i don't remember if i read this suggestion on this forum but here it is:

6- have the mic just above the level of the mouth and point it down. this is a good way of avoiding pops. exact distance and height adjustments alters according to the sound one is looking for.

Cool.

7. Take notes of levels and dynamic units used in a session. This is for consistency of future 'drop ins' & corrections. Particularly important for voiceover work.

8. Try not to use a solid music stand as it can acoustically get in the way.

9. Try out cheap mics as sometimes they can be just the ticket.

Antho, I renumbered your post- lets try to keep them in numerical order so this thread can become a resource that people can index- here is a couple of more while we are at it:

10- never tell your singer his take sucks- just say something like 'lets make a couple more takes so we have material to comp the vocal with' remember that the singers instrument is their body and when you knock their peorformance they will take it personal

11- Explain to your singer beforehand that you will be doing vocal takes and that in order for him/her to give the best performance they should get plenty of rest, drink plenty of liquids beforehand- also explain that in order to give the best performance they should throroughly know their material- i don't know how many times the singer has walked in my studio and not really known how to sing the song, phrase it properly

12- encourage them to work with a vocal coach on their songs if at all possible before recording them. An experience coach will take them through the nuances of phrasing and vocal placement in the tune

quote maintiger: " they should get plenty of rest, drink plenty of liquids beforehand"

Just the right type of liquids :) There's not much can be done with a sloshed singer :!:

Dont know if I'm stating the obvious but here's my 2 cents.

13: sometimes inexperienced singers hit hard against the pop shield which introduces handling noise ( usualy in the middle of the best take), so I usualy screw the pop shield to a seperate mic stand instead of the one holding my mic, they can hit it as many times as they like, wont vibrate the mic.

Sammyg

14. If you are getting too much "mouth sounds", have the vocalist drink some apple juice. It seems to clear the mucous/saliva bubbles on the lining of the mouth pretty well.
SG

15. If your voice talent has a genuine "blow-out" of the vocal variety (as in losing their voice or aching cords), I suggest keeping a box of this stuff around:

http://www.traditionalmedicinals.com/?id=28&pid=10

Yes, it is usually for sickness, but I have rescued sessions with a mug of this stuff with some honey added if it is too bitter. Don't sweeten it with sugar.

And no, under normal circumstances hot and cold liquids are BAD for the pro voice in session. Room temp water and rest is the best. But if you have an emergency and can't reschedule, this may save you a headache.

And no... I do not work for or get sponsored by them. But there are A LOT of pro singers on lengthy tours utilizing it.

I am not a profesional, but i've heard.

16- I've heard that mic should always be placed higher than the mouth of the vocalist, reason being... That it makes it so that singers head is facing on an upward slant, opening the vocal cords, resulting in a clearer and more efficient vocal clearity..

this is probably a "we all know this already..." .. but i thought for the noob that walks in here.. might find it useful.

These are my thoughts :shock: on recording Lead Vocal..........providing you have enough eqipment to do it.

.17- Do not use the same Eqipment or settings that you use on your lead voice.( except same preamp is ok ) on any other instument or voice.This in my mind :evil: gives the lead voice its own space...
1. microphone
2. reverb
3.delays
4.other effects
You can still use the effects on other stuff but change the settings or patches :wink:

18- hmm..correct my if im wrong but chewing ginger helps right?

voice "blow out" follow-up

19- cloraseptic-
thanks for the tip on the "Throat Coat", definately will have to keep some of that in stock !

I once had to fly in, record an artist's vocals on 10 songs, and then fly out... all in 4 days time (that's as much as the label would pay for ! )...we got very good vocals on perhaps 6 songs but the last 4 were misery..besides the artist not rehearsing the last 4 as much as the 1st 6 (she really "liked" the 6 songs better than the other 4 ! ). Anyway after 3 days the artist and vocal was shot ! ... artist was tired and getting sick fast, plus could barely speak above a whisper...the only thing that got us through was Cloroseptic...and lots of it !

I know...bad for the throat, but when your up against a dead line you do what you gotta do !

Maintiger,

Your ideas will propel this forum to it's greatest heights. You are spot on with your ideas of organization and resourcefulness for other viewers...this is the way it should be!

There is a wealth of information here but sometimes it can be difficult to reach and that makes it useless. Suggestions like these bring VALUE to this site and has my vote.

Keep it up!

