layer and double the vocal- that usually does the trick

Hey!

I havent amazing amounts of experiance in this field but i once took a peak at a program called 'melodyne'??

It is usually refered to as a pitch correction program for out of key vocals, much like autotune by antares... but in the tutorials bundled with the program.. i remember seeing a great way of lowering the vocal a few semi tones to create that sound of 'layered vocals' here and there.

You can do this with a pitch shifter plug in too if you don't want to shell out the money for melodyne :lol:

Double the vocal to another track, leave the original clean, and apply all your compression, reverb, and what not to the second track. This will maintain clarity and still bring it out front.

thanks guys. i am going to be running melodyne. I heard a lot about it and ive seen it work great in action. The layering ideas are great. I really appreciate it.

Be careful to record the vocals in the driest acoustic possible, as Melodyne can become less effective when it has to deal with reflections.

It's a wonderful program, but when you get to know it very well, you might find yourself using it as a purely creative tool -which can be great fun!

John Stafford

I work in radio.

If you really want to understand why music on the radio sounds like it does then check out this link:

http://www.orban.com/orban/support/optimod/pages/topics.html

Read the article "Radio Ready: The Truth"

Better yet, buy and study Bob Katz's book on Mastering.

Even if you never end up mastering (like most of us), it is invaluable to understand what happens to your mixes after they leave your studio.

And check out the presets in the manuals for equipment like the Orban processors (available at the manufactures support sites).

Some stations (like KIIS FM in L.A.) have their own proprietary presets forged by their Chief Engineer so only they sound like KIIS FM.

This is why radio stations sound like they do. It has nothing to do with your mix.

Well, mostly nothing. Garbage still sounds like garbage no matter how crafty the processor is.