Is that a chorus I hear?

[joedirt]

OK take todays rock bands like Puddle of mudd and Nickleback, I know we've addressed vocals a million times but are they using a slight chorus during the verses? I'm not talking about where the vocals have been obviously been doubled and not 80s Ozzy but are they using some effect in addition to awesome equipment?

 

[MONTE]

I haven't "studied" the tunes you mention, but a common practice is a harmonizer with a few cents detune and delayed a few (maybe 5-30) milliseconds. These are just ballpark values and by playin with them you will find what you want. Many of todays multi-effx processors can do both simultaneously. It gives you sort of an electronic double. It's also a great way to simulate a double in a live situation where real doubling is not possible.

 

[joedirt]

Cool. I'll give it a try. I dont have a harmonizer but I have plenty of plugins. I"ve noticed when I give the vocals a high slap back just to fill them out a little that this seems to help. Monte, are you happy with your vocals?

 

[MONTE]

I don't lead sing (if you mean specifically my own, I hate my own voice). But, I'm pretty happy with the results I get with other lead vocalists. It's also probably the thing I spend the most time on both tracking and processing/editing. I usually double everything at least once even if I don't plan to use the second track as a double. It gives me more choices at mix down. A lot of times what I do is leave one track totally dry and use the other to add the "goo" to. I've had good success getting the vocal up front and in your face while still having it sound "pretty" and "well effected" by mixing the two tracks together.

 

[Basil]

trick

I often creat a chorus effect on my guitar tracks by adding reverb and panning it away from the track pan through an fx insert. I also sometimes add a littel delay or a second track and knock the volume way down on it and it creates a sort of shimmer. Peter