Recording your own first song. A cover version as a gift for your parents. Singing a duet with your best friend for a wedding. At Tonstudio Leipzig I record vocals for hobby singers and private music projects, in a calm room, with no one judging, and with time to warm up, take breaks and try again.
Most people who record vocals at Tonstudio Leipzig are not professionals. That is not the point either. They are people with a voice, an idea, an occasion, or simply the curiosity to hear how it would sound if their own voice were recorded properly. Maybe it is the first song you wrote yourself and you finally want to hear it come out of real speakers. Maybe you want to give your mother her favourite song for her seventieth birthday, sung by you. Maybe you and your best friend are planning a duet for a wedding or a family celebration. Maybe you are slowly building a small EP for yourself, three to five songs that should be finished one day, with no pressure to release them.
What all these recordings have in common: they need time, patience and a calm room. My studio in the south of Leipzig is deliberately small and personal. It is not an anonymous production setting, just you, the microphone and me. You can warm up without anyone counting the minutes. You can stop a take and start again without it becoming a problem. You can take a break, step out into the courtyard, drink some water, breathe, and then carry on. If this is your first time in a studio, I start with a quiet warm up, a microphone check and a short tour of the room, so that you feel at ease.
The finished result is a song you can send, give away or simply enjoy yourself, with professionally recorded lead vocals, clean backings, a balanced mix and, if you want it, a finished master that makes the song loud and competitive for streaming platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube. If you are thinking about a vocal recording right now: for a proper assessment of your project with a concept and recommendations, book a first consultation in the studio shop. Short organisational questions about booking are welcome by email or phone beforehand.
Vocal recordings usually grow out of one clear wish: your own song, a gift, a small EP. Here are the occasions that most often bring private singers to Tonstudio Leipzig.
You have written a song, maybe it has been in a drawer for years, maybe you finished it this week. Now it should finally be recorded properly, not just as a voice memo on your phone. In the studio your demo becomes a full recording with professional lead vocals, backings and a mix. You can share the result, keep it safe, or simply listen to it again and again.
A favourite song, an important track from your youth, a piece that is tied to someone in your life. You record it in the studio as your own cover version, with your voice, your tempo, your reading of it. Whether you sing over the original backing or a new arrangement: it stays your version.
For a parent turning seventy, for your sister's wedding, for your daughter's confirmation, as a declaration of love to your partner. A song you sang yourself is a gift that nothing material can replace. In the studio it becomes a finished recording that you can hand over on CD, play through speakers or send as a digital file.
If you want to apply to a music college, a musical theatre school or a casting format, you need a demo that shows your voice properly. In the studio you get a recording that shows what you can do. It does not have to sound perfect, it has to sound like you. With the right format and master for casting requirements.
A duet with your best friend, a trio of siblings for your parents, a family recording across three generations. Recordings with backings and harmony layers are among the most rewarding studio formats. Even when not everyone has the same experience: every voice finds its place here.
You do not have one song but three, five or seven, and you want to record them as a project. A private EP, an album for your own drawer, a collection of songs as a legacy for your family. Several studio days spread over several weeks, with one consistent mix and master, so that a coherent work comes out at the end.
From a single song to a complete EP: these are the three package sizes most often booked for vocal recordings, shaped by many sessions with hobby singers who arrive with a clear occasion in mind.
Ideal for one song: your own track, a cover version, a gift. Lead vocal recording with several takes, backings as needed, editing to the best take, mixed onto your backing track. One to three studio hours, final audio as WAV and MP3, ready to use.
The most popular package. A small EP of three to five songs, spread over several studio days, with one consistent sound. Mix and mastering included, a shared cover style on request, ready for release or for your private archive. A classic wish of singer songwriters making their first real project.
For applications to music schools, colleges, casting formats and musical theatre courses. Two or three songs in the right format, with a restrained mix rather than heavy production effects, so that the voice stays in front, and a master level suited to how application material is listened to.
If your song is going up on streaming platforms such as Spotify or YouTube, an additional master is added. It brings the song to a competitive loudness and keeps the sound balanced across every speaker and pair of headphones.
Classic pitch correction for a clean vocal, or the strong Auto Tune effect known from modern pop and rap. You decide how much of it you want. Some people want their voice completely natural, others want exactly that effect.
On request the finished song becomes a CD with an individually designed cover. It works as a gift, as your personal copy of the album, or as a professional demo to hand over at applications and castings.
