Thursday, August 22, 2013

How To Record Vocals For Hip Hop Instrumentals

By Delroy Wilkins


Hip hop music is expressionism in popular language, where words groove to the rhythm of a series of beats. Since it is a leading music genre, the entire hip hop production led to beats for sale and silver-tongued vocalists for hire. Despite the booming professional hip hop industry, home studios are still popular and some of the best songs were produced at one of these makeshift recording studios.

Your vocals may have one of those cool beats for sale as background but you won't be able to disguise its quality. Never think that OK is enough. The better the vocals, the more professional the record will be. It's not a perfect world and you may not be rich enough to afford the works; but, even if you don't have one of those first-rate analog to digital converters or a huge diaphragm for your PC recording studio, you can improve the quality of the vocals with the help of these tricks.

One rule of music recording is that the recording studio should be noise free. However, many beginner artists often forget this rule. Although some artists and producers believe that small noises within the studio won't be caught during the recording, the contrary is true. The recording techniques involved such as mixing will in most cases amplify any background noise and, this will definitely be heard in the final recording. To get perfect vocals, ensure that any background noise within your studio is kept to a minimum or shut out completely. Any form of noise whether coming from within your studio or outside should be shut off. This should be observed even if you are using professionally created beats and instrumentals on sale. A great way to minimize noise is to time your recording time during the quiet hours of the day.

The perfect vocals are gauged by levelness of volume, audibility and comprehension. To achieve this, consider your distance from the mic. In general, keep your distance from the mic between 6 inches and 12 inches. Maintain this distance throughout the recording. Avoid holding the mic and instead use a stand. This way, any hand cable movements will not produce any noise which in turn would end up being audible within the song. In addition, use a pop filter between you and the mic to filter out the vocals. Although a rhythmic music genre, your final hip hop track should be free from any pops, plosives and hisses.

Every house has that perfect spot to set up your studio. All you need is to find it. The best spot is that in which your voice sounds natural without any form of echo or delays. Small rooms should be avoided. Small spaces don't work well as far as the physics of sound and acoustics are concerned. Besides, they are just plain uncomfortable to work in! A major disadvantage of small rooms is that the vocals will thin out, an effect that's hard to rectify even with mixing. An easy way to find the spot for your studio is walking into a medium size to large empty room and clapping your hands. If the sounds echoes back then you might want to add some things that absorb sound such as blankets on the walls. If you find that your ideal space does not create the sense of space in form of reverb and delays, these effects can be added during recording.




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