Doubling Vocals

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turtle_michael said:
Springsteen doubled extensively in his previous two albums, not so much the new one which was more of a folkie thing. And its not something he did alot, sure sounds near perfect to me, especially with the density of the lyrics and melodies

Bruce Springsteen - Girls In Their Summer Clothes - YouTube

Bruce Springsteen - Magic - You'll Be Comin' Down - YouTube

Bruce Springsteen - Queen of the Supermarket - YouTube

Now if you guys were HIM, then you could answer me the way you do :facepalm:
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Go give Bruce a call then. :)

Why you being so difficult? It's not like we're trying to solve the world's starvation problems here. FFS, it's doubling vocals.

People generally don't get this upset over trying to figure out how to do something, unless they are butt hurt that despite all the advice and practice, they STILL can't do it.

The fact that you seem to be expecting someone else to solve your problems leads me to believe you're not as experienced as you'd like us all to think.

If people could create a formula for art and the exact technique they used for each piece, don't you think everyone would just follow this formula and replicate the exact sound all the time? How boring would that be by the way...

How well the vocals fit together is not only down to skill but it's the artist's personal feeling and emotion to the music. That's the magic behind all art.

Figure it out for yourself I say. If you're missing the magic ingredient that you desire in your vocals, and it doesn't sound how you want it to, it's your fault.

You've received some really good advice on here, stop being insolent.
 
fritsthegirl said:
Go give Bruce a call then. :)

Why you being so difficult? It's not like we're trying to solve the world's starvation problems here. FFS, it's doubling vocals.

People generally don't get this upset over trying to figure out how to do something, unless they are butt hurt that despite all the advice and practice, they STILL can't do it.

The fact that you seem to be expecting someone else to solve your problems leads me to believe you're not as experienced as you'd like us all to think.

If people could create a formula for art and the exact technique they used for each piece, don't you think everyone would just follow this formula and replicate the exact sound all the time? How boring would that be by the way...

How well the vocals fit together is not only down to skill but it's the artist's personal feeling and emotion to the music. That's the magic behind all art.

Figure it out for yourself I say. If you're missing the magic ingredient that you desire in your vocals, and it doesn't sound how you want it to, it's your fault.

You've received some really good advice on here, stop being insolent.
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Haha, well said :D.
 
Well, he obviously thought this was a drop-in center where you ask questions, get immediate answers, and are given the talent you wish you had. A typical talentless loser.
 
Greg_L said:
I don't even understand what this guy is so argumentative about. Seriously, what's the problem here?
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From what I can gather (without going back and re-reading the whole thing), it seems this fella asked a question, the answers weren't in line with his expectations based on his 'knowledge' so he decided the respondees weren't professional or of a high enough calibre to be providing advice to Him and so He's being argumentative and insulting.
 
(Here comes the "you hurt my feelings, so I'm going to say your music's shit". He already did it once in this thread) :D
 
jonny deep said:
From what I can gather (without going back and re-reading the whole thing), it seems this fella asked a question, the answers weren't in line with his expectations based on his 'knowledge' so he decided the respondees weren't professional or of a high enough calibre to be providing advice to Him and so He's being argumentative and insulting.
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He doesn't have the talent to do something, so he's blaming everyone else for not giving him the "secret". Loser.
 
jonny deep said:
From what I can gather (without going back and re-reading the whole thing), it seems this fella asked a question, the answers weren't in line with his expectations based on his 'knowledge' so he decided the respondees weren't professional or of a high enough calibre to be providing advice to Him and so He's being argumentative and insulting.
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Ah yes, I see now. I re-read his first post. It's really quite simple - he simply doesn't understand how double tracking vocals works or why it has the effect that it does. He's wanting to nail down a perfectly mirrored copy of the original take with a second take and he doesn't have the skill to do it. But that's a good thing. The reason double tracking works is because of the slight differences.

I don't know if it was mentioned because I'm not re-reading this disaster of a thread, but I find that for me it's best to not have both vocal tracks at the same level. I double vocals pretty frequently. I don't do it all the time, but I do do it. I don't care about being exactly the same on each take. As long as timing and pitch are good, it's good. Then I choose which track I like better and make that the main vocal track.The other is blended in with it at a much lower level just as a "thickener". No big deal.
 
RAMI said:
He doesn't have the talent to do something, so he's blaming everyone else for not giving him the "secret". Loser.
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Haha. There is no secret - even I can do it with some success. You just record it twice as close to the same as you can. I do it by recording short sections repeatedly without even moving from the mic (using a wireless mouse or the repeat function to go back to the start of the section).

In fact, this is what I do when recording all vocals to get multiple takes I can comp from - if I want a double, I can use another take/comp.
 
I would imagine, in this age of digital recording and all the pop music singing wannabees, that digital editing and effects have a hell of a lot to do with the sound the OP is tryingto achieve/fathom.

But I'll probably be wrong as this won't be what he wants to read.
 
turtle_michael said:
OHHHHH, I thought one could go to music store, buy a mic, never having sung before, and sing like a pro in a studio.

Tone is all thats left? What about dynamics, What about emotion, characterization, what about different vocal techniques for different songs.

But IMMMMM the one asking questions :facepalm:
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You got me on dynamics, but emotion is a combination of tone, timing and pitch- characterization and vocal techniques are just tools that affect pitch, timing , tone and dynamics.

So what are arguing about again?
 
turtle_michael said:
I dont think you can edit inflections just timing issues. If one line ends with a slight breathiness, and the other ends with less breathiness, and maybe
a tad behind or in front, it now sounds sloppy. The voice is so complex that I dont think it can be doubled perfectly.

Im an experienced vocalist, the groove is not the problem, the changes in the vocals dynamics can be controlled, but not the sound of it. Maybe one line the vibrato rolls off a smidgen earlier than the previous one. One line is scratchier the other smoother, one seems to go smoothly over one word, but not so the others, wheras the second one will go smoothly in different parts.

I have yet to hear a vocal double from home recording people that sounds great, although some sound good. Commercial recordings always sound good, I guess the mix helps

And I realize not everybody on the radio does it in two takes, lucky if they do it in 20
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I have a variety of singers go through my studio. I have noticed that there are broadly two types of singers.

At one extreme you have those singers with perfect "melody recall": A second vocal take of theirs is damn near identical to the first. Their note lengths are the same, their pitching is the same, and they can even match their own vibratos. Someone else observed that you can get a phasing effect with their double-tracked vocals.

At the other extreme you have those singers with imperfect melody recall. With a second take, they will capture the essence of the song, but their phrasing will be different because they can't remember exactly what they did first time around. In their case, starts and ends of words vary from take to take.

If the song calls for very tight double-tracking, then the first group are better suited to do this. Not all songs need to be tight, in which case, the looseness that the second group brings may be an advantage.

If the songs require tight double tracking, but you are a singer that operates more by feel (i.e. the second group), it sometimes means having to double track the song phrase by phrase, practising until you can replicate what you did first time around.

Incidentally, I have found that if you are a singer with perfect melody recall, you can sometimes find it difficult to harmonize, whereas the second group seems more able to do this naturally.
 
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