7 Common Vocal Recording Mistakes
Vocal recording can be a time consuming process and there can be a lot of mistakes happening within that process. With this blog post, our goal is to give you some guides on how to avoid making the same mistakes over and over.
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Mistake 1: Wrong room choice (acoustics)
Too large or too small rooms for recording will affect your vocals in a negative way if those rooms aren't treated well. Those annoying reflection coming from walls, desk & floor can destroy your vocal recordings. It's very important for a recording room to be quiet and well treated with acoustic treatment.
Instead of working in a too big or too small rooms, find something optimal. For example, some medium sized rooms with necessary acoustic treatment (acoustic panels for example) can do the job perfectly. Vocal booths also come in handy, but that highly depends on their build quality.
Mistake 2: Wrong Microphone choice
There are various microphones for a reason. Some sound darker, some brighter.
Choose them accordingly to your or singer's voice (whoever is singing). Don't go for a certain microphone without a purpose. Learn about that microphone before investing in it.
However, I understand that many of you own only one microphone and you want to maybe record different artists with it. There's a solution for that too! Good placement and correct processing will do the job!
You can even get extra using microphone emulation plugins such as Acustica Audio LAVA or Slate Digital Virtual Microphone System. Basically, you can transform your microphone into famous microphones using their frequency response curve + emulated harmonics. Your microphone won't sound exactly the same, but it will definitely get close to them.
However, I understand that many of you own only one microphone and you want to maybe record different artists with it. There's a solution for that too! Good placement and correct processing will do the job!
You can even get extra using microphone emulation plugins such as Acustica Audio LAVA or Slate Digital Virtual Microphone System. Basically, you can transform your microphone into famous microphones using their frequency response curve + emulated harmonics. Your microphone won't sound exactly the same, but it will definitely get close to them.
Mistake 3: Too high levels
Here's an illustration from our official Instagram Page @itsmd3sign
As I said earlier, aim to stay in the green area, but peaking maximum at -6dBFS (yellow area). If your vocals are hitting 0dBFS or higher (clipping), the recording will be basically useless, and there's no option to fix that. Try staying in the green area (safe area for recordings), but also make sure to avoid recording at too low levels since you'll later have to push those vocals using the gain plugin and for the result, you'll end up with a lot of noise in those recordings. Find an optimal level which works great (not too quiet, not too loud).
Mistake 4: Recording only one take
People usually record only one take, and that is wrong. Even if your take sounds great, record it at least 2-3 times more just in case you find something you don't like or if there's a problem in the recording. By doing this, you save a lot of time and you have space for improvement in your recording because you can always comp takes in order to end up with the "perfect" one.
Mistake 5: No automations
This is more of a mixing tip, but it's super important to know. Use automations to control your vocals better. Once you adapt to using them, your vocals will sound much better and professional.
Mistake 6: Too thin recordings
I know all of you are scared of proximity effect, but that can actually benefit your recordings and your mix if used correctly. Feel free to get a bit closer to the mic, but not too close. Those low end bumps in volume can actually benefit the whole mix, not just your vocals. You may not hear that when you solo your vocal channel, but when you play the mix as a whole, you can hear how it works its job. However, this is not the case in all tracks, since it really depends.
Mistake 7: No necessary equipment
By saying this, I don't mean you need to spend $10.000 on equipment without a purpose. At least invest in a proper microphone stand, pop filter and some room treatment. That won't cost too expensive, but will benefit your recordings a lot. Never buy gear without a purpose or just-because. Think before investing.
Conclusion:
There are many other mistakes in recordings, but we'll cover more of them in another blog post. Our goal is not to say you're doing something bad, but to actually help you to address the problem and how to fix it.If you want to add a recommendation for the future blog post and get featured on, feel free to reach to our DM on Instagram or use our e-mail address: marko@md3sign.com
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