RECORDING March 2023 - 20

Studio101
Monitoring
An Intro to
Don't Pop Those P's
P-Pops-technically called plosives-
are the loud thumps that sometimes occur
on the letters P and B, which may
cause a blast of air from the vocalist's
mouth to shake the mic's diaphragm.
These can be tedious to edit out after the
fact, but they can usually be prevented
by employing a pop filter in front of the
mic. This is an acoustically transparent
screen mounted on the mic stand and
positioned just in front of the mic's diaphragm.
A good pop filter will prevent
plosives from occurring and should have
little or no audible effect on the sound
of the vocal. An extra benefit is that the
pop filter can be positioned to help enforce
minimum distance from the mic.
Tame Those S's
Another common issue with some
vocalists is sibilance-harsh, spitty " S "
sounds from an emphasis of frequencies
around 6 kHz or so. A dedicated de-esser
plug-in can usually tame this easily later
on. Still, minimizing it during recording
as much as possible is better. To be
proactive, try positioning the mic slightly
off-axis to the vocalist (slightly to the side
instead of directly in front) or slightly
above, angled down at the vocalist.
The Room
The recording space (booth or room)
is always a big part of the sound of a vocal
recording. If it's too live-too echoey-and
the mic picks up too much of
that room tone, then a lead vocal can
sound too distant in the mix, lacking the
immediacy needed as the focus of the
20 RECORDING March 2023
A small studio's DIY vocal booth
arrangement. The other primary consideration
is leakage-unwanted sounds, such
as other instruments or noises in the room
(air conditioner, a computer's fans or outside
sirens) from leaking into the vocal mic
and being audible later on in the mix.
A directional mic will help with both
issues-be sure to point the mic away
from any potential sources of unwanted
sound in the room-but usually, the
room needs to be addressed as well.
Choosing to record in a relatively
well-isolated space is the best bet. Ideally,
this space shouldn't be too dead-like a
closet-or too live-like a tiled bathroom.
It should have a decent character that will
make the performer feel comfortable but
not overly intrude into the recording. A
live space can be deadened in various
ways. The cheap, quick approach might
be to hang heavy blankets around the vocalist.
A better solution is to employ those
foam acoustic wedges you see in studios-in
the right amount and locations
they'll absorb excess liveness and prevent
unpleasant reflections and echoes.
With a bigger budget, a vocal iso booth
can be purchased or constructed.
Level It Out
Finally, getting a good level into the mic
preamp on the interface (or standalone
mic preamp) and into the DAW or recorder
is important. The mic signal should be
as strong-as hot-as possible without
overloading. Too hot of a signal may
overload the interface's A/D converter,
manifesting as clicks, pops and distortions
that will ruin a recording. But too low a
recorded level may require a lot of signal
boost later on, which could bring up too
much background noise from the analog
components in the input signal chain.
The gain or trim control on the mic preamp
should be set so the loudest parts of the
signal hit the maximum safe level. If there's
an analog-style VU meter, this would be
about 0VU; if it's a digital meter, this should
be around a maximum of -6dB or so below
the absolute maximum (0dB). This should
provide a good clean overall recorded signal
level. Make sure to reference the meter
for that track within the DAW as well-and
be sure to have the DAW's pre-fader metering
option turned on during recording to
ensure an accurate level reading.
Wrap Up
Of course, there are many other
considerations for vocal recordings as
well-input
processing,
setting up a
good monitor/headphone mix, making
the vocalist feel comfortable in the studio,
and approaches to capturing multiple
takes and/or punching-but those
are topics for another day.
Hopefully, this brief checklist of the basics
will be helpful for anyone looking to get
started making great vocal recordings.
Joe Albano is a musician/engineer/
producer/educator in New York City. Contact
him at joealbano@recordingmag.com.
RECORDING March 2023

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