6 Pro Tips to Record Radio Ready Vocals At Home!
Let's be real, every Recording Artist and Music Producers dream is to record in the major studios with the perfect recording environment!
...But not all of us have the funds or means to be in these positions.
Some of us only have a mic, interface, and computer.
And to be honest.
That's all you need!
In fact, I and tons of other artists would rather record in a bedroom studio instead of the major ones.
And I wouldn't doubt that after learning these 7 tips you're going to feel the same way.
First Things First...
1.) Lets set the mood, the Vibe in the studio will make or break a hit!
Make sure to always keep good and positive vibes when creating, and remember not to get down on your self if things aren't sounding right. I can't tell you how many times I've heard and seen records go left all because the vibe changed or some negativity hits the air.
Once you got the mood set and your feeling creative its time to get into the slightly technical parts of getting pro recordings!
2.) Properly place and set your microphone up! Don't just set it and forget it. If your room isn't treated then this step is crucial. Be strategic with where u place your mic, find the best spot in your room that's away from any windows, glass, and get out of any corners. We want to capture the vocal and only the vocal, not the reflections of any windows or out of any corners.
3.) Clean Gain Levels. Bad levels = Bad Recordings. Make sure your levels when recording stays in the green, NO red recordings! Good gain levels should sit between -13 to -6 to give you the headroom to properly mix and clean up your vocals in the mixing stage.
4.) Distance from the mic. This step is very underrated but the distance you are from your microphone will be the difference in how your vocals sound whether they're to bassy or to thin or have to much room tone in it. A safe distance to find that sweet spot would be to form the hang loose sign 🤙🏽 with your hands and put your thumb to your mouth and pinky to the microphone pop filter.
*A nice test to hear the difference in these placements would be to go to close to the mic and hear how bassy it is and then go to far from the mic and you hear too many room reflections and right in that sweet spot sounds good.
5.) Clean your vocals up! Once you've laid a good clean recording that you're satisfied with. Its time to clean it up and get it sounding crispy. I can go on for days about how to clean your vocals up and all that jazz. To make it easy for you I've simplified it into 3 Steps.
- EQ - Low cut 60hz-90hz 3db, Cut 500 Hz 3db, Cut 1 kHz 3db, Boost 7Hz, Boost 12khz 3db
- Compressor - Ratio 4.1 with 3-6db attenuation
- Deesser - 7khz - 9khz
* Basic settings for each plugin. Stay tuned for a more in-depth post on how to use each plugin.
*Try cutting in these problem areas to clean vocals up.
6.) Fit your vocals in the mix. It isn't easy listening to a song when the vocals are too loud or to quiet right? Well, that's why it's a must you fit that vocal to the beat.
An easy way to make sure all the levels match up properly is to turn the volume down on the whole mix and make sure the vocals and the beat sound even and ones not too loud.
*You can also put the whole mix in mono to check as well, and to triple-check do both at the same time!
Try these 6 steps out and let me know if they worked for you!
Interested in knowing if I was of help or not.
Click Here for 3 Free for Profit Beats >>
Feel free to email me if you have any further questions on mixing or recording vocals.
teflonxkwam@gmail.com
-Kwam