Work through these seven steps before recording. Open each step to see the instructions and the original template screenshots.
Before recording, identify the instrumental’s actual tempo and set your Pro Tools session to the same BPM. The Tempo ruler is at the top of the Edit window.
Use our BPM & KEY ANALYZER to analyze your beat and automatically detect its tempo and key.
ANALYZE BPM & KEYThe screenshot shows a session at 97 BPM.
Import or drag the instrumental onto the "Beat" track. If it is already mastered, as instrumentals downloaded online often are, reduce its clip gain by approximately 6–8 dBs to prepare the balance with the vocal.
Adjust the audio clip’s level; avoid compensating for an overly loud instrumental by recording the vocal too hot.
Identify the song’s key and temporarily activate the tracks containing Waves Tune. Open one instance, select the correct root note and scale, then press Send to All to share those settings with the other instances in the project.
The screenshot uses A# Minor. Choose the key of the instrumental. Send to All is highlighted at the bottom right.
Use our BPM & KEY ANALYZER to analyze your beat and automatically detect its tempo and key.
ANALYZE BPM & KEYEnter the song’s BPM in Disskero Reverb Calculator and use the PreDelay and Decay values shown for each reverb in the template. Treat them as a starting point: listen in the context of the song and shape the space to suit the production.
Use the same BPM in the calculator as in your Pro Tools session.
Go to Setup > Playback Engine > H/W Buffer Size. For recording, start by trying 64 or 128 samples. If your computer and session can handle it, you can also try 32.
The screenshot shows 1024 samples, a setting used for mixing. For recording, try the lower values above and check your session’s stability.
In Pro Tools, go to Options > Low Latency Monitoring and disable this option before recording. This lets you hear the vocal through the template’s processing while recording. When enabled, Pro Tools can bypass certain plug-ins and sends on tracks affected by this monitoring mode.
Record a test take on REC and move it to Lead Vocal 1 or Lead Vocal 2. The first plug-in on those tracks is a VU meter: use it to check the level entering the template’s vocal chain.
This is the VU reference for the template’s chain. An input that is too quiet or too hot changes how the plug-ins respond.
The right tempo and key, comfortable monitoring and an input that does not clip. A few minutes spent preparing the session make recording easier and support the mixing work that follows.
