All you death metal vocalists...

[FRUGiHOYi]

when you record, do you double track your vocals, or do you only do it once? I think my vocals sound pretty good double tracked, but I don't like it when you can tell it's two different tracks, and it's pretty hard to get both of them to sound exactly the same.

 

[daz436]

scream 1 track, deep growl the other. sounds nice. (eg - the end of wreath)

 

[Ermz]

Do whatever sounds best. There's no general rule for multi-tracking vocals. Doing a single take will retain the most clarity and character of the voice. Doubling up can be used if the voice itself, or recording method is somewhat lacklustre, or you just want to add another dimension (stereo field depth) to the recording.

 

[shark22]

Dosen't Mike sometimes double or even triple track, like on Demon of the fall?

 

[BrandonS]

I've done low growls and inhaled lows even lower before. That's pretty cool. I've done inhaled, lows, and screams in 3 tracks before too but I usually seperate them pretty well so you can hear each one, like putting one 100% left, one middle, and one 100% right.

Generally, I don't use pitch shifting or double track NORMAL growls to make them sound more thick, I just need to practice on getting a stronger low growl. If you cheat so much you'll never learn, is my motto. For screams, my motto is "no pain no gain" because they usually grind my throat like hell but are worth it. Inhales are easy, no rule there really.

 

[Kenneth R.]

Oinkness you're going to kill your vocal chords that way.

anyway, - 1 track, a bit of eq. i am a fan of harmony vox, but obviously not for dm.

 

[BrandonS]

Oinkness you're going to kill your vocal chords that way.

anyway, - 1 track, a bit of eq. i am a fan of harmony vox, but obviously not for dm.

You'd think so, eh? But I have a weak, quiet voice plus a lisp and I slur my words. So as far as I'm concerned, it's already killed. Plus maybe the weakness of my vocal cords makes me more immune to their killedness. Like if someone has a really strong voice and growls hard they could kill theirs, but mine is just weak and whatnot.

 

[mylovedenied]

I avoid double tracking for almost all my deep growls. It takes the edge off it, you can't hear the full distortion. Mid-range growls (IE later Carcass) I also avoid double tracking.

 

[Opethian666]

I just hold my balls to get out the low growls and grab them to do the high shrieky black metal stuff. No double tracking needed then.

 

[FRUGiHOYi]

Yeah, I don't need to double track to sound good, but I think it makes it sound thicker or whatever. Just wondering how the rest of you record. I think I'm not going to double track (except maybe on some parts).

 

[in_absentia]

you can always compress both tracks to sort of make them sound like one. it depends on which program you use, some can really tighten both tracks for you. although you can always somehow tell its two..

 

[Sadistica]

Hmm I don't think it's about whether you're good enough to not need it. When you're recording an album you want it to sound as good as you do live. Live, in front of the audience, you generally have more impact because you're right in front of the people. So when recording it helps beef it up a bit to multi track it. If you sound awesome live, you want that to come across similarly in your album.

 

[IcedPriest]

What's wrong with a little reverb? My band did some stuff recently and we reverbed the vocals slightly and it gave a pretty decent sound...that and we had to use a few effects on the tracks we recorded. Personally, I think there's nothing wrong with a studio recording sounding like it was done in a studio and not live.

 

[Ganza]

What's wrong with a little reverb? My band did some stuff recently and we reverbed the vocals slightly and it gave a pretty decent sound...that and we had to use a few effects on the tracks we recorded. Personally, I think there's nothing wrong with a studio recording sounding like it was done in a studio and not live.

Spoken very wisely.

If you can take advantage of a studio recording and the impact it can have on listeners, do so.

That's why it's called "studio recording" and "live".

Two different things.

 

[FRUGiHOYi]

Oh, you gotta have reverb.

 

[Ten SiSi]

Yeah, I don't need to double track to sound good, but I think it makes it sound thicker or whatever. Just wondering how the rest of you record. I think I'm not going to double track (except maybe on some parts).

Are you doing an entire album? Double tracked growls across an entire album may sound a little annoying. You should just double track when the song gets really dramatic, you know, the climax of the song or something. Like Enslaved - Ruun (song)

 

[FRUGiHOYi]

No, just one song. Thanks for that tip.

 

[Ten SiSi]

Is it brutal death metal or a bit more melodic?

 

[FRUGiHOYi]

The music is more like thrash metal; my vocals are similar to Mike's.

 

[Ten SiSi]

Something like KoK?