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Can you "stack" vocals in Logic? (read thread for explanation)

I use logic, and I've went through the books, and I'm not sure what the term is that I am looking for. Basically, I record music by myself, and so I don't have any backup singers, etc, and well, I am doing a song in which I need it to sound as if a "choir" is singing in the background. I know how to record vocals, and then go back, and record vocals again, to overlay (as to say, if I wanted to say **** Yea... **** No at the same time, I'd just record once saying **** Yes, and then record again, at the same spot, say **** No, and on the mp3 it would say both, mixed together) But I am wanting to make it sound like many people are singing at once.

A great example of this would be to listen to "Ghost of Freedom" by Iced Earth, as towards the end of the song, they have a group singing "don't tread on me, live free or die" and it sounds like 20 people singing, and I want to do something similar, but all I have is myself, and so I am wondering if there is a way to layer my voice over and over, but make it sound like it's many people singing????

Logic Pro 8, Mac OS X (10.5.8)

Posted on Oct 17, 2010 1:24 AM

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24 replies

Oct 17, 2010 7:10 AM in response to fuzzynormal

OK, I think I'm not explaining myself well LOL. I know it can do multiple track recordings, I was just saying I want to make my one voice sound like it's an entire choir. Think of the "Hallelujah" chorus, how it sounds like 200 people singing it, that is what I am wanting to do. I can record my voice 1500 times but when I stack them on one another it still sounds like only 1 person singing, not an entire choir. I will have to check out what (Fuzzynormal) said as it appears that this Antares stuff may be the answer I need.

Oct 17, 2010 8:10 AM in response to LordRavenWolfe

It helps if you change your voice with each pass. Do some tracks in falsetto, others in a reedy sounding voice, some much more resonant, and others in characters from Shrek or Starwars. Seriously. i don't think any software will do as good a job as that. The Antares software is a bit better than your normal double tracking, but it hasn't convinced me from their demos.

Oct 17, 2010 8:17 AM in response to QtheMusic

you know, you may be correct, especially after seeing that it's 500 dollars for the bundle. Holy crap these people seem to think their software is worth a ton, and I'll never understand why on a Mac everything is priced like you are buying a d@mn Mercedes or something!

I think the main issue is that I don't like to sing to begin with, and if I leave my deep voice then I think I sound like crap, and so I figured if I tried to change my vocals over and over, it would just sound horrible! LOL!

Oct 17, 2010 9:12 AM in response to LordRavenWolfe

You have to use some (modulating) effects, especially if you are just duplicating tracks and using identical audio files. Also: you should PAN the different tracks differently, a choir dead centered is not very nice. Another thing to play with is Delay, just shift all the different voicetracks with 20-40 ms from eachother. If you play two identical audio tracks at the exact same timing and stereo position, all the second track will do is make it louder - the sound will not change at all.

Oct 17, 2010 9:32 AM in response to LordRavenWolfe

LordRavenWolfe wrote:
everything is priced like you are buying a d@mn Mercedes or something!



Yeah, I know what you mean! I stink at singing. A LOT of people do. But I have to do it from time and I also record people that really struggle with pitch, so I use Melodyne (big recommendation). I don't mind spending my money for tools that solve problems I need solved.

500 is very affordable if it does what you need it to do.

I think it would also help to realize that a piece of software industry professionals use make money, such as ProTools or Logic, is a different kind of game.

Yes, folks like you (and me) dabble in it --and because of that we have helped make the products much more "down-market", but certain tools no matter how much they cost will have almost infinite value if it fits your needs.

That said, regardless of what products are available, I'd say you also could use a dollop of perspective and thoughtful consideration when attempting to make your music. For instance, what you're attempting to do is actually not that difficult IF you have talent, tenacity, skill, and patience.

You want to emulate a gospel chorus.

So, try this: personally recreate the voices of every member in a typical gospel chorus. Depending on how "epic" you want it, you may do over 50 tracks. Each member of your chorus needs to have their own voice. Folks in a chorus all have different vocal ranges, pitch, and timbre, do they not? You need to sing it in that way as well, adopting a vocal "character" for each person. Including going falsetto for the female members of the chorus.

The good news is that a gospel chorus tends to have a good handful of members in it that are always singing off-pitch....but blend enough voices together that stay in the ballpark and it sounds pretty cool.

Ever hear some Shaker hymn singing?

Don't have the talent to pull it off and you absolutely NEED this for your song...and you want it to sound as impressive and true? Well, guess you'll have to hire a chorus, set up a studio session, and record them.

Is software that helps do this worth $500 now?

This ain't about entitlements. Buying Logic isn't a musical welfare office.

