Best tips for preparing for a vocal session

It’s all about the vocal! How many times have you heard that? From producers to fans, from label executives to the stage crew. An artist's vocal is by far the thing that an audience connects to. Live or studio no matter what the vocal has to be right.

So we talk alot about microphones, cables, mic pres, and compressors but the voice itself is just as critical. The voice is the instrument you have to capture. It’s the source and beginning of the entire vocal chain. So how do producers prepare that instrument? With guitars we intonate, we tune, we get fresh strings. But what can we do to prepare the voice?

In our latest podcast, Timothy Honsalek gave us two big takeaways on how producers can help prepare the voice for a vocal session.

1. Warm Up

This might be obvious but you’d be surprised at how many singers and rappers don't warm up. And it shows. In the podcast, Timothy compares the singer and the voice to an olympic athlete. An athlete would never go on a field of competition without warming up their entire body. It gets the blood moving, stretches the muscles, and focuses the mind. And singing is no different.

Before your session starts, have the vocalist warm up their voice. Here are several things you can do; vocal exercises, scales, arpeggios, singing from low to high and again from high to low, humming pitches, singing the song melodies, and even matching pitches with a tonal source.

You never want the primary source of the track to start out cold. Your sessions will flow a lot better for you and the artist if you begin with preparing the voice with warm ups.

2. Hydration

Timothy shared a fascinating statistic that a lead vocalist singing a standard four hour opera will lose up to a gallon of water from their body. What?!? That is hard to believe but if you think about it with the intensity, the sweat, and the spit I can see how that’s plausible. Hydration is critical to keeping the voice lubricated and smooth avoiding a scratchy unpleasant sound. Also, it replenishes electrolytes as you sing throughout the day. And a big key here is to start the hydration before the session. Get hydrated before you get depleted.

Another tip Timothy gave us is to use some kind of sports drink. The sports drink will help keep energy up during the session and help with mental focus. But he did recommend a 2 to 1 ratio of water to sports drink.

I personally have produced vocal sessions that have lasted for up to eight hours and have used these same tips and they work. These are pro level tips that will help you have productive and successful vocal sessions no matter the genre.