Advanced Audio Engineering
Course 16: Vocal Overdubs: Song 2

By course 16, you will have the skills you need to mix down your previously recorded vocal tracks. You will be using your own creativity and knowledge to work with a range of tools such as EQ, compressors, limiters, reverb, delay, vocoding, chorus, auto-tune, and more to add color and uniqueness to your vocal tracks.

Recording lead vocals section by section is a great way to ensure they sound as perfect as possible! For example, you can record the verses first, followed by choruses and then the bridge. Or have the artists sing the whole song to capture a performance flow. Depending on what you’re trying to achieve, it may be more beneficial to record the most difficult vocal parts first.

When choosing one method over another for background vocals, it’s important to consider both the benefits and drawbacks of each. If you opt to record each background part separately, then you will have flexibility during the editing process, allowing you to control tone, level, and pitch of each vocalist. On the other hand, when recording all of the background vocal parts together around a single microphone, you will benefit from having a more unified performance.

Ultimately it comes down to deciding which approach best suits your project’s needs. Your mentor will be there to help you make some decisions on your editing and effects choices, but overall you will be relying on your new instincts to make song decisions. The goal of this course is to give you an opportunity to experiment and develop your own style.