help/advice on mastering voice tracks ?

H

homebrew

New member
I have heard there are tricks to recording voice - especially for singers who are not as "rich" or full-voiced.

I know you often have multiple takes, but it seems difficult to overlay those when the singer changes a bit each time. Some people have suggested duping a voice track and offsetting it slightly (phase) to make it sound richer.

Of course, I add compression and EQ, but you can only go so far before changing the voicing quality.

What about duping a vocal track, using aggressive compression, and mixing back with the original?

Any tricks or advice would be welcome!

Thanks to all.
 
Doubling only works if you can sing the same track exactly the same twice. Sometimes I will turn the preamp up a bunch and whisper a take along with the vocals to add an intimate kind of presence.

Also doubling a take an octave below or above and mixing it to barely audible levels will yeild some interesting results.
 
why couldnt you have two mics side by side,recorded on to two seperate tracks. this way you could change one track by adding effects or plugins and then mix them together . would this not in a way solve the problem of not getting the track exactly the same twice ? i know that the mic placement might not be ideal however.
just a thought.
 
That would be a stereo recording. In a DAW all you need to do to dupe a track is copy and paste.

Two totally different things.

Both have their uses. A stereo image will seem to take up more space in the stereo field while a well doubled track will be a bit chorused and thicker. The stereo version will benefit from a bit of l-r panning while the doubled tracks can be done in mono to give a lead vocal more body.

There are too many options to continue listing them here.
 
Yo Home BREW:}

I'll have a gallon please!!

But, back to the vocals. Just read in a book that you can do some stuff with compression to help. You can also record your vocal on two tracks -- not using two mics -- and then pan some of the music a bit left/right -- this will bring you vocal "up front" or help it along the way. [if you have a box that will feed one line to more than one track.]

However, the big item here is a good vocal mic. You can poke around in the microphone forum and get great information.

Just read that Full Compass has a sale on the Neumann 103 which is supposed to be very good for vocals.

I might add, a good mic pre will also help you get the vocal you are seeking.

Keep twiddling the dials and see what happens.


Green Hornet :D :cool:
 
Doubling the track is better than doubling your post...

https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=73597

:D

BTW, What's your media ? Analog ? Digital ? IMHO, it's easier if you edit the audio using PC... (say Cool Edit Pro 2 or sumthin') mess around with it, and hear the result. If you don't like what you got, undo... For the richness, using propher set of Eq will do it fine. Slight chorus effect also can make it full & crispy. Or double the track to have 2 similiar track, pan hard L/R each other. Downtune one of them -0.1 cent. Now play them together... IT"S FULL !!! Anyway, take a best recording as possible, and good singer will do the best for obtaining rich voice... Nothing beat this fact. I'm sure many will answer alot than me...


James.
 
Thx for comments so far

All,

Thanks for the feedback so far. I apologize for the double listing. I wasn't sure how many people actually went back and forth into multiple rooms.

I have a Sennheiser 835 MIC -- seems to be a reasonable one according to posts in the MIC room.

I use ProTools on the PC and digital compression. I used to have a tube compression box but traded it for other stuff. I did not seem to have any real advantage with a box over the PC compression in ProTools.

A couple of people have suggested couble-tracking with hard L/R panning and also adjust one track 0.1% down in tuning. I'll try that.

Thx to all again,
HomeBrew
 
This is the only thing that "D-verb", the free reverb plug that ProTools LE comes with is good for. Run the "not so rich" voice through an aux track and put a D-verb with the "non-linear" pre set on it. You probably want a "large" setting on it. I find it works great for when you don't want to double track.
 
Try a multiband compressor, beside the tips on doubling... It really is incredibly how you can add body to a (well recorded) by being able to compress the low end, mid and high end of your voice track individually. But like always: listen to it in the mix...

aXel
 
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