The first real track. The mixtape you have been writing for months. The EP that should finally come out. At Tonstudio Leipzig I record rap for hobby rappers and private hip hop projects, on a professional large diaphragm microphone, with Auto Tune as you want it, clean ad libs and doubles, and honest feedback.
Most people who come to Tonstudio Leipzig for a rap session are not professionals. They are people who have been writing for years, lyrics on their phone, in their head, in old notebooks. Some have already tried recording with a webcam at home, but they're missing what makes a studio recording: the right microphone, a quiet room, proper post-production. Some are newcomers who want to make their first track. Others are experienced hobby rappers finishing their fifth EP, because recording at home simply isn't enough any more.
The studio in the south of Leipzig is deliberately small and personal: not an anonymous production setting, just you, the microphone and me. You record line by line, without anyone counting the minutes. You can try a passage ten times, that's no problem. You take a break between takes, step outside, and carry on with a fresh voice. If it's your first time in a studio, I start with a calm microphone check, a test take, and the question of how much Auto Tune you want on your voice.
The finished result sounds like a track on Spotify or Apple Music: professionally recorded lead vocals, dense doubles, present ad libs, a clean mix, and a finished master, all included. Beat, vocals and mix all come from one place if you choose the complete package, or you bring your own beat. Thinking about a track right now? For a proper assessment, book a first consultation in the studio shop, short questions beforehand welcome by email or phone.
Rap recordings usually grow out of one clear drive: a first track, a mixtape, a complete package from the beat to the master. These are the occasions that most often bring rappers to Tonstudio Leipzig.
The classic case: a track you have had in your head for weeks or months should finally be recorded properly. You bring the beat and the lyrics, and in the studio we build lead vocals, doubles, ad libs and the final mix. With mastering included, so the track holds its own in loudness on streaming platforms.
If you do not want to spend weeks hunting for beats, or if your style is so specific that no standard beat fits. Details on the complete package are further down with the package sizes.
Modern trap, cloud rap and sing rap in the style of many current mainstream releases. Even without classical vocal training, melodic parts sound clean and characterful with pitch correction and Auto Tune. You decide how subtle or how hard the effect should be.
When you record a hook for someone else, put a feature on another artist's track, or build a track together with a second rapper in one session. For features both rappers can be in the studio, or the second vocal comes in as a remote recording.
An EP with three to seven tracks, a mixtape with ten, a whole album project. Several studio days spread over several weeks, with one consistent mix and master. A classic wish of newcomers planning their first real release.
If you want to apply to a label, enter a battle, use a casting platform or play a showcase, you need a recording that shows what you can do. In the studio you get a demo track in the right format, with a master level suited to how application material is listened to.
From a single track to a complete mixtape with your own beat: these are the three package sizes most often booked for rap recordings, shaped by many sessions with hobby rappers.
Ideal for a single track. You bring the beat and the lyrics, and in the studio we record lead vocals across three to five takes, doubles, ad libs, edit to the best take and mix onto the beat. Two to four studio hours, final audio as WAV and MP3, ready to upload.
The most popular package. An EP with three to five tracks or a mixtape with six or seven, spread over several studio days, with one consistent sound across everything. Mix and mastering included, a shared cover style on request, ready for Spotify, Apple Music or your private archive.
If you do not want to hunt for beats, or you want a beat that really fits your style: a beat produced for you, your vocals, the final mix. The beat comes in several versions to choose from, for intro, verse, hook and outro. The sound stays consistent because everything comes from one place.
If your track is going up on Spotify, Apple Music, SoundCloud or YouTube, an additional master is added. It brings the track to a competitive loudness, keeps the sound balanced across every speaker and pair of headphones, and puts the vocals in front of everything.
Classic pitch correction for clean vocals, subtle mainstream Auto Tune, or the hard effect known from trap and cloud rap. You decide how much of it you want. Some people want their voice completely dry, others want exactly that sound.
Anyone who records rap at home on a USB microphone hears the difference to a studio recording immediately. These are the three factors that make that difference here.
Large diaphragm condenser microphones give rap vocals exactly the sound you know from mainstream releases: present mids, clear highs, clean weight underneath. Several microphones are available and I find the one that suits your voice in a test take.
The recording room is acoustically treated: no boxy reverb, no hard reflections, no electrical hum, no street noise. Your vocals arrive clean and dry in the computer, without the room printed on them. Reverb, delay and atmosphere are added later in the mix, where and how much you want.
After the recording: editing to the best take from several attempts, pitch correction or Auto Tune the way you want it, EQ and compression for presence and punch, layering of doubles and ad libs, and the final balance against the beat. An additional master for streaming platforms if you want one.
These three factors only work together. Even the best microphone sounds poor in a bad room. Even a perfect room does not sound professional without proper post production. At Tonstudio Leipzig you get all three from one place, and that is the difference to a webcam recording at home.
