Making a large group.

[Zel]

I'm a little new at all the recording and mixing and I'm stuck witha problem.
In a song the is a call for a large group of ppl to respond to the singer but no matter what I do I can't get it to sound right.
I've tried recoding a small group (3 ppl) and dbling it up and panning it
I've tried recording one person at a time (up to 5 ppl) and panning them then I tried dbling them up/panning..
I tried recording a room full a ppl..
I even tried just the preset fx (played with them alot)
and everything sounds odd and no like a croud responce I'm looking to get
Is there a technique or someting to this?

 

[scottboyher]

Good question..

 

[dobro]

Zel, when you say you can't get it to sound 'right', what do you mean by 'right'? Do you want it to sound like other similar groups on recordings you've heard? Cuz if it's a call-and-response situation, then the room you record it in, and how many people you record, is really important. Are you close-miking your singers in a studio, or are you putting a mic out in front of them in a bigger room with good reflections?

 

[Zel]

ok

I've tried close micing them and I've put the mic in the middle of the room.. The dont sound right I mean they sound like one sound.. You can tell its a small group but it don't sound like a larger group of ppl.. I'm using M audio nova mic's and a moble pre with cool edit (AA). I can get a great record when its just one or two people recording (real clear sound).
The sound I'm lookning for woud be like if the group was on stage and the croud was screaming back at them.

 

[foreverain4]

you will for sure need more than 2 overdubs. copying a track isnt going to make it sound like more people. it will just increase the volume of that track... you need at least 3 people for it to work right. IMO. 3 people around one mic. overdub them doing the same part 7-8 times. each time, have them rotate around the mic so that the mic is having a different response to the voices. i also take all those tracks to a bus and compress them pretty heavily. that is up to you though..

 

[AGCurry]

I tried to do a similar thing with a song on my group's last album. I wanted it to sound like we were playing in a Catskills dinner club. What I did was set up a mic in my dining room and turn on the recorder for three dinners, recording my family at dinner. Then, I mixed them all together about ten times. It gave the feeling that a bunch of people were busy eating and paying no attention whatever to the performance - which was what I wanted. It was pretty cool, although I ended up not using the track.

Obviously, you'd have to do something different if you want crowd responses at certain times. But it's something to think about...

 

[Shoestring]

I did a similar "call and response" on a track for a band I worked with. I had six people respond, did three different tracks, making about eighteen different voices. I made sure with each pass that the people used a little different voice and meter. I the panned one left, one center, and one right. To top it off, I added a little hall reverb to the tracks, and I was happy with the results.

 

[Harvey Gerst]

If you want a "big crowd, mix in a few "whisper" tracks.

 

[northsiderap]

Sweet

Shoestring:

I did almost the exact same thing.

Just vary:

1) The performer's voice
2) The distance from the mic
3) Pan
4) Add reverb, doubler delay, and doubler chorus to taste

Sounds fine