How to record vocals at home

Let's start with a fundamental truth. Never let the lack of the "right gear" hold you back. If you want to record something, and you only have a 5-year-old phone or laptop microphone, record anyway. 

A great song and performance are more important than anything else.

But if you want your recordings to become professional, you need the right gear.

Basic vocal recording gear list

Ideally, you have these items when recording vocals

• Microphone
• XLR cable
• Audio interface
• Headphones
• Mic stand or boom arm

If you have a USB microphone at home, that can also work.

If you don't have a microphone stand or boom arm, you can try holding the microphone in your hand, but it is not recommended. Handling the microphone could produce unwanted noise in your recording.

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Now that you have the right gear, you want to record your vocals in a room with the fewest reflections.

A bathroom, a kitchen, or an empty room with lots of empty floor space and walls is the opposite of what you want.

A bedroom usually works great. You have your bed, maybe a carpet, a wardrobe, and some pillows to reduce echo and reflections.

Try recording in a room with soft furniture and surfaces, such as rugs, couches, or beds. Avoid rooms with only hard surfaces.

You can try clapping in the room and listening for an obvious slap-back echo. Try this in different rooms, and choose the one where you can hear the fewest reflections.

If you want to learn more about acoustic treatment, check out the blog "Acoustic treatment for recording and mixing".

Now, let's talk about microphone positioning.

Your microphone usually comes with a cardioid polar pattern. A cardioid microphone is most sensitive in the front and rejects the most noise coming from the back. You can use this to your advantage.

Point the back of the microphone to the noisiest part of the room. This is most likely your computer or laptop. Maybe it's the sound from outside coming through your window.

Use the microphone stand, and if you can, use a shock mount with your microphone. This helps reduce structure-born noise. 

Use a pop filter to reduce plosives. You can also slightly tilt the microphone to reduce plosives and sibilance further.

Adjust the microphone height to your liking, and you are ready.

While performing, it is helpful to stay at the same distance from the microphone to ensure a consistent signal and volume. A good distance is about 5 to 8 inches / 12 to 30 cm / 2 hand spans.

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RAY adjusts the level and tone of your recording according to your distance from the microphone. It's like autofocus for your voice. See and hear it in action on the product page!

For more tips and tricks about mic placement and vocal recordings, check out the blog "Top 10 tips for recording vocals in a home studio" 

Connect your microphone to your audio interface via the XLR cable.

The next step is to dial in the right amount of gain. If your gain is too high, you might clip and ruin your recording. If it is too low, your recording becomes unnecessarily noisy.

Modern audio interfaces have auto-gain functionality to easily dial in the perfect amount of gain. If your interface has that function, use it to avoid making errors.

If your audio interface doesn't have auto gain, follow these 3 steps:

1. Play/sing the loudest part of your song
2. Set the gain so you get between -12 and -14 dBFS in your DAW
3. Make sure you never go above -10 dBFS

You can learn more about gain staging here: "What is gain staging?"

The next step is to set up tracks in your DAW. Add a new track, select the input of your audio interface, and you are good to go.

It is helpful to stay organized in your DAW from the beginning:

• Name the tracks (main vocal, background vocal, ad-libs, …)
• Color code all vocal tracks in the same color
• Create a folder for your vocal tracks

Do this from the beginning, and you will have an easier time later.

Staying organized in your DAW makes recording and mixing much easier

When it's time to record vocals, minimizing the latency of your audio interface is helpful. To minimize the latency, here are a few things you can do:

• Reduce the buffer size – make sure that your CPU can handle the low buffer size and that there are no audio dropouts
• Deactivate CPU-intensive plugins on other tracks or bounce them to audio tracks so you can save even more CPU power
• You can also just bounce the instrumental of your track and create a whole new session, so you have nothing that takes up computing power. This can also be very helpful to get a good balance between the instrumental and voice volume in your headphones while recording.
• Activate the low latency mode inside your DAW if it offers such a feature.

If you want to know more about latency, check out the blog "How to get low latency for your audio interface"

Now that everything is set up, it is finally time to record.

Before you start recording, make sure that your track is finished. It is much easier to capture an outstanding vocal performance if the track sounds as finished as possible.

Recording vocals to a skeleton track will not yield optimal results. It's much harder to hit every note right if you are recording to just an acoustic guitar.

Do you know what is also essential to capturing an outstanding performance? When a relaxed singer is in the right mood. 

Get rid of distractions and add things that create a nice vibe. Do everything so you and the singer are content and focused on getting a great recording.

A relaxed and happy performer will get the best results.

Staying hydrated is also very important. Have some water or tea ready. To spice things up, add a bit of honey. 

Now, it is finally time to start recording. Here are a few general tips that could help you make better recordings. But it is essential that you find a way that makes the most sense for you and that you are happy with. All artists are different, and there is no right or wrong way to do it. Find something that works for you.

• Try recording in sections (verse, bridge, chorus). Once one thing sounds great, move on to the next one.
• Don't overdo it – after a few takes, it is time to take a step back and evaluate. It can be helpful to really listen to your performance and see if you are doing the right things. Are there any unwanted sounds in the recording? Is the vibe good? What could be better?
• Take notes – which take was great, and which one was maybe a bit quieter or more powerful? Taking notes can make the mixing process easier.
• Take breaks and try listening on speakers to change the perspective a bit.
• Know when to stop – Learn when a take is good enough or when it's time to try one more time. This will come with experience, so don't worry if it's hard to know in your first few recording sessions.

I hope that you have learned something from this blog and that your next recording session will sound fantastic!

If you want to know more about this topic or have any other questions, please reach out to us on social media or through email.

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