Before You Arrive

Your session starts before you walk through the door. In the days leading up to your recording, protect your voice — avoid dairy, alcohol, and excessive talking the night before. Stay hydrated. Sleep well. These aren't suggestions; they're the difference between a good take and a great one.

Prepare your material. Know your lyrics inside out. Whether you're recording a cover or an original, the more familiar you are with the song, the less mental bandwidth you'll spend remembering words — and the more you can invest in performance.

What to bring

• Any backing tracks or instrumental files (WAV or MP3)
• Lyrics printed or on your phone with screen lock off
• Water (room temperature — not cold)
• A light warm-up routine you can do in the car or outside

The First 15 Minutes

When you arrive, your engineer will walk you through the setup. Don't be shy about asking questions — this is your session and every engineer at HS Music Studio is here to make you comfortable, not to judge your experience level.

You'll do a quick mic check. This isn't a test — it's just to set your levels so that nothing clips and everything sounds clear. Speak or sing at your actual performance volume, not a timid "test, test" whisper.

"The best recordings happen when the artist forgets the microphone is there."

Inside the Booth

The vocal booth is a small, acoustically treated room designed to capture your voice without room ambience bleeding in. It can feel claustrophobic at first — that's normal. The padded walls and silence are there to capture you, clearly and honestly.

You'll hear your backing track through headphones. Your engineer will communicate with you via talkback — a button in the control room that lets them speak into your headphones. Listen for notes between takes. They're there to help you, not critique you.

The takes

You'll rarely nail the perfect take on the first go — and that's completely fine. Most recordings involve multiple passes: a full run-through to warm up, then focused takes on sections that need more attention. Your engineer will comp (compile) the best parts together afterward.

After Your Last Take

Once you're done recording, your engineer will give you a rough mix to take home. This won't be the final, polished version — that comes after mixing and mastering — but it'll give you a clear sense of how the session went.

Before you leave, have a listen back together. Note anything you'd like to change in the mix. This feedback loop is invaluable and ensures your final product truly sounds like you.

The Takeaway

Your first session won't be perfect — and it doesn't need to be. What matters is that you leave having laid something down, having heard yourself in a professional context, and having taken a real step toward your music. Everything else improves with time.

We book first-time sessions regularly and our engineers love working with newcomers. There is no judgment in this studio — only good music waiting to be made.

The Problem with Traditional Team Building

Most corporate team-building activities check the right boxes on paper — they involve collaboration, communication, and shared goals. But they rarely create anything lasting. When the day ends, the ropes course is forgotten. The escape room fades. The pizza party becomes a blur.

SongLab is different because the output is real. Your team writes the words, your team performs them, and at the end of the day your company owns a professional recording — a song that's entirely yours.

How It Works

A SongLab session typically runs three to four hours. Our facilitators guide your team through the songwriting process from scratch: choosing a theme, developing lyrics, building a melody, and then stepping into the recording booth to lay it down.

No one needs to be a singer. No one needs to play an instrument. The facilitators handle the music; your team handles the words and ideas. It's genuinely collaborative — and often the people who come in most sceptical end up being the most engaged.

What your team walks away with

• A fully produced, professionally recorded original song
• Studio-quality audio file for internal use, events, or social media
• The experience of creating something together under pressure
• A shared memory that conversation references for years

Who It's For

SongLab has been run for companies across industries — from fintech startups running annual retreats, to multinationals building cross-cultural bridges, to SMEs who simply wanted to do something memorable at their year-end dinner.

Groups range from 8 to 50 people. For larger groups, we split teams and end the session with a listen-back and informal "release" moment that almost always becomes a highlight of the event calendar.

"We've done laser tag, escape rooms, cooking classes. SongLab was the first time I saw every single person in the room genuinely engaged."
— HR Director, Regional Tech Company

The Bilingual Edge

HS Music Studio is one of the few studios in Singapore offering bilingual facilitation in English and Mandarin. For teams with diverse language backgrounds, this makes SongLab an especially powerful vehicle for inclusion — everyone can contribute, regardless of which language they're most comfortable expressing themselves in.

Book a SongLab Experience

SongLab is available weekdays and weekends, with flexible formats to suit your event schedule. Enquiries are welcomed at least two weeks in advance to allow for proper facilitation planning.

