Production & Technical Tips: The Recording Environment Part 3

Recording Vocals

We are almost done with our recording environment tips. If you missed the previous two parts then I do urge you to go and check it out!

Now you’re finally ready to start recording the vocals. We would suggest not using much compression (if any) at the recording stages, and definitely no EQ. Recording the sound with no processing allows more flexibility and control at the mix stage. Experienced engineers may use certain types of processing at the recordings stage, but this is risky. What might sound great when isolated might sound terrible in the mix and frequency spectrum.
For this reason I would suggest recording with no effects or processing. A tiny bit of compression can work well, but make sure not to overdo it. You can always add more at the mixing stage!
When recording vocals it’s important to help the rapper/ singer achieve the best performance. For starters, setting up a good headphone mix can make things much easier for yourself and the rapper/ singer. The headphone mix must be well balanced, giving the singer a small amount of reverb or delay. It’s also a good idea to do a few test recordings and find out what headphone mix the rapper/ singer likes. They may want to be smothered in reverb if that helps make them confident. As we mentioned earlier you don’t want any processing on the vocals during recording, so even though you’re giving the singer reverb, make sure it’s not on the recording. Simply add the effects and processing on the output of your channel as you send it to the microphone amp for the singer. You’ll want the flexibility to add different reverbs and see what sounds good later on. You always want as much freedom as possible at the mixing stage.

Be Friendly

Your attitude as a producer / engineer can also be the deciding factor in the rapper/ singer delivering a good vocal performance. Try to be encouraging rather than critical about their performance. It’s usually a good idea to get the rapper/ singer to sit in with you after recording a few vocal takes and let them listen to what they've recorded. They are usually their own best critics, so if they can assess problems themselves then it makes your job a lot easier. Usually they’ll ask if they can do another take or correct a line in the song. If a rapper/ singer is constantly not delivering a good performance then don’t keep them in the booth until they get it right. Give them a short 10 - 15 minute break. This can work wonders. Remember, the best tool in having your singer give the best performance is confidence. Make them comfortable and let them adjust without telling them constantly what they’re doing wrong.
Spoiling them with green tea and honey can also help to make them more comfortable. Lol. I know this might sound crazy but it really works for the rapper/ singers. A rapper/ singer needs lots of fluids to keep their mouth and throat moist so avoid alcohol, which will just dehydrate them. Water is the best drink.

Part4:

Mixing & Processing Vocals:

Once everything is recorded and you've compiled your favorite takes to create the master and cleaned up any unwanted noise and breath effects in the gaps, you can use a variety of processing and mixing effects to touch up the vocals to get the final polished sound.

EQ

When it comes to EQ there’s nothing set in stone. Although following the list below will help you start to clean up the sound:

• Removing some of the 150-450Hz ranges will remove some low-mid range boxiness.
• Boosting Frequencies around 8 kHz + can add a nice airy tone, and crisp effect to the sound. However, watch out for the ‘S’s and ‘T’s as any brightening will inevitably boost these.
• When using EQ make sure to boost and cut as little as you can get away with. Drastically changing the sound with EQ will give an un-natural sound to the performance.

Compression

This is my favourite part of processing vocals. A compressor works in 2 ways. Firstly the main purpose of a compressor is to even out the peaks and dips in the recording. By squeezing the volume of the recording a compressor will make the loudest parts of a recording sound closer in volume to the quietist parts. This gives a smooth, even volume and is kind on your ears.
The second and more important aspect of compression is the musical energy that it gives to a recording. When used correctly compression adds an immediate pressure and energy to very dynamic recordings that can really bring a vocal take to life. Listen to a radio DJ and you’ll be able to hear the compression pumping away to keep the volume of the voice on an even level. Radio compression is excessive so as to protect people’s hi-fi speakers so I’m not suggesting you use such drastic settings but experiment and you’ll soon discover that compression is the most important tool in processing of vocal recordings.
Aiming for about 6-9dB of gain reduction, using a ratio of between 2:1 and 7:1 on the loudest parts in the track should give you a good starting point. Make sure when setting the attack and release time you get an even sounding reduction. It’s important not to get that ‘breathing’ effect. You don’t want to hear the compressor working; you just want the vocals to sound even.

Reverb

Reverb is really all about personal taste. While some engineers and singers use the smallest amount possible, others will use as much as they can get away with. A plate emulation is usually the common setting used when mixing urban vocals. Plate emulations are good and often serve to settle the vocal into the mix. Try these settings on your vocal sound.

• Plate Reverb
• 2.3 Seconds Length
• High pass Filter
• 0.24 Seconds Attack Time
• 2.10 Seconds Decay Time
• 6 ms Pre-Delay
• -44dB Reverb Volume
• 2.4dB Wet Reverb