Male Vocal Quartet - Individual Tracking

[aristoxenus]

I'm new to this forum and I'm relatively new to home recording.

I have a project where I'm recording an unaccompanied male vocal quartet. Due to circumstances out of my control, I have to record each person by himself individually because they are literally in different countries and there's no way to bring them together. So, assuming I can record each track dry and isolated...

What suggestions and effects do you recommend for assembling a mix and then producing this so that it sounds as close to natural as possible?

Panning,
Effects such as reverb
ways to make each track sound less close to the ear
Forgive my lack of knowledge of terminology.

I'm using Reaper with an AT4040 and a Mackie Onyx Satellite for recording. My operating budget for this project can cover the acquisition of some software tools to aid in making this sound more natural, so if you have any recommendations please let me know.

Truly, many thanks for any feedback and advice!

 

[pathdoc]

Will each vocalist be recording in the same location but at different times?

They will need something to help keep time so you may have to use a click track or a keyboard part or something so that they stay in time and in pitch.

If they are being recorded in same location you can apply reverb or whatever effects you desire on a single channel and bus all 4 vocal channels into it.

If they are recording in vastly different places the recording may end up sounding like 4 people in different locations, not what you're working towards.

Remember a little reverb goes a long way.

 

[aristoxenus]

Will each vocalist be recording in the same location but at different times? They will need something to help keep time so you may have to use a click track or a keyboard part or something so that they stay in time and in pitch.

Yeah, that's right. I will be recording the melody track first and then probably add a click track to that, which together will hopefully help address most of the phrasing, dynamics, timing/tempo, and intonation issues for tracking the remaining three harmony parts.

If they are being recorded in same location you can apply reverb or whatever effects you desire on a single channel and bus all 4 vocal channels into it. If they are recording in vastly different places the recording may end up sounding like 4 people in different locations, not what you're working towards.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to record each singer in the same location. I figure if I record close, dry, and isolated enough on location, the differences in location will be minimized enough to be manageable in post production.

So my questions are more toward that end of this: how to take dry, close, and isolated recordings of four separate tracks and assemble them into a nice blend that recreates, as closely as possible under the circumstances, the natural warmth, distance, spacing, and color of a small, unaccompanied singing ensemble.