1. Humming

Start with the gentlest warm-up: a low hum with your lips closed, gliding from your lowest comfortable pitch to your highest and back down. This vibration warms the soft tissue of your throat without putting stress on the vocal folds. Do this for three to five minutes before you do anything else.

The goal isn't to hit notes — it's just to wake up your voice. Think of it as the equivalent of walking before you run.

2. Lip Trills & Tongue Rolls

Lip trills (blowing air through closed lips to make them flutter) and tongue rolls (rolling an R sound continuously) are used by vocal coaches worldwide because they keep the breath flowing while giving the voice something to do. Run scales using these instead of vowels — it reduces tension and warms the registers evenly.

Tip

If lip trills feel strange, try pressing two fingers lightly against your cheeks. This reduces the resistance slightly and makes the flutter easier to sustain.

3. Sirens

A "siren" is a slow glide from your lowest note to your highest — and back — on an "ng" sound (as in "sing"). Move through your entire range continuously without stopping on any particular note. This exercise is excellent for connecting your chest voice and head voice and smoothing out any breaks.

Take your time. The point is the journey, not the destination — rushing through sirens defeats the purpose.

4. Vowel Exercises on a Fifth

Once you're loosened up, move to actual notes. Sing the sequence "Ah – Eh – Ee – Oh – Oo" on a five-note scale pattern, then move the pattern up a semitone. This trains vowel clarity and breath support simultaneously. Start in a comfortable middle range and work up gradually.

Keep the sound forward — you should feel the resonance in your cheeks and the bridge of your nose, not pressed back in your throat.

5. The Song Itself — Quietly

Ten minutes before you go in, sing through your material at half-volume. Not to perform it — just to map it. Feel where the difficult passages are. Notice where you tend to hold your breath or push. Singing through your repertoire lightly before the session tells your body what's coming and reduces surprises once the red light is on.

"Twenty minutes of proper warm-up is worth one hour of bad takes."

What to Avoid

On session day: avoid caffeine (dries the throat), cold drinks (constricts the cords), dairy (increases mucus), and alcohol (inflames tissue and affects judgement). Drink room-temperature water consistently throughout the day.

Also avoid screaming, shouting, or whispering excessively in the 48 hours before a session. Whispering, counterintuitively, puts more strain on the vocal cords than regular speaking.

The Producer's Core Role

A producer's job is to translate your artistic vision into a finished recording. They don't just operate equipment — they make creative decisions that shape everything from the tempo and key of a song to the emotional arc of an entire album.

Think of the producer as a film director. The singer is the lead actor, the engineer is the cinematographer, and the producer is the person with the overall creative vision, directing all the pieces to serve the story.

Pre-Production

Before a single note is recorded, a producer spends time with the artist understanding their goals. What feeling should this song create? What does the reference track sound like? What's the story in the lyrics? This pre-production phase is often where the real work happens — and artists who skip it often end up disappointed with results that sound technically fine but feel wrong.

Key questions a producer will ask

• Who are your musical influences for this project?
• What 2–3 songs best capture the vibe you're going for?
• Is this a single or part of a larger project?
• Where will this be distributed (streaming, social media, live)?

In the Session

During recording, the producer listens holistically — not just for technical accuracy, but for feel. They might ask a vocalist to try a take with less vibrato, or suggest changing a chord because the original doesn't serve the emotion of the lyric. They make on-the-spot decisions that keep the session moving and the energy high.

A great producer also manages the human element. Recording is vulnerable. Artists can be hard on themselves. Part of the job is keeping the atmosphere positive and productive.

Post-Production

After recording, the producer oversees arrangement edits, works with the mixing engineer to communicate the intended feel, and approves the final master before release. They remain the creative guardian of the project all the way to the finish line.

"A producer doesn't make your music for you. They make it more you."

Working with a Producer at HS

Our production service pairs you with a producer who starts with a detailed creative brief. We work in a genre-agnostic way — whether you're recording Mandopop, R&B, singer-songwriter folk, or something entirely genre-defying, the fundamentals of great production remain the same.

