Doubling vocals

rose62

New member
A buddy and I have been recording a tune on Reaper. He did a couple of vocal tracks of the same part. Sections of the two were near identical while others varied from subtly different to nowhere near the same. I've added a bit of reverb. But, on playback when I failed to mute one of the tracks and was hearing both, the parts where he sang the parts nearly the same sounded really nice. Is this a common technique? What are some tips to use this intentionally?
 
What he said ^^

It is very common.

What makes it work is when both tracks are nearly-but-not-quite identical. So if you double track a vocal, you have to take care with the second take to match the phrasing and other characteristics of the first take. If you don't, it can sound messy very quickly.
 
One trick is to use the doubled track a bit lower in volume.

Often I will take out any conflicting consonants from the lower level track. Nothing worse than two 't' or 's's slightly out of time. Do that often with backing vocals or harmonies also.
 
One trick is to use the doubled track a bit lower in volume.

Often I will take out any conflicting consonants from the lower level track. Nothing worse than two 't' or 's's slightly out of time. Do that often with backing vocals or harmonies also.

+1 to that.
Of course it's good to aim for perfect takes, but I find myself doing this a lot.
 
From what I've been told, there isn't a band since the 60s (maybe even the 50s) that don't have doubled vocals. If anyone knows a famous record that only uses a single voice, let me know.
 
Interesting. Well, if you search the net you can find all of the raw tracks for Bohemian Rhapsody. There are no doubled tracks on that...
 
From what I've been told, there isn't a band since the 60s (maybe even the 50s) that don't have doubled vocals. If anyone knows a famous record that only uses a single voice, let me know.

That's a rather heroic claim. Fortunately, "from what I've been told" doesn't constitute evidence. For me to accept your claim, I would need something more convincing than that.
 
There are thousands of famous records that use one voice. Bruce Springsteen Nebraska is a very obvious once since it's done on 4-track. Go to more obscure yet famous bands (Smiths, Beck, Violent Femmes, etc) and popular indie bands, and you get thousands more. Jazz almost never doubles vocals.

That being said, it is common. I personally don't like the sound of it.
 
There are thousands of famous records that use one voice. [snip].. Jazz almost never doubles vocals. ..
As in many other genera.
It's so often assumed around here- and other music forums, 'it's about POP and or rock. I remember a post (somewhere) the question 'does anyone play clean guitar?' :eek:
'Well, yeah.. '
;)
 
"That's a rather heroic claim. Fortunately, "from what I've been told" doesn't constitute evidence. For me to accept your claim, I would need something more convincing than that."

I recorded with an engineer that recorded many of the stars from the 60s and 70s and if I remember correctly he said everyone doubled their vocals. It was a common practice once multi track recording came into play. If the lead vocalist isn't doubling there's background singers doing it. Rock records usually always have doubled vocals to make the vocals fuller. That's what doubling is used for (or at least that's how it was explained to me). Once I knew that, I could hear it. Because you rarely hear a doubled vocal that's perfect.

"Bruce Springsteen Nebraska is a very obvious'

Superstar Springsteen could cough for an hour on tape and still have a gold album. Did you ever hear Two Virgins?

"(Smiths, Beck, Violent Femmes, etc)"

Hate all these bands, so I don't think I've ever heard a full song by any. So, maybe they don't. But, bands that don't are far outnumbered by ones that do.

While I might be in the minority. Someone name at least 5 TOP TEN HITS from the 60s - 80s that only contains one single vocal. Someone mentioned Bohemian Rhapsody. How many vocal parts are on that? It doesn't need doubling, it's full by the sheer number of tracks.
 
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"He said" is just hearsay.

I found this page that's titled "Greatest songs of the Seventies". Well, that too is a matter of opinion. However, on that list are:

1 Bohemian Rhapsody. Lots of double tracking in the choral parts, but main vox doesn't appear to be.
2 Stairway to Heaven. Doesn't sound double tracked
3 Dancing Queen. Lots
4 Hotel California. Can't hear it
5 Dream On (Aerosmith). I don't recall the song and there wasn't enough to tell
6 Freebird (Lynyrd Skynyrd) As above
7 Wish you were here. Can't hear it
8 Imagine. Other effects, but can't hear double tracking. In anycase Lennon couldn't be bothered half the time, so they auto double-tracked
9 Stayin' Alive. No sample. Beegees double-tracked a fair bit
10 Comfortably Numb. Can't hear it.

Greatest Songs of the 70s - Top Ten List - TheTopTens(R)
 
...Rock records usually always have doubled vocals to make the vocals fuller. That's what doubling is used for.
Clearly not true. Try listening to a handful of rock records, it's not like double tracking is some kind of imperceptible, technique, it's easy to identify.

But, bands that don't are far outnumbered by ones that do.
That is a ridiculous claim. It's a reasonably common technique, yes, but it's nowhere hear the default practice.

While I might be in the minority. Someone name at least 5 TOP TEN HITS from the 60s - 80s that only contains one single vocal. Someone mentioned Bohemian Rhapsody. How many vocal parts are on that? It doesn't need doubling, it's full by the sheer number of tracks.
Now you're moving the goalposts. This thread is specifically about double-tracking, a specialised lead vocal technique. Backing vocals and harmonies are a separate element, quite different from double-tracking.
 
I was wrong. Here's what my man told me -

If the song calls for it, fine. On 90% of recordings I did in the early days, there was doubling on pop songs. I never doubled either Rascals leads, but I did on some background vocals. Aretha, please. Dionne Warwick, no. Vanilla Fudge, not that I remember. Iron Butterfly, no, don’t think so. But on many no-name rock acts there was some doubling, even on lead. Rule of thumb: if you think it’s gonna sound good, do it; try it. It’s art; there are no rules. In the 60s and 70s there was a lot of doubling and
tripling.
 
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