Table of Contents

1. Introduction
2. Vocal Compression
3. My Recommended Settings
4. Vocal Compression Setting Examples
5. Cheats
6. Best Case Scenario

Introduction

This subject is really hard to tackle in a web article alone but this might help you keep in mind the main elements to a good vocal recording.

There are several elements that make a vocal recording sound great. Here are the 3 main elements:

    * First is the obvious, a great vocalist.
    * Second, the equipment
    * Third, good engineering skill!


I don't think that you can achieve any good results if you have weakness in any of these three main areas.

Let's start with the vocalist. If you are recording a singer, the choice of the correct microphone could be very important for the desired sound or final product in mind.

It is common knowledge that a vocalist can sound different using different microphones and therefore better if you know the right type. These mics are not necessarily too expensive either.

If you are a vocalist and are planning to record yourself, you can buy a microphone that can enhance the natural frequencies of your voice which will translate much better "on tape".

Try asking the store sales person to let you test a few mics before you make a purchase decision.

Use a good set headphones when deliberating for the best sound, but if you can get the store keeper to hook up several studio monitors for you instead, then even better. This will help you hear the different tones and subtleties from each mic.

Once you made a choice for one, let’s move to the studio (or your home studio).

If you are doing it yourself, you must make sure that the room you are using to record your voice is sufficiently isolated and buffered, preferably with some kind of wall treatment.

Ideally, we would like to kill any reflections that could be picked up by the mic.

Buy Sonex material if you have the budget for it. Worse case scenario, use the poor musician's approach: get egg cartons and glue them to the wall. Hang heavy rugs and carpet the floor.

Otherwise, there will be weird effects on your vocal track's dry signal and you’ll never get rid of it.

Once you have the ideal room, set your microphone to the right polarity (the direction or orientation of the mic) usually a cardioid pattern {see the image below}.

Depending on your isolation booth, you should be in front of the mic in between half and one foot away. I like extending the fingers of my hand {about 8"} to measure the distance between my singer and the mic. Some singers tend to get too close and that could be a problem if the performance requires extreme vocal dynamics.  Always do a vocal test or a recording test to set your levels.

Ideally, the average level should be showing up roughly at around –10dB on your channel strip meter and the highest peaks close or near to -3dB and never try to get too close to the -0dBfs digital limit.

This is not too difficult right? Here is the problem: many new vocalists have little or no microphone technique and therefore, a headache for the engineer.

If you are recording yourself, try to be a “compressor” of your own voice. When you sing your song (or rap) try to maintain a level of your performance.

If you are going to get loud because of lyrical content, or simply because the song demands an emphasis on a chorus, compensate by stepping back by maybe 5 to 4 inches. This will help maintain a constant level and therefore avoid clipping and possible signal distortion.

The opposite is true, if you need to get softer then you’ll come closer to the mic by around 3 to 5 inches and in this way, help to level up the loss of signal as well as decrease background noise.

Vocal Compression

Regardless of these simple techniques, you are still advised to use a signal compressor. It comes standard on all software based digital recorders and can be inserted to any mixer channel you assign.

I prefer to use analog outboard gear for this function because the signal is un-quantized and it is easier to tweak a knob than to handle a mouse {unless you are working with a channel control surface like the ones made for ProTools}.

My Recommended Settings

Threshold: -XdB
Compression ratio: – 5:1 or 6:1
Make Up Gain: XdB
Attack time: 4 ms
Release time: 60ms

The compressor's threshold setting should depend upon the source, but basically it reduces the level of the signal when this point is exceeded. When compressing a lead vocal, one needs to see what sort of average and peak levels one has to deal with. Try setting this at roughly 6 dB below your highest peak level. This should clamp most vocal tracks down but the lower your threshold the more you will compress the signal.

The compressor's ratio at 5:1 and 6:1, produces a gain reduction with a 5 to 1 or 6 to 1 factor. Thus, a ratio of 5:1 means that when your input level is 5 dB over the threshold, the output signal level will be 1 dB over the threshold. Therefore, your gain (level) has been reduced by 4 dB.

Vocal Compression Setting Examples

•     Threshold = −10 dB
•     Input = −5 dB (5 dB above the threshold)
•     Output = −9 dB (1 dB above the threshold)
•     Make up gain for optimum level= +4dB

•     Threshold = −12 dB
•     Input = −6 dB (6 dB above the threshold)
•     Output = −11 dB (1 dB above the threshold)
•     Make up gain for optimum level= +5dB

•     Threshold = −10 dB
•     Input = −6 dB (4 dB above the threshold)
•     Output = −9 dB (1 dB above the threshold)
•     Make up gain for optimum level= +3dB

Cheats

Best Case Scenario

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