Ryan Tedder's Tips For Recording SPOTIFY READY Vocals

[@BrokeTheGamer]

Ryan looking at an SM 7B: “This cheapo mic“ Me looking at my SM7B: “I will protect you like my child“

[@hudsonpaul3723]

Ryan tapping on the SM7b and saying "this cheapo mic" was the fastest I've ever felt poor.

[@chadp284]

To be fair I think he meant in the way it sounds as well, cause if we’re being honestly the sm7b isn’t known to have the most radio ready sound

[@Ceinaru]

bro i have an NT1 ...

[@chadp284]

@@Ceinaru great mic though man! NT1 is in my top 3 mics of all time

[@roninthegoat2810]

sorry but it is a cheap mic, anything below that probably shouldn't be used for a professional vocal

[@ikarus21]

Billie eilish recorded Ocean eyes with an at2020 so with a little bit more processing it's definitely possible ​@@roninthegoat2810

[@bigmoomusic]

damn didn't realize how goated Ryan was, explains why Calling w Alesso is one of the greatest songs of all time

[@SaloniSingh19]

he teaches really really well

[@EDP_beats]

The advice on pitching at the end is gooooooold!! Aloha from Hawaii!

[@sickbeatsproductions6664]

The C 414 is very underrated. I have it in my studio and love it so much.

[@TRLYx]

Ryan, I love you, and you’re clearly incredibly talented and experienced. There is no doubting your ability and successes. Forgive me for much of what follows 😂 Watching this was a bit of a rollercoaster as someone who has studied the engineering side of recording. There were things he said that were outright incorrect or misleading (mainly using the wrong terminology for what I know I meant) which leads one to not really trust what he’s teaching, and then there were moments of very clear wisdom. This video was a masterclass in knowledge vs wisdom and experience. Ryan has both, but is heavier on the latter. You can tell Ryan learned a lot of this on his own, which is extremely commendable, but you can also tell that Ryan clearly excels more as a Producer than a Recording Engineer. I imagine he usually has a dedicated engineer in the studio with him when he produces with a vocalist present. I guess what I’m trying to say is, take the technical bits mentioned here with a grain of salt, but listen to the experience and wisdom therein. You DO NOT NEED a super expensive condenser mic like the Neumann he has on the stand or even the AKG C414 he travels with. The SM7b he has is awesome and is a killer inexpensive mic option for many people. Like he mentioned in the video, there is no one size fits all solution out there, but there are MANY inexpensive mics that work incredibly for so many. I’ve played with a TON of microphones both for fun and professionally, many over $10-20k, and the price to perceived quality curve is logarithmic ie. you’ll stop really noticing much of quality difference on most mics over $800. $200-$500 is a quality to cost sweet spot in the mic world today. You’ll get SO much more out of room treatment, as mentioned in this lesson, but also mic and vocal technique. He mentioned taking care of your voice. DO THAT. It can make a $100 mic sound like a $5000 mic with good technique on a good vocal day. Before, between, and after that…it’s mostly production…figuring out how best to put a song together. Ryan is a god at that. All of that being said, I think Ryan’s following quote says more than I could possibly praise him for: “It doesn’t matter how you get there, all that matters is that you get there…All that really matters at the end of the day is the song.” Don’t make the mistake I did by spending years (literal decades) and many thousands of dollars trying to get the perfect setup to get pro quality recordings. Just…get started with what you can. Don’t over-extend yourself financially, just get a decent mic (under $200 is MORE THAN FINE), learn your DAW (recording software) well, and really think about the song more than the gear. Most people won’t notice A LOT of shortcomings in a recording, or care as long as the song is good. Tons of famous songs have all kinds of quality issues or mistakes that you’ve never noticed because the song was awesome. Mr. Tedder, this was not a roast comment, this was me praising you for bringing your song writing and production wisdom to the rest of us. Just get started! It’ll go great!

[@al_gatorr]

Was he correct in what he was saying about the gate? The gate won’t remove the laptop fan and room noise while he’s actually singing right? In between phrases I understand but I didn’t think that it’d fix anything in the actual vocal.

[@TrevorWhiteMusic]

@@al_gatorrA gate can be helpful for those breaks in between the vocal, but If you have a good vocal take with background noise throughout, I'd recommend using something like RX iZotope to remove background noise. It can be a lifesaver if you're living in a city and don't have the money to soundproof.

