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Recording

How to record better vocals at home

A great mix starts with a good recording. None of this needs expensive gear: it's about the room, the distance and the level.

· 3 min read

Engineers have a saying: you can’t polish a bad recording. Plug-ins can clean up a lot, but they can’t remove a room’s echo, put back clipped peaks, or add the energy of a performance that isn’t there. Getting these basics right is free, and it does more for your final sound than any plug-in you could buy.

The room matters more than the mic

Small bedrooms with bare walls sound boxy, because sound bounces between the hard surfaces and back into the mic. That bounce is very hard to remove later.

  • Record somewhere soft. A closet full of clothes is a classic home vocal booth for a reason. Couches, beds, curtains and rugs all help.
  • Hang something behind you. Most mics pick up from the front, so the wall behind you, which the mic faces, matters most. A thick blanket or duvet hung there helps a lot.
  • Stay away from walls and corners. Standing in the middle of the room or facing into soft material sounds better than facing a bare wall.
  • Kill the noise. Turn off fans and air conditioning, close windows, and keep your laptop away from the mic.

Mic technique

  • Distance: about a fist to a hand-span away (10 to 20 cm) for most vocals. Closer gives more bass and intimacy but more plosives and boom; further gives more room sound.
  • Use a pop filter, or angle the mic slightly off your mouth, so P and B sounds don’t thump.
  • Stay consistent. Moving around changes the tone and level from line to line, which makes mixing much harder. Back off a little on loud notes.
  • Use headphones, closed-back if possible, so the beat doesn’t leak into the vocal mic.

Set your level properly

This is the one mistake that can’t be fixed later. If the input clips, that distortion is printed into the recording.

  • Set the gain on your audio interface so your loudest parts peak around −10 to −6 dBFS on the track meter.
  • Record at 24-bit. There’s plenty of room at that level, so there’s no need to record hot.
  • Test with the loudest part of the song, like the ad-libs or the hook, not the quiet verse.

Record more than you need

  • Several full takes of the lead. You’ll pick the best lines from each, which is called comping. In Logic, recording in a cycle stacks the takes into a take folder for you.
  • Doubles: a second performance of key lines, often the hook, which gets panned and tucked under the lead.
  • Adlibs on their own track, so they can be placed and processed separately.
  • Keep each part on its own track. A vocal recorded separately gives far more control than one recorded together with the beat or other parts.

Don’t over-process on the way in

Monitoring through reverb or autotune while you record is fine if it helps you perform. Just make sure the recorded track is clean, so you can change your mind in the mix. In Logic, plug-ins on the track are not printed into the recording, so this happens automatically.

Quick checklist before you hit record

  • Fans and AC off, phone on silent.
  • Blanket or soft surface behind you.
  • Pop filter on, 10 to 20 cm from the mic.
  • Loudest part peaks around −10 to −6 dBFS.
  • Headphones on, beat not leaking.
  • Separate tracks for lead, doubles and adlibs.

Once it’s recorded, move on to mixing the vocal over the beat.