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 here are not professionals. That is not the point. They are people with a voice and an idea: the first song you wrote yourself, a favourite song as a gift, a duet for a wedding, or a small EP of three to five songs.
These recordings need time and a calm room. My studio in the south of Leipzig is small and personal, just you, the microphone and me. You can stop a take, start again or take a break at any time. For your first time, I start with a quiet warm up and a microphone check.
You end up with a finished song: professional vocals, backings and a balanced mix. On request, mastering for Spotify and YouTube is added. For a proper assessment of your project, book a first consultation in the studio shop, short questions are welcome by email or phone beforehand.
Here are the occasions that most often bring private singers to the studio.
You have written a song, maybe years ago, maybe just this week. Now it should be recorded properly, not just as a voice memo. In the studio it becomes a full recording with lead vocals, backings and a mix. You can share it, keep it safe, or simply listen to it often.
A favourite song, an important track from your youth, a piece that means something to you. You record it in the studio as your own cover version, with your voice and your tempo. Whether you sing over the original backing or a new arrangement, it stays your version.
For a parent's milestone birthday, for your sister's wedding, for your daughter's confirmation. A song you sing yourself is a special gift. In the studio it becomes a finished recording you can play 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.
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.
For applications to music schools, colleges or castings. Two or three songs in the right format, with a restrained mix so your voice stays in front. The mastering is tuned for how application material gets 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.
A good vocal recording rests on three elements. When all three are right, the result sounds professional, even as a beginner.
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.
A studio recording is more than a song. It captures how your voice sounds today, and grows more valuable over the years.
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 you play the finished song at home for the first time, pride, relief and excitement mix together. You made something that did not exist before: a recording of your voice that stays.
When you send the song to family or friends, you often get surprised reactions: is that really you? I did not know you could sing like that. A recording shows a side of you that everyday life rarely lets people hear.
If the song was a gift, for your mother's 70th, your sister's wedding, your partner's anniversary, something special often happens when you hand it over: tears, hugs, a song played again and again. Those moments stay.
Voices change over time. Hear the song again in three years and you will notice: that is how I sounded back then. The recording becomes a snapshot of a phase of your life, in a way nothing else quite captures.
A professionally recorded voice outlasts you. In thirty or fifty years, your children, grandchildren and maybe their children can still hear the recording just as it sounds today. That is more than a song, it is a piece of you for your family.
Good preparation makes your studio day relaxed instead of tense. Six points that really help.
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 and not too low. Test this beforehand. If needed, I transpose the backing track before the recording.
If you have an idea of how your song should sound, bring two or three reference tracks. This is how my voice should sound, or this is how the reverb should feel, that helps a lot with the mix.
In the recording room, wear soft, comfortable clothes, no rustling polyester. Take off jewellery such as bangles or necklaces beforehand, the microphone picks up that noise too. Honey lozenges and water help.
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.
Here is how your vocal recording works, in four calm steps.
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.
The studio is in the south of Leipzig, easy to reach by car, tram and train.
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.
The most important answers at a glance. If your question is not here, a short message is enough.
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.
Yes, a small vocal group of two to four people works well in the studio, for example for a shared chorus, a cover sung by several voices, or a gift recorded by several singers.
Without instruments or drums this is an intimate, easy to plan setup.
Tell me beforehand how many people are singing, and I will prepare everything accordingly.
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. I usually answer the same day with an honest assessment. For a fixed concept, book a first consultation in the studio shop, short questions are welcome by email or phone.