A professional vocal recording rests on three clear elements. When all three are right, the result sounds professional even if you are a beginner. Here is what happens in the studio.
A recording lives on how you read the song, where you place accents, where you leave space, how you use your breathing. I take the time for that: warming up, a few test takes, breaks, a second run. Being recognisably yourself matters more than being perfect.
There are several quality studio microphones in the recording room, and I find the one that suits your voice in a test take. The room is acoustically treated, so there is no boxy reverb, no street noise, no electrical hum. The signal arrives clean and clear in the computer.
After the recording comes the second half of the work: editing to the best take, EQ for a clear voice, compression for presence and punch, reverb and effects to suit the style, and a balance against the backing track. An additional master for streaming platforms if you want one.
These three factors only work together. A great performance on a poor microphone does not sound professional. An expensive microphone with a lifeless performance does not either. At Tonstudio Leipzig you get all three from one place: guidance during the recording, professional equipment and a clean mix.
A studio recording is more than a song. It is a snapshot of your voice at one particular point in your life, and that is exactly what makes it more valuable as the years pass.
There is a particular moment when you hear your own voice in a proper mix for the first time: clean, present, sitting in the backing track. Many singers say the same thing at that point: is that really me? Yes, it is. Only in a quality you rarely get to hear anywhere else.
When the song is finished and you play it at home on your own speakers for the first time, something happens that is hard to put into words, a mixture of pride, relief and quiet excitement. You made something that did not exist before. A recording of your voice that stays.
When you first send the finished song to family, friends or your partner, you get reactions you did not expect. Is that really you? I had no idea you could sing like that. Can you play it again? A recording shows a side of you that everyday life rarely lets anyone hear.
When the song was recorded for someone else, your mother turning seventy, your sister getting married, your partner on an anniversary, and you hand it over or play it out loud, something often happens that you cannot control. Tears, long hugs, someone who cannot stop playing it again. Those moments stay.
Voices change with age, experience and the way life goes. In three years you will hear the song again and notice: that is how I sounded back then. What feels ordinary right now becomes, with time, a snapshot of one phase of your life that you cannot capture as honestly anywhere else.
A properly recorded voice outlasts you. In thirty or fifty years, children, grandchildren and perhaps their children will still hear the recording exactly as it sounds today. That is more than a song, it is a piece of who you are, left to your family. A kind of family archive that nothing else can replace.
Good preparation makes the difference between a tense recording and a relaxed, productive studio day. These are the six things that matter most, drawn from many sessions.
Voices react strongly to tiredness, alcohol and too little sleep. The evening before: go to bed early, skip the alcohol, drink plenty of water. On the day itself, come a little earlier and arrive calmly rather than rushing through the door. A relaxed voice simply sounds better.
Ideally know the lyrics by heart, or at least well enough that you are not reading the whole time. Reading during a take works, but it costs energy and makes the performance stiffer. In the week before the session, say the words out loud several times, while walking, in the shower, in the car.
The backing track should be in a key that suits your voice, not too high, where the top notes get strained, and not too low, where the presence disappears. Test before the studio day whether the backing really fits your range. If it does not, I transpose it before the recording.
If you have a clear idea of how your song should sound in the end, bring two or three reference tracks from music you love that point in a similar direction. This is how my voice should sit, or this is how the reverb should feel. It helps the mix enormously.
In the recording room: wear soft, comfortable clothes, no polyester that rustles, nothing that scratches against your arms. Take off jewellery such as bangles and necklaces before the take, because the microphone picks all of it up. Bring water and something soothing for your throat.
If you are nervous, one calm person you trust, a partner, a friend, someone who supports you, can sit in the control room. What matters: not someone who criticises you or talks over you, but someone who is simply there and gives you confidence. Some people prefer to come alone, which is completely fine too.
So that you know what to expect, here are the four calm steps of every vocal recording at Tonstudio Leipzig.
You come into the studio, we have a coffee or tea, I show you the room. Then we start with a quiet warm up: scales, the transitions between chest and head voice, a few lines from your song. That is how your voice finds its footing and how you get used to the studio.
A first run at the microphone, usually with two different microphones for comparison. We listen together and decide which one suits your voice better. Levels are set, your headphone mix is adjusted to your ear, and everything is ready.
Three to six takes of the lead vocal, with short breaks in between. You listen after each take and I mark the good moments. Where it helps, we go back to single passages. There is no rush and no pressure, I keep recording until you say it is right.
