4 things it takes to get a good vocal recording and 3 things that it doesn't take

Miktek C7

empirical labs mike-e

So people always ask what is the secret to getting studio quality vocals. First thing, there is no secret. To me a great vocal recording comes from the following 4 things, and I will share 3 things I think really doesn't matter when recording vocals.

1. a good mic for the vocal. Your signal chain starts here. Finding the best mic for a voice can be tricky sometimes because you can have a vocalist sound better on a $1,000 mic than a $3,000 mic. But most of the time if you have a really good mic designed for vocals it will handle the vocal your recording with great results.
2. A good mic preamp for the vocal. Just like you have to pick the right mic, you have to pick the right mic pre. Some pres are clean, some are colored. As a engineer its up to you to decide the tone best for vocal and the song. I remember a session a few years ago that +D. Lyles  assisted me on. We used the avalon 737 and U87 for every song that day. One song had an old school feel, so I switched to a darker more vintage pre, the vintech1272. The vocal tone this pre gave matched the song perfectly.
3. A good engineer. Takes more than pressing record and stop for a engineer to record a good vocal take. Everything from levels, to mic placement, to knowing when the vocal is ready sonically to be recorded falls on the engineer. All this comes with practice.
4. an acoustically treated room or booth. You can’t throw a mic up anywhere in a open room and expect great results.

Now that I’ve highlighted 4 things I think it takes to record a good vocal, here are 3 things I would say doesn't matter as much when recording vocals.

1. tracking with compression. If you have a dynamic vocalist then there is nothing wrong with tracking with a little bit of compression. But you don’t HAVE to have a compressor in your signal chain to record a good vocal.
2. A/D converters. A/D converters are important, but not as important as a good mic and pre. If you have those then don’t sweat over A/D conversion. These days even the cheapest of audio interfaces offer decent A/D conversion.
3. DAW. Trust me, your daw choice will NOT determine what your vocal will sound like.

Studio One Tricomp

The Brute Limiter

So here is a video I did showing some examples of the Brute Limiter from Inward Connections. I had a session few months ago with an artist named Venus that my engineer friend +D. Lyles brought  up to Nashville to record at Quad Studios. This was my first time really putting this limiter to work and it impressed everyone in the studio. Originally we had the vocal running through an la2a and not only did the Brute beat it out, it remained on every vocal we tracked for the rest of the night.

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problem solving as engineers

Some of the most underrated features of an engineer to me is problem solving, troubleshooting, and creativity. Anyone can sit at a desk and hit record and stop, but when problems arise is when engineers really show their worth to me. In the studio problems have to be solved quick because the artist is on the clock. In mixing you've got more time to think and go through options. Sometimes taking a step back and looking at the situation with all your options can provide a solution when your first thought is this can't be done.
For example in this mix I'm currently working on, my client pointed out a pop in the middle of the song. Then came those three words every engineer hears......."Can you fix it?" When I checked it out I realized it wasn't a digital pop, but a pop caused by the way the other artist featured on the song was saying a particular word, It was like a high pitched lip smack. Ok, so this is normally an easy fix. Grab the word from another hook and paste it over the one with the pop. Well I soon realized EVERY time the word was said in the song there was the same pop. At this point I was about to say its in the recording and there is nothing I can do about it. I had actually typed that in a reply in the email, but then before I hit send I said to myself is there anything else I can do before giving up.
So I got to brainstorming and came up with the following ideas.

1. fix it with eq.......... naw, eq cut could compromise the vocal
2. zoom in, find the pop, delete it.............could work if I paste in a portion so there is no gap there. Would be time consuming but possible. 
3. use an effect to mask the pop..........mmmm......reverb, delay, or distortion wouldn't fit the song
4. what if I masked it with another instrument........dammit the music is a 2track mix. 
5. what if I faded in just the beginning of each time he says the word thus reducing the pop..............AH HA! In theory not only should this work, but is also the quickest resolution. Lets try that!

Fading in the beginning of each of the words worked. And took me less that 5 mins to apply the fade to word 9 times across 3 hooks. As engineers (though sometimes we have to) we should really hate to say the word's "I can't". So next time your faced with a problem you think you can't solve, take a step and go weigh your options. Like I said anyone can sit at a desk and record someone, but problem solving, troubleshooting, and creativity is where an engineer really earns his worth to me. 

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