Tips for artists · 5 min read

How to get a good vocal take

Warm-ups, headphone mixes, doubles and knowing when to stop.

A great vocal is rarely one perfect take. It’s a few decent ones and a bit of patience. This is how we’d approach it.

Warm up first

Hum, do some gentle lip trills, and read the song through at half volume. Don’t start with the loudest line. A cold voice cracks, and a cracked line makes people tense up.

Get your headphones right

If you can’t hear yourself, you’ll push. If you can hear yourself too much, you’ll go flat. Tell us how it sounds and we’ll change it. A little reverb on your voice in the headphones makes many people sing better, because it sounds more like a record.

Record the whole song, not just fragments

Do a full run-through first, from the top to the end. You’ll feel the flow and the energy of the song, which you lose if you only chase individual lines.

Perform it

Stand up, move your body (without moving off the mic), and imagine who you’re singing or rapping to. Reading words is easy to spot on a recording. Meaning it is also easy to spot.

Do a few takes, then we pick the best bits

Recording several takes gives us choices. We can combine the best bars or lines from different takes into one performance, which is called comping. It’s completely normal and almost every record you’ve heard does it.

Doubles and ad-libs

A double is a second take of the same line, laid underneath to thicken it. A tight double takes patience, so don’t rush it. Ad-libs are the background shouts and extra phrases. Do them after the main vocal is done, so you’re not worrying about everything at once.

Don’t chase perfect

A slightly rough take with a real feeling in it beats a perfect take with nothing in it. If you’ve done a line eight times and it’s getting worse, go and have some water and come back to it.

Know when to stop

Voices get tired. If it’s going backwards, stop, have a break or leave that line for another day. We can always add a line later if needed.