RECORDING, EDITING, AND MIXING VOCALS IN ABLETON LIVE

PART 1

Usually, when people talk about recording vocals in Live, they focus on warping (time stretching), which is undeniably a big part of what Live’s about. But let’s discuss some other aspects of working with vocals, including recording, editing, processing, organising harmonies – and when not to warp vocals at all.

You might not appreciate being nagged about following basic recording techniques, but it’s arguably more important with vocals than any other source. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but a reasonable microphone and soundcard and a quiet room, will make all the difference. If you want a clean starting point you need a suitable mic and interface. When recording layers of vocals, everything else piles up as well – noise, distortion, headphone bleed, room sound, frequencies that are common across all the tracks – you’ve got to be careful, otherwise it’ll end up a smeary mess.