Recording Vocals....

[NeoMatriX]

I'm about to record some demo's for a few labels and I'm looking to get a full sound for my vocals, "full" meaning panned,doubled, etc....

What would be the best way to achieve this? When I listen to professional recorded tracks I notice that they double up on the chorus and other climatic points but how many time should I double up? A friend of mines make multiple dubs. Also when I double should I pan one track L and the other R? And with harmonies, should I pan those as well? How many times and how should I pan those?

I hope I'm clear.

-Thanks
-Neo

 

[HeyHeyMyMy]

Well, you could double the main vocal and keep both down the middle. You could double the main vocal and pan them (slightly) L & R.

Unless you're going for a "gang" vocal I wouldn't double the BG vox (personally, at least). Maybe you could. This is all very subjective and dependent upon the song and your voice.

This is a tough question to answer when no one knows what your voice sounds like, what your music sounds like or what general vocal sound you're going for. Why don't you post a sample of a couple tunes or something? Or maybe describe what you sound like and what sound you're going for.

 

[NeoMatriX]

Will do thanks.

 

[reshp1]

I wouldn't do more that 2 tracks of lead Vox, especially if you are going to have background harmonies going on. Doubling and layering can give you more full sound (and possibly more in tune), but it can also really steal the punch of a track by blurring transients, especially if your vocalist can't sing the same track exactly twice.

 

[Dogman]

I've found that using a compressor really helps my vocals. Gets the sound to be more level. And since I don't sing so well, I really agre with what reshp1 said about blurring a track by trying to layer too many vocals that are slightly off. Mine ends up sounding like several vocalists when I want one lead. Anyway, good luck.