3. Get the Input VOLUME Right!

This isn’t the most exciting topic in the world, but Gain Staging is the most important thing to master next to your knowledge of types of microphones and how to place them. Preamps are what allow you to add volume to your signal and control the amount of overall headroom you have in your recording.

Headroom is very important for one main reason - self noise. All electrical equipment has self noise, it’s unavoidable. But what is avoidable is how noticeable it is in the mix. If your signal to noise ratio is low (i.e. if the signal is quiet and the waveform is tiny), you’ll end up with a very noisy recording when you add EQ to the top end where the expensive sounding crisp frequencies are, and especially with compression as you’ll bring the noise floor up and the signal down even further.

If you aim to have around -12db to -6db reading on your meter in your DAW, you’ll find you can do everything you need and avoid noise in your vocal recording almost entirely! Another great thing to do on top of gain staging properly, is to add a soft release gate to your vocal chain, cutting off only the noise of the microphone and the preamp and nothing else.

4. Tone, Timing, Pitch!

These 3 key elements are extremely important to bear in mind when trying to accomplish a Modern Pop Record!

The TONE of your voice, and the way you project your vocals can have a major influence on the rawness, or emotion you’re trying to portray. Take the new Billie Eilish track, No Time To Die. There are points where she is singing softly, and some in falsetto, but towards the end she belts one note in the closing parts of the track to change dynamic and create an overall track that has epic flavor we’ve come to love from James Bond films across the board.

TIMING is also a major factor, and it can also help in compositional elements as well. For example, coming in before the bar means you can add more words in, and it can create a sort of swing to the hook of a song - or dropping the first beat of the bar or a chorus can allow the track to punch slightly more, and then allow your vocals to breath life into the track even further! You can even plan for a part to be catchy by following the kick drum pattern for example, or playing with the timing of the length of the words to allow them to merge into each other - very popular in modern fast paced vocals like Post Malone where he will elongate a word to add emphasis to the end of the bar like in his song ‘Psycho’.

Lastly, PITCH can greatly affect the sort of emotion a track brings to the listener and help divide the song, allowing the hook to be even more prominent. A lot of chorus’ in modern pop songs will change the pitch of the vocal from the verse purposely to accent the hook or the melody, allowing there to be a clear defining line between each part of the song. Pitch can also add emotion in softer parts, and parts of the track with more dynamics. Falsetto is a good example of change of pitch, but also timbre in a track - circling back to the new Billie Eilish track, when the song dies down for the bridge sections, she moves the range of her vocal much higher in pitch and sings softer to emphasize that part of the song. Try these techniques next time you’re recording or writing, and you’ll see how much of a more professional sounding vocal you’ll achieve.

5. Get That EMOTION!

Emotive tracks are those that bring the listener close to have an emotive response to the song. This can be several different things, sadness, joy, anger, frustration, even acceptance in some cases - it’s entirely subjective on the listener and the moment in their life that they hear your music -but knowing this you should always try to portray your emotion, your feelings and the reason you wrote the song in the first place as best as you can so the listen can connect with you and your music on an emotional level as well as a musical one.

The performance, the way you annunciate and say certain words can say more than the words themselves in most cases! Try anything you can to make this come to life as best you can - gritting your teeth for a line, heavy breathing patterns, more force in the vocal projection, and so many more! Remember your vocal is an instrument, and the way you play it is just as important as what's being played - the same as any other instrument.

3. Get the Input VOLUME Right!

This isn’t the most exciting topic in the world, but Gain Staging is the most important thing to master next to your knowledge of types of microphones and how to place them. Preamps are what allow you to add volume to your signal and control the amount of overall headroom you have in your recording.

Headroom is very important for one main reason - self noise. All electrical equipment has self noise, it’s unavoidable. But what is avoidable is how noticeable it is in the mix. If your signal to noise ratio is low (i.e. if the signal is quiet and the waveform is tiny), you’ll end up with a very noisy recording when you add EQ to the top end where the expensive sounding crisp frequencies are, and especially with compression as you’ll bring the noise floor up and the signal down even further.

If you aim to have around -12db to -6db reading on your meter in your DAW, you’ll find you can do everything you need and avoid noise in your vocal recording almost entirely! Another great thing to do on top of gain staging properly, is to add a soft release gate to your vocal chain, cutting off only the noise of the microphone and the preamp and nothing else.

4. Tone, Timing, Pitch!

These 3 key elements are extremely important to bear in mind when trying to accomplish a Modern Pop Record!

The TONE of your voice, and the way you project your vocals can have a major influence on the rawness, or emotion you’re trying to portray. Take the new Billie Eilish track, No Time To Die. There are points where she is singing softly, and some in falsetto, but towards the end she belts one note in the closing parts of the track to change dynamic and create an overall track that has epic flavor we’ve come to love from James Bond films across the board.

TIMING is also a major factor, and it can also help in compositional elements as well. For example, coming in before the bar means you can add more words in, and it can create a sort of swing to the hook of a song - or dropping the first beat of the bar or a chorus can allow the track to punch slightly more, and then allow your vocals to breath life into the track even further! You can even plan for a part to be catchy by following the kick drum pattern for example, or playing with the timing of the length of the words to allow them to merge into each other - very popular in modern fast paced vocals like Post Malone where he will elongate a word to add emphasis to the end of the bar like in his song ‘Psycho’.

Lastly, PITCH can greatly affect the sort of emotion a track brings to the listener and help divide the song, allowing the hook to be even more prominent. A lot of chorus’ in modern pop songs will change the pitch of the vocal from the verse purposely to accent the hook or the melody, allowing there to be a clear defining line between each part of the song. Pitch can also add emotion in softer parts, and parts of the track with more dynamics. Falsetto is a good example of change of pitch, but also timbre in a track - circling back to the new Billie Eilish track, when the song dies down for the bridge sections, she moves the range of her vocal much higher in pitch and sings softer to emphasize that part of the song. Try these techniques next time you’re recording or writing, and you’ll see how much of a more professional sounding vocal you’ll achieve.

5. Get That EMOTION!

Emotive tracks are those that bring the listener close to have an emotive response to the song. This can be several different things, sadness, joy, anger, frustration, even acceptance in some cases - it’s entirely subjective on the listener and the moment in their life that they hear your music -but knowing this you should always try to portray your emotion, your feelings and the reason you wrote the song in the first place as best as you can so the listen can connect with you and your music on an emotional level as well as a musical one.

The performance, the way you annunciate and say certain words can say more than the words themselves in most cases! Try anything you can to make this come to life as best you can - gritting your teeth for a line, heavy breathing patterns, more force in the vocal projection, and so many more! Remember your vocal is an instrument, and the way you play it is just as important as what's being played - the same as any other instrument.