Vocals in stereo??!!

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Roker1

Roker1

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Who records vocals in stereo...when..why...????
Any ideas and experiences are welcome..
Thank you guys
 
Does recording your vocals in stero eat up a lot of resources? Do you record everything in stero?
 
I do most of my vox iin stereo also. It does give a wider, easier to listen to, sound IMO. I usually don't end up panning then that much though. Maybe 2 and 10.
 
I'm a bit unclear on the question and answers.

To me, recording a solo vocal in stereo would mean using two mics (or a stereo mic, which is effectively two mics in one case) in some sort of arrangement (X-Y, M-S, baffled omnis, ORTF, whatever), with one panned hard left and one panned hard right (matrixed, in the case of M-S). The direct sound from a voice emanates from what is, for practical purposes (assuming it's a normal voice, and not a Tuvan throat singer or something) a point source. Thus there shouldn't really be any stereo information in the direct sound. So it would seem to me that the purpose of stereo micing would be to capture the room sound in stereo, which would mean backing the mic well away, and would only make sense if the room sound were worth capturing in the first place.

Different things (which I wouldn't really call "stereo" recording) might be double-tracking a vocal (i.e. recording two separate performances of the same material - which I would usually pan to the same place) or applying some stereo signal processing to a vocal track (like delay or reverb - which would, basically, be capturing the sound of an artificial room in stereo).
 
You pretty much nailed it sjj. One has to assume that the slight phasng that occurs with two mics "enlarges" the sound, at least to their personal perception, or that the room sound is enhanced with two mics. Even close mic'ed sources still pick up some room (otherwise, why worry about room acoustics at all...) so a stereo pair of some sort WILL give a different room ambience than a single mic - even when in close to the source.

Personally, it's hard to imagine myself ever tracking a single voice in stereo. If I was going to use a second mic, I'd put it at a distance and REALLY go for some room sound.
 
i recorded an R&B crooner using 2 mics once.

the first mic was an SM-58 and the second an AT-4033. the 58 was up close and the 4033 was a couple of feet away.

it sounded pretty good, and i wouldn't hesitate to do it again in a better room with a better up-close mic.
 
for one Vocals ,it's not necessarily to use more mic.one is enough.
If i want to get more effect,we can recur to other equipment.
 
thanx for all the replies guys...as sjjjohnston said, a voice is a "mono type" sound source, and i agree with that, thats why I was curious of how many people actually record it with two mics...I have never personally put two mics in front of a singer, but I have doubled the vox tracks by either singing the same part twice or just copying the existing part onto a separate track and delaying it a bit or whatever to get the fuller sound....
but yeah, very helpful comments...
thanks:)
 
I've "doubled" a vocal lots of time (doubled = recording two performances of the same part). Depending on the singer, it can dramatically improve the apparent quality of the performance. I would typically pan both takes to exactly the same place. It makes a huge difference with a somewhat weak singer. For one thing, it tends to mask pitch problems.
 
sjjohnston said:
I've "doubled" a vocal lots of time (doubled = recording two performances of the same part). Depending on the singer, it can dramatically improve the apparent quality of the performance. I would typically pan both takes to exactly the same place. It makes a huge difference with a somewhat weak singer. For one thing, it tends to mask pitch problems.
Click to expand...

Very true. I have used this method frequently. I wanted to stress sj's instructions to pan both vox to the same place. I have heard some home made recordings where the person doubles the vox and then pans them out because they think it gives it a cool "fuller" stereo sound.

The problem is, the slightest and tiniest timing issues and even differing enunciation of the lyrics instantly makes it obvious what is going on and it sounds very unprofessional. If both vox are panned dead center (or at least the same place, wherever you want them) it is much more forgiving of these issues. If you are singing harmonies and you want it to sound like two people, then you could pan out a bit I suppose (although I wouldn't) but again you need to be very sensitive to making sure the vox are right on.
 
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