There are a variety of techniques for getting a good vocal cut. I would recommend a good condenser mic for cutting vocals although in some cases (usually punk/metal music) a lowly Shure SM57 can do a great job. When recording vocals, it is inadvisable to add any effects while tracking. In this I don’t mean just printing the effects to the hard drive – I mean even bussing reverb back into the headphone mix to make the vocalist feel larger. Some vocalists can’t live without a bit of touchup so a bit into the headphone mix is OK but don’t print it. If it sounds too awesome to dump, open up another channel and print the wet and dry inputs.

The vocalist’s headphone mix should give them a good mix of the band but should have their vocal up front and present. The “far away” reverb and delay sound is currently “out.” If you listen to current pop records, the vocal has more presence than in the past. They sound more in-your-face and realistic. When sending a mix to the singer, give them a barren mix. They really don’t need to hear the screaming guitar fills. Another trick to get a vocalist to step up and belt it out is to reduce them in the headphone mix just a little – they will lean into the performance to hear themselves better.
Start with the vocal mic being placed directly in front of the singer. I currently use two mics for cutting vocals – Studio Projects mic I picked up for $225 and the other a Neumann TL-107 which is the entry-level vocal condenser from Neumann at about $1,000. Price disparity aside, they are both great mics and do a great job.

Another must is some kind of pop filter. There are a variety of inexpensive screens out there but even a couple pair of pantyhose stretched over a coat hanger is better than nothing. Place a wind screen in front of the vocalist about three inches from the mic diaphragm and have the singer get in close to it. I tell the singer to get as close to kissing the mic as they can without upsetting their significant other. I like the singer’s lips no more than 7-8 inches from the mic diaphragm. This closeness to the mic is what will give your vocal performance presence – it will sit nicely when you go to mix. Remember the better the track recorded, the less time you will spend in the mixing trying to fix things that should have been brought to bear during these initial tracking sessions. It is very hard to add presence to a vocal performance after the fact when you can effect ambience so do your homework while setting up the session.

Like other tracking, run through the song once with the vocalist and ask them to really nail it in terms of volume. Again try to leave yourself a few db of headroom for later sessions. If the vocalist’s dynamic range is too unpredictable, throw a compressor limiter in the signal path between the mic and the computer input. I try to steer clear of using compression during the initial tracking – it is the oldest and easiest trick in the book to keep recording levels uniform and avoiding clipping. It also can leave sonic artifacts if overused. If you have ever heard a vocal track wheezing, it is usually the compressor kicking in – it sounds just like what it is – a valve opening and closing. On the other hand the high-end analog compressors and vocal preamps mask this valve sound effectively but I have had less than optimal results with compressor limiters in the low-budget range. If the vocalist is all over the amplitude (volume) map, then compression is not an option but a requirement but use as sparingly as possible. The basic settings for a compressor are threshold, ratio, attack, release and output. A good place to start is setting the threshold at -10 to -12db. This is the lower level – the compressor will not affect program material below this level. Ratio settings are just a way of labeling the signal in and out. A good initial ratio setting would be 2:1. This means that the volume will be reduced by half after the threshold is cross. As for attack – set it at its lowest setting to start. This is a “flavor to taste” option. If the attack time is set for too long, the wheezing sound will enter the picture. Experiment with the attack time. As for release, this will again require a bit of A/B testing – you want to leave enough release time to let passages fall off evenly and naturally. Using a compressor will even out the peaks and valleys of performance amplitude and sometimes might bring your overall signal level down a bit. That is what the output knob is for. You may have to increase the signal output after the compression leg to bring you back up to good recording levels.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Remember that any signal processing such as compression that is inserted into the signal path on its way to the recorder cannot be undone once you hit the red button. When in doubt and if drive space allows, cover your rear by recording two tracks; one dry, one processed. Keep the dry track’s level low enough that the hard hits don’t clip. You may need to go back to the dry performance if your wet track sounds too affected, especially after adding yet more effects to the channel during mixing. The compressed signal you recorded might start sounding different when you add a delay or reverb to the track in post.

