Make your vocals stand out

[katmandoo]

Here's a little tip...use if you like. I learned this from watching an interview with Bjorn (from abba). What he does is he will record a stereo vocal track, then dump it down to a mono track, then cut out about 1/100 of a second or less at the very beggining of the mono track (some like more, some like less... use your ears) then pitch shift it up minutely by 1/10 with time/pitch--stretch effect, name the track "vocal double 1" then...save the tracks... then copy that same mono vocal double track and rename it say "vocal double 2" then, insert it back into the session but about 1/100 of a second behind the 1st mono vocal double track (you have to zoom in horizontally in edit view quite a ways to get 1/100 of a second by the way) , then pitch shift it down minutely by 1/10 with time/pitch--stretch.. Then take the 2 mono vocal double tracks and pan them left 50 and the other right 50, or whatever suits your mix and bring them down in the mix say -5, -6 each. What this creates is a triple track of the same vocal track, but slightly pitched up and down to create a "BIG" sounding vocal track with no messy double tracking s's and p's...
ps...you can compress all 3 tracks after at about 2 or 4% and it will be so punchy...
Listen here to my stuff on this site.. http://www.airplaydirect.com/SawyerandHodge
listen to "Spanish Eyes" and you'll hear it on the lead voc track.
Like them or hate them, abba have a great vocal sound and very big at that...this works for all types of music from metal to folk so try it out. I do this on almost every lead vocal track. It makes the lead vocals stand out like there's 3 people singing the same song almost perfectly in unison..hope this helps anybody who tries it.

"A writer writes....always"

Katmandoo

 

[blue4u]

Interesting tip! What do you use for the "time/pitch--stretch effect"? Also, how are you recording your vocal in stereo? With matched pairs or, a stereo mic? Also, it might be cool to take a screenshot of your DAW to show the tracks visually.

Thx,
Rich

 

[Scorch]

I like the quality and sound of your recordings. I have been experimenting with Vocals. I can't wait to get home and try it out. Thanks for the tip.

 

[katmandoo]

stereo vocal track re

I'm using a matched pair of AKG c1000s condenser mics (they're actually drum overhead mics but work awesome for vocals...really crisp ) one panned slightly left, the other slightly right (say L15 R15) for the time/pitch effect I used exactly that... "time/pitch" and then "stretch" effect from AA1.5.
I wish I knew how to take a screenshot for ya, but i don't know how....lol
I'm also starting to try this on the occasional guitar track for a "chorus" type effect, but cutting out about 5/100 and then on the other doubled mono track I add 5/100 to the track.. sounds pretty cool. I just did it on a mandolin track too and it really "Sparkles"
experiment it's all good...unless it's bad to begin with

A writer writes...always
Katmandoo