A properly recorded track is more than an audio file. It is a snapshot of what you had to say at this point in your life, and that is exactly what makes it more valuable as the years pass.
When the first take is done, the mix comes up and you suddenly hear your own vocals present, punchy and clean over your beat, something happens. It is no longer a webcam recording or a voice memo. It is what you hear on Spotify, only now with your voice on it.
When the track is finished and you play it at home on your speakers or in the car for the first time, a feeling arrives that you have not had before. You made a real track. Not a bedroom recording, not a demo, but a track that sits next to what has been on your playlists for years.
When you first send the track to your crew, to friends, to family, you get reactions you did not expect. That sounds seriously good. Is that really you? When is the next one coming? A studio track changes how other people see you as a rapper.
When you upload the track to Spotify or Apple Music and then find it in your own account, with cover art, an artist name and a stream count, something shifts. You are no longer someone who raps sometimes, you are an artist with releases. The first stream counts.
In two years you will hear the track again and notice: that is how I rapped back then, that was my phase, that mattered to me. Sometimes cringe, sometimes proud, always honest. What feels ordinary right now becomes, with time, a snapshot of one phase of your life that you cannot capture as directly anywhere else.
Anyone who records several tracks in a studio over the years builds an archive that shows their own development as a rapper. From the first careful attempts to a handwriting of your own. Even if you never break through commercially, you documented your path as an artist. That is worth more than any streaming hit.
Good preparation makes the difference between a tense session and a relaxed, productive studio day. These are the six things that matter most, drawn from many rap sessions.
The most important preparation: learn the lyrics well enough that you are not reading every word off the page. Reading is allowed, but it costs flow and makes the performance stiffer. In the week before the session, say the lyrics out loud over the beat several times, while walking, in the car, on the tram. The more secure you are, the better the take sounds.
Bring the beat as a WAV file, not an MP3, because the mix quality suffers otherwise. If the beat exists in several versions, with hook, without hook, an outro version, bring them all. That makes arranging much more flexible while editing. If the beat is not final yet, let me know beforehand what might still change.
Rap vocals react strongly to tiredness and alcohol: the voice gets thin, the flow stumbles, the weight disappears. The evening before: go to bed early, skip the alcohol, drink plenty of water. On the day itself, arrive early and warm up calmly rather than rushing through the door under stress.
Bring three tracks from music you love that point in a similar direction to yours: this is how my voice should sit, this is how the Auto Tune should feel, this is how the bass should sit in the beat. It helps the mix enormously. Concrete tracks work far better than general descriptions.
Ad libs (yeah, skrt, echo repeats at the end of a line), doubles (which lines get doubled), hook layering (which voices go where). If you have thought that through roughly beforehand, the session moves much faster and your energy goes into the performance instead of into decisions.
If you want to bring someone you trust from your crew, a friend, a producer, someone with an honest ear, you are very welcome to. What matters: someone who gives honest feedback without blocking you. Several people can sit in the control room, but the room gets loud quickly. Some people prefer to come alone, which is fine too.
So that you know what to expect, here are the four calm steps of every rap recording at Tonstudio Leipzig.
You come into the studio, we listen to the beat together over the studio speakers, go through the lyrics briefly and agree the order: lead vocals first, then doubles, then ad libs. While we talk I tell you where Auto Tune would sit well and which moments should be pushed forward in the mix.
You go into the recording room and I try two microphones on your voice. Levels are set and your headphone mix is adjusted to your ear, usually with the vocals slightly quieter and the kick well forward in the beat. Then a first trial take, to calibrate both performance and sound.
Three to five complete takes of the lead vocal, with short breaks in between. You listen after each take and I mark the good moments. Then come the doubles, a second vocal layer, the ad libs, short echoes and accents, and the hook layering. There is no rush and no pressure, I keep recording until you say it is right.
After all the vocal layers I build the best take out of the material, put Auto Tune or pitch correction on it the way you want, and make a first rough mix that you hear while you are still in the studio. The final mix follows in the next few days and reaches you by cloud link.
Tonstudio Leipzig sits in the south of Leipzig, easy to reach by car, tram and train. Here you can see where private rappers usually travel in from, from the immediate neighbourhood to weekend sessions from further away.
Rappers from Connewitz, Südvorstadt, Schleußig, Plagwitz and Lindenau reach the studio in under 20 minutes. Connewitz and Lindenau have a particularly active hip hop scene. Tram 10 or 11 to Hohe Straße, or by car along the Karli or Arthur-Hoffmann-Straße. Parking in the courtyard is possible.
If you live in Gohlis, Eutritzsch, Möckern or Wahren, you get here quickly by car around the inner ring or by tram through the centre. For longer sessions I recommend public transport, then you do not have to think about parking in Zentrum-Süd.