Backup Vocals
Backup vocals are recorded in pretty much the same fashion. If the tracks are available, give every backup singer their own track. Again try to get the singers in as close to the mic as possible. If you have multiple singers working one mic at the same time, they will have to get pretty intimate while tracking as the proximity is just as important for the backup tracks. Do a few test runs and arrange the singers around the mic so that everyone is getting picked up evenly. Listen closely to pitch – although out-of-tune vocals can make the band sound bigger (hah!), they pretty much suck in regards to the consumer listening experience. Minor pitch variations can be corrected in the mix if you have tuning software but again it is much better to get it right in the initial sessions.

Electric Guitars
In these days of amp modeling, you can get some pretty high volume and gnarly sounds from a low-cost box that will let you mimic the sounds of dozens of amps you can’t afford to own. There is a lot of debate regarding amp models with two camps – the ones who say it sucks and the ones who don’t. If I were recording a rock guitar, sure it would be fun to split the signal and go into a Marshall, a Matchless and a vintage 60’s Twin Reverb. Problem being is that I don’t have any of these amps and even the rental costs are prohibitive. So I fall in the camp of those who think modeling is great. I have a vintage (2003) Line POD and use it a lot. There are some great models in there and you can tweak them to taste. Even some of the effect like stereo chorusing are so good I print them. My other primary audio sources for guitar sounds are my little Blues Junior and a bit more muscular Hot Rod Deluxe.
If you have the tracks a great thing to do is to split the signal out of the guitar and print one track of dry signal and another track of the amp with a mic on it. Later in the session, if you don’t like the amped guitar sound you can buss the clean track back out of the computer into another amp or modeling device. It leaves you more options later.
My most common technique for a guitar cabinet is to use the standard SM 57 a bit off axis and about 5-6 inches from the speaker cone. Again if you have the tracks – try recording the guitar amp with two mics – one in tight and one somewhere else in the room. You can pop on a set of headphones, get the guitarist to play and walk around the room with the second mic trying different ambiences. You can get some killer sounds this way if you practice.

Acoustic Guitars
Getting a great acoustic sound is a bit more problematic that electric guitars as their can be more sonic nuance involved. The other day a friend I sent some rough mixes to for comment, commented, “How did you get that killer acoustic guitar sound?” What was my answer? I plugged my Takamine directly into the DIGI 001 and recorded it flat. Many acoustic guitars on the market today have great pickups in them – use the technology. Again multiple channels are real helpful if you can afford the space. Plug the guitar in directly on one channel and then mic the guitar with a good condenser mic about 8-10 inches from the guitar pointing at the 12-th fret (that’s usually the one with two dots on the neck). Listen while the guitar is being played and move the mic around. You will find the “sweet spot.” With that and a dry track, you will get a fat sound.
Another common trick with acoustic guitars, particularly when being used as the base of a song, is to double track the parts. Try to record an identical track after the first pass. If your phasing is correct you can pan these guitars hard right and left in the final mix and it will sound enormous. An option that is also way cool is instead of tracking an identical track, capo the guitar to a new chord position and double the original track. This can give you a 12-string or chorused sound as even a doubled part will have slight timing variations from the original track.

Keyboards
If you have a Dussendorfer or Steinway grand piano, I will assume you also have the microphones and room to record it with. This will address the kind of keyboard you plug it. Some of my keyboard friends who wouldn’t dream of cutting a piano part on an electronic keyboard have changed their tune in the last few years. The piano samples are getting better and are used on lots of hit recordings. Getting a good piano sound is as easy as plugging the piano into the recorder (hopefully in stereo), setting your levels and hitting the red button. On some of the more inexpensive keyboards the piano sounds come with reverb. If you can, turn off this “feature” do so as you can affect the keyboard with much more precision in the mix.

Other Acoustic Instruments
Accordions, djembes, shakers, gongs and other toys can give a song great coloration. You will want to grab your best condenser mic and start experimenting. I’ve found that our friend the SM 57 can be used in many close mic environments like congas, bongos and djembes. Try a couple 57s on different parts of the drum heads and then use your condenser a ways back to pick up the whole kit. My favorite mic (that I own of course) for the condenser is the very versatile Neumann KM-184.

Looks like I have run out of space for this issue. Stay tuned for the next installment when we wind up our tracking and start having real fun – mixing. You can find these articles online at musicoffice.com.