Best Way to Record Hip Hop Vocals By WyzeGuy

Best Way to Record Hip Hop Vocals

First let me introduce myself: 
I go by WyzeGuy. I'm an Artist / Producer / Engineer. I like to help out wherever I can so if you have a request or want to contact me about tracks, I'll leave my information at the bottom.

This is for some that have a tough time recording vocals. I hear it all the time and hopefully I can point you in the right direction to better track your vocals. Get yourself a decent mic, I used to use the AKG Perception 200 and have moved onto the Neumann TLM 103. The AKG is a good mic for it's buck (around $150) great to start out with.

Please note: This is the way I track vocals. These methods might not be the way someone else tracks but as you know there are a million and one ways to record. As long as the final product is nice, what more can you ask for. This has been a proven winner for me for a long time running. So with that...Let's Continue...





These will be in Mono:

Step 1: Have a good gain (about 3/4 high)(-10db)
Step 2: Record Main Vocals (Verse)
Step 3: Overdub the Main Vocals (Repeat Step 1 on a separate track)
Step 4: Duplicate the Overdub Track
Step 5: Adlib (1 of 2)
Step 6: Adlib (2 of 2)
Step 7: Send all of these tracks to an Aux Track (Stereo)

Your Tracks should look like this:

Track 1: Main Vocals
Track 2: Overdub
Track 3: Overdub (Duplicate of Track 2)
Track 4: Adlib (1 of 2)
Track 5: Adlib (2 of 2)
Track 6: Stereo Aux Track

Now for the Panning and Volume:

Track 1: Main Vocals
Volume: Keep the fader at 0db (Remember if you recorded hot enough (3/4) this will be perfect)
Panning: Keep right down the center

Track 2 and Track 3: Overdubs
Volume: Put the fader about half way down on both tracks (-20db to -25db)
Panning: Send Track 2 "Soft Left" and send Track 3 "Soft Right"
Soft Left = <5 to <45 (Left) / Soft Right = 5> to 45> (Right)

Track 4 and Track 5: Adlibs
Volume: Put the fader in between the Main Vocals and the Overdubs. Since the Main Vocals are at 0db and the Overdub Tracks are half way down (-20db to -25db) Put the Adlib Tracks around -10db to -15db.
Panning: Send Track 4 "Hard Left" and send Track 5 "Hard Right"
Hard Left = <50 to <95 (Left) / Hard Right = 50> to 95> (Right)
Plug In: Add a nice soft delay to each of the adlibs and make sure it's not too loud, just enough where you can barely hear it. It will make the Adlib's stand out just perfect.

I don't typically send panning all the way left or right, I save that for instruments and fx where it can create a nice feel of things moving around the vocals. If you guys want to hear about that just let me know and if I get enough requests I'll post it up.

Now that all of the tracks are set, let's take a look at:

Track 6: The Aux Track

This is where you will add EQ / Compression / Gate (if needed) / Maybe a small plate reverb (you should hardly hear it) or a nice soft DeEsser. Experiment with the different plug in's you can use but make sure to trust your ears.

EQ: I'll normally use a 4 Band EQ on vocals and take the Low end down quite a bit and a tiny touch of the low/mid. From there if it needs it (depending on the artist) I may take the high's up a "teeny tiny bit" (I'm talkin' a little, just to sizzle it up)

Compression: I normally will use a 4:1 Compression Ration, Threshold about -18db to -25db, Fast Attack and Semi Fast Release and finally a Make-Up Gain at about 10db

Gate: This is great if you have excess noise or someone just breathing on the mic waiting for their part to come up. BE CAREFUL with this one. If you don't know what you are doing, experiment with the different settings and see what they do. You can cut out what you consider noise. It mutes noise in-between phrases or words. (Makes it sound really crisp) A high treshold will clip off a lot of sound so I say again, experiment. I usually keep my threshold pretty low so it doesn't effect delays/reverbs or anything like that.

Reverb: A small amount of reverb will go a long way when you want to set the vocals back in the mix so try not to overdue it. Use Sparingly. I normally use a Medium Plate with the decay pulled down to .5 seconds and the amount about 8% wet. Very Nice!

Well that's about it...I know there are a ton of way's to record but this has been a proven method for me. I use this so much and I always get people asking me how it's done because it's so full and clear and sit's perfect in the mix. Well here you go...Enjoy!

If you're lookin' for tracks get at me.

Keep up the good work Fam!

Peace,
~WyzeGuy
wyzeguyspro@gmail.com
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