Vocals

[Tangled Wires]

Recorded some vocals last night, and am thinking about double tracking them to add a bit more power to the song. When doing this do you normally have both vocal tracks panned in the centre or is it best to pan one left and one right?

I may also want to add some backing vocals as well, but am not sure of the best way to pan these.

Any advice would be much appreciated

[Bluesberry]

Here is the way I have been doing it.  I am no great vocalist by any means and I am always not totally satisfied with my vocals, but this seems to be the best I have found so far.  I usually record to one track and then copy that over to another track and pan these L 5, R 5.  You can record dry and then add effects after when bouncing to really see what the effects do for you.  I find doing the two equal tracks, slightly panned gives my voice a bit more power and fullness over just having one track.  I tried the record totally seperate second, singing exactly the same as the first one, but I am not a good enough singer to pull this one off.  This is the best way I have found so far to record my vocals.

[Tangled Wires]

Thanks very much for the advice, will give it a go

[Oldrottenhead]

when i do that, i record two separate vocals to say track 3 and 4, depending on the song and dynamics of the other instruments and placing of them in the mix,

i normally plum for panning both vocals dead centre, this gives an impression of one voice, my usual other option is to pan one vox full left and the other full right.

am working on something tonight, with double tracked vocal, but am singing each vocal an octave apart one high one low, a bit like david bowie does on a lot of his early ziggy stuff, 

when doing this i usually pan full left and right separating the vocals, but one im working on sounds better to my ears anyway with both vox panned dead centre.

anyway wot im trying to say is there are no rules experiment with panning and see wot souunds best,

 do various mastering mixes and play them back to back to get a picture on which mix you prefer,

and a nice cognac helps too.

[Tangled Wires]

Thanks ORH for the additional tips.

One other point is that at some points during the song the vocals are either too quiet or too loud, and I was thinking that for the quiet sections to copy this across to other track (effectively triple tracking ) and for the sections that are too loud to take this out of the second track so it becomes only a single track to help reduce the level.

I am not sure if this is too messy or if there is another way to try and adjust the vocal levels to try and get them more consistent.

Forgive all these questions, but I am a complete novice when it comes to recording vocals!

[Greeny]

The way I record vocals tends to vary with the style and feel of the song. I do tend to have a lead vocal and backing vocal (sometimes two) on most songs though. I keep the lead vocal dead centre, and have the backing vocal panned left or right - it helps create a nice wide soundscape.

Rather than double-tracking, I always try to sing in harmony - but even though I've been doing this for years, it still comes down to trial and error. Sometimes it just clicks, sometimes it doesn't.

But It's worth putting the effort in, because when harmonies DO work, they can take a song into another dimension.

As ORH points out, there's no right or wrong answer. You just have to use your ears and intuition to find the right mix for the song 

[Oldrottenhead]

One other point is that at some points during the song the vocals are either too quiet or too loud

that can sometimes prove quite tricky, especially at loud parts you can cause peaking or distortion.

i tend to hold the mbr in my hand, so if im singing really loud at a particular part of the song in comparison to the rest of the song, i hold the mbr further away. you should also experiment with the sns input level, the effect you choose can also effect the volume, and the volume of the track you are singing over. sometimes i turn the music tracks down a bit so i can hear myself sing more clearly, then when vocal is recorded its a case of remixing the levels.

you could also record your vocals in parts or steps as long as there is a good gap between each part you are sing. for example you could sing the main vocal  but not singthe loud parts, then playback and when its time to siing the loud vocal hit record when finished hit play again so as not to record over existing vocal. there may e aslight click at start and end of record but turn down input level an record silnce over them. god im rambling this morning.