ABSTRACT
Commonly, the best place to set up the vocal is in the middle of the studio room, with baffles around the singer. Baffles are there to control the environment. If the singer goes to another studio and they try to match the vocal sounds, similar baffling and microphone choice would match the original. Both condenser and dynamic microphones record well when close miked. Just as microphones have different sounds, so do pre-amps, equalizers, and compressors. Due to the nature of physics, every device contributes a tiny amount of distortion. Inexpensive equipment such as cheap pre-amps contain inexpensive circuitry, which introduces distortion earlier. When setting up for the vocals, the most important factors are the singer’s comfort and confidence, so preparing a vocal station is key. The singer should be able to walk in, put on her favorite set of headphones, and sing the vocals with everything exactly right.
