Doubling Vocals/Instruments: What's standard practice

Hi there,

In a typical rock band arrangement, e.g Vocals, Guitar, Keys, Bass and Drums, which instruments generally get doubled up for a fuller sound?

In my first recordings I just tracked one of each respective instrument, and as a result I found my mixes sounded quite thin, sparse and lopsided. Recently however, I've been doubling my rhythm guitar tracks and panning one to each side for extra thickness and texture.

I was just wondering what people tend to do with other instruments. Specifically, is it standard practice to record doubles of a lead vocal? Is it common to double bass or keyboard parts?

I'd like to get to know what some of you do with regards to this with your own mixes and also what's considered standard practice (if there is such a thing).

Thanks

I double or triple main vox and double the harmonies. You have to play with the levels to get it to glue all together. I tend to have the main vox on center or slightly off center for main, meaning one 5% L and the other 5% R, for example. I usually pan the harmonies further off center like 12-15%. I have found that doing this makes the vocals very lush.

I'll double track guitar parts except for leads. It depends on the song and the effect you are going for but usually I put the two rhythm guitar tracks out to one side at like 30% & 35% or 35% & 40%. The other guitar I'll do a similar thing but in the other side of center.

When I record bass, I mic & DI. When I'm happy with the blend I'll bounce it back to one track. Right up the Center.

I never copy and paste to create a doubled track, it is always another new performance.

Drums I pan like I'm facing the drum kit and put the hat to the right, kick up the middle, floor tom to the left, etc.

One old trick for thickening your sound is parallel compression ... copy your dry track and compress the snot out of the copy, 20:1 or even 30:1 is fair game — it will sound like crap soloed, but you're looking for density, not tone. ... Get your original track slicked up like you want it, but don't add effects or reverb to your copy. Keep it dry but maybe boost some highs. Make sure your lows are rolled off starting at about 120-160 Hz, or you'll add din and mud.

Then, while playing back your original track, slowly bring up the compressed copy until you hear some chug. You can play with the pans, or even move your timeline on the copy a millisecond or two off for a delay effect you can feel but not really hear (sometimes it's effective, sometimes not). ... I got this tip a while back on this forum, and it's worked well a number of times, so just thought I'd pass it on.

A couple of small tips for doubling vocals:

1) don't use the same mic through the same pre. I cut my lead vocals in a commercial studio with a U-47 or U-67 through a Neve 1073 and a UA1176- a classic vocal chain that is very thick. I do my doubling at home on a Shure SM7B through a Distressor- a very different tone; thinner, but very focused.

2) I try to doubling and background vocals to tape and utilize vari- speed to keep them interesting. I tend to slow tacks down a bit to doubling, so when it's back up to speed it adds a zingy brightness without sounding like chipmunks. I have an Otari 1/2" 8 track in my home studio that I use all the time for just that.

I recently put a set of Martin "High Strung" strings on an acoustic and doubled rhythm parts with it. It's okay doubling an electric part, but when you copy another acoustic guitar it's magic. btw, it's usually called Nashville tuning.

(And Woody, thanks for the reminder. The compression is something I had meant to do but totally forgot.)

Another trick which I just used tonight with acoustic guitar, is to use two different mics, pointed at different parts of the body (i.e. one at the neck/body join, another just behind the bridge), pan them apart 9 o'clock-3 o'clock, a bit or reverb and compression, and you're done...

Franc Robert

One old trick for thickening your sound is parallel compression ... copy your dry track and compress the snot out of the copy, 20:1 or even 30:1 is fair game — it will sound like crap soloed, but you're looking for density, not tone. ... Get your original track slicked up like you want it, but don't add effects or reverb to your copy. Keep it dry but maybe boost some highs. Make sure your lows are rolled off starting at about 120-160 Hz, or you'll add din and mud.

Then, while playing back your original track, slowly bring up the compressed copy until you hear some chug. You can play with the pans, or even move your timeline on the copy a millisecond or two off for a delay effect you can feel but not really hear (sometimes it's effective, sometimes not). ... I got this tip a while back on this forum, and it's worked well a number of times, so just thought I'd pass it on.

A great suggestion!

As to maybe 'playing' a double ... in a perfect world where you've got time ...
Change guitars, change amps. Change mics. Play the double.
In the real world of time constraints - just pick a different guitar and maybe move the mic on the amp two inches to the right or left, top or bottom(you get my drift). If you don't even want to change guitars flip the pkup selector switch and back off the gain on the dirt box if you're using one.

