Hey guys AB here from B&H.
And they were talking about six ways you're recording your vocals wrong.
I want to thank you in advance for taking the time to watch this video and don't forget
to subscribe to the channel.
Whether you're working on a project studio or professional multitrack facility, or even
if you're not working.
Capturing a great vocal requires a lot more than just putting an expensive mic to an expensive
preamp.
So, here's a list of six things to avoid when recording vocals.
1.
Using the wrong mic.
When recording vocals make sure you choose a mic that A, is tailored to capturing vocals.
And B, suits the specific person you're recording.
That being said, generally speaking you're going to want to use a large diaphragm condenser
mic.
With a cardioid polar pattern.
Like this Aston Origin.
Though there are hundreds of options out there from which to choose.
Large condensers are great and accurately capturing all the nuances and details on the
human voice.
And they happen to work really well on acoustic instruments too.
There's no rule that you have to use a condenser mic for vocals.
But for studio grade vocals, the large diaphragm condenser is the standard.
2.
Bad mic positioning.
Once the mic is put on a stand, you're only just getting started.
Very important to make sure the height and distance of the microphone is at the optimum
position for catching your singer's voice.
In terms of height, you want the singer's mouth to be at the same level of the capsule.
More or less.
In order to pick up as much of the sound coming out of his or her mouth.
Once you get the height right, you want to figure out the prime distance between the
singer and the mic.
A good starting place is to have the singer stand about 4 to 6 inches from the microphone.
And here's where you'll really need to use your ears in conjunction with your eyes.
Why?
Well, if the singer is to close You may experience the dreaded proximity effect.
Which basically makes the vocal sound boom-y.
As if it were being recorded in a cardboard box.
Roll it!
oooooo, yeah!
Yeaaaaahhh baby!
Wooooooo!
Conversely, If the singer stands too far back from the mic, the Voice will sound very distant
and more importantly, you'll lose the ability to capture all the nuances that help make
a great lead vocal.
3.
Not Using a Pop Filter.
Unless your microphone has an effective built-in pop filter, there's no reason not to use external
pop filter when recording vocals.
Here’s an example: Please, baby, baby, please!
Now that's annoying.
I mean it's already annoying because what I'm saying is ridiculous.
But, it’s also annoying because it's distracting.
Not to mention, that those plosives negatively affect the quality of the audio.
If you don't know what those are, they are those hard consonants you get from letters
like P-K-T-B-D and G.
Here it is again with a pop filter.
Please, baby, baby, please.
Much better!
We haven't negatively affected the sound of the voice.
We’re keeping those consonants at bay.
Pop filters are pretty inexpensive nowadays.
When you do set one up, places it a few inches in front of the mics diaphragm for good results.
And here's a pro tip: Place your pop filter on a separate mic stand.
That way, if the artist accidentally bumps into the filter.
it won't cause problems by shaking or hitting the mic directly.
4.
Not opting for the right acoustic space or treatment.
Unless you're fortunate to be recording in a professionally treated room or booth, you
need to be aware of the acoustics of the space you’ll be recording in.
Particular when it comes to vocals.
Even if you're using the best gear available, a poor acoustic set up can render you're recording
useless.
Or, at least not that useful.
Room size will often determine the type of acoustic treatment needed.
But you’ll most certainly need a way to control bouncing sound.
Sometimes called: reflections, flutter echo or slap echo.
Companies such as Auralex or Primacoustic make great panels for controlling these reflections.
And depending on the size of your room, you can purchase the appropriate amount necessary
to tame those unwanted echoes.
If you happen to be recording a very small booth, you need to be aware of bass frequency
buildup.
Which tends to occur in the corners where the walls meet.
Using bass traps in these corners can really help tame the low in rumble that often occurs
here.
And there are a handful of companies that make it affective bass traps.
5.
Setting the mic input level too high or too low.
Another avoidable mistake made when recording vocals and with a mic in general.
Is not paying attention to the input level coming into your DAW or recorder.
If you set the level too high, there is a good chance the signal will distort and give
you unusable vocals.
Set it to low, and you’ll be forced to boost the signal afterwards.
Which means you'll also be boosting any other sounds or noise in the room that were picked
up by the mic.
A good way to determine proper input level, is to have the singer sing at the volume he
or she believes they'll max out at.
And set the input level roughly between -12 to -6 dBFS on your channels input.
Which visually appears to be about three-quarters of the way up the meter.
This way, you'll give yourself enough gain for a nice clean signal.
While maintaining enough headroom to prevent signal clipping.
6.
Recording with too much compression and/or effects.
Let's start with compression.
A bit of compression is fine if you're using it to control a few peaks here and there.
But, if you compress the incoming signal to the point of squashing it, there’s very
little, if anything you can do to fix it in the mix.
There’s no fixed rule here, but if you're going to compress while recording, A safe
approach would be to use a low ratio Like 2 to 1.
With a slow attack and release.
And a fairly high threshold.
This will prevent the compressor from hitting those transients too hard and ruining your
vocals.
As for other effects like reverb and delay, it’s best to add them after you record.
Typically like with most effects, you can create an AUX bus with an effect on it that
you can route your audio to.
This way, you can both preserve the integrity of the raw track and insert the effects you're
looking for.
To add creativity to your project.
Well that's it for this video.
Thanks again for watching and by the way if you have your own tips for what not to do
when recording vocals, please feel free to share them in the comments below.
This is AB, see you next time.