Double Tracking

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I have a problem, subjectively, double tracking my own voice. I have had no problem when I'm recording other artists. No matter what I do, I always sound like two people shouting. No matter how soft I sing the individual parts. Anyone else have that problem? Any tricks? I suspect it's in my delivery style.
 
i have the same prom. i just put a stereo effect like a chours on myne and that seems to work. some people use stereo mics.

zeke
 
You can also copy the track and delay it a bit.......maybe even pitch shift it a tad.......
 
I'm not that great of a singer so I haven't tried that with a vocal yet. I probably could not duplicate a performance.

I do it quite a bit with acoustic guitar though. It turns out good.
 
Sir George Martin in All You Need Is Ears stated that double tracking vocals worked best with poor singers. He claimed that the better the singer, the less desirable the results.

Maybe you're just good. :D
 
the thing about many more talented singers is that they can frequently make very fast pitch/dynamic transitions that sound great, but don't duplicate well in the real world with human senses of rythym. the best human drummers still have a little variation that is noticable compared to pure quality sequenced stuff. in the end, it's easy for it to get muddy. two takes with the same voice on complicated parts is probably not the best idea if the voice is doing stuff that isn't very simple, in my opinion.
 
Another thought

You may be doing this allready, but when your using a re-sung double track you really need to pick one as a prominent lead and mix the secondary one back quite a bit. It will keep it from sounding so conflicted.

Works for me anyway.

tmix
 
Thanks for the all the responses. I love to double track my guitars as well. Now that I have 24 tracks, I'll probably be double tracking a lot. George Martin reference was especially helpful.
 
dachay2tnr said:
Sir George Martin in All You Need Is Ears stated that double tracking vocals worked best with poor singers. He claimed that the better the singer, the less desirable the results.

Maybe you're just good. :D
Click to expand...

I actually kind of agree with that remark. I would consider myself to have a better than average voice and I can’t double it worth a crap. It always sounds better with a single track and just a little (not too much) reverb.
 
Do you use a recording app- wave editor?
Look at the time alignment of the two tracks. The initial phrase start points of the second track can be chopped and moved in line with the primary track. Sometimes the beginings and endings are what catch the ear most.

Or lots of echo.
:D
 
sing the 2nd and 3rd keeper takes as close to the first as possible then bury them in the mix. they will add depth to the lead vocal without being strong in the mix. its even better if the 2nd and 3rd a slightly behind the more prominant vocal.

or

only sing key phrase parts on the 2nd and 3rd keeper takes and bury them less deeply in the mix.

or (hip-hop style)

sing (or in this case rap) the 2nd vocal very different from the first so that it is obviously doubled and place it below the lead vocal but not buried in the mix at all.
 
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