( It seems like these days a lot of users think it is....trying to get something for relatively no effort in return. I'm not saying that's you, I'm just opining )

If you want something worthwhile you have work at it and/or spend a little of your own cash sometimes to help make it happen.

Oct 17, 2010 10:06 AM in response to LordRavenWolfe

LordRavenWolfe wrote:
you know, you may be correct, especially after seeing that it's 500 dollars for the bundle. Holy crap these people seem to think their software is worth a ton, and I'll never understand why on a Mac everything is priced like you are buying a d@mn Mercedes or something!


This sentiment continually amazes me.

IT *USED TO BE* PROFESSIONAL software.

The bundle you are now buying for the **** Mercedes price of 500 dollars easily cost FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS before Apple bought up Emagic and made the thing accessible for every amateur and hobbyist who thinks that buying a keyboard and something that says "Pro" on it automatically turns them into an expert, or a great engineer, or a Giorgio Moroder, or a ******* gospel choir, as it were.

Logic used to be intended as a tool for people who knew what they were doing and paid the price for decent tools - exactly the same way people who buy a Hilti for $5000 know exactly why they're not buying the bargain-bin $99 power drill.

And yep, everything on the Mac is priced like a **** Mercedes. That's why you can get the entire Logic Studio package including over $3000 worth of plug-ins, Soundtrack Pro, and $500 worth of JamPacks INCLUDING a 13" MacBook Pro for the same price you'd pay for JUST Steinberg Nuendo.

Apologies for ripping into you, but the sense of entitlement is a phenomenon that is REALLY getting to me.

Sheesh.

Oct 17, 2010 10:07 AM in response to fuzzynormal

O, I definitely agree on spending the money for your needs, especially when you are doing something that you want to sound very professional. Everyone thinks I have a great voice, etc, it's just myself that seems to think I can't sing, and I'm just not comfortable going outside of that, although I need to explore that realm of possibility. Now, I do agree with the different vocal arrangements, and I am sure I will get it figured out since I am now learning that there are some things I can do to make things sound differently, etc.

I think this is probably more an issue of my not being able to effectively comprehend the books, etc, and so I am missing something that is probably so freaking logical that I'll kick myself once I figure it out. However, the peeps on here have given me some very good ideas, from delays to reverb, etc, and I will definitely be trying them!

As far as the money comment, it wasn't meant to say I think it's all just too expensive, because that's not the issue. If the software is worth the price, I can and will pay for it. It just seems that where pc programs bundle everything together, mac programs tend to give you 1 piece of a puzzle, and then go "o yea, we knew you'd need that, and we have it, just give us another 500 on top of the 900 you paid for that program, and the 500 you paid for the duet pedal, and we'll talk." But I shouldn't be surprised, because anything steve jobs touches seems to increase in price pretty quickly, but that's OK, if I need it, I'll get it, because I know that Macintosh makes better products. 🙂

Oct 17, 2010 10:15 AM in response to christianobermaier

Actually, as a person that both studies and plays music professionally, I DO know what I am doing. Now, some terms do lose me, but I have had truly Professional software before I lost it all in a divorce, and it had pretty much everything I needed, and guess what, it cost me a little over 2000 to get it all. That was just the recording stuff, and then I decided to just redo it and get it on Mac, although I sometimes wonder if I should have just stayed on PC for it because I had everything I needed, and at a MUCH lower price, so it's not a sense of entitlement, but rather a common sense feeling that you should bundle everything together, and sell it that way. Now, if you do that, and you want to charge 5000 for it, that's cool, but at least then you know you are getting all of that. When I looked up Logic Pro, and talked to everyone that used it from guys at Guitar Center to local bands, the stacking vocals was something that everyone noted as "easily done, one button click with Logic" and obviously that isn't the case. I don't doubt that it CAN do it, but rather that it's not as easy as all the people that reviewed it and that I talked to made it seem, especially since most of them now tell me they didn't know how to do it to begin with. So that was on me, for listening to other people. 🙂

I love the product, and I enjoy it, but I'm certainly not someone that just "dabbles" or "thinks that because I have a software that says pro, I am now a professional" because that isn't the case. I've been playing music since I was 4, and recording things on my own since I was about 15, although all that recording was on PC software, and so now I am just starting to get into the Mac stuff, and so it is a little bit overwhelming at this time, but I am sure I will get it figured out over time, I just thought this would be a nice place to ask, because i figured that surely some peeps out here have done this, and that I'm probably just missing something simple.

Message was edited by: LordRavenWolfe

Can you "stack" vocals in Logic? (read thread for explanation)

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