How to Record Clean Vocals in a Small Room (Budget Home Studio Guide)

If your vocals sound boxy, muffled, or like they were recorded inside a bathroom — your room is the problem, not your voice. Recording clean vocals in a small room is one of the first places you'll typically start when recording your voice. In this post, I'll discuss some cheap hacks to making your vocals sound better with things you might already own, and what is worth spending your time and money into.

What Causes Poor Vocal Recordings

The big issues that cause poor quality vocal recordings are as follows:

• Background Noise

• Improper Microphone Technique

  
  

• Leveling Issues (Clipping)

  
  

• Room Reflections and Acoustics

• Pop Filters

  
  

• Bad Quality Gear

These are the most important aspects to getting clearer vocals, and I've placed these in order of the easiest to most difficult things to solve on a budget. As someone who started off recording my own vocals when I was 15 years old, I understand the necessity of beginning to create rather than investing lots of money right out the gate.

Practical Steps to Recording Clean Vocals in a Small Room

1) Limit Background Noise

Background noise consists of any noise that the microphone can potentially pick up when recording. This step is very straight forward but is easy to overlook, and the solution is quite simple.

Have the fan on in your room? Turn it off.

Your friend is yapping to your other friend? Be quiet.

Traffic is too loud? Record on slow times.

Your goal is to minimize the noise you can control and work around the noise that you can't control. These are all things I would face when recording and with a little resourcefulness, you'd be surprised how quiet you can make your space when recording.

2) Improper Microphone Technique

Improper microphone technique is something I've seen a lot when recording other people and something most people face without even realizing it. A couple of key examples that I've seen are:

Problem: Being too close to the microphone

Sound That Develops: Muddy, Boomy, Bass Heavy, More 'Pops' from 'P, S, and B' sounds

Solution:

• Move back between 3-8 inches from the microphone

• Don't eat the mic

• This varies depending on microphone type and how much background noise you have

• Take some time to experiment with how the microphone sounds at different distances

Problem: 'Cupping' the microphone

Sound That Develops: Feedback, undesired compression, muffled, frequencies off

Solution:

• Don't wrap your hands around the microphone

• This usually is a result of vocalists not hearing themselves well enough in their headphones

• Gives an effect to the voice but is something that's better added in production

Example of proper mic technique

3) Leveling Issues (Clipping)

Clipping is when your input gain on your interface is too high. Essentially, you are exceeding the amount of headroom for your setup to receive the full dynamic waveform information resulting in a 'crushed' waveform.

This typically happens when singing or talking quietly for part of the recording and suddenly spiking higher later on by increasing volume. Resulting in a distorted crunchy sound and is perceived louder over the other recordings but isn't very clear.

How to gain stage properly:

1) Talk or sing into the microphone as loud as you will go during the recording.

2) Dial back you gain knob on your interface or recording device to accommodate

(I shoot for around -6dbs to -3dbs during the loudest part)

3) Test to make sure you aren't 'in the red' or exceeding the 0dbs

Adjust your gain knob on the interface

4) Room Reflections and Acoustics

Room reflections and acoustics are any sounds echoing or bouncing off walls and bleeding into the recording. In the recording, you'll hear a very distinct room sound and make it very difficult to mix during production.

The goal is to make your space sound as 'dead' as possible so you can alter the reverb to generate the space to fit your song, or keep the sound crisp and clear for podcasts.

Test: To test your room reflection in your space, simply clap.

If you hear a bounce back or echo, you'll want to fix that. If it sounds flat and the sound doesn't travel, you're already in the clear.

Solution (Free): Fill your space with items that deaden the sound.

Be creative here. Any soft fabric material will work. Carpets, clothes, curtains, mattresses, foam, anything you can put up against walls and floors and even ceilings to remove reflection. If you can, record in your closet of clothes, this is the tried-and-true budget hack. (Though it can get very hot!)

Solution (Cheap): Isolation Shields

Isolation shields are curved high density foam sound treatments devices that are very portable and typically attach directly to a mic stand. These can range from a couple bucks on FB Market to about a hundred for the more elite versions. *Note: This does not help treat your room but can go in conjunction with room treatment*

Aokeo Isolation Shield

Amazon link to a cheap isolation shield: LINK

Solution (Expensive): Acoustic Panels

Acoustic panels are mountable panels that are designed to deaden the room reflections. Now these can get expensive even when treating even a small room. Though there are some fairly cheap options out there if you choose to go this route.

In the past, I've been able to achieve a similar DIY product using simple lightweight wood, sound proof insulation, and decorative fabric to hold it all in. This can give you a customizable and professional look to your room with things you can find at the hardware store.

5) Pop Filters

Pop filters are screens that you place between you and the microphone to help reduce the sharp 'P, B, T, and S' and similar consonant sounds. Without one, your recording may result in very high pitched frequencies when using those vowels that can be very unpleasant.

Solution (Free): Make one with stuff you have around your house.

The classic way is to put a thin sock over the microphone and is very widely used when starting out. Otherwise using pantyhose, a piece of thin fabric, layers of tissue and rigging up a way to prop it up are other valid options.

Solution (Cheap): Buying a pop filter.

I highly suggest just buying one if you can because they can be very cheap even from the store new. Similar to the isolation shield, these are very portable and attach directly to the mic stand. They also are a great way to dial in the distance you want to be from the microphone as I discussed previously.

Neweer Pop Filter

Here's a link to a cheap one on Amazon: LINK

6) Bad Quality Gear

I'd like to include this one last because this is obviously the point that can be very expensive. But there's only so many free and low budget things you can do to get the most out of your setup but if your gear is bad, there's a very low chance of fixing the quality past what I've shown you.

Still... work with what you've got.

Especially when you're just starting out, work with what you have and just start creating. Audio like many other hobbies can get very expensive once you go down the rabbit hole and starting with a cheap budget mic or even your phone microphone can help you start developing your skills and start creating.

There are plenty of budget microphones you can use to get started and there are plenty of examples of hit songs recorded using very little.

A $100 mic in a treated room will sound better than a $1,000 mic in an untreated bedroom.

On the other hand, if I were to suggest anything to invest in to getting a better vocal sound, its the microphone. If you plan to record high quality voice and have the budget, do not skimp out on your microphone and do plenty of research on what might fit your needs.

Pro Tip: Dynamic microphones are less sensitive to room noise which make them ideal for smaller rooms and reducing ambient noise outside of your control. Condenser microphones are more sensitive and capture more detail which isn't ideal in an untreated environment.

You will also likely need an interface as well, but here are a couple of my top choices that I've started out with.

Shure SM58

The Shure SM58 is a very reliable budget microphone, find it here on Impulse: LINK

Shure SM7b

The Shure SM7b is my personal favorite all around microphone, find it here on Impulse: LINK

Conclusion

In conclusion, before you upgrade your gear, upgrade your room and technique. That alone can completely transform your vocal recordings. With these simple tricks and hacks, you can get the most out of your setup and be prepared for how to utilize a higher budget setup in the future if you choose to venture further.

Summary Checklist Before Hitting Record

• External Noises Controlled and Deadened

• Gain set to -6dB peak

• Proper microphone placement

• Soft materials behind and around you

• Pop filter in place

Frequently Asked Questions

Why do my vocals sound boxy in a small room?

Because sound waves reflect off hard walls and echo back to the microphone.

Can you record good vocals without acoustic panels?

Yes. Though soft materials like clothes, curtains, and carpets can dramatically reduce reflections which act as acoustic panels for cheap.

Is an isolation shield enough to treat a room?

No. It helps but does not replace proper room treatment.