What to do for vocals?

[Doc Strange]

i record vocals everyday. i have my own studio and work with a lot of clients locally, record the vocals in mono, make sure the vocalist is singing,rapping, screaming or whatever directly into the mic as not to loose intensity. and there is a magic black box that gives vocals fullness, harmonizer, but they are pretty expensive. but if money is of no object go get a harmonizer. mine works wonders. almost every professional recording studio uses one. and you should put one your wish list, it was on mine for 5 years.

 

[phil doucette]

But how do you sing everything with the right phrase length and stuff? What I mean is, what if the singer pronounces something different or something like that? And what if he's not on key with his other vocal?

It could totally ruin the recording....I know I know...just delete it....but why go to the trouble? I'm not very experienced when recording vocals...

and this is why i'm against doubling... Unless you have an excpetionally gifted singer or tons of time and recreational drugs to del with the sheer tedium of the process, it'll never be in tune and winds up sounding dated... that is if you can even get a keeper second track.

But that's just my opinion.

 

[glynb]

Well if the singer just isn't capable of singing the same thing twice in the same phrasing, then yes forget the idea and don't do it!

The idea is not to do 'perfect' copies, if you want that you may as well duplicate the first track, it's the subtle differences in the two takes (and they should be subtle) that give this technique its power and appeal.

Most well rehearsed vocalists can do a reasonable job of duplicating a take so it's close enought to double up. The main problems sometimes to come at the end of lines with the last constanent finishing at a slightly different times on each take. Of course you can get round this by recroding several takes of the same vocal and splicing them together.

It really isn't that difficult, given a half decent well rehearsed singer to work with.

 

[Myriad_Rocker]

Well, I have confidence that he will be on key. I shouldn't have said it that way. My main concern is, at times, I'm sure he will be off from the vocals already recorded and you'll be able to tell.

A harmonizer....does this come in a plug-in form that I can purchase? Recommend me some, I'm open.

Right now, this is what I'm using on the vocal track...Compression, Gate, Limiter, Deesser, & some delay. I tried chorus to fatten things up but I thought it sounded bad.

Also, there are parts where the music pauses and he's still singing...like whole phrase lengths. Is there a secret way to make it not seem so empty when that comes? Like they do in commercial recordings....I hope that made sense.

Also, how should an auto-tuner be used and can you recommend one? There are a FEW parts where he's a hair flat. Or do you not recommend using those?

 

[Supercreep]

Myriad, I read through this post and didn't see anything about what kind of mics you're using and what your signal chain is like, except that you're using a DAW. What is the room you're recording in like? How are you recording the rest of the band? Are you recording vocals in a different room? When you mentioned using a mic modeler, I began to worry perhaps you recorded the vocals direct.

You may want to experiment with different mic placement if it is the timbre of the vocalist that you're having trouble with - there is a way to get the sound you want without any EQ. Check out some of Harvey Gerst's posts in the microphone forum for an exhaustive and helpful knowledge base on this subject and others.

 

[KevinDrummer]

Most of the replies seem to miss the point of the question. Not how to "make a hole" for the vocals but make them fit in the mix. By the post, it seems like there might be too much of a "hole".

I'm no expert, and don't have the definative answer - but I've run into this myself. Sometimes I'm sucessful at fixing it by increasing the stereo seperation by creating a clone track and applying reverb and maybe light chorus panned L or R. Adjust levels of the two vocal tracks as needed.

 

[Myriad_Rocker]

Myriad, I read through this post and didn't see anything about what kind of mics you're using and what your signal chain is like, except that you're using a DAW. What is the room you're recording in like? How are you recording the rest of the band? Are you recording vocals in a different room? When you mentioned using a mic modeler, I began to worry perhaps you recorded the vocals direct.

You may want to experiment with different mic placement if it is the timbre of the vocalist that you're having trouble with - there is a way to get the sound you want without any EQ. Check out some of Harvey Gerst's posts in the microphone forum for an exhaustive and helpful knowledge base on this subject and others.

In a matter of speaking, I did record the vocals direct...but doesn't everyone? I ran a condesor (MXL V69G) through a PreSonus TubePre, then into the line in of my sound card. I used a microphone modeler just because I wanted to see what it sounded like and I feel that it warmed up the vocals a little bit so I went with it. The room is just my computer room...I don't have the priviledge of converting ANYTHING into a dedicated vocal tracking room so I use what I have. It's pretty dead in the room as far as reverb and there's very minimal noise so I'm pretty happy with it.

The rest of the "band" was recorded direct. Guitars are going through one of two guitars...a Gibson LP and a PRS Custom 22. From there it goes into a Line 6 Vetta II, out of the SPDIF and into the SPDIF of my sound card. I'm pretty happy with the sound that I'm getting on the guitars considering, so I don't want to change that. I'm really liking what the Vetta is doing for me. Bass is ran through the TubePre and then into the line in of my sound card.

Drums are being mapped on a midi drum program, thrown out to wav, then the hits are being replaced by Drumagog in my DAW. All in all, everything is turning out great....better than I expected actually.

It's just the vocal thing that I've run into issues on so far.

So, how bout that harmonizer? Any other suggestions?

 

[gManiaxe]

Hey, c'mon man. That sounds an aweful lot like work. Surely there is a magic black box that can put some hottness into those vocal tracks.

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