Recording Vocals? You're Using Headphones WRONG

When recording vocals, there are countless ways to mess up.

If you’re not monitoring your vocals through the right signal chain - your performance will suffer.
But getting the right vocal monitoring set up can get complicated. 

Maybe your click track is bleeding into your vocal recordings. But without it, you can’t sing on time!

Or maybe you can’t sing on pitch because you can’t get the right volume balance in your headphones.

But without the backing track, you can’t get into the vocal performance!

On top of that, do you need expensive headphones to stop audio bleed into your recordings? What gear should you use when monitoring your vocal recordings? 

This week, pro vocal coach Chris Liepe will solve these issues for you in his new video.

#vocals #singing #recording

[DJBennyswift]

Honestly, you have remarkable range and it’s crazy how relaxed you are when executing it, thanks for the information, very helpful.

[Fender]

Should be mandatory viewing for anyone engineering a vocal recording. No better way to get your singer comfortable than letting him/her go from a whisper to a scream without a concern.

[Taalmagic]

I think this is one of the rarest of the rare videos where technology is being demonstrated with a real time use case. Buddy, you've got an amazing clarity & Range to your voice.. This was a very interesting video. Many thanks for making it.

[trevorharmonguitar]

This video was EXACTLY what I needed as I have been feeling stumped with recording vocals. Thank you 🙏

[topherleesings]

Hey Chris! I was going down a rabbit hole looking for videos on the best headphones when tracking vocals and stumbled on your video. Like a lot of vocalists, I tend to wear only one side when tracking vocals so I can hear the room better. Most videos give terrible reviews of the AKG 240’s, but I took a leap of faith and picked them up. GAME-CHANGER! I can’t believe the difference it made in not only my comfort, but my performance. Thank you for making this video man, I’m forever grateful 🙌🏻

[kingcarmichael]

Thanks for the great video! I just ordered the AKG K240 headphones based on your recommendation. I've been using the Vic Firth isolating headphones and not always feeling quite right while singing...taking one ear off, then changing my mind and putting it back on. Hopefully like you said, these will be a good balance and help me sing better. I've never tried compressing the vocal while I record, and I want to give that a try too. Sounds like a great approach. - - One thing I do that helps me a lot is dimming the lights. I like it so dark I can barely see the microphone. I like to try to get lost in the song, forget about my body and the room, envision what's going on in the story/song and become a part of it.

[lindaseptien]

as a fellow voice coach...just wanted to say..your voice is amazing!

[dftweedie]

I've been following recording techniques here and on other YouTube channels for several years. This was one of the very the first times where I tried the recommended technique and immediately got marked improvements on recording a vocal. Excellent advice! Thank you so much.

[bobstrunk]

Chris you have an outstanding voice. And these tips help take some of the pressure off. Graham and Chris, thanks for everything.

[barinderpalsingh]

such an amazing tutorial and singing....one of the best I have seen so Sir

[bravoadventure]

This was very eye and ear opening! While I've been singing pretty much my whole life (I'm 51) I've never really thought about recording until recently as I've begun learning guitar. New subscriber.

[simplisticscientists]

Very helpful! I'm doing a session where it takes me a lot of setting up so I am glad to get my vocal chain sorted simply and easily beforehand! Thank you for the great information in a clear way!

[WhaleBluePRS]

I've loved Sony MDR-7506s for more than 20 years. I'm comfortable in every way with them and "know" them. I also have an old pair of AKG K141s that I never liked all that much. I guess it's time to really give the AKGs a chance. Chris Liepe hasn't steered me wrong once yet and I have a feeling this will keep his winning streak! Thank you Graham! (And Chris!)

[danserogermusic]

Hey thanks man, that's spot on! I just recorded vocals yesterday (after many years, yep!) with a new pair of really tight headphones, and I heard very loudly and somewhat organically the very-low-end... and predominantly... which was distracting me from concentrating on delivering the right pitch (we don't hear the pitch very well in the lower-end)... I thought I needed to use the EQ to correct that, until I discovered it was physically resonating in my chest or in my upper-torso bones and it was heard mostly "bio-internally"... because of the tight headphones! So I searched YT today to find a confirmation of that problem and a solution. Your video confirmed the importance of hearing the actual direct room environment, and that is exactly what I have discovered yesterday! I learned from you that there are specific headphones for that purpose, thanks so much! I didn't know that, after all these years (I'm not a pro audio guy)...! I'll first try with my in-ear headphones that came with my old Samsung cellphone, then maybe purchase your semi-open AKG headphones. Very nice channel BTW!

[carriesolomonmusic]

This was so helpful; thank you! I’ve been stressing about headphone bleed, AND about how my singing suffers when I try to record because I can’t friggin hear myself in the room and suddenly everything is strained. Now I have a plan and am actually excited to record.

[tommoranofficial]

Thank you. It amazes me that this topic isn’t talked about much more! I think I’m gonna give those AKG’s a try.

[EJ-yewg]

You’re the only one that acknowledges this. This is my BIGGEST problem

[thetylersherman]

Great point with the tonal click track. Now that I'm thinking about it, I almost feel like little pink noise clicks with the transient rolled off would be ideal.

[danielc]

Something I had started doing is throwing up a stereo pair of mics in the room when recording vocals, positioned as if recording drum overheads or rooms, and feeding those just into my monitor mix. My brain locks onto pitch far more accurately, and you can control the exact blend of room in your ears without having to worry about the right kind of bleed or using reverb plugins and having to think about latency, etc. Seems to work really well if you happen to have a pair. I use SDCs, but I'm sure it wouldn't matter what kind.

[sauravsrivastava]

U dont need any effect wat a voc god gifted❤❤❤