Halle, Merseburg, Schkeuditz and Markranstädt are all under 30 minutes by car or 40 minutes by train. Halle has an active hip hop scene, and many rappers from Halle come to Leipzig for their mixtape sessions, because two or three intensive studio days are easy to plan here.
Rappers regularly travel to Leipzig for sessions from Borna, Grimma, Wurzen, Torgau and Riesa, and also from Chemnitz and Dresden. For longer journeys I recommend recording several tracks in one day or booking a weekend package across two days.
Some rappers travel in for a bigger project, from Berlin, Erfurt, Magdeburg, Jena or Hanover. In those cases I am happy to arrange consecutive studio days and suggest places to stay in the Südvorstadt, so the recording weekend is genuinely productive.
The studio is at Bernhard-Göring-Straße 17, 04107 Leipzig, in the middle of Zentrum-Süd, within walking distance of the Karli and the city centre. Parking in the courtyard, step free access on the ground floor, and several small cafés and corner shops in front of the building for breaks.
Here are the answers that matter most before you ask for a session. If your question is not here, a short message is enough. I answer in confidence and without any sales pressure.
Either works. If you already have a beat, produced yourself, bought on BeatStars or made by a producer you know, bring it as a WAV file .
If you do not have a beat yet, I can either recommend a suitable licensed beat or, in the complete package , produce a beat specifically for you.
The complete package is especially useful if you want to get straight into writing and recording without a long search for beats.
Yes, both. Classic pitch correction for clean vocals with no audible effect, a subtle Auto Tune sound in the mainstream pop rap style, and the hard Auto Tune effect known from modern trap and cloud rap.
You decide how much of it you want, from completely dry vocals to a track that clearly sounds like the effect. Both are included in the vocal mix.
For rap vocals I usually record three to five complete takes per part: verses, hook, bridge.
From those takes I build the best version while editing, so your strongest performance ends up on the track. Doubles, ad libs and backings come on top of that.
There is no hard limit on takes, I keep recording until it is right.
A single track including vocals, doubles, ad libs and the mix usually takes two to four hours in the studio, depending on how much text there is, how complex it is and how secure you are with the lyrics.
For a complete mixtape with five to seven tracks I usually plan three to four studio days spread over several weeks. That keeps your voice fresh and gives you time between the sessions.
There are several studio microphones here, among them large diaphragm condensersthat give rap vocals that typical present sound.
Which microphone suits your voice is something I find in the test take at the start of the session. Some voices sound better on a warmer microphone, others need a clearer top end.
What matters is what fits your voice in the end.
Yes. The standard package includes classic ad libs (short echoes and accents), doubles (a second vocal layer under the lead) and simple backings in the chorus.
If you are planning a lot of layers, full background choirs, several different ad lib characters or dense vocal arrangements, the track gets its own time slot, which affects the final price.
Tell me what you are planning when you ask, and you get a clear estimate.
No problem. In the studio you can record while reading: the lyrics sit on a music stand in front of the microphone or on a tablet.
I record line by line, with breaks in between, whenever you want to learn a passage again or approach it differently.
What matters: better to take two hours more in the studio than to rush through the lyrics. Sounding like yourself beats being fast.
Yes, gladly. Many rappers bring someone they trust , a friend, a producer, someone from the crew.
One thing matters: that person sits in the control room, not in the recording room, so no extra noise ends up in the microphone.
The best company is someone who gives honest feedback without blocking you. For features with a second rapper, both of you are of course in the studio at the same time.
The main languages are German and English, but rap recordings work in any language you can express yourself freely in.
Turkish, Russian, Arabic, French, Spanish and Polish work just as well. The performance and the flow are what count, not the language.
With languages I do not speak myself, I may need brief feedback on pronunciation from someone you trust when we check the takes.
Rap tracks are priced by scope: the number of tracks, how complex the vocals are, whether you bring your own beat or a beat is produced in the complete package, and whether you want mastering.
When you ask, you get an honest estimate with a suitable package suggestion the same day. The detailed assessment of your project happens in the first consultation, bookable online in the studio shop.
Yes. With hooks I gladly help with melody, phrasing and the arrangement of the backings, which comes down to the question of how the chorus can land harder.
For background vocals you can either sing the layers yourself, which is the classic approach, or bring a second person to deliver them.
Pure sing rap in the Auto Tune style is no problem either. With pitch correction, melodic parts sound clean even without vocal training.
This page is written for hobby rappers, newcomers and private hip hop projects.
If you record with a record deal or a label contract, for a commercial release with a marketing budget or on professional assignment, please see the separate business site of Tonstudio Leipzig for companies and freelancers.
Tell me briefly what you're planning: a solo track on your own beat, a mixtape with several tracks, or a complete package including beat production. Plus the style, how much Auto Tune you want, and the occasion. I usually answer the same day with an honest assessment and a suitable suggestion.