Jeff Evans


In my opinion the word 'bed' to describe vocals is a bad choice of words. Usually the word 'bed' means several instruments eg laying down 'bed' tracks in the rhythm section usually means bass, drums and perhaps one or two rhythm instruments.

I think the word 'bed' or vocal bed the way Danny has used it could make it confusing. Vocals are either lead Vox or backing Vox or BV's. That is it! A vocal is either lead or backup harmonies etc. BV's is the much more common terms used here anyway.

It's cool, I guess it depends what school you come from. :) "Beds" to me are anything with several instrument voicings creating a part as an entity whether they be all the same instrument or different ones. Bed meaning "several" or "group". If you use bass, drums and two rhythm instruments wouldn't that be "the rhythm section" or "rhythm bed"? Why wouldn't a vocal stack/choir or of back-up vocals be considered a bed? It's just a group of instruments really. I was never under the impression it had to be several DIFFERENT instruments. We just say beds when they equal "groups" of any kind. If it's the wrong term, my apologies...I'll have to inform all of PA, NJ, NY and DE to let them know. :) LOL!
 
-Danny

Though it isn't a good idea to use the chorus fx to make a choir effect. Am I right? It's only used to ad a little depth and thickness and not make one or two vocals into a choir. To make a choir effect, it's best to do multiple takes and either pan them or stack them with a bit of timing difference?

sharpdion. I don't mean to be rude or anything but, all your questions are looking for answers.
Most of the time there are none. Bottom line is, do what sounds good to you.
And, I don't mean to say the responders are wrong.

The trick is, putting in the time to know in your head, heart and ears what something will sound like.
In other words, you hear something in your head, you know what to reach for to achieve it.

As for your question about chorus, "use the chorus fx to make a choir effect". If you put a chorus on something, it will sound like you put a chorus on it or not, depending how you mix it in and the settings of the chorus that you use. It can be useful in any situation or not. Especially depending on what you are trying to achieve. 

All that said, I think that whatever questions you have and whatever answers you get, I think it is most important to consider the style that you are going for. That to me is the deciding factor in most decisions if you want to put it into a "this does this and this does that" kind of thing. As the doubling a guitar thing goes, there are certain styles that this works great for and some not so much. And, it matters much as to what level/volume any effect is at. Is it supportive or just an all out effect?

I don't know if I'm getting across what I'm trying to say and I should probably just delete this.
But, oh well. That's all I got.

Danny I think it just one of those American terms of reference compared to other countries. We use the word bed here but more in context of several different instruments. For vocal backups and stuff we generally don't use the word bed that is all I think. We tend to put vocals into either the lead group or the backing group.

It is like you guys use the word board to describe a mixing console but here in Australia we call it a mixing console! (or sometimes the word desk) LOL 

sharpdion. I don't mean to be rude or anything but, all your questions are looking for answers. 

Most of the time there are none. Bottom line is, do what sounds good to you.
And, I don't mean to say the responders are wrong.

The trick is, putting in the time to know in your head, heart and ears what something will sound like.
In other words, you hear something in your head, you know what to reach for to achieve it.

As for your question about chorus, "use the chorus fx to make a choir effect". If you put a chorus on something, it will sound like you put a chorus on it or not, depending how you mix it in and the settings of the chorus that you use. It can be useful in any situation or not. Especially depending on what you are trying to achieve. 

All that said, I think that whatever questions you have and whatever answers you get, I think it is most important to consider the style that you are going for. That to me is the deciding factor in most decisions if you want to put it into a "this does this and this does that" kind of thing. As the doubling a guitar thing goes, there are certain styles that this works great for and some not so much. And, it matters much as to what level/volume any effect is at. Is it supportive or just an all out effect?

I don't know if I'm getting across what I'm trying to say and I should probably just delete this.
But, oh well. That's all I got.

I get what you are trying to say. I'm just trying to get the general rule of thumb so I don't head in the wrong direction and try to use it in ways that will actually benefit the project and not just use it for every scenario.