Vocals are a main key component of a song besides the beat of course. Even if you have the tightest beat it doesn’t matter if your vocals sound muddy, too reverbed on pretty much inaudible. So there some things you have to take into consideration when laying your vocals down.
Obviously first thing is to have a good or quality microphone with a filter in front. You don’t necessarily have to spend thousands of dollars, become familiar with your equipment. Learn the pros and cons of a microphone before buying it too. A decent microphone makes so much more difference to your vocals e.g. recording from a speaker microphone and a real microphone sounds so different.
Adding reverb to your vocals adds depth to your voice and makes it sound full along with filling in space to make the track sound whole as one with the beat. Be careful not to add too much reverb, as you don’t want the echo to be too audible. Again, it’s a trial and error process to find a perfect balance.
Double up on punch lines and hooks. This makes the vocals sound full and add dynamics to the song.
Find a good equalizer plug-in to use for your vocals, separately from the equalizer you use to mix down the song. Again it’s not about spending thousands of dollars, find something you can master in terms of tweaking settings easily and also know the effects of the settings of the equalizer you use.
Sometimes using compression on vocals also helps to level out your voice on a track. Pretty much what compression does, is even out the high and lows on a track making it even sounding. If you don’t necessarily want that, you can always tweak with the settings or double up parts you want to add emphasis to.
Try to find as much of a sound proof environment to record as you can. Recording in an open space usually affects vocals. E.g. If you are recording at home, lets say in your living room. No matter how quiet it may sound to you, your vocals won’t sound the same to lets say if you are recording in a padded room.
Don’t stand too close to the microphone is another obvious way to help improve vocals.
Another simple but always overlooked way to improve vocals, is don’t smoke before signing or rapping immediately before recording. Research on this and you will find out the it messes your vocal chords, especially for singers
All of these techniques used together can hopefully improve vocals. Again its a matter of learning your equipment and trial and error.
Feel free to leave comments and suggestions
Obviously first thing is to have a good or quality microphone with a filter in front. You don’t necessarily have to spend thousands of dollars, become familiar with your equipment. Learn the pros and cons of a microphone before buying it too. A decent microphone makes so much more difference to your vocals e.g. recording from a speaker microphone and a real microphone sounds so different.
Adding reverb to your vocals adds depth to your voice and makes it sound full along with filling in space to make the track sound whole as one with the beat. Be careful not to add too much reverb, as you don’t want the echo to be too audible. Again, it’s a trial and error process to find a perfect balance.
Double up on punch lines and hooks. This makes the vocals sound full and add dynamics to the song.
Find a good equalizer plug-in to use for your vocals, separately from the equalizer you use to mix down the song. Again it’s not about spending thousands of dollars, find something you can master in terms of tweaking settings easily and also know the effects of the settings of the equalizer you use.
Sometimes using compression on vocals also helps to level out your voice on a track. Pretty much what compression does, is even out the high and lows on a track making it even sounding. If you don’t necessarily want that, you can always tweak with the settings or double up parts you want to add emphasis to.
Try to find as much of a sound proof environment to record as you can. Recording in an open space usually affects vocals. E.g. If you are recording at home, lets say in your living room. No matter how quiet it may sound to you, your vocals won’t sound the same to lets say if you are recording in a padded room.
Don’t stand too close to the microphone is another obvious way to help improve vocals.
Another simple but always overlooked way to improve vocals, is don’t smoke before signing or rapping immediately before recording. Research on this and you will find out the it messes your vocal chords, especially for singers
All of these techniques used together can hopefully improve vocals. Again its a matter of learning your equipment and trial and error.
Feel free to leave comments and suggestions