Thanks,

Pokie

thanks pokie- I've been a little lax about people not numbering their suggestions so I went back and did'em. here is an apropos one:

20- be ready and organized when your talent is recording. Have a plan of action, don't waste the talent's time neddlessly as this will probably result in a sub-par performance. The voice is an instrument that is built in the mind, body and soul., Any stress can result in a inferior take. Pamper your singers, your tracks will definitely thank you!

Please members, keep numbering the suggestions so we can refer to them by numbers as needed! :D

Here is a couple more:

21 Experiment, experiment, experiment with mic placement- Sometimes a couple of inches one way or the other will make a world of difference in your vocal tracks

22- If you have a multi pattern mic try the singer in omni and figure eigth as well as the usual cardioid. i have a couple k2's I use a lot and the optimal sttings are usually somewhere in between.

23- get out of the vocal booth into the control room or tracking room. Sometimes the vocal booth will 'suffocate' your vocals. If you have a home studio try putting the singer in the biggest room in the house (as long as there are no external noises, of course.

24- Have fun If you are in a bad mood your talent will pick up on it and it will affect their performance. Believe me, it will!

This may seem obvious to some, but I just had to explain it to a client who brought their own vocal tracks in.

25. DO NOT apply any EQ or effects during vocal tracking! (especially if you are tracking multiple sessions over any length of time). You will never get them to match up.

Keep it flat and natural for tracking. If the talent complains or is annoyed by it, EQ the headphone mix for them, but not the track being laid down.

Get ALL of your takes down first.

Then compile one master take for the mix. Save this as the Comp Master. No EQ. No effects. Just naked.

Copy from that, then adjust the EQ and effects on those copied tracks to taste.

Humans are hyper-critical of vocal frequencies and bad EQ on vocals is like a slap in the face. It is nearly impossible to get all things considered back exactly where they were from previous sessions. You can't piece it together and have it sound natural.

This is really obvious on voiceover and narration where you cannot easily hide things with gates, compressors, verbs, choruses, delays or masking with other elements.

If you use a quality mic and preamp in a decent room with someone who knows how to speak or sing into it properly, you shouldn't have to use ANY EQ on the vocals.

If I am feeling lazy or tracking myself with no one else around, the only thing I would use is a SMALL amount of compression or even less of limiter if the levels are in danger of distorting.

Otherwise, ride the faders and keep it clean for the tracking.

Remember, the less you add now means the more you can add (of anything) later.

Save yourself the headache and keep it simple until the mix. Screw it up in the mix and you can always go back to the Comp Master and start over from the beginning.

If someone is bringing in tracks, require them to bring in at least one "naked" vocal track that you can use to fix or replace any other tracks they may have brought in.

26) Work out the mood of the song and get your artiste to sing in different positions, for instance if the verse is very laid back ask them to sit down to track the verses ,or even lay them back "experiment" if the chorus is up in your face stand them up. mic placement isnt the only thing to experiment with.

This applies particularly to hardcore where the singer's vocal cords get shredded pretty fast.

27) Space out the vocals so the singer doesn't have to do them all at once. If the session is typical overdub do one or two scratch guitar tracks with the drums so you've got the basics of the song. Then have the singer (I use the term loosely) do a vocal take every hour or two as you're laying down tracks.

I'm surprised no one has mentioned this yet....

28. Create an ambience in the studio or vocal booth that will make the singer comfortable.

This includes, dimming lights, candles, insense, flowers, posters, pictures. See if working out the ambience according to the song mood affects the singer. If it's a darker, mellower song, try to create a dark and mellow mood. If the song is upbeat and happy, try to reflect it in the ambience.

Me and my friend were thinking. Even though my studio is not complete what I would like to try is to double track vocals. Have one track digital and one track going to a reel to reel recorder. I don't know how it would sound mixed together but I'm hoping it will sound pretty cool. Has anyone here ever done that before? If you have that would be really sweet if you tell me how it comes out. I understand that it also depends on mics and preamps.

Will

29 - reverb. don't print it, but send it to the singer ears in a way he-she can feel the song working, like finished. Obviously ALL other instruments should be in place for this time. You should look at the takes without reverb, to see posible problems. But wen the star is singing, it'll make he-she feel comfortable.
30 - jaramago. I don' t know the english name, but this herb makes miracles with the voice.
31 - Keep all these rules out of singer's knowledge... ;)

If I may add from a singer’s/ wanna be engineer point of view, :D
I’ve been singing and playing guitar for a living for almost 20 years as a blue collar musician in pubs, clubs, cruise ships, weddings etc… mostly as a one man band. Currently I do in between 5 to 10, 4 hour gigs a week.

