Big gang/crowd vocals

[Raoul23]

Hi guys I'm recording a band at the mo who want some gang vocal like this. Check out http://youtu.be/2NTyyCwwDfY?t=3m6s

Can people suggest how to do this. Is the secret to record about 20 takes of the 4 band members shouting the lyrics ???

[BroomPole]

Just finished recording a punk band with some similar shout outs. I usually find when doing it the best results come from 3-6 dudes in a semi circle around a LDC. Then double take it panning one left and right. I find it gets pretty muddy really fast if you go much over two or three takes. At that point you might want more people.

That song you posted sounds to me like what I just recorded with two takes though.

cheers
Kevin

[Raoul23]

Originally Posted by BroomPole

Just finished recording a punk band with some similar shout outs. I usually find when doing it the best results come from 3-6 dudes in a semi circle around a LDC. Then double take it panning one left and right. I find it gets pretty muddy really fast if you go much over two or three takes. At that point you might want more people.

That song you posted sounds to me like what I just recorded with two takes though.

cheers
Kevin

Cheers Kevin for chiming in we did try 3 of the band members shouting the part twice and I even panned them full left and full right. I just found it doesn't sound as crowdy if that makes sense. In the link I posted I thought there were more people in the gang ?

[TruestPain]

To capture this in a studio session. Would this be the same technique as to capture a "crowd" or what could appear as a crowd* vocally, such as when certain songs have like a chant going on or repeating a specific sentence of a hook or a bridge.

How and what is the best way to capture this?

[Raoul23]

Originally Posted by TruestPain

To capture this in a studio session. Would this be the same technique as to capture a "crowd" or what could appear as a ground vocally, such as when certain songs have like a chant going on or repeating a specific sentence of a hook or a bridge.

How and what is the best way to capture this?

Yeah that's what I'm after the BIG crowd chanting sound

[Craig F]

it is a good time to have friends & girlfriends stop by to make the group larger
having people move around between takes and if the can change there range even better

[Stig Eliassen]

Also, keep some distance to the mic(s). When did you ever have 50 people 1' away from your "ears"?

[ondruspat]

Craig and PT's suggestions are both good ones. Also remember to do a few takes where no one cares about singing in key. Part of a crowd singing is the disonance of crappy singers!!!

[Craig F]

I took a mobile rig to a party one time for the party track
DA-88 w/ a mix on 1&2 (mono, phase flipped on 2)
mic pres
stereo LDC
and a pair of powered speakers

fun night

[Bill@Avid]

I don’t know if this is helpful or what you’re looking for but this was my tried and true big hair big chorus formula circa 1986.

I’d collect up all of the guys in the band that could sing (three if I was lucky maybe four). More than a few people and it would get pretty loose and unintelligible.

I’d position them standing arm’s length from either side of a c414 in figure 8. (+1 on the distance makes a crowd). I had a pretty vanilla room, not too live not too dead, and arm’s length provided just enough room sound.

I’d get one take that sounded good and tight and then do three more playing only the original take for reference to keep things tight. When I had four tight takes this was usually enough to get a big polished sound. A little HPF EQ and some sucking out the boxy mids is it was pretty straight forward gang vocal.

Here’s where it gets stupid. If I was going for that huge “noise reduction out sound” I’d repeat the steps above and ask the guys to pretend to be someone else. I’d take looser and pitcher takes as well. Usually this set would get mashed with compression and eviscerated with EQ so that all you got was the presence and sibilance. You could EQ the pitch out of them so the just added the suggestion bad singing and some extra mass. I would blend this second set with the polished set to make them a little uglier.

On rare occasions if the song called for that extra push over the cliff I’d mult them as a group, cut all the lows and mids, and then excite or distort just the high frequencies then bring this up in parallel behind the original. Sometimes I’d noise gate them really tightly and get them to snap in and out of existence. In reflection I think we were trying to emulate (no pun intended) sounds of background vocals that we being triggered by live acts using the 8 and 12 bit samplers of the day.

Good times! That was cathartic, sorry for the novella