Katatonia Vocals - doubling

[myownsilence]

I know that Katatonia double their vocals sound.

I also can sing as well if not better. (not trying to sound cocky)

However whenever I double I end up with more of a chrous effect than a cool doubling effect that you hear on TGCD, WTF is up with that, how does one get that really sweet sounding vocal?

 

[Aaron Smith]

Even for a really good vocalist, it's extremely hard to be so perfectly in tune that you don't get that chorus-y sound going on. I can't say it's impossible, but it would likely take so long to finally nail that it would start to negatively effect the quality of the performance, because you're having to focus on such small detail. As long as you get get the dynamics and note lengths the same in your performance, you should be able to tune them to sound airtight. I don't know how you feel about tuning vocals, but in this case it's not so much a crutch, but a tool you can use to make a single vocal part be perceived in a different way. Unnaturally wide or otherwise exaggerated sounds generally require unnatural treatment to achieve!

 

[myownsilence]

I have no issues autotuning, besides I only think it sonds good on a good vocal anyway.. it just makes it sound, more perfect if worked correctly, but if I cock up badly its never really fixed it.


Iv searched his forum and theres lots on it. I somehow hope i am not missing too much though on different tricks (ie like learning about parallel compression on drums was an eye opener for me a while back)

I always seem to be able to do a great mix, but vocals never work as well, is like the are too crazy to control.

 

[Morgan C]

There's a program called VocAlign if you don't want to hand-quantize the vocals. But usually just aligning the sharp consonants will make it sound in time. That + tuning should get you pretty close to what you want.

 

[JonWormwood]

There's a program called VocAlign if you don't want to hand-quantize the vocals. But usually just aligning the sharp consonants will make it sound in time. That + tuning should get you pretty close to what you want.

Isn't that rtas only?

 

[LydonB]

Vocalign kicks ass. There is a pro tools version and AU version.

 

[Aaron Smith]

I have VocAlign, it's cool and works quite well.

 

[myownsilence]

I tried the demo, its pretty cool, like the way its easy to use and works well.

I actually realised how good I was though with doubling, my timing is pretty good. I've tried using autotune on the backing.

There might be more harmonies required then I am performing hense why for me its resulting in more of chorus effect rather than a single vocal sound thats "bigger".

Its a real clever trick on Katatonia cos it does make him sound a lot different comapired to the older albums, and I bet there are other effects on the vocals, as well as his individual sound.

 

[egan.]

I think Jonas does less doubling now than he used to actually. I think the biggest change is that his singing got much stronger between viva and TGCD.
One thing to play with is the volume of the double. I don't know what your doing now but a big part of using the double is not to treat it identically to the original but rather to eq/compress it to compliment the original. Then slowly bring up the volume until it's getting the sound you want. You can also throw a doubler or a stereo on the double.

 

[beyond dead]

use meldoyne to tune the vox, then pan 1 track 100% left and right, and leave one down the center.