Recording vocals at home.

The room matters more than the mic

Bare walls bounce your voice back. That reverb ends up in the recording and can hardly be removed in the mix.

• Wardrobe: in front of an open wardrobe full of clothes it sounds almost like a vocal booth.
• Blankets: hang them behind you and to the sides, where the voice hits first.
• Don’t sing into a corner or straight at a bare wall.
• Avoid bathroom and kitchen: hard surfaces, lots of reverb.

Distance and pop filter

• 15–20 cm distance, roughly a hand’s width and a bit more.
• Pop filter against loud P and B sounds.
• Same distance throughout the song, otherwise the sound changes. Mark your position.
• On very loud parts, step back a little.

Setting the right level

Set the gain on your interface so your loudest parts hit −12 to −6 dBFS. At 24 bit, slightly too quiet is no problem. A clipped recording, on the other hand, is broken and can’t be saved.

Headphones and monitoring

• Closed-back headphones, so the beat doesn’t bleed into the mic.
• No latency: direct monitoring on the interface or a small buffer size in the DAW.
• Don’t play the beat too loud, or you’ll sing against it and go off pitch.

Takes, doubles and adlibs

• Record several full takes and comp the best parts afterwards.
• Doubles and adlibs on their own tracks, never in the lead track.
• Double the hook, it makes it wider and bigger.
• Name tracks clearly right away, it saves time later.

Voice and performance

• Warm up for a few minutes before the session.
• Stand rather than sit, it gives you more air and energy.
• Keep room-temperature water nearby, take breaks.
• Better one session with energy than hours of tired takes.

Record dry

Don’t record reverb, delay, compression or autotune effects. Once it’s in the file, it can’t be undone. If you need autotune to perform, run it only on your headphones. More in Using autotune properly. How to export the tracks afterwards is in Exporting stems.