Spread vocals like in a song

Hi Forum,

In the next week i'm going tot record a vocal on music. (The Rose - Bette Midler sound alike) But what I want to create is a warm spread out vocal.

What is the best to do? What reverb do I use or what?

Hope anyone can help me?


Greetz,

Partyradio

Next week?! That's kind of soon

Well, you need a good, suitable microphone. Then the recording technique is also important. You'll probably need to EQ a bit too to get the right amount of low/low-mid frequencies. Some compression may also be necessary.

And to get spread out vocals....you can have one vocal on the left, one on the right (more often used for background vocals actually). Delay can also make things sound wider. And then there's reverb of course.

As you see, there's much to cover and there's not that much time left If I were you I would record my own voice and experiment a bit. Record your voice in different ways, closer to the microphone, far away. Change microphone's angle.

Then you can play with some EQ and reverb presets. Just to get a feel of them. Maybe there's one that you like so you don't have to change one parameter at all.
I don't know how experienced you are so maybe this is just obvious stuff for you. If so, ignore this post, hehe

[TROGDOR!!!]

Umm... what equipment are you using (mic, preamp, mixer, etc.)?  Also, can you define a little more specifically what you mean by wide...  This could mean anything from the way the singer pronounces her words to how warm your sound is to actual stereo spread.

Josh

I assumed he meant the stereo spread....we'll see.

I use some 12-voice, nicely delayed, very slightly detuned chorusing in CEP to accomplish this.  When it gets mixed, I add just enough to miss it when it gets muted.  If you can hear it, then it sounds like a gimmick.

If you want a really overt spread sound, then layering your voice (tripling by overdubbing it) is the way to go.

If you want a really overt spread sound, then layering your voice (tripling by overdubbing it) is the way to go.

Or by using a short panned delay to create automatic double tracking - pan your original voice to one side and your delayed voice to the other side and experiment with the delay and the width until you find something you like. (Two delays would give you fake triple tracking...) The advantage of this is not having to precisely match the first vocal performance in subsequent takes.

From memory, this technique was developed by George Martin for the Beatles when John was getting sick of forever overdubbing vocals...

From memory, this technique was developed by George Martin for the Beatles when John was getting sick of forever overdubbing vocals...

I think you'll find that the breakthrough was made by Engineer Ken Townsend, who realised that feedback was the answer to the missing part of the riddle. He is supposed to have realised this on the way home after one of the Abbey Road sessions, and fixed it the following day. The prime motivation was supposed to be Lennon's desire to do as many different things to alter his voice as possible...

The prime motivation was supposed to be Lennon's desire to do as many different things to alter his voice as possible...

...while most other artists do not want their voices to be altered too much  

Guys,

I'm not really new to this, I have an home studio with a Rode NT1 microfoon, Dayner mixer and some Behringer exier, denoiser and so on. Did some commercials and voice overs.  But the only thing I can't manage is to spead vocals to become warmer......Yes I can do it but it becomes more like a faser effect, I mean not the clean own voice of the singer.

So you think to to it with delays, Overdubbing,,,,,

But in the song like bette midler - the rose there's only one voice and Bette isn't dubbed over?

Greetz,

PArty

Personally, I prefer panning and delaying track, and..... working with using different takes (i.e., not just copying the original track).  It can be done to good effect using a copy as well though.  Just take your original (mono) track and make 3 "unique" copies.  Use a different delay for each copy track (say... 30 ms, 50 ms, and 10 ms).  Now pan the original about -20 left, the 30ms +20 right, the 50 ms hard left and the 10 ms hard right.  Adjust your volumes to get a nice balance coming across the stereo field.  You can also select all tracks and create a "stereo" mixed down file and use it to apply a reverb to.  FWIW, when doing the stereo track, I like to use 100% wet (no dry mix at all) and then you can use the "wet" tracks volume control to adjust the amount of reverb.  After getting all the vocal tracks balanced and wet to taste, you can mixdown again and have 1 stereo track that is spread, panned and wet.  The MS time references are subject to your individual taste.  YMMV!  

Again, I would prefer to do this process with different takes of the same track to impart the subtle differences of each take.

[TROGDOR!!!]

Guys,

I'm not really new to this, I have an home studio with a Rode NT1 microfoon, Dayner mixer and some Behringer exier, denoiser and so on. Did some commercials and voice overs.  But the only thing I can't manage is to spead vocals to become warmer......Yes I can do it but it becomes more like a faser effect, I mean not the clean own voice of the singer.

So you think to to it with delays, Overdubbing,,,,,

But in the song like bette midler - the rose there's only one voice and Bette isn't dubbed over?

Greetz,

PArty

Ahh.. you're looking for warmth.  There's the key word.

Try Voxengo's tube plug-in.  It's free, and I've had some recent success with it.  Also, Antares makes a few plugs that might help.  You might also look into judicious vocal compression.  Or, more simply, try using a different mic or a different mic position.  Try using two mics.  Mess with the EQ (especially concentrating on low mids and rolling off some of the highs).

There are lots of avenues to get at warmth.  You'll just have to find what works for this particular track.  If you can post a sample of the vocal somewhere, I'm sure several of the guys around here will give it a listen and help point you in the right direction.

Good luck!
Josh

The prime motivation was supposed to be Lennon's desire to do as many different things to alter his voice as possible...

Hmmm--along with the followup about artists not wanting to do this, I suppose you could say that Lennon would drag them kicking and screaming to the alter...



 

Hi Guys,

Thanks for thinking with me, I did a little bit of fiddling around with delays and reverbs and it sound better...

It needs a bit of fine tuning but I think I will manage it..

Everybody thanks for there great affort!


Greetz,

Party