Very 'Wide' Vocal Mixes

[Kon Alexiou]

I've been doing some reading up on the various vocal tricks producers have used of the years to produce 'wider' sounding vocals. I once read that 3 tracks of the same vocal could be used to achieve this. How can this be done? Would certain tracks be lower in volume that others, or would there be a need to pan in a certain way and create a delay by slightly shifting tracks backwards or forwards?

If anyone has tried something similar, I would be interested to know. So far I have discovered a way to use the 'Mooger Fooger' analog delay plug in to produce a vocal effect similar to the one heard on 'Southern Man' - an early Neil Young (Buffalo Springfield?) track. It is not that heard to create that slightly distorted effect, just use a lot of compression and a few short delay tricks.

Anyway, if anyone out there can share ideas, that would be good, as I hope to keep this thread running.

Kon,

Australia.

[Phil Ogden]

The 'Ricky Martin' effect uses 3 tracks. A central track and 2 wide panned versions of the same but each tuned +/- 3-5 cents.

Sounds like you're referring to the use of (Mooger Fooger) delay to create an artificial double tracking effect.

Other things to consider include,

- Real double tracking.
- Parallel FX processing (e.g distortion).

http://www.myspace.com/philogg

[Gothboy]

There are so many possibilities it's almost endless....but I do a lot with "Wide Vocal mixes" as you call it though not using the exact same track tripled. Sometimes in sessions I've got 6 tracks of vocals. If I don't have enough good harmony tracks I'll make them in Melodyne and yeah panning is key as I spread them out over the stereo field. If you don't have Melodyne use Audiosuite Timeshift and make your harmonies all slightly different.

[andyj4308]

You can also look at creating an Aux track and having a chorus on it. Then send the audio track to main output and the chorus.

[Kon Alexiou]

Thanks Phil, and others I will try out your tips.
When you say +/- 3.5 cents what does that mean? Does it mean volume level? Thanks.

Originally Posted by Phil Ogden

The 'Ricky Martin' effect uses 3 tracks. A central track and 2 wide panned versions of the same but each tuned +/- 3-5 cents.

Sounds like you're referring to the use of (Mooger Fooger) delay to create an artificial double tracking effect.

Other things to consider include,

- Real double tracking.
- Parallel FX processing (e.g distortion).

http://www.myspace.com/philogg

[andyj4308]

Originally Posted by Kon Alexiou

Thanks Phil, and others I will try out your tips.
When you say +/- 3.5 cents what does that mean? Does it mean volume level? Thanks.

Within things such as Pitch Shift you can tweak the vocals by 'cents' which changes the pitch by tiny amounts.

[Phil Ogden]

Originally Posted by Kon Alexiou

Thanks Phil, and others I will try out your tips.
When you say +/- 3.5 cents what does that mean? Does it mean volume level? Thanks.

Yes, as andyj4308 has said, I'm referring to pitch shifting.

Cent = 1/100th of a semi tone.

3-5 cents = Between 3 and 5 cents. Any more and you may get phasing.

Pitch the left up by 3 cents and the right down by a similar amount.

http://www.myspace.com/philogg

[notrude55]

Or use a harmonizer like and old eventide or a model of it, delay one side a couple of mills more for a wider fx after pitching it