• How To Double Vocals In Pro Tools Shawn
• How To Double Vocals Logic
• How To Double Vocals On Ableton Lite 9

How to Use Dual Compressors on Vocals. Combine two compressors and you’ll have plenty of possibilities for experimentation; play with the order of the compressors, with the threshold of each, with the compression ratios, with attack and release times, and with the balance between the two units; if there’s gain make-up on either (or both) compressor. Doubling Vocals. The best way to get a vocal in the pocket is to turn the level down and then gradually life the volume until it gets right in the pocket – not too loud or too soft. Keep that setting for the first perfect vocal take. Now set the vocal doubled takes -8db to -10db before the initial lead vocal.

Editor's note: The following has been excerpted from Craig Anderton's book How to Record and Mix Great Vocals, from Hal Leonard's 12-part Musician's Guide to Home Recording book series. You can order the ebook or the softcover from.

To read more excerpts from the series, check out andDouble-tracking a vocal is the process of singing an additional, duplicate vocal on top of a main vocal to thicken the overall sound. Doubled vocals are typically mixed around –3 to –10 dB behind the main vocal to avoid competing with it. Because it’s impossible to sing a vocal exactly the same way twice, there will be slight timing and pitch differences that add interest and depth.

Figure 1 The Doubler plugin from can generate up to four double-tracked lines, each with their own variations, based on a single vocal. Pseudo-ADT with Pitch CorrectionAlthough dedicated plugins like the one above can provide double tracking, many people are surprised to find that pitch correction software has the necessary tools to provide electronically generated doubling effects. The following example is based on, but the principle is the same for other pitch-correction software.(Note: When using pitch correction software, the doubling effect works best with vocals that don’t already have extensive pitch or timing correction.). Duplicate the original, uncorrected vocal track.

How To Double Vocals In Pro Tools Shawn

Open the track in Melodyne. Note that programs with ARA (Audio Random Access, a protocol created by Celemony and PreSonus) can typically open Melodyne like any other clip effect. Select all the notes in the vocal. Turn up Correct Pitch Center to about 60%. Turn up Quantize Time Intensity to about 60%. Audition the ADT effect.

If necessary, tweak the pitch and timing correction amounts for the most realistic results. Figure 3 Studio One Pro’s Inspector allows easy detuning for pitch-shifting effects.This trick is as old as the (trademark Eventide), when engineers discovered that shifting pitch downward and mixing the harmonized signal behind the unprocessed vocal added a useful thickening effect. You can do this with any hardware or software pitch-shifting processor. If you want to triple the vocal, add a second pitch shifter and shift up by an amount equal to the downward shift of the first pitch shifter. When tripling, you may want to increase the overall amount of shift in each direction.Here’s how to create this effect. Copy the vocal track you want to thicken, so you now have two tracks of the same vocal.

Apply a pitch shift plugin or hardware processor to one of the tracks. A good starting point for pitch shifting is –15 to –30 cents. Alternatively, you may be able to detune the track itself, if the option exists (Fig. In this case, you won’t need to use a separate plugin. If using a plugin, set the mix parameter to 100% processed sound (you want only the pitch-shifted sound).

If the plugin has a feedback parameter, set it to 0. If delay time and modulation are available, try modulating pitch very slowly over a range of about 3 to 15 ms. This adds a bit of variety. Mix the doubled track down so it doesn’t compete with, but instead complements, the lead vocal.How to Mix Double-Tracked VocalsWhen mixing, centering the two vocals gives an effect similar to chorusing; the vocals sound somewhat more diffused, which works well for gentler material. This also gives the thickest sound. Panning them slightly opposed (about 30% right and 30% left) can give a more spacious sound in stereo, and sounds more like two individual vocals instead of a composite effect (which may or not be what you want).With sparser mixes, centered panning often works best; for dense material, like hard rock with lots of distorted guitar, spreading the sound somewhat gives the vocals more presence.

