Question on Tweaking Vocals

*ehem*

Ok, so like ... my voice is tiny and weak. While I know how to use V-Vocal to correct the pitch, timing, length, and vibrato, what I do not know how to do is add depth and resonance to it, so that I don't sound like a kid, but the 43 year old man that I am.

Any tips?
 
Thanks.

NOTE: Using SONAR X1 Producer

Double tracking vocals can help with this. Also, make sure you're standing nice and close to the mic when recording to make good use of the proximity effect. You can boost anywhere between 100-250Hz to add more body. But there's only so much you can do if the sound is not there at the source! 


Posting some samples would be better so we could hear what problems there are and how best to remedy them...

The resonance and depth you seek is not likely to be brought out satisfactorily by Vvocal or any other vox processing. 

You can however, begin a training strategy for your voice to make it stronger, and by doing that, perhaps add those missing characteristics. 

the voice is like any other muscle in the body..... use it, train it, and it will become stronger. Aerobic exercise to strengthen lung capacity and heartbeat will help too. 

Then ... there is always the fact that no matter what your voice sounds like, strong and resonate, or weak and fragile, there are applications where that voice, regardless of it's tonal characteristics, is useful. 

have you heard some of the female voices in TV commercials these days? just about anything goes...

Two words: double-tracking. And acoustical treatment. OK, four words.

Try setting up some absorbent material around your microphone. Blankets work in a pinch, rigid fiberglass is much better. A lot of the thin-ness comes from too much room ambiance and comb filtering. You'll be surprised just how much fatter your voice sounds when recorded in a dead space.

V-Vocal won't do anything to fatten your voice. In fact, if you get carried away with pitch correction it will actually have a severe thinning effect on double-tracked vocals. Be conservative with pitch correction and time alignment to get the most out of double-tracking.

Serenarules


By double tracking I assume you mean copy-paste the track and offset one by a little? Or do you mean layer several takes?

That is one way to do it but not the best way...since the tracks are exact copies, there is a distinct possibility of comb filtering which doesn't sound good...it is a quick and dirty way to get it done, and with some care, the artifacts can be hidden reasonably well.


The better way is to actually record it live a second time.... the trick is to get it as close to exact as possible. That was how the Beatles did it.... record until it's perfect... use punch in if needed to get it one sentence at a time. 


Using the second method gives the fatness with none of the bad artifacts since the tracks ,although they sound exact are not exact where it counts which is at the bit level...

By double tracking I assume you mean copy-paste the track and offset one by a little?

No, no, NO!

Or do you mean layer several takes?

Yes, yes YES!

Nice the 58 should be great as is but can require a lot of gain. It can sound better with a better preamp offering more gain depending on which preamp/interface your using now..

Shure 58 has quite a "muscular" sound for vocals, IIRC, so I don't think the microphone is a weak link here.
It does require singing very close to the mic (again IIRC), lips nearly touching the grill, which easily creates proximity, though. A condenser mic would allow you to sing further away from the mic thus being able to relax more, knowing that an inch further or closer does not ruin the take.