Bringing clean vocals to life

[IanBTS]

Hey guys,

Working on my band's EP at the moment, and I'm just wondering if anyone has any tips or cool techniques to give clean vocals some life and to make them sound bigger.

Some parts have harmonies and such, but I want to know how to make the parts with only one clean vocal sound just as big as the ones with a bunch of harmonies. I know compression, EQ, etc...I'm thinking of other more..."outside" techniques I guess.

I've heard of having the main vocal panned dead center, then copying the exact same vocal part twice. Then you would pan one hard left and one hard right, and pitch shift one ever so slightly higher and the other slightly lower than the original vocal. Anyone tried this?

 

[egan.]

What you are describing is basically doing a stereo spreader or something like waves doubler which can be cool. I'm a big fan of doing another track. It can be time consuming but it gets a different effect. It also opens the door to doing the second with a little more throat etc. to add texture depending on your goals.

 

[IanBTS]

I've tried that in the past...problem was the singer had trouble singing right on the same pitch. Hard to get a tight performance. Not to say that the technique wasn't pretty cool though. What is Waves Doubler?

 

[egan.]

http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=246
I'm sure there are other plugs that do the same thing and of course there are hardware options (eventide, etc).
Regarding the performance, it should be different as that is part of the sound. If he is super pitchy you probably have issues with the original track too.

 

[joeymusicguy]

record a "main", get it tight
then get doubles, or triples (triples can be hard panned, main in the center, double 1 on left, double 2 on right)

then do a low octave (this will get buried but will add some beef to the vocal track)

if you do just one double, you can put waves doubler on it and sink it a little under the main in volume, and you'll get super wide spread, along with a tight center (the main)

harmonies can make any part sound better, but it depends on if thats what you want within the part... you can also record harmonies and really bury them to add "magic" to the main line (bury them to the point where you can't tell there's a harmony, but still adds to the main melody)

 

[Aaron Smith]

The Waves Doubler sounds a little too artificial to me on clean singing, but for growls and screams I think it works out pretty well.

That said, I still always try to actually double track everything up that I envision sounding cool doubled/hard panned, and I only reach for the Doubler if after the fact I come across a part I wished I had asked the singer to double track.

 

[joeymusicguy]

The Waves Doubler sounds a little too artificial to me on clean singing, but for growls and screams I think it works out pretty well.

That said, I still always try to actually double track everything up from that I envision sounding cool doubled/hard panned, and I only reach for the Doubler if after the fact I come across a part I wished I had asked the singer to double track.

you got to use the waves doubler on a double track that's turned down under the main line

 

[IanBTS]

Thanks guys, this should help alot!

Unfortunately I don't have the $400 to drop on Doubler, but I'll see if I can't do the panning and pitch shift method myself.

 

[Skinny Viking]

Don't be afraid to put a little distortion and saturation on the vox. Not to make them sound crazy, just a little little bit, can give them a really nice edge and add a little extra intensity without actually making them sound harsh. Trust me it works really well and its subtle.

 

[Zombietakeover]

then do a low octave (this will get buried but will add some beef to the vocal track)

Do you mean you use a Pitch Shifter or something like that to get the LOW octave???......Or do you physically have the singer do a LOW Octave? ......And i guess it just depends , if the singer can even do the low octaves.

 

[Fox Mulder]

Do you mean you use a Pitch Shifter or something like that to get the LOW octave???......Or do you physically have the singer do a LOW Octave? ......And i guess it just depends , if the singer can even do the low octaves.

Works both ways, IF the singer is able to actually hit THAT low
Otherwise, use the plug.

 

[everdrone]

I hear doubled vocals (2 takes) on professional recordings; if not overused and done tastefully it can be good, if the singer can do it. But I like voxango voxformer ($60) - you can eq, 2 compressors, saturation, gain all in one VST. You can drastically change the sound with it, make things sound fuller etc. What are you doing for shelves and cuts in the eq? Any clips?

 

[joeymusicguy]

Do you mean you use a Pitch Shifter or something like that to get the LOW octave???......Or do you physically have the singer do a LOW Octave? ......And i guess it just depends , if the singer can even do the low octaves.

physically sing the low octave

and i've NEVER ever met someone who couldnt sing the low octave of the part they already sang

even girls can do it

 

[joeymusicguy]

Works both ways, IF the singer is able to actually hit THAT low
Otherwise, use the plug.

ew no, dont use a plug

have the person sing the low octave, everyone can do it

 

[joeymusicguy]

I hear doubled vocals (2 takes) on professional recordings; if not overused and done tastefully it can be good, if the singer can do it. But I like voxango voxformer ($60) - you can eq, 2 compressors, saturation, gain all in one VST. You can drastically change the sound with it, make things sound fuller etc. What are you doing for shelves and cuts in the eq? Any clips?

not eq cuts or shelves

i often use a high pass filter at around 80 hz 24db/octave

find the mic that contains the eq you're going for

if you're doing a lot of tuned harmonies (actual takes that have been pitch corrected), its good to send all of the vocal tracks to a group, put on a c4, disable all bands except for a band going from 1khz to 3 - 4 khz, and set compression accordingly to push down on the "harsh" notes in that range.

 

[Skinny Viking]

ew no, dont use a plug

have the person sing the low octave, everyone can do it

unless you're Peter Steele and you're already singing IN the lower octave

 

[joeymusicguy]

unless you're Peter Steele and you're already singing IN the lower octave

haha yeah
in that case you'll ask for a "higher octave" take

lawl

 

[egan.]

even girls can do it

LMAO

 

[egan.]

Thanks guys, this should help alot!

Unfortunately I don't have the $400 to drop on Doubler, but I'll see if I can't do the panning and pitch shift method myself.

BTW I'm sure there is a cheap or free plug out there that does the same thing but for the record you can could get this for $200.

 

[IanBTS]

yeah i think I had clicked on the TDM version of doubler accidentally, that was $400. How are the other plugs in that pack?