32. Referring to # 31, what makes you think “singers” won’t read this :?:

33. Pet peeve, don’t give the singer a crap reverb to track with. I guess some don’t care but I’ve had to ask to have verb dramatically turned down because it was driving me nuts :evil:

34. Try and pace the singer by starting with the easier song or having singer warm up. I’ve learned this the hard way years ago by waking up and rehearsing a challenging song 1st thing in the morning (well crack of noon) later in the day or especially by the end of the gig that night that challenging song is more difficult if not impossible.

35. Things that can be consumed to help a vocalist:

a. Previously said ginger, more specific ginger root. It’s available at the veggie section of a decent size grocery store. It can be cut up and sucked on (real zingy) or made into a tea. Singer will feel it in the back of throat.
b. Product called Singer’s Saving Grace, throat spray. It’s available at some Organic/Natural Health food stores and online. One main ingredient is ginger root.
c. Water room temp or warmer. Cold water contracts the vocal chords. I disagree with previous statement against warm or hot liquids because of my own experiences. I’d compare to a shower where the hot water relaxes you... AND taking a shower before singing is always great for me, I’m sure it’s the humidity and warm temp.
d. Hot tea with lemon I am not a fan of but…
e. I think every experienced singer has tried some sort of concoction to help the pipes so be willing to accommodate.
f. My personal list of weird things: Cigarettes (yes, especially for raspy vocals and to calm nerves of nicotine fit), Coca Cola (goes against hydration but covers throat), Potato Chips & My favorite Excedrin Tension Headache medicine.
g. Things to avoid (my list): espresso (things that de-hidrate), milk (or anything that will cover throat to much) & having full but not over filled stomach.

36. In my reality all of #35 only goes so far (except for Excedrin tension headache). If I’ve stressed my vocal way to much the only thing that’s going to really fix it is rest, maybe an hour or maybe a whole day, till I feel 100% again. At best “Singer’s saving grace” or ginger root will get me through 2 or 3 songs (live performance, straight through) and then I’m back to where I started. What I do then is sing easier songs or play some instrumentals but you can’t do that in a recording session. Frank Sinatra “The Voice” used to show up to a recording session in the 40’a (one take, one track for whole song) and if he felt like his vocal was not up to it that day he would send every body home, that’s an entire orchestra and recording staff.

37. If it was me standing in front of you, and you thought I sounded like crap singing something, I would want to know it. So be honest, just not brutally honest. For sure this would be a case by case call for how honest you are with a paying client, but if it’s your friend/client please find a tactful way to make the right suggestion. For sure we do not all listen to the same thing, the same way. :roll:

Marc

webtroy wrote: I am not a profesional, but i've heard.

16- I've heard that mic should always be placed higher than the mouth of the vocalist, reason being... That it makes it so that singers head is facing on an upward slant, opening the vocal cords, resulting in a clearer and more efficient vocal clearity..

this is probably a "we all know this already..." .. but i thought for the noob that walks in here.. might find it useful.

This is actually a MAJOR fallacy. NEVER have a singer lift their chin. It actually does the opposite, by closing off the throat, and makes it harder for them to reach the pitch on higher notes. It is actually better for them to slightly drop their head, which will open the throat and actually make it easier for the singer to reach the pitch. I've had to work with many a singer to get them to stop singing "up" to the mic. They are always amazed at how much better it sounds and how much less effort it is to sing when their head is dropped. This is from years of experience as a singer, a vocal coach, and an engineer.

38 - Track with 2 mics the whole time. Have one mic upside down, and one rightside up. With the capsules close to each other (but not touching) in the sweet spot. Choose your two favorite mics for the vocalist, maybe even ask the vocalist what they like. When mixing choose one of the two for the project after you've made each mic sound as good as possible (after mic pre/ compression/ EQ). then choose what one actually sounds best, blindfold if need be. That way during mixing you're not pondering what the other mic might have sounded like, you'll be more confident that the vocal mic choice was good.

39 - Talk with the vocalist days/weeks before tracking about harmonies, and note carrying.
Sometimes a group with (1) vocalist never really thinks of harmonies, or the fact that he/she can carry notes longer than possible live (crossfade or counterpoint vocal parts).
give them ample time to come up with parts. Too much writing in the studio will slow things down, and can turn out not as good as if they had more time to work on it.

