How To Record Vocals At Home

Series Summary

In the past if you anyone wanted to record their own music they had to go to a recording studio and pay by the hour to use their equipment, rooms and facilities. Today technology has changed all that. Anyone can literally make a record from anywhere including their living rooms! With minimal equipment and a computer it's more available than ever for anyone to become a producer. The advent of recording software made it possible for the amateur user to be able to afford what he or she needed to start recording. In the past, huge mixing consoles and expensive microphones were the bare necessities.

This is a fantastic video series that will show even the most novice of users how simple it can be to turn everyday rooms in your house into tracking rooms used to record music. Not only will it cover how to setup your equipment and software along with your sound interface but you will learn how a simple closet can sound just as good as any professional tracking room and effects available to mask small imperfections in your recordings. This series might just convince you finally that today anyone can become a music producer... anywhere!

Video Transcript

"Hi! This is Shana Bethune on behalf of Expert Village and I am going to talk to you about how to set up a place to record vocals. When you are recording vocals you are not just recording the voice, you are also recording every other noise that happens in the room. So a bathroom may have natural reverb but then that reverb is permanent and you can't get rid of it after you are doing with the recording. Sometimes you might record in the bathroom because you want the natural reverb but remember that you won't have a choice later on and you are stuck with that. A dry recording is your best option because you can add any sort of effects that you want later and you have more control over what you do. Sound bounces off of walls and you want dead space while you are recording so if you have any extra blankets or towels around, you can hang them up on the walls to get rid of any unwanted noise. One of the best locations is a closet because it can act like a recording booth. There is virtually no echo and the clothes inside muffle the sound. Your goal is to record the vocal and nothing else. Even though a closet might be the best option for sound, if the vocalist isn't comfortable then it is really not good so you might want to find some place else, another room that is a little bit bigger so the vocalist is more comfortable. A room like this will work if you shut all the windows. Wherever you decide to record you have to make sure that it accommodates your equipment. Like for example make sure you have power outlets for using a computer. Looking at a mess of wires like that you can really see why you have to make sure that there is enough room. "