However, these aren’t rules, because ultimately, the song itself will dictate what works best in the final mix. Besides, you can automate the panning to place the vocals as appropriate for particular parts of the song. The Doubled Vocal FixSuppose you’ve recorded a really great doubled vocal part, but unfortunately, for one short phrase only one of the two tracks has a perfect take. One way to fix this is to copy the perfect part into the other track, then delay it by 20 to 35 ms. This will be just enough to make it sound like it’s a doubled vocal (see Fig. Figure 4 Copying part of a vocal from one track and offsetting it slightly can replace a sketchy note in a different track.

Creating Harmonies with Pitch Correction SoftwareWhen you can’t quite hit the high or low notes, or your voice loses power at extreme pitch ranges, pitch correction software can usually help by applying pitch transposition. (There are limitations, though; transposing too far can give an unnatural effect).If you don’t have a wide vocal range, you may have to choose a vocal’s key very carefully to make sure you can hit the high harmony notes; however, this might compromise the sound of the low notes, pushing them out of your comfort zone. This is where pitch correction can help. You can use pitch correction to fix high notes that are just a bit out of your range, allowing you to choose the optimum key for the lead vocal and use pitch correction where needed for the harmony.Most of the time, I can hit the harmonies, so I’ll sing them and bring in pitch correction to the harmony if needed. But there’s also merit to using pitch correction to generate a harmony electronically, even when you can hit the notes—the timbre has a different character that works well in some musical contexts.

Another benefit is that you can experiment with synthesizing different harmony parts, then learn to sing them and replace the synthesized versions.Here’s how to create harmonies using, although the same basic principles apply to other pitch-correction software:. Duplicate the lead vocal. Open the lead vocal in Melodyne (programs that include the Audio Random Access protocol can typically open Melodyne like any other clip effect). Solo the lead vocal and the duplicated vocal.

Your host software’s dim solo function can be useful for this application so you can hear the vocals along with the rest of the song. Adjust the pitch of the duplicate track’s blobs to create the harmony (see Fig.

Figure 5 The harmony line in Melodyne (blue) superimposed on the lead vocal. Note: Melodyne does not display tracks superimposed like this; the screenshot has been altered to help visualize the effect.Often the easiest way to create a harmony like this is by ear; however even the basic version of Melodyne (Melodyne Essential) can display different reference scales indicating where the scale steps fall. If you’re theory minded, you can always apply the rules of harmony to determine which pitches to use for your harmonies.

Also consider turning off chromatic snapping for pitch, and adjust the harmony pitch by ear. Sometimes you might want the harmony just a little bit sharp or flat to add a little more tension.Feel free to combine this process with the previous suggestions for creating pseudo-automatic double tracking with pitch correction.

Applying those techniques to the harmony line can help establish it as an independent entity. Techniques for Layered VocalsLayering vocals—singing multiple vocals and stacking them on top of each other—is a common technique to thicken a vocal part, whether applied to a solo voice or to a massed group of backing vocals. However, there are certain considerations with layered vocals that don’t apply to single vocals, because layered vocals need to have a coherent, solid vibe. Words can’t start or end at different times, unless you’re going for a certain looseness.

For tight vocals, there are several DAW techniques that can give the kind of feel you want. Dealing with InhalesInhales are a natural part of singing; however with multiple voices, inhales often don’t occur simultaneously.

