Although I love getting together with vocalists and tracking them in my studio, a lot of times recording at home is the best option for artists. Here are a few basics to make sure you capture the best performance every time!
Distance:
Start with about a 4 finger distance from the mic. The closer you get the “boomier” and “fuller” it will sound as it captures more low end. The further away you get, it will start sounding “thinner” and “airy-er”. This is called proximity effect, you can try a couple recordings to get the sound you want.
Isolation:
It’s important to have as little of “room noise” as possible. Even if you can’t hear anything in the moment, the mic will pick up noise that causes problems when we start compressing and processing. Good options for home recording are in a closet, or under a blanket.
Levels:
As you’re recording, the meter on your vocal track should be averaging around -6db. Leave the “volume” fader at 0 (also called unity), and adjust with the gain knob on your interface to achieve this level.
Stereo/Mono:
All vocal recordings should be done in mono while using 1 microphone. Make sure you are recording onto a mono audio track in your DAW. Usually you can tell by making sure there is 1 level meter moving and not 2.
