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7 Vocal Recording Mistakes You Can’t Fix in the Mix

“That’s okay, we’ll just fix it in the mix.” That is not a phrase mix engineers want to hear. Ever. We all know there are things like tuning that can be fixed in the mix but there are some that can’t, even with the most powerful tools. So here are a few totally avoidable mistakes you’ll want to watch out for, before they become forever imprinted on your next vocal track.

1. Choosing the Wrong Mic

This one should be obvious, but obviously, it isn’t. Many people rush into the recording process with little regard for trial and error, and that can cause a boatload of headaches on the back end.

Common mic mistakes are things like matching a bright microphone to a singer with a high register, or a dark mic to one with a booming basso. Complementary mics naturally balance the vocal ranges with frequency response, but no matter what it says on paper, use your ears and find a mic that delivers the sound you really want, before you track a sound no amount of EQ can fix. The right mic will enhance the best parts of the voice while minimizing the parts that are not pleasant, like sibilance, nasality, strident upper range, etc.

2. Mic Bleed

Need to track the full band at once? No problem — that’s what scratch tracks are for. But chances are, unless you’ve got amazing isolation in your vocal booth (and even many high-end studios don’t have enough) a lot of bleed is going to end up in your vocal mic.

The same thing happens with the wrong kind of headphones, and while open-back headphones sound and feel great, they may not be your best bet in the vocal booth. The problem with this kind of bleed is that you can end up with some funky phase issues in your tracks. And because this bleed overlaps the vocal sound, no expander or noise gate on earth will remove it from your vocal track. You’re better off using closed-back headphones such as Sennheiser HD 280 Pros instead.

3. Poor Mic Distancing

Some singers naturally stay put when they’re singing; others need to be taught to stay put while they’re singing. The trouble comes from the fact that if you move around the polar pattern of your mic, you’re going to get varying amounts of proximity effect as you get closer and slightly different frequency responses as you go off-axis.

While the most noticeable problem this kind of poor mic technique causes is a variation in volume, even if you compress it all to be smooth, the frequency imbalances you create can’t be fixed — at least, not unless you want to spend hours automating an EQ plug-in, which still won’t net you stellar results.

Stedman Corporation Proscreen4. Excessive Plosives and Sibilance

Popping Ps and Bs, hissing Ss, and abrasive Fs can all ruin your vocal tracks. Sure you can fix them in the mix, but A) sometimes they are too great to be repaired, or B) no one wants to spend time fixing a totally preventable problem. Here’s how you avoid these issues.

Step 1: Get your vocalist to warm up. Whether it’s tongue twisters or a list of nonsense phrases, a well-tuned voice machine is all it takes to tame most of these vocal violations.

Step 2: Set up a proper (fixed) distance from the mic so that sibilance is less apparent.

Step 3: Put up a pop filter. There are exactly ZERO good excuses not to use a pop filter in the overwhelming majority of vocal recording situations. In fact, the only real exception is when the only way to ensure proper mic distancing with an active vocalist is to give them a handheld mic.

That’s it! Now, put away the de-esser and start producing cleaner vocal tracks.

5. Overloading the Mic or Preamp

VU meter

This one is just plain painful. There are plug-ins that can do wonders to restore clipping, but for best results, please don’t rely on tools designed for audio forensics. Instead, set modest levels, back off the mic, and for all that is good in the world, kick in a pad if required.

Overloading either the amplification stage in your mic or in the preamp causes waveforms above the maximum volume threshold to become decapitated. This leaves you with a crispy, stressed-out distortion (not the cool kind of distortion guitarists dig) that’s really annoying. Don’t make your mix engineer cry — if you hear distortion, stop what you’re doing, fix the issue, and record another take.

6. Noisy Preamps (too much gain)

While overloading the pre or microphone is one form of poor gain staging, you can just as easily run into trouble on the other end of the equation. Specifically, if you’re using a dynamic microphone with a relatively weak output, you may have the temptation to crank the preamp to bring it up in the mix.

Cranking the gain may work with high-end mic pres, but many everyday pres start adding a lot of noise to the signal when they reach a certain gain threshold. Commit this to your recording, and you’ll find yourself combating a noise floor you just can’t get rid of, and while noise-reduction plug-ins or gates may be able to rescue otherwise unusable tracks, the results are varied and far from ideal.

7. Junk Vocal PerformanceMan plugging his ears

This one’s as nontechnical as it gets: you can’t fix a bad vocal performance with even the best technical skills. There’s a pervasive myth that tools such as Auto-Tune and expert skill with EQ and dynamics can rescue lackluster vocals, but you’re about as likely to pull that off as you are to spot Bigfoot creeping through your backyard.

Sure, pitch correction can do amazing things, and other processing can bring out the best qualities in an otherwise good vocal track — you can even nudge timing a little here and there — but nothing can fix poor articulation, lack of emotion, and any number of other things that make up a bad performance. If it doesn’t sound 99% of the way there, don’t set yourself up for failure — strike it and do another take.


There you have it — seven essential tips for vocal production that can save you or your mix engineer from hours of polishing bad tracks. We hope you put these tips to good use, producing better vocal tracks the first time while avoiding serious regrets down the road.

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