For a more unified sound, pick two inhales that are in sync (or just one, if there aren’t two together), and delete the other ones by cutting from the start of the inhale to where the note begins. Adding a slight fade at the edits will make for a smoother transition, although the inhales you’ve kept will likely smooth over these transitions anyway.If you want to keep an inhale but find that it’s too prominent, try fading in on the inhale to make it less obtrusive while still retaining an authentic vocal quality. Fixing Notes that Don’t End at the Same TimeIf one note is short compared to another that’s the correct length, split the short clip just before the last word, and use the host program’s DSP time-stretching function to lengthen that one word. In some cases you can split a note during the note’s sustain, stretch the end longer, and then crossfade the split region to make a smooth transition between the main part and the note’s sustaining end. This can give a more natural sound if you need a fair amount of correction.A note that extends too long is easier to fix—just fade it so its length matches the reference vocal, or split during a sustain and move the end closer to the beginning, with crossfade enabled to provide a smooth transition between the two. For a really uniform sound, group all the vocal clips together and add a common fade so that they all fade simultaneously. This creates a super-precise vocal sound, but because you’re not processing the vocal itself, the sound is natural (see Fig.

Figure 6 Each word has been aligned to start at the same time, while a common fade time creates a common ending. Before the fades were added, the notes had different end times. Shifting Vocal FormantsFormants determine vocal timbre, and different people’s voices exhibit different timbres because of their vocal formants.

For example, Mickey Mouse’s formant produces a bright, high timbre, while Darth Vader’s formant creates a timbre that’s dark and low.You can add variety to vocals by changing the vocal formats, particularly if you’re singing all the layered vocal background parts yourself. For example, if you’re singing three background vocal parts, you might want to give one of them a brighter formant and another a darker formant. Formant editing isn’t that common with software, although Melodyne’s editor and studio versions provide formant editing options.Back in the days of tape, a common technique to change vocal formants was slowing down the tape somewhat, singing to the slowed-down track, then speeding it back up again. This brightened up the voice’s formant, and had the side benefit of tightening up the timing. Most recording software has some way to vary pitch, either for the project as a whole or for individual clips.

If you can change the project tempo, then you can use the same technique as tape: slow down the project (or speed it up, if you want the vocal to sound deeper), sing along, then bring the project speed back to pitch. BussingTo avoid having to mix multiple vocal tracks simultaneously, set up aux sends in each of the layered vocals, and have each send terminate in a single stereo return. Not only does this make it a lot easier to mix because you need adjust only the single return instead of all the individual tracks, but you can also use a common signal processor (like a bus compressor set for a modest amount of compression) to “glue” the layered tracks together.

A bussed, individual stereo output also lends itself well to reverb, because the voices sound like they’re in a common acoustical space.If you don’t need a common effect on all the tracks, an alternate to bussing is to group the track levels together so that varying one fader varies all faders in the group.About the Author: Craig Anderton is an internationally recognized authority on musical technology. As a musician, producer, and engineer, he has played on or produced over 20 albums and has mastered hundreds of tracks.

He has authored over 35 books and more than 1,000 articles for Guitar Player, Sound on Sound, Electronic Musician (which he co-founded), Pro Sound News, Mix, and several international publications. Visit his personal website.

You might try a different mic for the doubles. Though I've doubled vocals just about every time I've recorded them and never had a problem with comb filtering. Some slight comb filtering is to be expected. That's what the chorus effect is and is pretty much the reason to double track the vocals. But it shouldn't stand out. If it's standing out, maybe you should try changing the chain on the doubled parts a bit. Different mic or different compressor or reverb or something.

Or maybe try tracking them in a different room. Just change something.I don't know how you'd get comb filtering from a double track, as it's pretty much thought to be impossible to nail two takes that precisely, so that would leave me to believe that you may be experiencing a different problem.

But who knows.Also, like Flogger59 said, it's a good idea to drop the volume of the doubled tracks down below the main track. I usually don't let the doubled parts be heard on their own, but rather just give them enough volume to support the main vocal track so that you might not be able to hear the doubled part on it's own in the mix, but if you mute it, you'll definitely notice the main vocal track get thin. Then in the chorus of the song, sometimes I'll bring it up to the same level and even add more layers. It all depends on the song. Can you post a clip of the audio in question? I'm not sure what your hearing, or think your hearing but true comb filtering is impossible with straight up double tracking.Comb filtering occurs when two 'identical' audio signals are combined with a very slight time difference.If you have two takes on two tracks its not happening. What your experiencing is something else entirely.

