Your recording setup
Before we begin recording, there are a few things that you can do to ensure that you get the best possible sound into your computer. These involve making some adjustments to your room, thinking about microphone position and minimising any unwanted noise so that it doesn’t end up on the recording.
You’ll want to get as clean a sound into the mic as possible to give yourself maximum flexibility when it comes to processing your vocal recordings. The most important thing to do is to hang blankets across the wall directly behind the singer (using tacks is probably the quickest way of doing this), which will dull down any reflections coming into the sensitive front side of the mic. This is done to limit the amount of metallic-sounding room reverberation that gets onto the recording – it’s always preferable to record as dry a signal as possible and add your own reverb later on with a plugin.
You should try to pick a room that’s carpeted if at all possible, or if it isn’t, at least put a thick rug around the area where the singer and mic are positioned. As well as floors, walls and ceilings, windows reflect a lot of sound, so make sure you draw the curtains, close the blinds or at least hang a blanket over any glass surfaces in your recording room.
In fact, any flat surfaces are your enemy in this regard, so if you’ve got lots of blankets, towels or bits of bedding lying dormant in your airing cupboard, trot them out and cover as much of the wall space as possible, as well as the tops of any tables, desks and the like. If you’re short on such items, concentrate your resources on the area behind the singer’s head.
If the room you’re recording in refuses to be tamed with the above methods, you can always try recording with a large blanket suspended over both the singer’s head and the microphone – this has the added advantage of preventing some of the reflections coming down into the mic from the ceiling. However, you must make sure the blanket isn’t touching either the mic or the stand, as this will cause any movement of the blanket to be heard on the recording.
Placing the mic
Your mic should be positioned away from any walls and not too close to your workstation, as sound will bounce off these and be picked up on the recording. Then again, you don’t want to be right in the centre of the room either, as standing waves will play havoc with your recording. So, try to place your mic slightly closer to two of the walls than to the others, with the vocalist facing into the room and the majority of blankets (or whatever you’re using) tacked to the walls behind the singer’s head.
The optimum position is probably furthest away from your desk and any windows, but sometimes this isn’t practical, so just try to minimise reflections as best you can.
How far vocalists should position themselves from the mic itself is entirely dependent on the material and their voice. A screaming metal singer should probably be at least a foot away from the mic, whereas a softer folk singer should be around four to six inches away. These are just guidelines, though, so feel free to record a few short test takes at the beginning of a session to ascertain the best distance for the particular track you’re working on.
When recording a take, vocalists should aim to keep their heads as still as possible and not move their feet. It’s also best to sing just offcentre into the mic, as most mics (depending on the pickup pattern) are extremely sensitive to direct sounds and any movement towards or away from the mic will be exaggerated from the centre. An experienced singer will often move their head back a little during a particularly loud section and move closer for a quieter part, but unless your vocalist knows their craft inside out, it’s best for them to remain as still as possible.
Word of mouth
A pop shield is a must, as it will reduce the loud plosive sounds of words beginning with ‘b’ and ‘p’ (caused by the singer emitting a blast of air). This will in turn help you out a great deal when it comes to the processing and mixing stages. Pop shields aren’t all that expensive to buy, but if you’re on a really tight budget, opt for the classic homemade solution of using some old nylon tights stretched around a frame made from a