[@MissuMissu362]

I wish I had a friend like you so that we can discuss songs production and audio engineering

[@whatmusiciwant]

@@al_gatorr I would be careful using a gate as a fix-all basically. Honestly, whenever you find yourself reaching for a tool rather than doing it by hand, check yourself. Much of good engineering, is getting in and spending the time to do things by hand, manually. Yes, a gate can work for this, but again it's not a fix-all, it's not a slap it on your track call it good. Personally, I wouldn't use a gate on vocals at all, I would just manually get rid of noise.

[@whatmusiciwant]

Agree 100%. I am a self-taught engineer been doing it for many years, taken many classes online and watched many videos and a lot of what he said is sort of iffy.

[@wes.kennedy.m]

This was super helpful.

[@drewbymusic]

SM7b all the way. It is an amazing mic.

[@homestudioacademy]

Took the class and it was awesome super informative! 👍

[@Studio]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@amine1183]

i love you bro! you just saved my mix and at the same time my motivation to keep singing. i have too much inspiration to give up. thank you🙏🏽

[@tonygunz21]

Some great information here! Very practical and straight to the point. I'm sure he hasn't had to look for a used U87 anytime recently, but a used U87 is going to be around $2k give or take a couple hundred. If you do happen to find one for $800-1100, it's either fake or someone is desperate. Also, Neumann brought out a reissue of the U67 so they are available for around $8k new. There are several companies that make clones of these classic mics for much cheaper. Beesneez and Stam audio make some great ones. Warm Audio is pretty popular and tend to be less expensive, but I've never used them.

[@ejstonemusic]

Great video, and I’m stoked, coz I’ve just bought an SM7b and I have CLA Vocal plugin. Listen out for some No1 sings from me! 😂

[@guprovasi]

Great tips 👏🏻

[@AlexanderLindo]

Rock on! 🤘🏼

[@makinmusicmon]

Funnily enough I ended up here from Shane Dawson's podcast. I went down a rabbit hole of listening to him talk about behind the wall the podcast and I wanted to know about songwriting and I ended up here. This channel is fantastic and Ryan Tedders tips are so generous and amazing! I'm going to pass this on to my daughter and her friends who are interested in music. My daughter's friend is currently in music school in Brisbane and learning how to song right and I think that this channel could give her such valuable information.

[@robvendetti]

Thanks man!

[@haroldperezcoronado]

I really liked all these little tricks. Thank you so much! I'm on my way to set a bigger home studio. And I'm loving the process. It's too much fun!

[@Studio]

You are so welcome!

[@ProducerStefanSchnabel]

Neumann = Company from Germany ;-)

[@yuvvamusic]

Ohh, I thought it was Victoria Neumann from THE BOYS 😂

[@justin.johnson]

Yeah he messed that up kinda bad

[@coscrupi]

I have the Neumann TLM 103 and the SM7B for vocals.

[@tarutran6391]

which one do u like better

[@Studio]

Wanna see how Ryan finishes this song? Check out his full class on Studio! Follow along as he writes, records, and produces 3 brand new songs from start to finish, right in front of you, explaining everything he’s doing along the way. studio.com/classes/ryan-tedder/art-of-hitmaking

[@RealJarakTv]

What a G! Big thanks for the massive help! The sheer amount of treasures you were dropping is insane!🙏

[@liz369]

Great Video! Neumann is a german manufacturer.

[@midlifeadventures3138]

where do we find the sm7b eq curve to sound more like 67?

[@ztalezy7256]

that will always vary depending on the singer, never gonna use the same EQ or comp. settings for two different singers you know?

[@midlifeadventures3138]

@@ztalezy7256 I agree with that but I'm wanting the curve of the u67 not the singer. The u67 has a sound thats what I was asking about. I know I can lookup the u67 and sm7b curves and try to best match it to be the same. I'm just curious what his curve looked like for the sm7b to u67 sound. Is it the same as balancing out the curve of both or would it be different? I don't own a u67. I hope that better explains why I was wanting to see it.

[@FlatTire]

Antares has a plugin, I think it’s called “mic mod” or something like that. You choose your source mic and select which model you want to match… Nothing spectacular but it does something

[@missoats8731]

@@FlatTire I tried the demo for the last two weeks and I actually find it spectacular. Now, I never actually used the expensive mics I try to emulate, but I'm getting exactly the sound I want. I'm using a Lewitt Lct 440 pure which isn't even in the plugin's list. Instead I choose the AKG 440 as input mic, which is supposed to have a similar sound profile. If I choose the Brauner VM1 as output mic for example, everything just sounds much more expensive and three-dimensional. I would really suggest for everyone to try the demo.

