Great, you got your interface and mic and are ready to record your vocals. First you need to install the interface drivers and connect your interface with your computer using a usb cable. Also connect an XLR cable from the mic to the XLR input on the interface, a pair of headphones and you are ready to go. You can mix the balance of the music with your voice on the frontpanel. Most newer interfaces have a direct monitoring system, so you can record without having to hear your voice in your headphones with a delay.
On the frontpanel, you will find the level control for your mic input. You need to set it, so it does not clip the input when you sing the loudest. A good tip to find the sweet spot, is shouting into the mic, while adjusting the level higher and higher, until the red light indicates cliping. When just turn the knob a tad back and you are all set.
Enable a new track in your recording software and hit record. Adjust the level of the music to your voice and find a nice blend. Remember that the blend is just for monitoring the sound. You can change the blend later in the mix.
Once you have a good lead vocal down, it’s time for overdubs and backing vocals. Just keep adding tracks for as many dubs you need. I usually make from 4 to 30 voices depending on the style of song.
One thing you will notice when listening back, is that the vocal level is a bit uneven compared to a commercial record. It might even sometimes be hard to hear the lyrics and other times the vocal is too loud compared with the music. That’s where a compressor comes in handy. A compressor will even out the dynamics in the voice, so it will fit better with the music. Most recording software comes with a bundle of plugins, among them one or more compressors. Just add a compressor plugin to your vocal tracks and set it up so it respond great to the vocal. I like to have an attack of about 20-30 ms and a release of about 100 ms. I set the compression ratio to 3 to 1 and the treshold, so the average gain reduction is around 5 db.
Next thing would be to EQ your vocal. It is hard to give a preset setting because of the variance between microphones and voices, but almost every time you would want to filter out the very low end. I usually set a lowcut filter at 100 Hz to get rid of the low rumble. If the voice sounds a bit dull compared to other recordings, I would boost the 1.5 KHz area 1-2 db as well as adding a bit of air in the sound by boosting 12 KHz a couple of db. If your vocal sound a bit thin, you can boost the area around 200-500 Hz. In that case you might have to set the lowcut filter a bit higher around 150Hz.
All for this time. There is still so much more to cover regarding vocal recording, so check back soon.
{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
I might be a good idea to add a mid-priced compressor before going to the converter.
Hi Sieber. Thanks for your comment.
I agree that sometimes it is wise to add a dedicated hardware compressor before going through the AD converter.
But it’s not really possible in a low-budget setup like this. Most audio cards in this price range don’t have an insert after the preamp and before the AD converter, so there is no way to insert a compressor.
Even if you find an audiocard with insert, I also believe the end result will often come out better using a clean software compressor plugin rather than a cheap hardware compressor. Many compressors in this pricerange will add noise and artifacts to the sound, that would be impossible to correct in the mix.
Finally, when adding the compression AFTER your recordings, you have the freedom and time to experiment finding the optimal settings for your compressor.
It is different if we are talking a high end compressor. Some really expensive compressors have a warmth og pleasing sound that almost any vocal will benefit from.
thanks johnny jam, i really learn a lot from you.today keep it up!!!