Doubling a vocal track?

What I do is this:
Copy the track to a new track (giving you 2 vocal tracks)
Now slide the second track a few samples to the right of the original. You will now have a doubler/Chorus effect. Slide to taste. It even makes for a great delay if you'd like.

The above is probably the best way to do it with Logic alone.

Waves Doubler works quite well if you want to go the plugin route.

But nothing compares to just singing it twice, and in the time you spend fiddling with plugins to get the right sound, you probably could have done that. It's really worth taking the time to duplicate your performance - it will sound much fuller and more natural.

If you just copy a track and time shift it, you'll get a simple echo. To make it a more convincing "doubling," also add a little chorus, roll off the high frequencies a bit, drop the volume to about half, and pan it away from the lead voice a bit.

Miles Fender wrote:
But nothing compares to just singing it twice, and in the time you spend fiddling with plugins to get the right sound, you probably could have done that. It's really worth taking the time to duplicate your performance - it will sound much fuller and more natural.

I'll second this advice...

There are lots of ways to easily double a track mechanically, but that's exactly how they sound... mechanical. If that's the desired effect, it's easy enough to do, as mentioned sliding a copied track a few milliseconds late (or early), or adding a very short delay, etc...

The software Melodyne can produce a very believable double, as pitch, timing, even formats can be altered, but it takes a reasonable amount of time.

If it's your own vocal, just sing it again. It'll take less time that anything, and will by far sound the best. And remember, the double doesn't have to be as perfect as the main vocal, if that's your concern. The slight pitch and timing differences are what makes it sound so good, especially when it's tucked underneath the main part.

I agree with this as well. It will be a lot faster to sing it again than it will be to get a convincing double through trickery, which will often give you thickening, rather than a good doubling effect. Quite often, when I am recording vocals (mine or others), I'll have them done two or three times over, giving me a lot more room to play with.

jord

gillywonk wrote:
If you just copy a track and time shift it, you'll get a simple echo. To make it a more convincing "doubling," also add a little chorus, roll off the high frequencies a bit, drop the volume to about half, and pan it away from the lead voice a bit.

Good suggestion... The problem with this though, and the delayed track, is that it's stagnant... the delay and the chorus are stationary to the lead vocal, where as a real double moves around it... it's a bit early, it's a bit late, it's right on, the pitch is sharp, the pitch is flat, the pitch is dead on, the tone is brighter, the tone is darker, the tone is right on... and this is ALL happening along with the main vocal.

But if you must do this electronically, may I suggest taking the chorus idea one step further...

Try this: Copy the track. Scoot it forward a sub-frame or so. Put a sample delay plug-in on that track, set to 0 samples. Now put Logic's Pitch shifter on that track...Semi-Tones and Cents set to 0, Mix set to 100%.

Now, using automation, randomly adjust the sample delay parameter, so that on a word or two it's around 0 (ahead of the original vocal), and then moving the sample parameter later, it's behind the original vocal. This has to happen very fast, on a word by word basis ("word" as in language, not as in digital clocking...)

Same thing with the pitch plug-in. Automate the "Cents" parameter quickly, and in small amounts.

This, in my opinion, will yield more realistic results electronically, than just a delay and/or chorus, if you are going for a natural sounding double....using what's available within Logic.

The catch here, is that in the time it takes you to do this effectively, you could have sung doubles to every song on your album, and had a sandwich...

The best and fattest way of doing this it to Double or even triple the vocal takes manually... Trust me - it gives you and effect that is natural sounding... And it makes it fat... I always go with double and triple tracking then I comp for the best double and triples and mix them with the original...

Try all these posted alternatives for yourself and then decide what you like the best 🙂


I own the waves doubler - but I think the only thing it has in common with doubling is its name.

Hi,

What you're looking for is a shorcut. IF you are willing to accept that this is a compromise, and that it might not sound the best, then go ahead and try any of the tips from the other posters.

If, however, you feel that getting the BEST, is important to you, then by all means DO sing the doubles. not only will this take less time, it will yield the best sound results.

And, you do want the best for your project, yes???

Cheers

Message was edited by: a crazy racoon on meds... "VIVA CAFFEINE!!!"

It's called: The 'Record-button plugin'..LOL!

Hail Mary 🙂

Great idea. Now as I often heard of this technique but didn't use it yet: why and in what situation do you apply doubling? Do you use it on the main vocals of a verse or for the chorus, for backings? Are there situations where doubling is "a must"?

Eddie