[@Claudia-jg8ko]

It is an interesting class, not because one is going to get into this, but as a general knowledge.

[@_Ghostlike_]

Excellent video Ryan Tedder is def one of the GOAT producers

[@AlexSaheli]

Very good video :> ty ty

[@AlecBridges]

Is there anywhere we can get EQ presets for SM7(b) to sound like various Nuemann mics? Kind of hard to match the EQ curves if you don't have the good mics to analyze the EQ curves

[@faudio5566]

@@AlecBridges presets wouldn’t be very useful other than to get ideas because it all depends on the vocal. The shure sm7b is super moldable though, great mic. I wouldn’t worry about matching EQ curves. You can make the sm7b shine just using your ears on what fits the song with most vocals

[@Timotheetv]

Antares has a plugin called "mic mod" and it does exactly what you're talking about... it APPARENTLY can make ur mic sound like another more expensive mic

[@missoats8731]

@@Timotheetv Yes, works wonders for me. I'm actually confused not everyone is talking about it.

[@joseph-hover-music]

For untreated rooms I have used a cardboard box, removed the front and attached some acoustic panels inside

[@cabinmusikslaps]

Yo mix sounds boxyyyyy

[@jakestagg]

As a career professional: I promise you dont need anything more than a $100 condenser mic. I promise promise

[@SgtBoudreau]

I agree I have a song with 3.5 million streams I recorded on a cell phone mic. Love that raw sound!

[@faudio5566]

As another career professional audio engineer for 17 years, I promise you a good mic will sound better and be easier to mix. when you finally save up some money, just buy a good mic in the 500-1000 usd range. Or buy a Shure sm7b over any $100 mic. Before you buy a bunch of plugins or any outboard gear.

[@jakestagg]

@@faudio5566 true

[@jakestagg]

@@faudio5566 also true. Everyone knows a nt1a from tlm 103 of course

[@ThENuKeBeSt]

I do strongly disagree with you, 100$ dollars mic into a non treated room will always sound non professional, there are almost no good condenser mics under 3k (I am talking about something professional not marketing mics like new u87's, c414's) that doesn't mean that you can not make a hit song with low budget gear, but if u want to sound close to big artists you will have to put some money on the table and record into a good treated studio/room and a good recording engineer.

[@paswa8896]

TY

[@ProducerStefanSchnabel]

Great! Thank you very much!

[@Studio]

Glad you liked it!

[@door_music]

What is the brand and the type of that mic stand?

[@IanTHarrison]

hey Ryan, does your Art of Hitmaking class require Pro Tools or can I be on Studio One? btw, I've been learning a lot from you and it's hilarious that I didn't know you were the lead for One Republic. we listen to your stuff all the time

[@nulodgerecords4861]

Great video- thanks!

[@mrfleamino9350]

nice one ,thank you

[@justin.johnson]

Correction: Neumann is German and turned to Microtech Gefell. Get a Gefell and thank me later. Also SM7B needs a gain booster. I use sE Electronics DM1 Dynamite 1-channel Active Inline Preamp. Others use Cloudlifter. Cheers 🥂

[@nzrkm]

I’ve never seen the "Auto” button on CLA. Can’t see it in Logic. Is it a Pro Tools thing?

[@NoQualmsTheArtist]

Yes, protools thing. Other daws you just move the knob when in auto write mode. No need for the whole move it into the right column business.

[@Richard-ql6lv]

great!

[@MarcusAbidin]

I was the first to comment😊love your videos❤️

[@Studio]

Thank you!

[@unicentertainmentworld]

Great 🙏🙌

[@lilkinka485]

if i record on fl studio with the same plugins will it be the same

[@bbmusic6443]

yes

[@questionm2786]

Yes

[@jakestagg]

Neumann is the only manufacturer that has made me eat my words. "The gear doesn't make a difference". Lmao but still channel eq channel comp good night

[@JeetuBeats]

I have lot of harshness in my voice and the recorded vocals, did everything to get rid of it but now it seems impossible, can you give any solution. I can send you the raw vocals

[@BukanIbuMu]

Buy a Neumann U67

[@JeetuBeats]

@@BukanIbuMu wow ... thanks for such a in budget and cheap solution 😄

[@UndergroundPlu9]

Recording too loud or too close

[@Booth_Boy]

As some suggested removing harshness from the source is best, but eq and de-essing are also complimentary to a lot of vocal chains!

