When tracking vocals

[RichMinerva]

This is something I've just started doing by myself but I'd prefer a heads up if I'm honest,

What I've always done is do two tracks of mono vocals left and right then when say for example doubling up with a high harmony etc I'd do the same but with another two tracks, is this something anyone else does?

 

[Nebulous]

Do what you think the song calls for. I'd say most people have the majority of the song as one take, centered with single harmonies centered or multiple harmonies panned ou, unless they were after a particular sound.

 

[zirkonflex]

Two tracks left and right sounds kinda weird, it doesn't have the out of the middle feeling that is usual for vocals.
You should either keep it around the middle more or put a single track up center, atleast thats what I would do.

 

[crillemannen]

Depends on what feel im after but it happens all the time that i record 2takes when the singer is doing harmonies. Usually pan it 50/50 or something like that

 

[if6was9]

Usually double, one in the centre, the other panned out a little to one side. When harmony voal comes in then I have it on the other side from the double. Depends how it sounds though, sometime it needs to pan wider to sound bigger, other times they might end up all pretty much down the centre.

 

[Skinny Viking]

If you're doubling your main vocal you should have them both centered with one about 4-6 dbs lower than the other unless you are going for the "doubled" sound. Single harmonies can also stay in the center but more complex and stacked harmonies you may want to pan them out a bit, thats all a matter of taste though as for which parts you pan where. Some people pan narrow for big vocal parts ... I for instance almost never go further out than 50 L/R and my usual is somewhere around 25 L/R and thats for when I have 8 vocal tracks or going or something similar. A lot of the final sound of it will depend on how you decide to buss some parts, how much compression you use and levels of verb / delay you use to set depth

you just need to experiment but for more basic vocal setups, I would suggest just keeping those doubled vox in the middle

 

[P-E]

Automating dual center and something like 25 to 50 L/R doubles can get really interesting too. Just make sure to automate the volume and the pan as differences in level will occur when changing the panning.

That's what I did when I mixed your song btw.

 

[RichMinerva]

Automating dual center and something like 25 to 50 L/R doubles can get really interesting too. Just make sure to automate the volume and the pan as differences in level will occur when changing the panning.

That's what I did when I mixed your song btw.

Thanks dude

And thanks for the pointers guys

 

[Clockwork]

If you're doubling your main vocal you should have them both centered with one about 4-6 dbs lower than the other unless you are going for the "doubled" sound. Single harmonies can also stay in the center but more complex and stacked harmonies you may want to pan them out a bit, thats all a matter of taste though as for which parts you pan where. Some people pan narrow for big vocal parts ... I for instance almost never go further out than 50 L/R and my usual is somewhere around 25 L/R and thats for when I have 8 vocal tracks or going or something similar. A lot of the final sound of it will depend on how you decide to buss some parts, how much compression you use and levels of verb / delay you use to set depth

^^^This.

I always do both vocal tracks straight down the center and have one a little lower in volume than the other. Sometimes I might eq/compress them a little differently to make them stand out from eachother for more of a double effect but I would definetly go with both down the center and tweak the dbs.