Although this being my first post, I've been reading these forums for years and have gained and appreciated the knowledge here. I have just an observation and a question about doubling a lead vocal. I know the subject has been beat to death to some degree perhaps, but anyway...
I like throw back recordings of the 60's and 70's where the lead vocal was almost always double tracked (or so it seems - most of the time). It was the analog world then, and I used to have a Tascam 2 track reel to reel and later a Tascam 488 cassette 4 track recorder. In both of those machines I used the "sound on sound" feature to double track a lead vocal. In doing so, the sound ended up very thick and more importantly "consistently thick".
By using sound on sound, I did the initial take, then switched to overdub the same part right on top of the same track without changing anything, EQ or volume. Of course you lost editing features for either individual take but it just seemed like the tone and sound of the two vocals was thick and consistent using sound on sound.
Well, now I have had my DAW for a while and although I can use a "sound on sound" feature with a DAW, I wouldn't mind separate takes on separate tracks to be able to edit individually as needed.
However, something seems missing to me when the vocals are on separate tracks to be used as a single double track in the DAW realm. It seems normal and thick in some spots and not so much in others, in other words...not particularly consistent in volume...even when gain and volume are set identical with each other on both tracks (understanding that it needs to have been sung "consistently" both times as well). It sounded so much better in my analog days of using sound on sound.
I hope this made sense....I may be nuts, does anyone else experience this? Do you overcome this by routing the tracks to a buss with perhaps a compressor on it to smash the vocals together for volume consistency and thickness consistency? (For which I've tried, but it still doesn't seem as good as the sound on sound analog days). Is it an analog thing compared to digital?
I would really appreciate your insight on this from any of you that do a lot of vocal doubles. Thanks!
I like throw back recordings of the 60's and 70's where the lead vocal was almost always double tracked (or so it seems - most of the time). It was the analog world then, and I used to have a Tascam 2 track reel to reel and later a Tascam 488 cassette 4 track recorder. In both of those machines I used the "sound on sound" feature to double track a lead vocal. In doing so, the sound ended up very thick and more importantly "consistently thick".
By using sound on sound, I did the initial take, then switched to overdub the same part right on top of the same track without changing anything, EQ or volume. Of course you lost editing features for either individual take but it just seemed like the tone and sound of the two vocals was thick and consistent using sound on sound.
Well, now I have had my DAW for a while and although I can use a "sound on sound" feature with a DAW, I wouldn't mind separate takes on separate tracks to be able to edit individually as needed.
However, something seems missing to me when the vocals are on separate tracks to be used as a single double track in the DAW realm. It seems normal and thick in some spots and not so much in others, in other words...not particularly consistent in volume...even when gain and volume are set identical with each other on both tracks (understanding that it needs to have been sung "consistently" both times as well). It sounded so much better in my analog days of using sound on sound.
I hope this made sense....I may be nuts, does anyone else experience this? Do you overcome this by routing the tracks to a buss with perhaps a compressor on it to smash the vocals together for volume consistency and thickness consistency? (For which I've tried, but it still doesn't seem as good as the sound on sound analog days). Is it an analog thing compared to digital?
I would really appreciate your insight on this from any of you that do a lot of vocal doubles. Thanks!