Basic instructions when recording vocals???

B

Bro_Random

New member
What are the main things that I need to know when recording vocals to make it sound good? (for example: effects, panning, mixing, doubling up voice, etc.)

P.S. it is concerning recording rap voices

Thanks for the help!
 
What up bro.....Well truthfully man there is no exact way to record vocals, everyone does there 5hit a bit different. Its basically what ever sounds good with that beat and with that artist. But i will let you know that alot of peeps use a bit of compression, doubling up, and panning maybe the main lead opposite the other track. Effects are good as long as they are used sparingly, there is no need for madd chorus and reverb, a little bit will sound good and not to over do it. But the best advice i can give is just to play around with it until you find what works for you.
LATE
 
I personaly dont use compression that often and if i do i use upward compression, someone made a plugin on here that I use, I don't really do a whole lot with panning or effects, i just try to leave the vocals as close to how they are, then i double parts of the verses and mix those in. And if your using a sondeser mic with a preamp, turn off the 10db pad on both and turn down the gain and drive to almost nothing, or even all the way down, this way you wont have any background hiss or hum AT ALL, none of it, super clean vocals.
 
I use 2 main leads <C> i never pan my main leads. 1 lead is slightly high than the other. 2 Stab tracks panned about 30-50% depending on the artist. Then an adlib track if the song/artist needs it and wants it. EQ/Compressor/Reverb on all vocal tracks, now how much is up to you. Me personally very little. Dont want to over do the track.
 
effects: i like to do compressor->eq->other->reverb/delay. the "other" basically includes all sorts of subtle distortion units and harmonic exciters and what not, most of which i find in izotope trash and izotope ozone. they are good for adding a subtle bite to the sound. reverb/delay i use sparingly and depending on the sound i am going for, sometimes i dont use them at all.

panning: dont put the lead vox too far off center. if you have dubs (especially harmonies) it helps to not pan them too far from each other.

mixing: practice. and keep in mind, mixing is not a matter of "optimizing" your song, but rather a matter of adding your own flavor to the sonic elements. there is no one perfect mix for your recording, but rather a ton of different possible mixes that will each give you a cool but different sound.

doubling up voice: dont overdo it. and be tasteful, these days a lot of the dubs i hear people do are really contrived.

etc: it helps to know a bit about stereo/mono recording, acoustics, mic techniques, different types of microphones
 
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