mattplaysguitar


Every approach mentioned here and pretty much any you can think of has probably been pulled off with success. Anything can work really, assuming it's applied well. I think the one Bristol mentions tends to be a pretty common one for pop these days. Used typically in a chorus. Often will take a hell of a lot of tightening to get it to work as well as you hear on the radio. Lots of hours go into it. There might then be a big stack of harmonies below all this too adding meat and thickness to the sound, but with two main leads kicking out at front.

Yes Matt - I seem to spend more time correcting timing variations using V-Vocal than I ever do for pitch correction, especially on 'S' and 'T' sounds

Bristol_Jonesey

mattplaysguitar


Every approach mentioned here and pretty much any you can think of has probably been pulled off with success. Anything can work really, assuming it's applied well. I think the one Bristol mentions tends to be a pretty common one for pop these days. Used typically in a chorus. Often will take a hell of a lot of tightening to get it to work as well as you hear on the radio. Lots of hours go into it. There might then be a big stack of harmonies below all this too adding meat and thickness to the sound, but with two main leads kicking out at front.

Yes Matt - I seem to spend more time correcting timing variations using V-Vocal than I ever do for pitch correction, especially on 'S' and 'T' sounds

The kind of job that sucks all the artistic life right out of you ;) That's why the pros give these jobs to the assistant! Wish I had an assistant :( I always try to do these kind of 'housework' type editing components on a different day to any mixing that I'm doing for lack of artistic breath that leaves my lungs following a good hit of comping.

I have tried the whole "clone a track" then nudge one a few clicks one way or the other.  For me, that didn't work properly to give the correct results I was looking.  Since the tracks are identical to each other the possibility of comb filtering and other problematic issues can arise. 

I prefer to record several tracks. Now doing that can take considerable time since if they are both going to be heard as in the pop music example...they have to be dead on ringers with tempo, phrasing, nuances, and pitch. (of course pitch correction and manipulation software can really help in this endeavor) 

The Beatles used to use a method like this....and I heard somewhere that they (Paul?) would spend dozens of hours, sometimes many days, just working on the vocal tracks to get it exact.... since I don't think they had access to such tools as melodyne back in the day. 

AudioSnap is your friend when aligning double-tracked vocals and harmonies.

For same-panned double-tracked lead vocals you can go as far as editing out the hard consonants entirely from the doubles. You get no thickening effect on a "T" or a "K" from doubling, just less definition, so let the primary vocal track carry them alone.

Speaking of double-tracking as a lost art, watch that making-of documentary about Dark Side of the Moon. There are vocal parts on that album that are double-tracked so well that I'd been unaware of the effect until Mr. Parsons pointed it out.

Didn't Gilmour do most of the singing on "Dark Side"?

Yup, most of it, anyway (notable exception is Waters on "Money"). And to my surprise, nearly every part was double-tracked, but it's not at all obvious unless you're listening for it. Most of the harmonies were sung by Wright, who had an uncanny knack for blending seamlessly with Gilmour's voice.

Gilmour was also particularly adept at doubling lead guitar parts. I think that's one of the reasons guitar players ever since have struggled to match his sound, even using the same instrument and effects: many of the leads are double-tracked.