Voice Recording

[GunnerOne 84]

What is the best way to do some demos for a singer?

I'd like to keep the music in the background to add proper context if possible.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Evolution]

Depends on your budget really. If you are looking for a high quality demo, you'll be looking to sink your money into a high quality vocal mic. That said, you can pick up something like a Shure SM58 for around ?80-90. It's a standard mic used in recording. Have you got a laptop and a USB mixer or something to record onto?

Regarding background music for the singer, you can pipe a recording guitar/drum track down some headphones for him to sing along to. Might be an idea to try and record in a room or space with as flat a sound as possible to get a dry vocal track which you can add digital effects to later on, unless you find somewhere with a cool natural reverb!

When you say demos, I imagine you're just looking for something quick and easy, so just do it casually. Keeps the singer relaxed and might improve his performance a little.