While the current generation of plugin effects make it easier than ever to work raw vocal tracks up into spectacular, up-front musical centrepieces, ensuring that those source recordings are truly up to scratch is as important as ever. Here are five pointers to help keep your productions in fine voice…

Use the best mic and preamp you can get your hands on

As the old saying goes, ‘rubbish in, rubbish out’, and in this case, it means that the quality of your vocal recording will only ever be as good as the signal path through which its source material (the vocal) passes. It makes sense, then, to invest in as high quality a microphone as your budget will allow, and for studio work, that generally means a large diaphragm condenser, as opposed to a dynamic model. Dynamics are great for live work and singers at the more shouty end of the scale (ie, metal), thanks to their more rugged design and ability to handle excessive volume levels, but you’ll generally get more nuance and detail, and a broader frequency response from a condenser.

Equally, the preamps in your audio interface will contribute greatly to the sound of the recordings you make. By and large, it’s hard to find an interface from any premium brand that doesn’t sound great these days, but some incorporate dedicated circuitry for enhancing your vocal recordings that can be very effective. Universal Audio’s Unison system, found on their Apollo interfaces, for example, emulates a variety of classic analogue preamps, while the high-shelving Air function on many Focusrite interfaces can really add to the presence of any vocal. Be certain that you like the sounds of such things before you activate them, though, as once they’re baked into the recording, there’s no going back.

Oh, and make sure your audio interface offers 48v phantom power (almost all of them do) for condenser mics that don’t come with their own power source.

Dry the room out

Unless you’re looking to imbue your vocal with the sound of a particular physical space, you’ll want to do everything you can to ensure that as little room reverberation makes it into the recording as possible, so as to not inhibit your processing options later on. If you don’t have access to a purpose-built vocal booth, this will entail constructing a makeshift alternative by, for example, hanging duvets off ladders and/or tall furniture, upending a mattress, piling up cushions, etc – whatever it takes to create a sonically damped enclosure, or at least corner, for your singer to perform in. You’ll need to keep it comfortable, too, as burying the talent under a pile of soft furnishings is going to get them hot and bothered, which will have a major effect on their delivery.

Further to this, having dried out your recording space as much as possible, it should go without saying that you don’t want to then negate all that hard work by recording your vocal with any effects applied. Always record the clean, pure signal without any processing whatsoever (apart from the sound of the preamp), then apply plugins after the fact.

Set up a good monitor mix

If your singer is experienced at studio work, they might have some idea as to what they like to hear in their cue mix in terms of the volume level and effects processing of their own voice, and the levels of the accompanying instrumentation. However outlandish these specifics might appear (“Yeah, can you make me sound like I’m in a massive cave?”), give ‘em what they want, but do be aware of the potential for introducing latency when monitoring through plugins, due to the vocal signal’s round trip into and back out of the DAW. You may well be able to get around this through thoughtful signal routing and balancing of the direct mic input and DAW return signals on your audio interface, but actually, if you’re suitably equipped, the easiest solution is to get a hardware mixer and multi-effects unit involved.

Prepare your singer

At the heart of every great vocal recording sits a great vocal, and no matter how well you have the technicalities under control, if the singer doesn’t hit the mark on the day, it’s all for nought. If said songster is a friend or bandmate, you can probably take your time and even redo the session if you have to, so mistakes and general ‘off days’ needn’t be the end of the world. If, however, you’re hiring a singer in, or an artist has hired you to record them, you’ll likely only get one shot, so keeping them focused and on track, physically and mentally, is essential.

So, advise them to get an early night before the session, use their voice as little as possible (no gigs, for sure!) and steer clear of alcohol. And on the day, be encouraging and energised, pay them compliments as often as possible without crossing the line into sycophancy, and keep those vocal chords well lubricated with water, green tea or whatever healthy refreshments they prefer. Perhaps most importantly, though, remind them in advance that they need to get to the studio on time, well rehearsed and 100% ready to rock, so that precious hours aren’t wasted working out the specifics of the vocal delivery from scratch or writing lyrics – unless the developing context of the song demands it, of course.

If you’re not comping, start comping!

Until the relatively recent introduction of dedicated comping systems in many DAWs, piecing together the perfect vocal from multiple takes – and, indeed, recording those takes in the first place – was a laborious and entirely manual job. Now, though, the likes of Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Cubase, Live and Studio One enable us to cyclically record several takes of a vocal (or any other part) onto stacked lanes within a single audio track, then quickly and intuitively drag contiguous regions into those lanes to seamlessly jump between the best takes for every section, phrase, word or even syllable on playback.

Comping makes the whole process of recording and editing vocals quick, frictionless and fun, and if you’ve yet to discover it for yourself, and you’re still stop-start recording multiple takes to separate tracks for piecemeal compositing, do yourself a favour and look it up in your DAW’s manual.

Share your go-to vocal recording tricks in the comments.