting and is a great way to get both melody as lyrical ideas out when songwriting. In this case, I'm screaming so I'm primarily focused on vocal patterns, sounds that could be words, anything that gives me a sense of direction to write lyrics from.

Much like the previous video, I'm once again working with lyrical improvisation but this time over a pre-written melody.

Usually when it comes to singing, I tend to work out my melodies before hand but also in an improvised manner. I’ll either be sitting in front of the computer listening back to the music and just humming along anything that sounds fitting. It’s at this stage that I don’t really want to overthink things. I’m just looking for some quick wins and get a creative momentum going.