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7 Secrets for Getting Pro-Sounding Vocals on Home Recordings
You want to start recording audio. You have a cellphone, a laptop, and probably a tablet of some sort, but none of those will capture the professional sound you want. The good news, though, is professional-sounding audio equipment doesn't need to be expensive. Once you have a functional sound recorder, you can start building your sound studio.
Remember those blanket forts you made as a kid? Those skills will come in handy here. For your studio, you'll need a decently-sized room. Your bedroom is likely the perfect size and is already filled with sound-absorbing materials like mattresses, blankets, pillows, and clothing. If you hear reverberation in your chosen space, surround yourself with a blanket fort to help neutralize those echoes.
Before you jump into recording, make sure you are in the zone. Your vocal range raises when you are nervous, so prepare yourself by trying to relax. Some vocal warmups might also help you with vocal flexibility before you begin. Now that your studio is ready, set up your mic somewhere you won't need to move it while recording. Depending on your mic, you may have to aim it directly at your mouth or move it further away to capture your narration.
Check your microphone and mic levels to avoid any sound distortion from input levels that are too hot. No matter how thorough or prepared you are, your best take will likely come after several bad ones. Be comfortable enough to spend some time warming up, rehearsing, and tripping up here and there. If you're struggling with your recordings, take a break and return with fresh eyes and vocal cords. In my recordings, I tried several takes in different areas looking for good acoustics and discovered that I have noisy neighbors and a nasal voice. After an hour and a half, I decided to quit for the day and come back with some tea.
Sound Advice: Editing Audio for Video
Many productions make the fatal mistake of using audio as an afterthought. Sound, however, can drastically change the context of a video. Think about zooming into a book: seems harmless enough, right? With some light-hearted music, the scene implies this book is good. With some intense forlorn music, that book is in the wrong hands. Audio should be treated with as much care and planning as video.
When recording a video, you're going to have two main types of footage: A-roll and B-roll. A-roll refers to your primary video footage or the elements deemed necessary for the production. If you don't capture these elements on tape, they won't end up on the final product. This also applies to sound: use your best equipment and keep spares for A-roll audio. If you don't have the audio to match your A-roll video, you'll spend a lot more time trying to make up for it.
B-roll footage is supplementary to add context, reinforce specific ideas, or fill in empty scenes. When recording B-roll video and audio, try to record extra footage as a precaution.
Insert editing (also referred to as a "c") is an editing process where the secondary footage replaces primary footage. With an L-edit, the audio from the previous scene continues to play after the scene cuts to the following scene. J-edits are another split editing technique, but they perform the opposite function of L-edits by beginning audio for the following scene before the end of the previous scene.
Every story contains a beginning, middle, and end. Assemble your A-roll footage in a timeline and edit the audio to tell your story from beginning to end. It will be easier to edit video transitions later than to edit audio to match the video.
Once you've created your rough edit with the audio, it's time to move on to the nitty-gritty details:
Scrub your clips to the beginning of the segment you want with about a half-second extra and trim it for the in point.
Scrub to the end of your desired segment and trim it for the out point, again with a half-second for overlap.
Overlap the ends of each clip to create a smooth transition with fade-ins and fade-outs.
Adjust the in and out points as needed to fit the new edits.
Now, go through your final edits and listen for glitches in the audio, volume changes, or anything that will affect the listening experience for your audience. Return to the editing process if you can edit out these flaws. If you can't fix the issues, try background music to cover them up. Music will also help you create the atmosphere for your scenes.
When you're satisfied with your audio, let's work on the video. If you have any jarring jump cuts, you can try a simple cross-dissolve effect to smooth the transition or flash a bright color to bridge the cut (with moderation). You can also use B-roll footage as a band-aid over the cut with fade-ins and fade-outs.
After you've fully processed your audio, you can use audio post-processing to add some pizazz to your soundtrack. This will require an audio-dedicated software program like Adobe Audition. In Adobe Premiere, you can export the audio compilation as a single file by selecting timeline > file > export > audio. Then, open the file in your audio software of choice and apply light compression, limiting, and equalization before returning the audio to your video software.
Research to Inform
Gravity
In Gravity (2013), medical engineer, Dr. Ryan Stone, joins veteran astronaut Matt Kowalski on a space shuttle mission. Debris from another satellite collides and destroys their shuttle, launching the pair into space. If you listen to the collision scene below with headphones, you can hear Dr. Stone's breath and voice in one earpiece and Kowalski through the other earpiece. Music, another astronaut, and some other sound effects play through both earpieces.
Hush
The premise of Hush is Maddie, a deaf and mute writer living alone, is "hunted" by a man who appears at her doorstep. During an earlier scene, he taps on the door with increasing volume to test Maddie's hearing. In this scene, the sound is heightened dramatically to emphasize that Maddie can't hear the noise. Since the main character is deaf and mute, the movie contains only about fifteen minutes of dialogue. Audio without dialogue supports the vast majority of this storyline.
Don't Breathe
A group of three teenagers breaks into a wealthy blind man's house, thinking it will be an easy target. Once inside, they realize the man isn't nearly as harmless as they thought. Like Hush, the sound in Don't Breathe is also heightened dramatically, this time to emphasize that the man can hear very well. The music fades out about thirty seconds into this clip, and the only audible sound is the teenager, Alex, breathing. The music returns as Alex realizes the man is moving closer to him.
Create
Last week, I started pre-production for a podcast episode about Planned Parenthood. Since the organization gets bad press often, I wanted to share stories from people close to me about their experiences at Planned Parenthood health centers.
This week, I focused on recording and production for my podcast. As it turns out, creating a blanket fort in the garage does not provide enough of a sound barrier against the neighbor hammering. I moved to my bedroom closet, which had significantly better acoustics, but my voice had too much of a nasal sound to record.
The next day, I created a small recording "studio" in my closet to make recording more comfortable and brought some tea to help with my voice. After a few minutes of YouTube vocal warmups, I started rehearsing. At first, I wanted to rehearse the full script instead of sections, but I decided to rehearse each segment before recording. This actually helped me memorize longer lines as I continued recording. In total, it took me about five hours to fully record the audio.
In my pre-production notes, I wanted to create a "family dinner" atmosphere with the sounds of people talking, forks and plates clanking, a crackling fireplace, and soft classical music. I used SoundBible for the ambient audio and sound effects and Epidemic Sound for the music. I found a "plate crashing" sound effect while looking for the dinner ambiance, which felt appropriately comedic to add to the end of the Planned Parenthood introduction.