How to Record a Better Cover on StarMaker

1. Always Wear Headphones

Recording through your phone speaker lets the backing track bleed back into the mic. The result is a hollow, echoey cover that can't be mixed afterwards. Wired earbuds beat Bluetooth here — Bluetooth adds latency, which is the usual cause of a cover that sounds slightly behind the beat even though you sang in time.

2. Mic Distance and Position

• Hold the mic about a hand's width from your mouth — closer for soft passages, further for belts.
• Sing slightly across the mic, not straight into it, to soften hard P and B sounds.
• Back off on the loudest notes instead of letting the meter clip; clipping cannot be undone.
• Record in a soft room — a bedroom with curtains and bedding beats a bathroom or kitchen.

3. Use Effects Sparingly

StarMaker's effect presets are strong by design. A little reverb makes a vocal sit in the track; too much smears the words and makes the performance sound distant. Start from a light or "studio"-style preset, then only reach for heavier reverb on slow ballads. If listeners can't make out your lyrics on a phone speaker, the effect is too wet.

4. Balance the Mix

After recording, adjust the vocal and music sliders before you publish. The vocal should sit clearly on top of the instrumental without the track disappearing behind it. Use the alignment control to nudge your vocal earlier or later if it drifts — a small timing correction often fixes a take you were about to delete.

Check the final mix twice: once on headphones, once on your phone speaker. Anything that survives both is ready to post.

5. Save and Share Your Take

Once you're happy with a cover, keep your own copy. The SMTV StarMaker Cover Downloader lets you save a cover as audio or video, convert formats, and organize your recordings so you can enter competitions or post them elsewhere.