Recording Vocals!!

[ThaShine2004]

Can i get a few suggestions on how to record good vocals and make the artist feel as though they are into the groove of the music?
Also how would i use/set-up a compressor or limiter to keep from peaking/clipping?
Thanks alot!!

[Paul Cavins]

Make sure the artist knows that you can and will adjust their headphone mix to their liking. Sometimes people are shy about the headphone mix, figuring they have to accept what is given to them. Have them do a couple of practice takes (record them!), then start "recording". Try to keep the mix simple, too. Mute anything that might compete with the vocal track or be a distraction.

I'm not a compression expert, but the best thing to do is to educate the singer as to how to work the mic. Teach them to turn their head to the side for the loud bursts to control the volume going into the mic. The great singers are good at this. I compress going in with a fast attack time and medium release (the settings on my compressor are labeled that vaguely, not numerically). Be sure to err on the side of less compression, because you can't change it later. If you need to compress more later, then you can. If there are crazy peaks, then you need to change the singer's performance into the mic. If you don't record at levels that are too hot on average, you shouldn't have a terrible peaking problem. Leave yourself plenty of headroom, at 24-bit resolution, you will be fine with lower levels.

Have fun-seek out more expert opinions than mine---


PC

[ThaShine2004]

Thanks for the help (Paul Cavins) I will most definitely put forth what you shared !!

[Chris Coleman]

Can i get a few suggestions on how to record good vocals...

put a mic in front of a good vocalist, never fails.

...and make the artist feel as though they are into the groove of the music?

Lava lamps, dim lighting, laidback session management, and a good mix in their cans.

[AverageJoe]

Also, on the headphone mix thing, really try to get it right before they ever put the cans on (much easier once you've worked with the singer before). Sometimes a singer will continue to hear a "bad" cue mix even after you've fixed everything he or she didn't like.

Vocals are 99% mental, the other half is physical.

[where02190]

In order to compress when tracking, you ust use an external mic pre anbd compressor, anc put the compressor after the mic pre. Using plugins puts the compressor after the A-d, which is fairly useless. while you will ge tthe desired effect, you cannto gain headroom to prevent converter distortion, since the compressor is post converter.