After the lead vocals come backings, doubles and ad libs, if the song calls for them. Then I put together the best take from the material and make a first rough mix, which 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 singers usually travel in from, from the immediate neighbourhood to weekend visits from further away.
Singers from Connewitz, Südvorstadt, Schleußig, Plagwitz, Lindenau and Markkleeberg reach the studio in under 20 minutes. 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 worry about parking in Zentrum-Süd.
Halle, Merseburg, Schkeuditz and Markranstädt are all under 30 minutes by car or 40 minutes by train. Singers from Halle often come for longer studio days, especially when they are recording a bigger project such as an EP.
Singers regularly travel to Leipzig from Borna, Grimma, Wurzen, Torgau and Riesa, and also from Chemnitz and Dresden. For longer journeys I recommend recording several songs in one day or booking a weekend package across two days.
Some singers 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 works as a whole.
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 in front of the building for breaks between sessions.
Here are the answers that matter most before you ask for a recording. If your question is not here, a short message is enough. I answer in confidence and without any sales pressure.
Yes. The large majority of singerswho come to Tonstudio Leipzig have never recorded in a professional studio before.
I start with a short warm up, a microphone check and a calm settling in period in the recording room.
The atmosphere is deliberately relaxed: no sales pressure, nobody judging you, just time to sing.
It is nicer with a finished backing track, but it is not a requirement.
You can bring your own instrumental, a karaoke track or an accompaniment you played yourself. If you do not have one yet, I can help you find one or put you in touch with a producer I work with.
Pure a cappella recordings or recordings with guitar accompaniment are possible too.
The standard package gives you your vocals professionally recorded, edited and mixed onto your backing track. That is a finished song you can listen to, share or give away immediately.
On request there is an additional master that makes the song loud and balanced for streaming platforms such as Spotify and YouTube.
A single song including the mix usually takes one to three hours in the studio, depending on how complex it is, how many backings there are and how warmed up your voice is.
For a small EP of three to five songs I usually plan two to three studio days, spread over several weeks, so your voice can recover between the sessions.
I usually record three to six complete takes of the lead vocal and build the best version from them while editing. Backings, doubles and ad libs come on top of that.
One thing matters: I do not record until it is perfect, I record until it sounds like you. Being recognisably yourself beats being flawless.
Yes, both classic pitch correction for a subtle clean up and the strong Auto Tune effect known from modern pop and rap are possible.
You decide how much of the effect you want. Some people want their voice completely natural, others want exactly that Auto Tune sound. Both work here.
Yes, gladly. Recordings with backings, doubles and harmony layers are one of the most rewarding ways to build a song.
You can sing every part yourself, or come as a pair or a trio.
Family formats such as duets between siblings or small choirs for weddings are possible too.
That is completely normal and it happens to almost everyone singing in a studio for the first time.
What helps: a short warm up before the take, a glass of warm water with honey, dimmed light in the recording room, nobody in the room except you and perhaps one person you brought along, and short breaks in between.
And knowing that the first takes are usually the weakest ones, which is true for every singer everywhere.
If your voice is clearly affected, yes, postponing is almost always the better choice.
A voice with a cold sounds hoarse on the recording as well, and no mix can undo that afterwards.
Let me know early and I will happily move the appointment. Just tell me in good time. With mild symptoms we decide on the day itself whether it works.
Yes, for small band line ups that works.
For full live band recordings with drums, bass, guitars and vocals at the same time my studio is built for more intimate setups. Typically you sing while guitar and piano are recorded separately.
For complete live band sessions I am happy to recommend a better suited studio in the region.
With small corrections to the lyrics, with ideas for a melody or with the question of how a chorus could land harder, I gladly help, drawing on experience from many recording sessions.
I do not offer complete songwriting. There are specialists for that, and I am happy to recommend someone.
This page is written for hobby singers, private music projects and personal occasions.
If you are recording as a professional singer, with a record deal, for label productions or for commercial use, please see the separate business site of Tonstudio Leipzig for companies and freelancers.
Tell me briefly what you are planning: a single song, a cover version as a gift, a small EP or a demo recording. What the occasion is, what your range is, what feeling you are after. I usually answer the same day with an honest assessment and a suitable suggestion for your recording. For a proper assessment of your project with a concept and recommendations, book a first consultation in the studio shop. Short organisational questions about booking are welcome by email or phone beforehand.