How - how can one voice, LIVE, sound like several people?

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Toddskins

Toddskins

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I'm wondering how to achieve the group, or gang sound, singing various lines of a song, coming from one person (1 mic) during a live performance. I do happen to own a Digitech Studio Vocalist that can add 4 additional voices over the original, but quite honestly have never used the equipment. I imagine there is a way to have all the harmonizer parts, in unison, but I would like it to sound like 4 or 5 different guys singing. That would require not having all the voices start at exactly the same millisecond, so it sounds believable that there are actually a few different people singing.

Are there any tricks you guys are aware of, maybe without even using a vocal harmonizer, to accomplish this? I know a chorus effect can help. Anything else?

I also own synthesizers which allow live input through the synth engine, as well as Vocoders, so I'm sure I have access to the gear. Just wanted to hear from you guys who have been at this for awhile to hear your ideas. I'm not sure where to begin.

Thanks


Oh, something just popped in my head - I do own 2 microphones. Could using 2 mics at the same time, each feed going into a different channel on the mixer board, be EQ'd differently to help?
 
I wouldn't try and use two mics. I would experiment some. you might try routing the mic signal to two different effects processors, using different delay times and harmonizers on each and pan them 70% L/R keeping the main vocals in the middle.

Since you already have the Digitech why don't you plug it in and see what it can do?
 
Clearly your first thing to try is to plug in the Digitech and try that. If you're happy with the result, you're done!

However, I have to say I've never been happy with any purely electronic form of Chorus or Harmoniser. That may be just me but, if you have the same problem, the cheat I've used more than once is to pre-record the extra voices and, with use of a click track, do them with playback. Yes, a real cheat, but it can give exactly the effect you're after.

Bob
 
The vocalist (I have one) has several settings that do exactly what you describe to 'humanize' the vocals.
You can set it so the voices start and stop at slightly different times and you can also set it so some of the voices will occassionally 'slide' into notes like singers finding their parts. You can set both of these features from very slight to extreme.
At light settings you almost can't hear it and at extreme settings it sounds like a buncha drunks!

Using 2 mics in different channels will do absolutely nothing to achieve what you're looking for.
 
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Lt. Bob said:
The vocalist (I have one) has several settings that do exactly what you describe to 'humanize' the vocals.
You can set it so the voices start and stop at slightly different times and you can also set it so some of the voices will occassionally 'slide' into notes like singers finding their parts. You can set both of these features from very slight to extreme.

Using 2 mics in different channels will do absolutely nothing to achieve what you're looking for.
Click to expand...

Do those things have the live pitch correction? I always wondered how well those work.
 
arcadeko said:
Do those things have the live pitch correction? I always wondered how well those work.
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yeah but I don't use that.

The key to making them sound real in a live setting is to use them as little as possible. ..... use a modest amount of humanizing ....... mix them light in the mix ..... if you try to mix it up to levels similar to what you would use for live singers then the fakeness becomes fairly obvious. But if you put them back in the mix a bit and use the humanizing features they end up 'implying' voices that don't exist and you ears will do the rest ...... you kinda hear the harmonies subconsciously.

I suppose if you have poor pitch the pitch correction might be useful I don't so it isn't.
 
Thanks much guys. And Lt. Bob, I know mine has those features (though I'm not sure about the pitch correction, mine was from 2001). I'll try those suggestions this coming weekend and let you know how it turns out.
 
Just wondering... wouldn't it be easier to just find a few guys who can harmonize?? :)
 
stevieb said:
Just wondering... wouldn't it be easier to just find a few guys who can harmonize?? :)
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Actually, no. Not for a one-man band kind of thing, where you'd like to try and recreate as much of a song as possible to make it more realistic, or enjoyable, for the audience. And it's not harmonies I'm seeking in this particular case, but rather like when the rest of the band is singing in unison accompanying the melody, but you can hear distinctly different guys' tones in the background vocal.
 
Toddskins said:
Thanks much guys. And Lt. Bob, I know mine has those features (though I'm not sure about the pitch correction, mine was from 2001). I'll try those suggestions this coming weekend and let you know how it turns out.
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as I said, I don't use the pitch correction thing anyway.

Something else about it ...... you kinda have to have pretty decent pitch for it to work well because if you drift very much, it'll think you're singing a different note and it'll change. And if you use too wide a vibrato, it'll think you're changing between two notes and it'll follow suit giving this very strange warbling-between-two-notes result.
 
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