Skip to main content

My genre is Rap/Crunk/Freestyle/R&B something like that. Some newschool stuff.
Currently using Adobe Audition 2.0 but thinking of Moving to Cubase SX because of better routing options. And because Audition is a CPU/RAM hog.
For my main verses, I perform 1 Main vocal, then 1 Overdub, saying the same thing the exact same way. This will add the thickness I need, so I will not add any delay to the vocal tracks. The Main and Overdub vocals will be panned, usually the Main will be 10% right, and the Overdub will be 10% left.
Note:
Stereo Pan Mode is set to Left/Right Cut (logarithmic), to pan left, by reducing the volume of the right channel. So channel being panned does not increase in volume, as panning gets closer to 100%
Now to the point!
Which method would be better practice? To put it another way.
I want to use one of these 2 options stated below. Which is recommended?

Picture if you will.
OPTION 1:
2 Vocal Tracks
Main vocal TRACK is panned left 10%
Overdub vocal TRACK is panned right 10%
I will send BOTH vocal tracks.(Main and Overdub) to:
1 Bus that has the following plugins. In this order
Waves Q10 EQ
Waves Renaissance Compressor.
WizooVerb W2 or other good reverb plugin with a width option.

OR

OPTION 2: (Sending each Vocal track to its OWN Bus(BusA & BusB)
2 Vocal Tracks
Main and Overdub Vocals TRACKS are "dead center".
Main Vocal is sent to Bus A that has these settings and plugins;
Bus A: Panned 10% right - Waves Q10 EQ - Renaissance Compressor- Some Reverb Pluggin
Overdub Vocal is sent to Bus B that has these settings and plugins;
Bus B: Panned 10% left - Waves Q10 EQ - Renaissance Compressor - Some Reverb Pluggin

My thinking is that option 2 adds reverb to each Vocal "Separately", while Option 1 "Sums" the vocals together and then adds reverb. Also, I understand Option 1 will use less CPU/RAM
Which is better practice? Or it doesnt matter? Will one option create problems somehow? Like maybe it depends on what direction you want to go with the song.

And another quicky question. Would adding the Waves S1 Imager(stereo image plugin ) or some other Stereo imaging plugin , to the vocals to expand their stereo image a bit, would this cause any problems?
I tried it, then summed the output to mono, and as you would suspect, the image was narrowed, but still loud and clear, just lost the width. Sounded good to me though. Even better when wide.

SO THE BIG QUESTIONS ARE
1: Option 1 or 2 as far as routing goes
2: Stereo Image Question.

Topic Tags

Comments

Cucco Wed, 03/21/2007 - 14:40

A couple things....
1 -either option a or b sounds fine. Try them both then YOU decide.

2 - do you double every vocal? That can get quite tedious, not just on the vocalist, but to the listener as well. Do you feel as though you need the extra thickness? In some cases, I find this to be a cool effect, but not too often.

3 - What do you feel is lacking or over present that requires an eq? Could you get by without it?

4 - generally I find that image shufflers or stereo wideners (or shrinkers) cause more harm than good. It's a cool toy sometimes, but that too is rare. Believe in yourself...one day you will say "Hey...THAT'S what the S1 is for..." and you won't look back!

Let us know what conclusions you draw.

J