recording vocals – Perfect Vocals Academy

Don’t rely on other’s opinions

I received a phone call yesterday from one of my clients. He hired me to mix and master a song a few days before. He was calling because he had a friend give him feedback about the song. Negative feedback….Now even though my client had lots of positive feedback from other friends, the only feedbackContinue reading “Don’t rely on other’s opinions”

Does your vocal eq sound balanced?

So what makes a vocal sound so good that it leaves you speechless? Well other than the performance which is up to the singer…. it’s the tone and quality of the vocal. What makes the tone and quality good is a well balanced vocal. The right amount of lows, low-mids, mids, high-mids, and highs. SoContinue reading “Does your vocal eq sound balanced?”

A good visual is important in your DAW!

This article is targeted towards the non-Pro tools users! I have noticed that programs other than Pro tools have a bad visual for editing audio. Logic, garageband, presonus one, etc are just a few that come to mind. It is very important that we can visually see the gridlines and that we correctly set theContinue reading “A good visual is important in your DAW!”

Don’t experiment during vocal sessions….

As an engineer, you should do your experimenting and playing with plug-ins in your off time or when mixing the song. During recording sessions, it’s best to put on some plug ins you know that will work for the time being and move forward. It can be a real vibe killer for an artist thatContinue reading “Don’t experiment during vocal sessions….”

Record your vocals with as much isolation as possible

Lately I have received a good amount of files to mix that have a lot of room sound to the vocals. While I can still make it work with some extra plug-ins that I will talk about soon, it is crucial to get an isolated sound. A dynamic microphone can be a great way toContinue reading “Record your vocals with as much isolation as possible”

Sometimes singers sing with strain…what should you do?

One thing you really can’t fix in the mix too easily is strain. Even if you pitch the vocal well, there is a characteristic in the voice that comes through as strain. Singing flat does sound like strain so if it’s pitched correctly it will sound slightly better, but strain can damage the tone ofContinue reading “Sometimes singers sing with strain…what should you do?”

Dynamic songs call for vocal automation.

I was working on a piano style pop track this week and it made me think of a great blog topic! This seems obvious but with very dynamic songs like piano songs or ballads, there is a need for vocal automation. Most likely the song starts off lower in volume so the first vocal sectionContinue reading “Dynamic songs call for vocal automation.”

Can some simple encouragement result in a better vocal performance?

Let’s talk about something not so technical. Let’s talk about something psychological. Have you ever recorded a singer or yourself and felt like the singer was getting stuck in a rut? Like no matter what each and every take is progressively getting worse? This happens folks. Singers lose the energy mentally. They can even startContinue reading “Can some simple encouragement result in a better vocal performance?”

Panning techniques can create tons of width in your vocal mixes!

I was hesitant writing a blog about panning because it’s a no-brainer. Most of you are probably like “yeah yeah panning is easy”! It is very easy but let me open your mind a bit! In my early days of mixing all I ever seemed to do is hard pan everything. One vocal all theContinue reading “Panning techniques can create tons of width in your vocal mixes!”

Sticky subject, but what do you do when you are recording someone that can’t sing very well?

First off I want to clarify that this isn’t coming from a disrespectful place. There has been times a singer has sang completely off key and completely off time. I’m talking about drastically off, not something subtle. Everyone is off a little bit, we aren’t robots. I want to share my experience with recording artistsContinue reading “Sticky subject, but what do you do when you are recording someone that can’t sing very well?”