Vocals - recording tips (cont’d)
- Compress while recording or not? I do. Some purists say not to as recorded compression can’t be undone, but I use a bit of light compression when tracking by passing the signal through a Behringer Composer compressor in my outboard rack (software compressors can be used of course). This keeps things under control and just evens levels out a bit: I know I can sing at different volumes without ruining a take by occasionally going into the red.
- Noise gate: A compressors can also be used as a noise gate which is very useful in the context of a home studio. A noise gate shuts off sounds from being recorded when they fall below a chosen level, so only your vocal gets recorded and not extraneous sounds such as floorboard creaks or passing traffic. Don’t set it at too high a level as this can prevent natural breathing sounds from being recorded.
- Reverb: put some reverb on the monitoring and headphone feed as this makes it easier for the vocalist, but don’t print it, i.e. don’t record it.
- Pitch correction: don’t be afraid to use a little pitch correction afterwards, e.g. Autotune, or Melodyne. It’s a valid tool, especially for home recordists like us who we can’t afford top-flight session vocalists to croon our gems! Don’t overdo it as perfect pitch can often sound odd and if you over-manipulate things nasty artifacts will set in anyway.
- For a much fuller and detailed guide on recording vocals go to the most excellent TweakHeadz site here. Also, there’s a very useful ‘Vocal Recording & Production Masterclass’ in Sound On Sound magazine here.
MIDI - More Realistic Drums: If you’re programming MIDI drums here are some techniques I use to make playing sound non-MIDI, i.e. more like the real thing. ‘Groove’ comes from the drummer making slight variations in strength of hits (=velocity in MIDI terms) and timing. I tend to start with presets rather than labour unnecessarily building patterns from scratch (especially when it comes to fills) but I edit where I need to for things like the following:
- Hi hats: vary the velocities slightly and the positions of the hits. Drummers will not make each hit with exactly the same force or in precisely the right place timing-wise.
Drums - recording tips:
- Flams: these are double hits on the same drum with both sticks but separated by a fraction of a second. Drummers often use one of these at the start of a song: on the ‘three’ of a four-beat count-in or at the beginning of a verse, for example. Realistic flams will make your drum track sound a lot less ‘MIDI’. The trick: give the second hit slightly more velocity than the first as drummers will make that strike with their stronger arm.
- Kick drum: I keep these right on the beat and only vary the velocity where a drummer would, like the slightly stronger punch where the song stops at the end of a verse or chorus, for example.
- Snare: vary the velocity where it makes sense to. Drummers will tend to play the snare a bit louder in choruses, dropping back for the verses. Experiment and use your ears to decide when things sound ‘real’.
- Cymbal crashes: put these at the ‘punctuation’ points drummers do, e.g. starts and ends of sections in the song. Listen to commercial recordings to see where the pros place them.
