Helpful tips

Should you double track vocals?

Should you double track vocals?

If you’re making modern rap music than no, you don’t need a vocal double track for the main verses. This is because doing a vocal double is going to make your vocals sound muddy and outdated. If you’re double track is even a millisecond off, you’ll have slight alignment issues with the main vocal track.

How do you treat vocal doubles?

Try setting up a rhythmic delay specifically for your doubles or give them their own reverb, creating a cloud in which to cushion the lead vocal. If your doubles are panned wide, you could also pan the reverb wide. Alternatively, you could mono the reverb for the doubles and stack it behind your lead vocal.

Did John Lennon double track his vocals?

Double tracking was pioneered by Buddy Holly. John Lennon particularly enjoyed using the technique for his vocals while in the Beatles. Lennon’s post-Beatles albums frequently employed doubling echo on his vocals in place of the ADT. Paul McCartney also commonly used this technique for his vocals while in the Beatles.

What dB should vocals be at?

What dB should vocals be recorded at? You should record vocals at an average of -18dB for 24-bit resolution. The loudest parts of the recording should peak at -10dB and be lowest at -24dB. This is to keep an even balance on the level of the vocals without distortion.

Should you pan backing vocals?

If you have several background tracks, you’ll want to pan them away from the center. This will create space for your vocal to live in. How much you pan your BGVs is up to you.

Why did John Lennon double track his vocals?

John Lennon so admired Buddy Holly that he liked to make vocal double as Buddy did. Besides he did not like his own voice. So he wanted to alter it. Later he used some other dvices like EQ for the purpose.

Did the Beatles use double tracking?

The studio practices of the Beatles evolved during the 1960s and, in some cases, influenced the way popular music was recorded. Some of the effects they employed were sampling, artificial double tracking (ADT) and the elaborate use of multitrack recording machines.

Where should vocals sit in a mix?

Tip #1 – Here’s a top notch trick to get your vocals to sit on top of the mix nicely. Send everything but the vocals to their own aux, and apply a very subtle compressor (only a few dB’s reduction). Side chain the lead vocals to this compressor. This will dip the track by a 2 or 3 dB’s every time the vocals come in.

Should Beat be louder than vocals?

Should Vocals be Louder than the beat? No and Yes! Well it depends on the genre and style you are mixing or what the song calls for. What you don’t want is a vocal poking out like a sore thumb in your song.

How far should I pan vocals?

That means kicks, basses and anything else below the 120hz range. If your track has lead vocals pan them center as well. Experiment with panning duplicates of effected vocals to the left or right. But as a general rule lead vocals should always be panned center.

How loud should backing vocals be?

Adjust the fader on the group buss until the backing vocals sit nicely underneath the lead vocal. They shouldn’t be anywhere near as loud as the lead vocal part, but should still be clearly audible.

Did the Beatles double tracked vocals?

Artificial Double Tracking is one of the most iconic of all Abbey Road tape effects. It was created by EMI Technical Engineer and later Studios Manager Ken Townsend for The Beatles to avoid them having to continually re-record vocals to create multi-layered vocal effects.

Which is the best way to double track vocals?

Using a Doubled vocal is, however, the best way to fatten up the sound, especially if the singer can deliver a well sung double track. After recording a doubled vocal track, you then can proceed to use all the plugins you want on them to enhance the sound even more.

Why does my voice sound like double tracking?

Although the result isn’t exactly like true double‑tracking, it can add some thickness to vocal parts. Forcing Imperfection: If the singer is too pitch‑perfect, you may have the same problem, particularly on long, held notes, where the two parts can seem to merge.

Is there a way to use double tracking?

The Double Tracker is no longer in production, but you can get similar results by applying a very shallow, slow pitch-modulation to your digital delay line, to imitate the natural pitch variation that occurs with double-tracking. You could also roll some top end off the delay to mimic the limited bandwidth of those analogue delay chips.

What’s the best way to Pan both vocal tracks?

I find it best to pan both vocal tracks between 10% and 30% right and left, you don’t necessarily want to pan both exactly the same amount. In some cases you are going to pan one 20% to the left and the other 10% right, this all depends on what other elements you got going in the mix.