Stacks?

[SOwens]

I recently had a customer who said they would like to have vocal "stacks" added to their tunes. What is it, and how can you do it in PTLE? Can anyone help?

Sowens

[Last]

Maby what they mean is doubletracks,or backingvocals.Ask them to explain .Unless Im missing something,it sounds like another case of someone having heard something somewhere and using it in the hopes of coming off clever.How many times have I heard"there's too much reverb"on a dry track,or "Put some Dither on that mix" or even " Yea,thats nice,but Cant we put a filter on it,so it repeats" . but the all time favourite seems to be "cant u make it fatter?" And the one phraze that immediately identifies an idiot client is "what samplers do you use?"or any version of it like "Yea,that kick sounds nice,cant we sample it to make it fatter?" and all other mixes of the above,like "I want you to reverb that sample then dither it fat and stack it"
I find the best way to deal with such people is to do it right back at them . Tell them yea,you could do that,only the trapezial convulsive sonic footprint would be advercely affected by an introduction of latter zone sampledencity in the humberg equasion exclusion derivative.

[mjames08]

I printed this forum so I can hang it in my studio above my desk.. [img]images/icons/grin.gif[/img]

[kalle74]

LOL. Or then you could try telling these guys that "stacking" would cause a "resonatro paraplexiae", and that would be REALLY bad. [img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[8mmOverdose]

I sometimes like to "a/b" a track for someone without actually changing anything on the "b" track, just to see which one they think sounds better! "I swear "b" sounds better" *laugh* I would guess that "stacking" the vocals means he wants you to double the vocal tracks. Try adding a slight stereo chorus to the tracks, or have them sing it again and play the two together.

[JMS40]

Traditionally, stacking refers to performing the same track again, once or a hundred times... vocals, guitars, etc.. Each pass will have slight differences that fatten and give the illusion of a group. These days, you can mimic this to a certain degree by copying and offsetting the time a bit, but, for the most part, I still prefer multiple performances. I have done sessions where, for budgetary reasons, we turned a small string section into the NY Philharmonic. <BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by SOwens:
I recently had a customer who said they would like to have vocal "stacks" added to their tunes. What is it, and how can you do it in PTLE? Can anyone help?

Sowens<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[David001]

Post deleted by David001

[JMS40]

Stacking applies to much more than just background vocals and often has nothing to do with adding another harmony or counterpoint. In fact, more often than not, you'll hear the word used in reference to doubling... exactly... a single part or group of parts, much more than overdubbing harmony lines. Doubling, or tripling, "stacking" a lead guitar line or a vocal, is a standard practice and has been used long before the digital effects you mention.

<BLOCKQUOTE><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial">quote:<HR>Originally posted by David001:
Sheesh...
OK. Vocal Stacks. It used to be called Background vocals, and before that it was called harmony, and before that it was called Counterpoint (punctus contra-punctum). I think they call them "vocal stacks" now because new hardware and software can take a single vocal and modulate it to thirds, fifths (and seconds, fourths and sevenths for you more adventurous folks) to create two, three, and four part harmonies - even full choirs with enough time and tracks<g>. The things can even modify the sonics to make a male voice sound female or visa-versa (it's called "gender-bender").
<HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

[SOwens]

Thanks to everone for their info. How could I double tracks, backup vocals, etc, in PTLE?
I guess it would make tracks seem alot "fatter".

Sowens

[mjames08]

Have the artist perform the vocals twice, and then mix them to your taste. When I do vocals, we usually do 2 tracks of the main vocal and 1, maybe 2 tracks for the harmonies..