*Besides doing a straight 'double' of a distorted part I'll a thrid part with a clean tone on a real jangly axe - a Dano or a Jazzmaster or a cheap Kay that I have. And I tend to like those parts compressed to holy hell.

**Watch/listen for phasing issues!

Ahhh, doubling, tripling, quadrupling, my favorite thing ever. No rules. Whatever wants a thicker or more interesting tone is fair game. A few approaches I've used that come to mind, some standard, some wacky:


* The Mike Campbell trick. Track a crunch rhythm part through an AC30, Deluxe, or other cool tuber. Double with a direct signal or solid state amp such as a Roland Jazz Chorus 120.

* Also for crunch rhythms. Double with a "dying battery" fuzz box. You're looking for a ratty tone that spits and sputters with little sustain. The spit fuzz sounds horrible on its own but can provide an interesting attack/texture as mixed to taste with the "good" tone.

* Jangle Drone Deluxe. Record standard and high-string acoustic guitars and a mandolin. For extra Celtic flair or cool clustery suspensions, tune one or both guitars to DADGAD. If the tune's in D, drop the E string course down to D on the mando for maximum drone. The more full bodied standard guitar can sit center for a more traditional version of the world's largest 12 string. For more unusual textures, run the mando or high-string center and slightly more prominent, other two instruments panned to taste left and right.

* Poor man's 12 string. No 12 or high-string instrument available? Don't despair. For a quick fix, cut a track with open position chords. Double with a capo at the 12 fret with the same chord shapes.

* George Harrison slide parts. Two or three part harmonies with slide. Some doubling delay at around 15-20 milliseconds on one of the tracks can sound cool.

Similar to above, but also use an EBow with the slide to fake portamento effects on old analog synths, longer delays here. Baritone guitars are great with EBows for fake cello and oboe tones (learned about that trick right here on the TDPRI). Roll the bari's tone knob back depending on the texture you're looking for, and some subtle fuzz can drive the point home.

* Different approaches for volume swells. Instead of playing full chords with a volume pedal, play multiple parts of single string tracks with a bunch of dirt on them (the combination sounds very different than the one pass, full chord approach). For a more random version of the initial swell attack, use a volume pedal for each pass. For a more uniform attack, employ something like the swell patch on the big green Line 6 DL4 delay.

* Place a nice loud tube amp in an isolation booth that's reasonably sound proofed, or far away from where you're actually cutting (say, the control room). Place a mic in front of the electric guitar (like for an acoustic instrument) to capture the stringy attack, mix to taste. Also a great psychological improvisation approach for folks that love to lounge on the sofa and noodle along with the TV or a movie soundtrack with an unplugged electric guitar.

* Ghostly guitar leads, fills, and hooks. Record a dry part, gain to taste. Play the same part with ring modulator that's been tuned for the key, play another with a sub-octave device such as MXR Blue Box. The effected parts can sit obviously in the mix if desired, but I prefer the WTF factor of the dry part prominent and center, with the weirdo stuff panned left and right and barely sneaking into the mix, more felt than heard.

* For that "money chord" in the song that really wants to be emphasized, tune the guitar to the open chord. Play a harmonic at the twelth fret, double with a harmonic on the fifth fret.

* Can't decide whether to track dry or print the effect(s) in real time? Working with a producer or engineer that insists on cutting dry so they can play with it later (even though you're certain that your idea for ambience is WAY cooler!)? How about a compromise if extra tracks are available - split signal for effected and dry, for the best of both worlds and flexibility at mixdown.

* Double bass guitar lines with a baritone guitar. For simply a more interesting attack, leave the baritone dry and sneak it into the mix (Chris Squire with Yes used to double his bass lines with standard electric guitars, as I understand it). For a "tic-tac" approach, add some slapback delay to the bari. For full on spaghetti western onslaught, add liberal doses of reverb and/or tremolo to the bari.

Speaking of baritones - they're wonderful for big pick-raked "diamond chords" (that's "football chords" for Ken and other studio cats in L.A.!). For maximum keraaang, I prefer lipstick pickups.

* Dualing steel guitars. Nice for big chordal washes that sound really wide, use steels in different tunings. For me, that's an eight string in C6 and a six string in open D. