Maui Recording Studio

How to record the best vocals

RCA 77dx

I have been asked here at Grace Recording Studio how do you get those great vocal tracks. After the trial and error of engineering for many years, this is what we have found to work for us.

Setup:
First after listening to the singer we look through our microphone selection and choose 5 or 6 that we think would work well with their voice. Than we setup these microphones and go through the process of them singing though each microphone and each preamp, until we find the combination that brings out the quality of their individual voice. Once we find the combination of microphone and preamp, we go though all the compressors until we find the one that tightens up the track and colors the vocal that produces the sound we are looking for.

Of course recording a good singer in an acoustically great sounding room with quality microphones and excellent microphone placement, all plays a major part in creating a great vocal track.  Matching these items can make or break a CD as the vocal usually sits out in the front of the mix

Punching In:
Now on the subject of using 15 takes and choosing parts from each one to make one good vocal track doesn’t really work well, because you have different feelings, emotions, attitude, timing etc. on every track you sing. We found that singing the song till you get a take that has life and emotion in it, and only than punch in the spots that need to be fixed, gives you a bigger and better sounding vocal with the same feelings and tone quality throughout the whole vocal track. This way everything works together and sounds consistent. We don’t cut and paste vocal sections because we believe that singing the parts live gives the vocal a more natural, musical sound with an organic feeling. We’re not trying to invent something new we’re trying to capture the vocal at its best and natural state.

Equalization:
We do have certain occasions that we have to use equalization when we record. But we try not to use any equalization when we’re recording the vocals, as we find it works better for us if we rather spend our time setting up the proper placement of the microphones. If we need equalization to fix a problem we can than find the right equalizer with the proper transparency and color without affecting the track.

Doubling Vocals:
We than double or triple the vocal track which thickens it up. We’re not talking duplicating, which only makes the vocal louder not thicker. But we’re suggesting recording 2 or 3 takes which will always be a hair different no matter what you do, but they must be very similar to one another; this makes the vocal tracks to have a slight delay in them and thickens it up, making it sound full and rich.

These are techniques that should be done with an engineer in a professional studio so that the results of the vocal will come out to be world class. One of the advantages of using a professional studio is having a large assortment of microphones and equipment, and good rooms that gives an artist every opportunity to capture a great performance and produce a quality CD.

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Well, we’re talking about track counts!

I know you folks have Pro Tools, Logic, Digital Performer etc. and tracks are no object, but that’s where the problem lies.

Too many tracks cause lack of space in the mix. There’s only so much room in the picture to be had and with too many tracks there isn’t enough room for everything to sit well, which means instruments and vocals will be seating on top of one another causing a mushy sounding mix.

We need to have room for every sound to have its own space in order to hear each one clearly and to be able to define them. Look at some of the great recordings of the past, they only had very few tracks to work with but the sound was large, defined and full.

So think about cutting some tracks out and saving some time in recording, saving money on recording and saving space in the mix for a larger stereo field and a cleaner sounding mix. Let’s work on the performance instead of adding a ridiculous amount of tracks, it will give you the best sounding CD which is what it’s all about.

Getting Ready for your recording session

Old Band

Getting Ready for your recording session
We understand these are difficult economic times and you are trying to stretch your recording dollars. Proper planning and being organized are two ways to help you succeed in getting as much out of your efforts as possible.

In preparation for your session, discuss what your needs will be in detail with the studio manager. Ask for suggestions on how to make efficient use of your recording time. If you know that the schedule is going to be tight, let the studio manager know. When the studio knows that you need to work fast, they can make arrangements to do so. However, you want to make sure you are well prepared so not to be the cause of the inevitable clog-up.

It is important to be well rested and well rehearsed. Don’t use studio time to rehearse and practice, time is expensive.  If needed, have your charts written out, copied and ready to go. Give copies to the musicians beforehand, if possible. You don’t want musicians waiting around for copies to be made on your dime.

Organizing Your Time:
In order to maximize your time in the studio, come up with a rough plan on what you want to do in the session.  Think about the order of the tracks, what instruments you’ll need on each track, if you’ll need additional musicians and singers, and when to break for meals.
Remember everyone needs a break even the engineers to get the best results.

Quality Control:
When the vibe is right, and you’re doing your best work it shows in the quality of the recording. Think of your recording as a beautiful art project and not just a piece of work that you’re slamming together.
Try to fix things on the track as you go rather then fixing it later, keeping the same emotion and tone quality in the performance. It might not seem obvious at the time, but this will also save you time and effort when you are editing and mixing it later.

Hiring good talent, whether it is musicians or vocalists, will save you time and money. If you don’t know any of the local talent, ask the studio manager to recommend someone for you.
Make sure the studio manager, your producer and engineer understand what you are trying to do and achieve, and consult with and involve them in your planning process.

Mastering Your CD

Should you master your CD professionally or not?

The question still remains “What is Mastering?”

Beyond the quick answer in the opening sentence and short of a technical course study, a mastering engineer receives the final approved mixes from the artist/producer/engineer of a project. The task is to polish or finish the mixes so it will sound the best possible for the intended listeners.

Bob Ludwig of Gateway Mastering is by every account the top of the craft and has been for decades. It is worth your time browsing his credentials.

HOT, HOT, HOT

Everybody wants their disc to sound great, but it seems that nowadays a lot of people equate “best” with “loudest.” That puts a lot of pressure on mastering engineers to compress their masters heavily so that they can achieve as hot a level as possible. According to Ludwig, however, this is anything but a healthy development.

“It’s a losing battle for musicality,” Ludwig laments. “To me, it’s a fact that highly compressed music is tiring to the ear and doesn’t make you want to listen to something over and over again.

Ludwig adds, “Use your ears. Try to get it as perfect in the mix as possible. Having said that, if someone feels that they need extra compression, use caution. Most recording compressors are great for mixing but don’t really make good mastering compressors. Once you put compression into the mix, there is no way to take it off. If you aren’t sure, a much better plan is not to do much compression and let the mastering engineer take care of it.”

Ludwig stresses the importance of a mastering engineer having a musical perspective. “For me, it’s essential for an engineer to be a musician as well,” says Ludwig. “All of our engineers at Gateway Mastering and DVD play an instrument and have at least a four-year degree from a school that specializes in making music as well as recording and producing, such as the University of Massachusetts at Lowell or the Berklee College of Music in Boston.”

In addition to the right training and background, having the right workspace and the right gear is key, according to Ludwig. “The next most important thing is to have a fantastic monitoring system — as all your judgments will be based on this — having a great, acoustically perfect-as-possible room to put them in. For me, it means the room needs to be rather large in order to have as few bass eigentones as possible.” (Eigentones are acoustical resonances or standing waves in an enclosed space. They are caused by parallel surfaces, and they typically can muddy the sound or create bass frequencies in the room that are not in the recording.)

Ludwig sums it up this way: “Do no harm. For most of the recordings  worked on, great mix engineers and producers have spent lots of time trying to get it right in the first place. I honor what they send me and try only to add any additional musicality my ears hear that can be enhanced in the mixes.” Words to live by.

Great music is mastered professionally in my opinion.

Bob Plotnik

Grace Recording Studio

Should I Record in 44.1kHz or 96kHz?

The question I am most asked concerning the studio is, what’s the difference between recording in 24/44.1kHz and 24/96kHz? The high resolution of 24/96kHz captures more information in the highs, mids and low frequency ranges.

This enables you to hear sounds that aren’t recorded in 24/44.1kHz. But you also need to have the top of the line converters to be able to hear and record this difference. We have found that Radar converters give us the best sound for our ears. When you output back to 16/44.1kHz you still have more information in the final product since it was recorded in 24/96kHz.Allowing you to hear more of the tonal qualities and the different frequencies in the music. Giving you a higher quality CD.