Getting broader Vocal texture during Mixing

[vishonly]

I have recently recorded a female vocalist for one of my song. While the overall song is sounding nice. Its a indian dance song. However I am not very satisfied with the vocal texture. I know every singer has its own texture, but since I cant get another singer to rercord, I want to live with this only. We want broader vocals, some bass in vocals, but EQ analyzer is showing no bass frequency. while my mixing engineer tried few ideas but still not getting desired sound.

 

Any suggestions / ideas badly needed.

 

- Vishal

----------------------------

LPX , MBP 13

[ElMariachi78]

Hi,

 

if you can bring the singer to your studio again you can try double tracking her, that makes the vocals fuller and fatter.

In modern dance productions its very common to record the vocals e.g. in the chorus of a song multiple times and to pan these vocal tracks across the stereo field. Add Reverb, Delay, Chorus ... the palette is huge. A Neve style mic-preamp like 1073 helps a lot too.

If you can not re-record you can try a technique called ADT ( Artificial Double Tracking ): You copy your recorded vocal track to two new audio tracks. Pan these tracks hard left and hard right. Delay each track 5-20 ms and add a little modulation like a chorus or flanger.

There are many techniques to "broaden" vocals.Adding Bass with EQ will not help you much.

 

Hope that helps 8)

[vishonly]

Thanks for the great advice EiMariachi. I think I need to try the DT option again as you suggested. Will let you know the results.

 

Thanks

Vishal

[ElMariachi78]

You´re welcome

 

Good luck !

[geecee58]

I have a similar question, but actually it deals more with the original recording session. I have a vocal quintet I want to record, but am not sure if I should have each vocalist on his/her own mike, or set up two or three mikes and record all of us at the same time. I've used one mike before, but it's very difficult to get a good blend. I was thinking if, each member is on their own mike it would be easier to mix and blend. I plan to do dry recordings and add effects during mixing and mastering. I'm open to suggestions. Thanks for any help you can give me.

[geecee58]

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post question, is that when I have done recording sessions with each member on their own mike, I have double (actually triple) tracked the vocals for each song. I love the full sound it gives. However, I wish there were an easier way because it's not impossible, but is difficult to precisely match each previous recording.

[ElMariachi78]

One thing I forgot to mention in my previous post question, is that when I have done recording sessions with each member on their own mike, I have double (actually triple) tracked the vocals for each song. I love the full sound it gives. However, I wish there were an easier way because it's not impossible, but is difficult to precisely match each previous recording.

 

Hi,

 

recording each singer on his/her own mic gives you more options when it comes to mixing: individual EQ, Panorama,Compressor, FX etc.

 

but

 

recording with only one mic set to omni gives you a more homogen sound.

 

There is no right or wrong, I think it depends on the genre of music and the musical context and how you want the vocals to sit in the mix. Do you want them as background singers or a choir , a single mic or 2 mics in AB pannned hard left/right will suit best.

Or do you want to have each voice on a seperate channel to mix them differently ( volume.EQ,FX etc.).

If you want to double or triple track each voice there is a plug in called VocAlign from Synchro Arts which allows you to synchronize the double/triple tracked vocal takes to the original vocal take in your DAW. Its expensive but there is a demo which works for 2 weeks i think.

Hope that helps 8)

[geecee58]

Thanks. We use accompaniment tracks to perform and record with. So I would want mix each voice differently since there are men and women voices to mix and blend. I will give the VocAlign a look when I'm ready to start recording. If it works well, it will be worth the cost.