Recording Vocals

You can use the 606 as a kind of hard-disk recorder for vocals. This is cool for those of us that don’t use Pro Tools, as it provides the same sort of versatility without going outside of the box.

Step 1 – Setup.

OK, you need to prepare a couple of things before you start. First of all you should set the DBeam filter up. Choose a High-Pass filter setting, with maximum power (36db). Set the range so that you actually don’t use your hand to control the frequency. To do this you simply set the upper and lower range as the same value. This turns it into a kind of super-powerful shelving EQ. You want to (usually) cut out the low frequencies. The exact frequency depends on your singer/rapper so experiment until you get the sound you want.

DBeam set, it’s time to set up the FX. First the MFX. Your options are pretty wide-ranged here, so it’s up to you to set them as you need…..however, some combo’s that have worked for me include:
• Voice Transformer into the Guitar Amp Simulator – great for tough sounding, Timbaland-style vocals.

• Enhancer into Reverb – great for female singing.

• Rotary into Space-D – Pink Floyd strikes back.

• Gate into Reverb – Phil Collins ahoy!

• Voice Transformer into Step Phaser/ Step Flanger – robots are going to take over the world!!

The really cool thing is that the performer and the producer can hear exactly what they are recording as it happens. This is far, far better than trying to apply FX to an already-recorded vocal, as it can be tested in the mix ‘live’…

On that note, to avoid having to do a Kylie (moving every syllable to fit after the recording is made), you should have the track that you are making the vocals for playing in the headphones of the singer/rapper, along with a feed of their own vocals. I realise this is obvious, but I thought I’d better try to be complete..

Turn on the master compressor as well to avoid wayward transients. You can set the master compressor up for vocals using the preset options, as the settings don’t really need to be adjusted for this task.

Finally, record in mono. Vocals are naturally only one voice, and it makes double and triple-tracking much easier in the mix.

Finally finally, keep recording for as long as you can – you got plenty of recording time on the card, so use it! Comping a great vocal is far easier than waithing for the perfect take!!

Have fun.

This is interesting to me but I am not sure I understand it. Tell me more detail(step by step) about what happens after effect set up.

OK sorry man I've been at this for a LONG (15+ yrs) time so what I think goes without saying often needs further explanation....

After you have set up the desired effects chain (MFX1+MFX2+FILTER+MASTER), you can sound-check over your track. You will need a mixer to do this.

I usually have the backing track playing on the computer, the MC-505, or sometimes a second 606 (not mine, a friends).

This does not need to be a complete song; simply a groove that is right for the vocal style and tempo you wish to be attempting.

OK, once you've got your backing track playing, it's time to sound-check.

Have your backing track going to one channel of the mixer.

Have the 606 going to another channel, with the mic plugged into the 606.

adjust the levels on the mixer until it sounds about right. Play around with the fx until it sounds good to you.

Now you are ready to record.

Mute the sound of the backing track (so you don't get backround sound in your vocal take), but send a feed of it to the singer's headphones. Also send a feed of the 606 to their headset.

The singer should be able to hear what you just tested but you will not: you should be able to hear only the 606!!

Now you just hit that blue sampling button and go! - keep recording until you are happy - with an empty card you wont run out of time..

I hope I've made the process a bit clearer for you; feel free to ask further questions if you're still stuck.

good luck man

Can you do this without a mixer; set laptop's onboard soundcard for playback, SP 606 as soundcard for recording, and monitor through 'headphone out' on laptop?

In theory, yes - you would need to adjust the 'Control Panel' settings on your PC to make sure that one card is playing and the other is recording.

Had a tinker; you can set 606 as recording and playback card and monitor recording input and DAW output through the 606 headphone jacks. Nice.

I had to give up trying to use it with Sonar, though. I'm sure Sonar is great with XP, but it doesn't like Vista! I'm using Reaper instead - anyone else doing the same?

So, are you saying that it is NOT POSSIBLE to record vox through the 606 INTO ProTools???