Sloshed Singer!

Antho wrote: quote maintiger: " they should get plenty of rest, drink plenty of liquids beforehand"

Just the right type of liquids :) There's not much can be done with a sloshed singer :!:

Most singers cannot handle ethanol in the studio but believe me some would just suprise you!

de-essing

I work in a Voiceover studio where recording vocals is the majority of the work. We work on commercials, adaptations, radio TV...
We have a lot of work coming in also form agencies aborad, where thez send us the VO and we mix it. Normaly it takes half an hour or so, just to get it breathing again, really the quality of some studio sensding the material in is below comment...

Either they are too compressed, too boomy or just plain weak...
I hope some of the engineers in those studio around europe is reading this thread, because it has soem very good stuff and ideas. Some i will not hesitate to use in 1 hour when i leave for work...

My 2 cents, mostly about getting read of essing sound, which is very difficult to getrid of in the mix...

39: For voices with strong "s", try pointing the mic upward so it will capture the part of the vocls coming out of the upper side of mouth/lip.
Try not to use Vacuum tube mic for it, and a pre that doesnt color the sound...

ANd the most important one "again", dont ever tell your singer he/she sucks!

thanks

Actually believe it or not a engineer friend of mine just showed me a really cool technique. He actually uses 2 mics to record vocals...a condenser and a dynamic right next to each other. Just be careful of phase. The session we were in we actually used a AT 4040 and a Sennheiser 421. The vocals sounded phenomenal. The dynamic mic just completely opens up spectrum.

Thanks, Jeremy

40. ALWAYS record the first take. Even if you're setting levels. Sometimes you get the best take when the singer thinks it's just a run-through.
Also keep all guide vocals from tracking sesssions for little nuggets of unpressurised gold!

41. Bear in mind that if a singer is ready to sing, the last thing they want is to be part of an engineering experiment.
Whenever possible try to do your mic auditions and tinkering and then don't do the vocal session.
Leave it set up for them to walk straight in the next day and sing.

42. Ask the singer if there's a specific microphone they usually use.
Some singers are happy to try new ideas, but some are set in their ways and will be freaked out if they're faced with a strange mic when they've used a different one for "all their hits".
If you try a different mic and they're singing well you will be the genius who introduced them to a fantastic new sound, or if they're not singing well it will be your fault for using the 'wrong' mic.

For those special rock and roll vocals, you might want to suggest a fifth of Jack Daniels and a pack of Chesterfield's?? It certainly helps for voiceovers to attain that "Clanging Brass Balls" sound. Perhaps copious amounts of white powder not laced with Manitol, as it can make for accidents on high notes.

Stopped up
Ms. Remy Ann David

RemyRAD wrote: For those special rock and roll vocals, you might want to suggest a fifth of Jack Daniels and a pack of Chesterfield's?? It certainly helps for voiceovers to attain that "Clanging Brass Balls" sound. Perhaps copious amounts of white powder not laced with Manitol, as it can make for accidents on high notes.

Stopped up
Ms. Remy Ann David

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: ^^^

Mine was said already.
43. I always use a min of two mics, three gives a good range comparison.

44. pre-setup and test equipment the day before in case your reverb or delay or compressor craps out.

Its nasty and very unprofessional to have someone travel to your studio just to find out your equipment crashed

webtroy wrote: I am not a profesional, but i've heard.

16- I've heard that mic should always be placed higher than the mouth of the vocalist, reason being... That it makes it so that singers head is facing on an upward slant, opening the vocal cords, resulting in a clearer and more efficient vocal clearity..

this is probably a "we all know this already..." .. but i thought for the noob that walks in here.. might find it useful.

Found useful by Noob.. thank you!

45. I have had singers that gargle port.
46. If you use a DAW, Record the first take and use the wave image as a guide so you can ride the levels going in. Risky but worth it.

Digital tracking time saver

this could be a real time saver in the future: record more than one track at a time for each source. that way you have a track that is untouched, and a track(or tracks) you can mess with post recording. Example: when you're trying to add reverb, but still want the original sound of the recording- add desired reverb effect to one track, and lower the volume slightly, while keeping the original at a louder volume than the track with reverb. I got the idea from that noobie suggestion for doubling up voices with a duplicate track with a really slight delay. I prefer to do a second take for doubling up voices, but it works great for adding FX.
:twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted: :twisted:

CrackerBrand wrote: [quote=webtroy]I am not a profesional, but i've heard.

