The operations of your recording engineer can make or break your project. Here are some things you can do to make his or her job easier and faster… and your final mix a masterpiece…

• Keep your mouth at a consistent distance from the mic.

When you bob and weave at the mic, the volume levels and “presence” of your voice change too much, causing the engineer a lot more headaches. It also makes it hard for you to match your surrounding vocal passages when you punch in. You can slightly work the mic for loud and soft phrases, but not much. Keep your body flexible, but think of the mic face as the “hole in the fence” you must aim at to reach your listener.

• Learn how to naturally compress  your voice.

I was working with a vocalist last night and the engineer remarked to me how easy it was to get this singer on tape. She had learned how to even out her breath pressure, even on soft and loud tones, so that the record levels were remarkably consistent. The listener heard great range, emotion and passion, but the machines heard consistent signal. Take a voice lesson or two if you need to before recording your final vocals.

• Don’t talk or make other sounds after singing until you are sure the engineer is out of record.

Many a “clean up” edit can be avoided if the singer cooperates by leaving as little “trash” on the vocal track as possible. Talking habitually while still in “red” is considered unprofessional and actually, rude.

• Always sing into and out of a punch.

Start singing before, and keep singing after, you punch in so that what you repair will match the sound of what comes before and after, will sit well rhythmically and will cut off in the right place.

• Don’t let your headphones cause feedback.

While most people do best with one “ear” half-off on the side of your head, you never want to expose your headphone too closely to the mic, which will cause ear-splitting feedback. Turn your phones off and/or unplug them if you are singing in a group and you leave the vocal booth while someone else records. Your engineer will thank you.

OK, any engineers who read this post… put in any other requests of singers! How else can we help you?