vocal producing Question???

[midwesttribune]

anyone with vocal knowledge can help even if its not your genre on this one. Right now im into the vocal producing of R an B as well as hip hop/rap and i have protools with the mbox, as well as the avox antares vocal plugins ect. I use compressors so it sits in the mix a little more, and voice doubling techniques, but for some reason 1/20 times voice doubling sounds like it doubled good and others it just sounds goofy, (there on Q exactly but dont make that good harmony effect for emphasis used in rap, (like ludacris) and sometimes the vocals dont sound like they sit in the mix very well??? what makes the vocals just feel alive and apart of the song an not just feel like its a kareoke machine standing out??? thanks fer all input

[Mixxit12]

Recording doubles for R&B is very different than recording doubles for Rap. In Rap, it's rare that the vocalist actually "raps harmony". The double is more for emphasis and dynamics, not so much "musicality". When recording and mixing rap doubles I tend to try and mix them so that you don't even really know they're there. They should be accents, not part of the lead VOX.

However, R&B doubles and harmonies are more about creating thick vocal tracks and lush textures. This is much more dependant on the singer. Harmony must be sang properly or it's going to sound ugly. I'll often record 5 or 6 (or more) parts for the harmony and backgrounds, but again, they all have to be performed right. There's no good way to mix a bad harmony.

If the performance is right, then you just need to keep working with it. Trial and error is the best teacher is this biz, IMO.

[circusboy]

Whether using doubling (or any other technique for that matter), make it to match the material/artist. You will come across some techniques, whether it be EQ-ing or a certain effect that you love that works 90% of the time, but you always got to check it with the old ear. One size does not fit all....

[Sir_Matthew]

I double a LOT, both same-note and octave, and I find that pulling out 5kHz by -6db on the backing vocals really helps them to blend, especially upon adding +2db on that 5kHz for the main lead.

[Steenamaroo]

i don't know if this is applicable,,,,but i found myself taking the wrong approach with doubling until i realised where i was going wrong.

i used to try to balance all the recorded vocal parts,,,,but now,,,i get my self set with a "main" part the whole way through,

even if it sounds weak,,i mix it,,,,and get it complete,and level and sounding as good as it gets,

then,and only then,,i bring in the doubles,,,and blend them in,,,,so i'm never taking away from the main part,,,,but onlyl ever adding something to it,

which is what you want to do really? right?


had a lot of trouble with vocal volumes and tones too,,and ended up getting help on here,

as usual,it ended up i was doing too much to try to make the vox good,,

i ended up scrapping all effects,,,,and listening to drums and vox only,
then getting the vox to sounds "nice"

once again,,,when im happy with the vocal tone,,,,i make the rest of the music or whatever fit around that.


hope that helps.

[xfinsterx]

Originally Posted by midwesttribune

anyone with vocal knowledge can help even if its not your genre on this one. Right now im into the vocal producing of R an B as well as hip hop/rap and i have protools with the mbox, as well as the avox antares vocal plugins ect. I use compressors so it sits in the mix a little more, and voice doubling techniques, but for some reason 1/20 times voice doubling sounds like it doubled good and others it just sounds goofy, (there on Q exactly but dont make that good harmony effect for emphasis used in rap, (like ludacris) and sometimes the vocals dont sound like they sit in the mix very well??? what makes the vocals just feel alive and apart of the song an not just feel like its a kareoke machine standing out??? thanks fer all input

For me lately its like this.

Track vox. (duh)

Then compress with a basic compressor (like a BF1176) pushing back about 4-8 db. (i use API 2500 plug)

Then eq/effect to taste. (i use waves stomp alot lately, which is odd because its a guitar pedal sim, but it sounds tasty)

Then limit. (i use waves Rvox)

Then de-ess if needed. (Waves Ren De-esser)

In that order.

From there ill send it out to wet delay and reverb aux's if needed/called for. (stock delays, UA 140 plate reverb)