How to Prepare the Voice for a Studio Recording Session

If you have only done your studio recording sessions on a whim, running to the studio to listen to a beat that may tickle your fancy, and perhaps scribbling down some lyrics and jumping into the booth to record your vocals, then you will be amazed to discover that that isn’t how the professionals work. It takes a heck of a lot more to produce a record. This article will offer tips on how to first prepare the voice—your very own God given instrument needs to be readied to do the job—and what to look out for in a recording studio that will ensure you deliver a good vocal.

The more I hear stories about how people rush to studios unprepared, the more I want to reach out and help them understand the importance of getting well prepared. You’re going to be surprised how much more powerful and effective your vocal delivery will be when you do. So let’s begin.

There are numerous ways to compose a song. Your song can begin as an idea for a melody, for example, that develops into an entire song over time, with careful crafting. In this type of scenario, once you have what you want, you can begin to develop piano, acoustic guitar cords, or the beat to the song with the help of a fellow musician, if you’re not an instrumentalist yourself. The other way to craft a song, and this is probably the most common nowadays, is to get a producer to create a beat and then you would write the lyrics to it over time. I’ve repeated the words ‘over time’ for a reason. Don’t rush! Take your time to create something beautiful. The better the composition, the longer the shelf life of your song! Good songs last forever. Now let’s discuss preparing the voice, because this after all is the purpose of this article.

Nothing defeats the object more than relying on auto tune to fix your vocal flaws. Because it’s so demeaning, and you cannot reproduce that on a live set! So aim for being able to do a great job in the studio yourself, trust me, you’ll be proud of yourself for it. When you train your voice with the scales before you write the song, your ability to write a song automatically does a quantum leap from mediocre to pro because of it, for the simple reason that your voice knows a whole lot more—and that allows you to create something with a much broader vocal range.

And here’s what you need to look out for in a recording studio. When you have your headsets on, make sure you can hear your own voice properly. If you cannot hear what you’re doing, it will be at the expense of your vocal delivery. So have the producer set it up for you, and tweak it to perfection till you’re absolutely satisfied. If you’re the kind of person that desires vocal perfection but didn’t quite know how to go about achieving that, you can download free vocal exercises from my blog here.

You are the instrument, learn to sing like a pro!

JOETT

Vocal Coach & Author
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