Chorus Vocals

  • Thread starter Thread starter WizDoom
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WizDoom

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On Chorus's I usually take two vocal tracks and stereo pan them hard left and hard right, sounds nice but for some songs I need something a little more full.

What are some of your general techniques on choruses, how many tracks do you usually use, panning, effects, harmonize or pitch shift tracks, etc.?

I know every song is different, i'm just looking for some suggestions. Trying to get a nice layered sounding chorus.
 
Tracks. Lotsa tracks.

I generally leave the lead vocal alone in the center and record anywhere from 4 - 12 backing vocal tracks and spread them out to varying degrees. I have the main harmonies at 11 and 1, then the rest somewhere between 8 and 4. I just pick a couple harmony lines and double or triple them.

For a little added tension and resolve, kick one of those way-back vocal tracks off key for a note then bring it back on. If all those vocals are mixed right, they kind of blend together and sound HUGE.

Its a fun way to eat up harddrive space, too. :)

Chris
 
And I just noticed you're new here - Welcome aboard!!!

Take care,
Chris
 
12 backing tracks. wow. I'm gonna try that.

anymore suggestions, i like trying various techniques, real good learning experience.

and thanks for the welcome.
 
Depending on the effect you want, I like to compress the crap out of my backing vocals for that Mutt Lange kind of sound. Sometimes I'll even add a chorus effect on top of that.

And yes, welcome aboard!

Chris
 
I like the array type of thing like chris say's. Use different harmonys out to different degrees from center. You can also mess with the thickness of the tracks a bit to seperate them more. With lots of back up tracks I think it often helps to chop of some of the low end (thin them up a bit) so that it doesn't get muddy. I have lot's of low in my voice, others might not need to thin the tracks out.

I sort of think of it like a landscape (learned from a book). main vocals in the center up front. others standing off to the sides at different distances from the center & front. and then I try to mix them so I can tell where everyone is standing to an extent.


F.S.
 
You can also play with really severe EQ on the backing tracks. I like to cut the lows a bit and boost some of the highs to give them a bit more of a sheen. You can boost or cut at 4Khz to really make a track stand out or blend in a little more.
 
I usually like a tad more reverb on harmonies/backups. Other than that, anything is game. If you want thick, doubling or tripling each part is the way to go. Actually singing the doubled parts is best (vs. delay).

I have most fun when I try something kooky... Stick a background part through an amp simulator with high distortion... maybe add a leslie rotating speaker effect or an artificial vibrato. Then throw on a delay panned to the opposite side, and throw on a cathedral type reverb, but mix the verb waaayy back.

Sorry... started hallucinating there for a second. It's best to ignore these types of ramblings from me.
 
Last song I recorded I used 4 tracks (2 were one octave up). The main was down the middle and the other three were panned to fill space. I don't think I spread them more than 40% of the stereo spectrum though. Of course this was not so much a chorus as just for thicker vocals. But I used varying amounts of reverb on each as well as some delay. I forgot what I did with eq, but basically I was trying to fill up as much empty space as I could with the 4 tracks.
 
Most of the time, I record 2-3 harmony parts, and copy them to 6-9 tracks. Pan them each somewhere 8~4. Then I alter the pitch of the new tracks ~2 cents. You almost cannot hear the difference of the pitch when the track is soloed, but once they are being played together, they are HUGE !!!

Chrises <-- both of you, chris :D Have you got your vocals work in the clinic yet ? I'd like to listen to them :)

;)
Jaymz
 
has any of you simply tried 3 or more mics on a vocal? Then just eq the heck out of them diffrently its fun and it works better then delay. Of course you can add delay and make it that much more interesting.
 
when you say 3 or more mics, are you talking on each different take, or three or more mics at once?
 
Hmmmm........ if you had a really quiet room, you could use three mics at the same time, each about say, ten feet out from each other to have a little bit of natural delay with some room ambience for texture. Phasing might be an issue, though.

Chris
 
My vocals need to be as quiet and compressed and autotuned as possible. :D

But on that one day out of 1000 when I'm on, lol...

Simple formula for me. 2-3 harmonies, one left 30%, one right 30%, one copied and panned hard left and hard right with an offset of 20-30 milliseconds to sound huge, lol...And I often double the lead vocal (read as "sing it twice") for the chorus only.

AND ASSLOADS OF AUTOTUNE, BABY
 
That's right...
Unless you are sure of what you do, I wouldn't recommend to use 3 mics at the same time for capturing solo vocal in rather small room. The use of one good condenser is almost everything you need.

...why, Jaymz ?

Because if the phasing issue really happens so bad, you'll loose the benefit of the purpose of using three mic which supposed to make it fat, loud, wide and clear. Instead, you'll get thin, crappy and weak sound.

;)
Jaymz
 
I usually do the panning thing and the big multple takes thing. I eq for blend and sheen.
But...I usually have much less...reverb on backing vox. For some reason it adds "Clarity" but doen't allow them to sit in front of the lead vocal in anyway.
I figure though, the best thing is get everyone with a voice to layer up, rather than just one or 2 guys. Far and away the nicest BV's I've ever recorded were with a band I used to play with..all pro choir guys, barber shop stuff when we needed money, all could have easily been the lead singer.
Together, multitracked,it was a beauty to behold.
So. I would get the studio tea boy to sing if he had a voice and could hold a tune.

Iain
 
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