[@JeetuBeats]

@@UndergroundPlu9 I don't record too loud (level) but yes I sing too loud. the high pitz zzzzzzz bee type sound is the main problem, swiped all frequencies from 3 to 8 k but its everywhere

[@BeatriceColasuonno]

❤❤❤❤❤

[@shanegrush]

Spotify ready?! I have to laugh a bit, because we all know Ryan’s sending his recordings to a talented mix engineer and probably going out to dinner.

[@studioafkai]

He for sure has access to some great talent on call, but he's obviously knowledgeable about his craft. And I would assume by now he would pickup the best practices, and techniques to get great vocals on his own after being around high level studios for so long.

[@jaywilldoit]

You sound a bit sour and bitter bro. It’s just a video title. Relax.

[@yy14218]

To make a high quality mix you’ll definitely need absolutely high quality recordings. In the title it’s written “Tips for recording” which leads to Spotify ready vocals.

[@dannymolns3573]

Typical hater comment. Ryan is actually goated. Where's your achievements? Please list them below 🤡

[@n7ck47]

Even when you can mix and master your own stuff, like Ryan can, you should always send it to other engineers cause they can listen with fresh ears and be more objective but you just hatin

[@billt3031]

Can you ask Ryan what he thinks about Warm Audio WA8000 Microphone? Thank you in advance!!!

[@Dbwj-so6mu]

He reminds me of a combination of Edward Norton and Aaron Paul

[@schnitzelvonkrumm]

Neumann = Berlin, Germany 🇩🇪

[@jakestagg]

Fuck the sm7b i made my career from a $100 mic lmao

[@BukanIbuMu]

But you are not praised on gear maniacs audio forum people.

[@SgtBoudreau]

The more money I spend on this "profession" the less I make! Made all my money years ago on a $30 cell phone mic. 😊

[@dannymolns3573]

​@@SgtBoudreauwhich song

[@SgtBoudreau]

@@dannymolns3573 Reflections - it's on "get that money in the bank"

[@dylanjastle]

@@SgtBoudreauim trying to hear the song too!

[@rnbyido]

a u87 is not 10k ..just saying

[@mxplife]

My man spent more on plugins than on the U87

[@timmyjay4424]

Damn a u87 is definitely not $800-$1100 😭

[@florianschartner2030]

Neumann is Austrian 😂 I m shocked

[@londonfalls2509]

Step one: give up all your rights and profits as a song writer so they can pay Taylor Swift and Drake to be on Spotify. Step two: who cares?

[@davidofergals6947]

Bland.

[@seantreyfr]

Rode NT2a cheap. 💀

[@DogmaTheChosen]

I am the worst Artist ever created....😂

[@garethde-witt6433]

Just don’t you’re wasting your time with Spotify

[@CheGuava-fm5dq]

Not eating certain food before singing? Interesting. I only know not to go out on the beach for sure, sunbathing ruins your voice.

[@rainforest808]

Why is that?

[@CheGuava-fm5dq]

@@rainforest808same before running, etc. The sun makes you weak.

[@kelvynification]

If you have even a slightly nasal voice never ever ever use a U87. One microphone company that doesn’t get mentioned a lot is Soyuz, especially the Bomblet. At around $1300 it’s pretty unbeatable.

[@amihurtingyoureyes]

What the hell right after I bought it😃

[@kelvynification]

@@amihurtingyoureyesGood luck😎 It is great on a lot of voices just terrible on anything nasal. The microphone hates my voice🤪😊

[@NRVE8]

Nobody gives a shit about Spotify

[@michaelkrogers]

this is boring. who would have thought ryan tedder would talk this much and say so little?...

[@littlebangxyz9772]

I think maybe your mom would have? Take care of your mind buddy!

[@bigheartsmolpen]

That's not nice​@@littlebangxyz9772

[@CalvinOngStudio]

That just means it's not for you. This is for the music geek. Wanna get entertained, watch his performance. Not this.

[@michaelkrogers]

@@CalvinOngStudio you're right 100% this is not for me. i'm a songwriter and producer and i thought someone like ryan tedder who has crafted a million hits would have something useful for me. i was wrong.

[@xandercrew6088]

@@michaelkrogersgo away Michael lmaooooo 😂😂😂😂