Doubling vocals

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:17 pm

This came from an idea that I read about in another post, NOTE this is NOT my idea just in case anyone thinks I am plagiarizing:
Recording software makes it easy to make copies of a track. Well keep your lead vocal put and then make 3 copies of it. On one track, label it “vocal-hi-end” and roll off everything under 4Khz. Label one mid and label one low end and set Eq appropriately. Then smash the living crap out of each one with compression. Blend them to taste. Usually the vocal-hi-end is useful for adding air, but experiment. There are no rules.

Also there are a number of plug-ins that really to an exceptional job at doubling vocal track without making it sound stale. The one I use is by Antaris and it's called the DUO Vocal Modeling Auto-Doubler. It really does a great job...Good Luck.
B

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 1:55 pm

dude that was my idea!

No, wait a minute, whutnit?

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 4:23 pm

What you described is not doubling, but a technique called "exciting compressor". It was pioneered by Motown engineers,
by multing the track, compressing it heavily, adding 6 dBs of 4k, and adding to taste will bring it above the music.

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:03 pm

TVPostSound wrote:

What you described is not doubling, but a technique called "exciting compressor". It was pioneered by Motown engineers,
by multing the track, compressing it heavily, adding 6 dBs of 4k, and adding to taste will bring it above the music.

Do those steps still work to that effect even in a digital domain?

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 7:09 pm

YES!!!!
Here's the exact way, I use it all the time in Protools!

The Motown 1960's Exciting Compressor

With the Motown mix approach there were problems. If you wanted the lyrics to be heard you had to use a lot of compression on the vocal so that the the softer words could still be heard over the higher-level music. In addition you boosted the "presence range" (around 5 kHz) with an equalizer. The only problem with this is that it took the life & natural dynamics out of the vocal.

Lawrence Horn came up with a brilliant idea. He took the vocal and split the signal so that it when to 2 console channels. Before the vocal signal went to the second channel, it went through a compressor. Now he had two channels of the vocal - one compressed and one uncompressed. On the uncompressed vocal he added very little with the equalizer and he added the reverb. On the compressed channel, he compressed the h**l out of it and added a ton of high-frequency equalization. What he would do is bring up the "natural" channel to full level to get the basic natural sound on the vocal. On the other compressed and equalized channel, he brought this up just enough to add excitement and presence to the vocal sound.

The result was nothing less than amazing. In the mix the vocal sounded very natural and bright. None of the music ever "stepped on" the vocal and you could hear each and every syllable in the lyrics. The vocal never got lost.

Using The Exciting Compressor.

I don't know if anyone at Aphex knew anything about this technique - BUT - the purpose of their product and the older Motown technique seen basically the same. As you try this technique out you will find it works for other instruments as well. Often the frequency of EQ needs to be changed for the instrument. The vocal works well with tons of 5kHz to 8 kHz added to the "exciting compressor;" guitars work better with 3 kHz - 5 kHz and bass guitars work better with 800 hZ to 1.5 kHz.

Posted: Mon Sep 24, 2007 9:37 pm

pollysix wrote:

- Watch it with your "fricatives" and "plosives" etc. ...i.e. sing the lead how you sing it, but for the double hold back or omitt sounds like T, P, F. an example of this would be with a phrase that ends in the word "want"---the lead pronounces the "T" but the doubling voice just sings "wan". This is way if you're double isn't bang-on, you won't hear two voices pronounce the "T" sound.

I do much like this. But I usually ask the artist to sing the same part in a loop recordsetting. Thus minimising memory loss Wink

THEN, i manualy go inn and correct P,T,F's to sync with the dominating vocaltrack of the one that is doubled,tripple, and so forth.

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