OK, started to do all of this online music stuff about a year ago and have had lots of fun doing so. I put up my tunes on Reverbnations web site and created lots of tunes on splicemusic's web site. Then I thought wow what a good idea it would be to burn my own CD so I can drive around in the car and listen to some of the stuff I have been working on so I can get inspired to make changes or additions or just to come up with something new all together. I noticed something right away with the music quality from my CD player in my car and said to my self these tunes sound really better than they did when I was listening to them online, weird and lucky. I started to hear things I could not detect over my little computer monitor speakers. It has a lot to do with frequency response and the overall efficiency in your speakers that can some times make or break the tune. I mean what you think you are hearing isn't necessarily right on the money so to speak. Well we can always self justify, I mean after all we are musicians or artists right. That's the way I intended it to sound, right! Well this got me thinking as to how important various little things are to the end result of your music project even if it's a rough draft demo etc. First a good set of Monitor speakers are important but probably more important is the actual room acoustics and set up that you are working within. So it might be a good idea to rethink the way you have your music area set up and or build a real sound studio if you can afford to. Another thing you might want to look into is obtaining a Pink Noise Generator and a device to test your room acoustics for that flat response, you can always adjust to your own ear after recording. I'm not talking about how the sound is directly input digitally into your computer hardware, I'm talking about you hearing the sound right in the first place before you do all the other stuff because if it isn't set up right in the first place you will hear something a little different than what comes out in the end when played in different environments and on different systems. By setting it up as accurate as possible in the first place mainly reduces your efforts in the process of having to redo things a bunch of times until you think it sounds right. Save some of that beer money and go out and get yourself some studio gear etc. Got any input on this subject matter feel free to post it. Also if you've got some good DIY studio ideas share those here too, I'm sure our viewers will be glad you did.

Groove On!!!

Enviromental issues

Bright and live sounding rooms might be great for evocative strings and stadium drums, but for vocals they're usually just a mix-muddying inconvenience. One of the first effects an engineer or producer is likely to place on a recorded vocal is a compressor, which will instantly increase the detrimental effect of any excessive room brightness. Next they will, most likely, apply reverb, which will further exacerbate the problem. It's hard to quantify exactly what the issue is, but it's largely to do with clarity. Because strings are quite resonant with extended envelopes anyway, natural reverberation adds to their character. At the opposite end of the spectrum, percussion has very fast attacks and short release times, so a little natural reverb simply smooths the transitions between transients. But with neither sharp transients nor extended release times, the human voice occupies a curious middle ground. It sounds unnatural and dead with no reverb, but too much and the minute sonic repetitions will blur the edges of the intricate sounds and formulations that our voices make. With this in mind, the wet-dry balance and the character of the reverb itself become critical with vocal recordings, so it's usually far safer to get the driest signal upfront and add effects later.

Perfect placement

In terms of mic placement, there are a number of different techniques that can be used. If you play live, you'll have a tendency to creep towards the mic, even if you staple your feet to the floor - but you actually want to be about 20-60cm away, as this is the ideal distance to let the sound of a voice develop. If you find your voice too boomy, move further from the mic to smooth things over. If your voice is thin and lacking presence, stand closer. Ideally, if you're old-school, you will have learned to move in close at quiet spots and pull away for louder sections. If not, you can balance differences with compression later.

Spitting games

The only other real deviation is if you're having problems with plosives (the little pops of air pressure caused by saying words like 'popping'), in which case you may want to try a pop-shield (always worth it to stop spitting on your precious mics anyway!). This problem is more prevalent with condensers, owing to their greater sensitivity, but it's also largely to do with the vocalist. If you are still having problems, try placing the microphone slightly to the side.

If you do choose to move the mic to the side, it may be helpful psychologically if you give yourself something to sing at (a dummy mic, for example) to stop you automatically turning towards the real one.

Timing

The joint first most important trick for getting great vocals is pretty simple really. If your prone to getting wasted before a session, stop it. you might be one of the 0.05% of singers who sound better that way, but it's unlikely.

Pro Tips

Make sure you warm up. You wouldn't race a Formula One car without doing the warm-up lap, would you?

Quality is everything with vocals, so make sure you're using your absolutely best microphone - ideally a cardioid condenser on a well placed and secure stand