16- I've heard that mic should always be placed higher than the mouth of the vocalist, reason being... That it makes it so that singers head is facing on an upward slant, opening the vocal cords, resulting in a clearer and more efficient vocal clearity..

this is probably a "we all know this already..." .. but i thought for the noob that walks in here.. might find it useful.

Found useful by Noob.. thank you!

Just wanted to point out that this technique was lobbied against just a few posts later. Someone else said that lowering the head for singing was actually better for reasons described in the post.

I wouldn't form a pour in concrete for either one.

Discrete wrote: [quote=CrackerBrand][quote=webtroy]I am not a profesional, but i've heard.

16- I've heard that mic should always be placed higher than the mouth of the vocalist, reason being... That it makes it so that singers head is facing on an upward slant, opening the vocal cords, resulting in a clearer and more efficient vocal clearity..

this is probably a "we all know this already..." .. but i thought for the noob that walks in here.. might find it useful.

Found useful by Noob.. thank you!

Just wanted to point out that this technique was lobbied against just a few posts later. Someone else said that lowering the head for singing was actually better for reasons described in the post.

And for what it's worth - both gentleman may have been smoking crack (maybe just a little.)

Tilting the head in either direction beyond a point inhibits the flow of air, however, tilting down does far worse than tilting up. In fact, if you remember back to your CPR training...we were all taught to place your hand under the dummy's neck and lift their head back a little straightening out the air passage. This still holds true. However, keep in mind that the fact that the head is on the ground is causing it to flex down a little so most of the effort is spent countering that effect.

In any case, the vocalists head should be straight forward. If in doubt, have your vocalist hold a single pitch while moving their head up and down. They and you will definitely hear the spot where it should be held.

Bringing the mic in from above has different benefits than those listed above already in that you can alter the tone of the voice by catching a more "breathy" (and also, if you're not careful, far more nasally) tone from the singer.

Bringing the mic up from the bottom of the mouth will capture a deeper, more intimate chesty (and often boxy sound).

However, both will assist in avoiding pops and other plosives as well as some sibilance.

A different idea - to capture the true nature of the voice, have the mic straight in front of the singer but only slightly off to the right or left and aimed back towards his/her mouth. This will help avoid those plosives and sibilants but at the same time encourage your vocal talent to keep their heads in the proper place.

I guess that was suggestion #47.

Cheers.
J.

Of course, there's always the Lemmy way:

Iron Fist
[youtube:058b096851]http://www.youtube…]

Ace Of Spades
[youtube:058b096851]http://www.youtube…]

Is it just me or is everything in Mono on You Tube?

I don't think I've heard any stereo anything on there yet?

I helped to put NBC-TV Washington DC, on-air, in stereo, back in 1984. What don't people understand about stereo 20 years later??

I haven't tried posting anything yet on You Tube, so we'll soon see? One of the reasons why I haven't put any of my local rock-and-roll bands shows, even though they've asked me to come on our local cable access channel. They still don't do stereo. Even though we receive them with a stereo pilot and frequently only a single channel of audio. They can't even get mono right. Much less left.

I like stereo
Ms. Remy Ann David

Not sure as a singer I agree with this technique

Discrete wrote: [quote=CrackerBrand][quote=webtroy]I am not a profesional, but i've heard.

16- I've heard that mic should always be placed higher than the mouth of the vocalist, reason being... That it makes it so that singers head is facing on an upward slant, opening the vocal cords, resulting in a clearer and more efficient vocal clearity..

this is probably a "we all know this already..." .. but i thought for the noob that walks in here.. might find it useful.

Found useful by Noob.. thank you!

Yes I understand what the affect would be on the mic (capturing possibly more nasal) but forcing a singer to lift the head too much restricts him physically.
When singing I was taught to slightly lean forward into especially high notes. This helps the singer to overcome the pychological fears of hitting those higher notes. Leaning the headback creates more restriction and a unnatural feel to the muscles and creates neck tension. You see professional singers do this all the time when they lean forward into the note. Unfortunately during live performance holding a mike is always easier. Sorry just seeing this from a singers point of view. There maybe technical benefits but a singer may not like this. just my take.

bent wrote: Of course, there's always the Lemmy way:

Hahaha...there's no denying the power of the mole.

:lol:

Lemmy is bad to the bone.