Vocal Recording from Home

Vocal recording from home has become more popular over the past several years.  More so since the outbreak of COVID-19 Corona Virus.

Vocal Recording from Home

What do I need to get started?  Simple, first we highly recommend downloading the free copy of Presonus Studio One software as your digital audio workstation.  You can track your vocals within this software and export the files to BeMelodic to do your mixing and mastering.

Next you will need a microphone and audio interface to record your vocals into your computer.

Vocal Microphones

If you want to buy yourself a decent microphone to record your vocals, you should consider the following:

Dynamic Mics:  These are going to be your easiest and most forgiving vocal mics.

Condenser Mics:  These generally provide the best results, but knowing how to use them is important to get the most out of it.

Ribbon Mics:  Ribbons offer a creamy and warm vocal print, but are also quiet expensive for a decent sounding mic.

We understand the cost involved in microphones as well as the variety of mics available.  Given the above, we recommend the following options for making a vocal recording from home with a good price point:

$100 range:
– Shure SM-58 dynamic is a decent low priced mic you may already own for live gigs.
–AKG P120 condenser is designed more as a podcast mic, but has decent quality that AKG is known for.

$200 range:  
– Sennheiser E945 dynamic will go toe-to-toe with even the best condenser microphones.
– Blue Microphones Spark SL condenser is an excellent choice for a moderately priced condenser.

Audio Interfaces

Audio interfaces with good microphone preamps are essential.  You can have a great pro-quality microphone and get a poor vocal recording if your pre-amplifier is not good.

Good news, is that you can buy good quality vocal pre-amps for a relatively cheap price.  Now, they don’t compare to a premium pre-amp found in our recording studio, but they can get the job done.

Ideas for $100 interfaces are:

– Focusrite Solo
– Presonus Audiobox

If you want higher end interfaces, we recommend either the Audient ID4 or the Audient ID14 which has professional console grade pre-amps.  This is the little brother of the ID44 we use in our studio and costs $200-300. Audient provides extremely high quality recordings.

Don’t have the money to buy equipment?  Read our article on Recording Vocals on Your iPhone.  This may be an option for you to build a demo album while the COVID-19 restrictions are in place.

Read more about recording studio during COVID-19 here.

Next Steps?

Contact us with your music production project information.
Let us guide you through recording vocals from home.

Contact Us