You've finished your all-time music lessons and now it's for your recording session. Apparently, many students and newbies get nervous just right before a recording session. But it's not about whether you are a beginner or a professional. In fact, even the tenured ones admit to feeling nervous before a recording session. Nevertheless, they know how to handle it allowing them to produce a great quality of vocals and recordings.
So, how do they do it?
According to coaches and many professionals, the most important thing in a recording session is the preparation. It will partially depict what will happen in the session. Hence, if you fail to prepare beforehand, then expect that the output will not be as efficient as you wish it would.
And if you are having a hard time preparing, these vocal tips might help you:
- Prepare vocal arrangements before sessions
Just right before the sessions, you must know all your stuff. This includes the lyrics, key arrangements, beats per minutes, and song and chord keys. These are very important things to understand and remember.
Take note that these things are normally asked by the sound engineers. And upon arrival in the recording room, they will try to ask as many questions as possible so that the flow of the recording will flow smoothly. If you are recording for a producer or an album, get all the relevant information so you can prepare beforehand.
Through and by this, you can easily tune in your voice and your vocal parameters.
- Have a warm-up practice
Warming up before a recording session is essential too. This will help you and your vocal capabilities get ready for the following session. If you do not make time for warm-ups, you will end up practicing the song on the very moment of your recording session.
It is important that you take your recording sessions like you are going to compete for an athletic game. You will need to warm up before getting into the actual games. This is because it sets the mood and tone of your playing hours. Accordingly, you should treat your vocal and recording sessions the same way you treat sports.
- Drink warm water and tea
Even if you don't go to recording sessions, you are not very well recommended to drink cold beverages and even sweet drinks. This is because these kinds of drinks will deteriorate the quality of your voice. So, you must not utilize these beverages especially just right before your recording hours.
Practice drinking warm water and tea when you are vocalizing and preparing to record. Also, this is considered to be as one of the warm-up routines of any singer nowadays. It relaxes the voice box which enables you to produce quality sounds.
Furthermore, don’t drink coffee just right before your recording day. It's too acidic that it can dry up your throat.
- Microphone technique
Another tip to prepare for your recording session is to practice your microphone technique. All recording artists and singers have one. And while the techniques vary largely on the singers, try to think of the most comfortable and effective way to use the microphone. With the right technique and management, you can deliver efficiently your voice during the recording.
- Get a good night’s sleep before a session
Before the day of your recording session, you must ensure that you get enough rest and sleep. This is because a restless night will affect the quality of your tone and voice. Also, the more stressed and tired you are, the more it will reflect on your voice that may produce unwanted vibrations. These vibrations on your system may cause sounds that are not really pleasant.
So, try to get a full rest the night before and you should sleep on your head and body. Get into a proper sleeping position that will relax your body, back, and neck.
- Have your lyrics printed out
Certainly, you already memorized your lyrics and tunes. But, it is still a must that you have a print-out or a handout of your lyrics. You can use this as your guide and scratch. Some popular singers opt to print out their lyrics sheet with notes on it. This actually helps them get into their voice naturally.
And you should not be shy about it. It's very normal for singers to have handouts during recording sessions. In fact, some producers and music artists largely recommend this to entry-level recording artists and beginners in the industry.
Whether this is your first time to record or not, these preparation steps are largely utilized by many artists and singers of today. Doing these steps will help you in your recording sessions. You must understand that in everything you do, preparation is always the key to success.
And it doesn’t matter whether you attended music lessons or not. Although it's very recommendable to have someone coach and guide you especially before your recordings, you can still record your voice and music because it's all about the preparation and knowing all the relevant matters.
Author Bio:
Curtis Dean writes on behalf of Sage Music School where they base lessons on the science and research of the psychology of learning. Their effective teaching methods create confident and capable students who enjoy the happiness of making music.