Acoustic Treatment

The most important thing in a recording space isn't the microphone or the mixing desk — it's the room. Proper acoustic treatment (panels, bass traps, diffusers) means the recording captures your voice cleanly, without the hollow reflections you get in a bare room or over-dampening that makes everything sound muffled.

When visiting a studio, clap once in the recording booth. If you hear a distinct echo or "ring," the room isn't properly treated. If it's completely dead, it may be over-treated. A well-designed room will feel focused and immediate.

The Engineer

Your recording engineer is the person you'll spend the most time with. A great engineer is technically skilled and also patient, communicative, and good at putting artists at ease. Ask about their background and listen to examples of past work in your genre.

There's no substitute for working with someone who understands your musical context. An engineer with a classical background will get great results for an opera singer; they may struggle with the nuances of trap or Mandopop.

Questions to ask a studio

• Who will be engineering my session?
• Do you have examples of work in my genre?
• What's included in the hourly rate — mixing? Mastering?
• What's your cancellation or rescheduling policy?
• Is the time I book guaranteed, or do sessions sometimes run over from previous clients?

Equipment — What Matters

You don't need to know the difference between a Neve and an SSL — but you should know that the microphone, preamp, and interface chain matters significantly. Studios that invest in quality converters and outboard gear will deliver better raw recordings that hold up in the mix.

That said, a mediocre room with a great engineer will outperform a world-class room with a poor one, every time. Prioritise people over gear.

Atmosphere & Comfort

You're going to be performing in this space, potentially for hours. It should feel welcoming. Pay attention to how you're treated on your first enquiry — responsiveness, warmth, and clear communication before a booking are usually indicators of what the session itself will be like.

"The right studio isn't the most expensive. It's the one where you perform best."

Why We Built HS Music Studio

HS Music Studio was designed specifically for the artist who wants professional results without intimidation. Our space is intimate, our engineers are patient, and our bilingual facilitation ensures that language is never a barrier to making music. We welcome beginners as enthusiastically as we welcome professionals.

Start With a Feeling, Not a Topic

Most first-time songwriters try to write about something — a breakup, a place, a memory. The better approach is to start with a feeling. Not "I want to write about leaving Singapore" but "I want to write something that feels like standing at a departure gate and not knowing whether to be excited or sad."

Feelings are universal. Topics can be limiting. When you start with an emotion, listeners connect regardless of whether they've experienced your specific situation.

The Three-Part Structure

Almost every pop and folk song uses some version of this structure. Understanding it won't make your song sound generic — it'll give you a framework to break from intentionally.

Verse

The verse tells the story. It changes each time it repeats, advancing the narrative. Keep the language concrete and specific — "the neon lights on Orchard Road" is more powerful than "the city at night."

Chorus

The chorus is the emotional centre. It repeats, and the lyric should feel like the point of the whole song — the feeling you want the listener to walk away with. It's usually higher in pitch and broader in language than the verse.

Bridge

The bridge offers contrast — a shift in perspective or an emotional turning point before the final chorus. Not every song needs one, but when it's right, it's memorable.

Melodies Don't Need to Be Complicated

Hum a simple phrase. Just something that moves up or down. Most great pop melodies are built from five or six notes, repeated with variation. Record voice memos obsessively — ideas arrive unexpectedly and disappear just as fast.

Don't judge your ideas as they arrive. The inner critic is the enemy of the first draft. Everything can be edited later; nothing can be edited if it was never written down.

"You don't have to be original. You just have to be honest."

Work Backwards From a Title

One of the most reliable tricks in professional songwriting: start with a title. A great title is often the chorus hook — punchy, emotional, and memorable. "Someone Like You." "Blinding Lights." "Beautiful Things." Once you have a title that gives you a feeling, the rest of the song can be built around it.

Don't Finish in One Session

The best songwriting rarely happens in a single sitting. Write a verse, sleep on it, return with fresh ears. Distance is one of the most powerful editing tools available. The lines that embarrass you after two days are the ones to cut; the ones that still sound right are keepers.

Bring It Here

When you have something — even just a half-finished verse and a melody — bring it to us. Our producers and engineers regularly work with artists in the early stages of a song, helping shape a rough idea into something that's ready to record. You don't need to arrive with a complete, polished track. Just arrive with a feeling worth capturing.