Topic
Recording.
12 pieces
How to reduce background noise in Audacity
Audacity's built-in Noise Reduction cleans steady hiss and hum well — if you don't overdo it. Step by step: get a noise profile from a silent moment, apply it gently, and avoid the watery over-scrubbed artifact.
· 6 min
How to treat a room for vocals (cheaply)
An untreated room bakes reflections into your vocal that are hard to remove later. How to treat a recording space for vocals cheaply — blankets, a clothes-filled closet, recording into a soft pocket — and what actually matters.
· 6 min
How to remove mic bleed from vocals
Mic bleed is unwanted sound recorded alongside the vocal — headphones, other instruments, room. Why it steals clarity and control, why a gate only fixes the gaps, and how separating the voice from simultaneous bleed is the real job.
· 5 min
How to tune vocals (pitch correction basics)
Pitch correction ranges from invisible touch-ups to the hard robotic effect — both from the same tools, set differently. How to tune vocals: automatic vs graphical, why retune speed decides the sound, and how to keep it natural.
· 6 min
How to double vocals (the right way)
Doubling makes a lead vocal wide and thick — but copying one take to both sides does nothing. How to double vocals properly with real re-performed takes, panning, when to use it, and how to keep the stack from turning harsh.
· 6 min
How to remove background noise from vocals
Hiss, hum, and fan noise are the most common thing between a home recording and a pro vocal. How to remove background noise cleanly: learn a noise profile, subtract it, use the least reduction that works, and do it first in the chain.
· 5 min
How to remove plosives (pops) from vocals
That low thump when a singer hits a 'p' or 'b' is a plosive. How to remove plosives from a recorded vocal with a fast high-pass or a quick volume dip aimed only at the pop — and how a pop filter prevents them at the source.
· 5 min
What actually causes sibilance (mic, voice, room)
If the harshness keeps coming back, the fix might be upstream of the de-esser. Where harsh esses really come from — the voice, the mic, the chain, the room — and what to do at each stage.
· 6 min
How to remove reverb from vocals
Recorded reverb is baked in — you can't turn it down. How de-reverb tools separate the direct voice from its reflections, how to avoid the watery artifact, and why prevention beats cure.
· 5 min
How to record vocals at home
The best plugin can't undo a bad recording, and a cheap setup can capture a great one. How to record a clean vocal at home: the room, the mic, placement, and levels, so mixing starts from something worth mixing.
· 6 min
The best microphone for vocals (is the wrong question)
There's no single best vocal mic; the best one matches your voice and your room. Condenser vs dynamic, matching mic brightness to the voice to avoid baked-in harshness, and why the room beats the mic.
· 5 min
How to reduce sibilance while recording
The cleanest de-essing is the sibilance you never record. Angle the mic off-axis, back off the distance, match the mic to the voice — capture it smaller so de-essing stays gentle and natural.
· 4 min