A Vocal Session Routine
It’s always the little details that make a difference. You can go from being an engineer at xyz studio to being an artist’s exclusive engineer. It’s like a date. You need to swoon somebody over with your skills and preparedness. So how do you win over a vocalist? Again, its the little things:
Recording Template
Im sure you’ve heard this plenty about having a template, but it’s important. Keep it simple with plug-ins. Make sure your plug-ins can be accessed from most studios. Even if you most often work out of one studio or your own computer, you never know when you’ll get a call to work with an artist elsewhere.
Your template is your toolbox. It should have your FX auxes already bused and routed so when the artist asks for a hall reverb and 1/4 delay, all you have to do is turn up a fader or two. Make your recording template simple, powerful, and ready to go.
Vocal Chain Ready
Everything is about your sonic stamp, your vocal chain included! Aside from the equipment that is integral to the studio your working out of (A/Ds, computer, etc.), you are able to make choices that impact your recordings. This includes your microphones, preamps, compressors, and even headphones!
Listen to the tone of your artist (think about your microphone choice). Do they sound nasally (think about your microphone choice)? Do they sing in a lower range (think about your microphone choice)? Do they move around a lot while singing or are they able to control their movement while singing (think about your microphone choice)? All these questions apply to the preamps, compressors, eqs, and everything else that you use that you are recording through.
Once you have decided all these factors, make sure everything works *cleanly*. Nothing ruins the flow of the session more than when you have to stop and troubleshoot. Is your mic on and warmed up? Is your preamp clean? The compressor engaged and not bypassed. Is signal coming into your DAW without any glitches.
Headphones
And an often overlooked aspect are the headphones. Don’t just assume that your DAW output just magically appears into your headphone input. It’s embarrassing when the artist heads into the booth ready to record, they put on their headphones, but then they can’t hear themselves, the music or you! Awkwarddd.
Avoid this by getting up and checking the headphones before your artist gets in the booth. Make sure the volume is set at a comfortable level. If its your first time working with that artist, have your assistant or yourself show them how to use the studio’s headphone box. Make them as comfortable as possible.
Hospitality
Speaking of making the artist as comfortable as possible - Don’t overlook the little details.
Lighting, candles, water, tea, notepads, etc.
Make note of how the artist likes the lights: low lighting, dark, green LEDs. That way, the next time they come, its already a vibe from the second they walk in,
Light a candles or use the fake candles just to give the illusion of a calm setting. Think luxury spa vibes.
Have water available in the room. Room temperature and iced water options are both great. Especially because cold water isn’t great right before singing.
Tea is nice to have. Highly recommend having Throat Coat and honey.
Notepads and pens are important to have around in case your artist needs to write lyrics or just any ideas down.
Cater to the vocalist and what they need. Be observant and make adjustments as needed to make it the best recording experience possible.
