Basic Recording Studio Fundamentals from a Singer Point of View

If you still have not seen or visit a professional recording studio, then you need to read this short guide in order for you to prepare the real world as a professional studio singer. It is because if you still have not visit a recording studio, then most likely you only know 3 things – the microphone, your speaker and even your headphones.

Even with these 3 things, the real studio is filled with out of these world microphones, speakers (monitors) and headphones. In short, the equipments you know in your home are NOT the same as what you will see in a professional recording studio.

If you are ready, then prepare to get to know the lists of equipments and studio gears below:

1.) Condenser or Ceramic type microphones – if you are recording in a professional made studio, you will not be using dynamic microphones (these microphones are the ones you had in your home). But you will be using condenser microphones in the recording studio.

Below are the tips for using condenser microphones (see screenshot below for the picture of a condenser microphone):

a.) Since is microphone is “ultra” sensitive in picking up sounds, put your mouth at least 5 inches from the microphone. This is not a strict rule, feel free to experiment and follow what the engineer advises you to do for best recording results. Do not record if you have colds (nasal congestion for example) or mouth related problem as it can really ruin your day at the studio.

b.) Most condenser microphones include a pop filter, so get used to it. The purpose of that is to prevent the “pops” and “clicks” in your mouth in reaching the microphone, so that the recorded vocal is clean.

2.) Headphones – this is not an earphone you commonly used in your iPod but this a “full” headphone such as shown below. In the picture of me below, you will also see the condenser microphone with a filter (black in circular shape).



Tip: Be comfortable with your vocal level, you will actually hear it in the headphones. So if something is not comfortable or distracting, feel free to report the problem to your engineer.

3.) Control room – this room is where the engineer and producer are sitting to watch you recording the vocals. In most professional studios, you can only hear them through headphones or microphones; it is because the control room is separated from the vocal booth. A sign language is important; so in case you have a problem and they won’t hear you taking in the microphone; feel free to give a “sign” language to them (waving a hand for example).

You can see the control room through a glass from the vocal booth.

4.) Vocal booth – this is where you will be recording the vocals. This is done purposely to avoid bleeding of noise from other sources or instruments.

Background singer/vocalist training and tips

You might amazed to know that background singers are all NOT bad and infamous. In fact legendary singer like Mariah carey starts to work as a background vocalist before she went to a become a great lead singer.

Background singer is an important step in pop music production where their skills are needed to:

a. Further enhance the song hook as background vocals are commonly employed by record producers in the chorus section of the song.

b. Blend with the lead vocalist in terms of emotion and harmony.

Background vocalist in fact requires a lot of skill more than you imagined. You might think that a lead vocalist training is much more rigid than being a background singer.

In reality , they are almost the same and even being a background singer requires much more complicated task in the studio. It is because they have some problems when doing recording sessions such as:

1.) If the background vocalist does not know how to sing along with other singers at “different pitch or harmony”. They will sing easily out of tune. Unfortunately this type of problem does not have solution except to fire the background singer and replace with a more competent background vocalist.

2.) Specific control with respect to vibrato, styles and volume - if the singer will sing too much vibrato or no vibrato at all, it sounds dull. So if the recording producer instructs the background singer to entirely sing without a vibrato, she/he should sing that without vibrations.

Too much vibrato can destroy the nature of the vocal blending which producers are hoping to achieved desire results.

3.) In some cases where the lead vocalist conveys a certain emotion and tempo, the background vocalist is required to blend or convey that emotion also. This might be difficult if you are not the type of vocalist which is not flexible enough to adjust different types of emotions when singing.

4.) Some record producers expects the background singer to understand and sing from the musical transcripts or series of notes. This might be impossible if you are the type of singer which does not know how to read musical notes from the sheet or no strong musical background.

The following are the suggestions on how you will start to become a better background vocalist or singer:

1.) Try to join choir. Joining it , provides a good ear training ground for wannabe background vocalist. It is because you will be required to sing at a different harmony with the rest of the singers. Doing this in unison, helps you to practice singing at a different harmony together.

2.) Take music classes to help you read musical notes. Practice it at home by downloading free music sheets online and see if you can sing directly by reading those notes.

3.)It is important to be prepared at all times, when you are hired to become a background singer of a certain track. Be diligent and hard working enough to do the assignments in advance before coming to the recording studio.

4.) This means you should fully know your role, the song, those notes that you need to sing as well as everything including the lyrics and the emotions you need to convey.

If you are great and successful at singing background, it will be very easily to become a lead vocalist.