Comb filtering sounds most like a cocked wah pedal, you know. Stopped halfway through its sweep.Honestly most of the time I'm doubling vocals the chain is identical, same mic same preamp blah blah blee blee across every take. Usually what happens is we'll start to comp (edit) the vocals and wonder what two sound like played together.

How To Double Vocals Logic

Maybe I roll a bit more low end off the double or duck some midrange. But otherwise identical. Click to expand.Yup. That's usually the way I do it too. About the only time I actually swap things out is if I tried that and it didn't work, which is usually does. Like the other day I did that with some vocals and it still sounded a bit too thin. So I set up a thicker sounding vocal chain that usually doesn't cut through the mix as well, to compliment the take I already had that does cut through.

The balance between the two gave me the best of both worlds. Can i use car charger on motobatt motorcycle battery charger. I only suggested changing up the signal chain because I don't know what else to suggest. My theory being that maybe you're experience buildup in certain frequencies that only becomes noticeable when combining multiple tracks. It's a long shot, but seems more plausible than comb filtering from two separate takes. It's the simply the pitch variation between takes that's causing the comb filtering.Doubling is overrated and can be quite distracting if not performed properly.Most of the great 'doubling' in the 70s was done electronically via un-decoded encoded Dolby A used as an exciter. It provided their doubled vocals a 'sheen' that gave the comb filtering a certain brilliance that was very pleasant to the ear.Oh and get rid of as much low end as you can.

Use an exciter on the doubled vocals to bring out the brilliance. & watch your pitch.

Something simple and easy like Wave's Doubler would be a great start as far as FX goes. Click to expand.Once again, true and proper 'comb filtering' isn't going to happen between two different takes.Its as scientifically impossible as the pregnant man, flat out not going to happen.Basic audio 101 really.Comb filtering only occurs when the audio is completely identical but not summed properly.Two different mics on the same source.Bad FX routing in a DAW or digital consoles.Latency between the 'direct sound' and playback from DAW/digital console etc etc.Two completely different pieces of audio? The audio has to have some relationship to each other. See also the HAAS effect for a somewhat practical use. Don't think that's what we're talking about here.

Without an audio example from the OP who knows what he's hearing or thinks he's hearing! Click to expand.' Comb filtering' is used in a non scientific way to describe the horrible, nasal and hollow quality that you get that's just shy of 'chorusing'.

It's just a colloquial use of the term to describe a difficult to describe sound effect.Are you saying that two nearly identical takes of the same material, performed by the same singer, through the same microphone and in the same studio have no relation to each other? What is your idea of a relationship between audio sources if that doesn't meet your criteria? Click to expand.That's ABSOLUTELY what I'm saying.Its a scientific fact, not open to interpretation of 'feel' or 'vibe' or whatever.Two different takes have no relationship, they can't have comb filtering.Sorry dude.Go read some books on basic audio engineering or white papers or something.

Educate yourselves. Please!2+2 = 7??There might be something that manifests as comb filtering. Lets say he's about 5 feet away from the vocal mic on each take, getting lots of bad room sound in there but thats not comb filtering.Wow these guys used the exact same description I did, go figure that!!!

Moose is correct.Classic comb filtering issues arise with one sound source into one transducer but split into 2 separate time arrivals. A voice over dude's direct signal being mixed with a reflection off of the desk his coffee/water/copy is sitting on.Easiest place to listen for it is on T.V. Talk shows with moving boom mics near a boundary. You'll hear the guest/host/speakers voice phase.

How To Double Vocals On Ableton Lite 9

Drives me bat s.t crazy.The O.P has frequency interference plain and simple and part of it is due to time/amplitude and of course frequency.Digital comb filters are a whole other animal.Doubles to my ear usually sound best when loose, but varispeeding while tracking the double can do wonders.