As if there aren’t enough articles about recording your vocals at home, I decided to write down some thoughts about it too. Why? Well because I’ve found a lot of the articles out there are “right” but they are a little vanilla. They don’t seem to get to what actually makes a great vocal recording. The focus is mostly technical BUT that’s not what gives you spine tingling vocal takes.
What Gear Should I Use?
I’m not being clever when I say this, but you should use the best gear you can afford at the time.
You’re making a recording or a “record” of your voice at this point in your songwriting/singing journey. That means what you have right now, including where your voice is at, is the equipment you should be using.
Don’t hear me wrong, I’m not saying we’re going to phone in your vocals. What I’m saying is you have to keep things in perspective AND get the absolute best out of what you’ve got.
Some of the first songs and albums that made you fall in love with an artist or band weren’t recorded with the best equipment. The point was they got great sounding vocal takes with what they had.
(If you need recommendations for mics you can check out this Top 5 Budget-Friendly Microphones for Recording Vocals and Instruments)
It’s Really About The Performance
I once did a vocal session with a very popular Bollywood singer. I was feeling like a real imposter that day. She was visiting Australia for some promotional events and here she is coming into my little home studio in suburbia to record some vocals for a song that would be heard by millions.
My mics weren’t that great in comparison with other studios in the area. I wasn’t nearly as experienced as I am now. BUT her voice was something else. Her mastery over her instrument was exceptional.
What I took away from that vocal session is that mastery of your instruments is really what separates a good, even great recording from a world class recording.
One more story to illustrate this point.
When I was working as a producer in Nashville I had the privilege of doing live sound for a male female duo. It was a dive-bar type venue and the mic and sound desk were super cruddy. Pretty poor tools to work with.
That performance was next level. Even through the fog of the garbage sound equipment you could tell these guys were something else. And they were … they ended up winning two Grammys.
The Takeaway: Can I suggest that recording techniques and equipment are about 5 – 10% of importance when it comes to vocal recording. That leaves 90% for the performance. You might not be able to afford a $1000 mic or even a $200 mic but what you can invest is time into getting your voice sounding as good as it can.
This is of course relevant to genre BUT can I say it’s much easier for a good singer to sound rough and raw when they need too than for a poor singer to try and sound polished when they need too.
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