Recording Spaces

Chapter 7

Vocal rooms

7.1  Aims

When listening to recorded music, and especially on headphones, one frequently becomes aware of the sound character of the room in which the vocals were recorded. In itself, this should not be a problem, unless the room sound is ‘boxy’ or inappropriate to the song or the rest of the instrumentation. Unfortunately though, this is all too often the case, as the vocals have either been recorded in a small ‘vocal booth’ to achieve the desired separation from the other instruments, or they were recorded in a small room, perhaps because of convenience. The reason could also possibly have been because no large or neutral rooms were available. What is also unfortunate is that far too many control rooms, and/or monitor ...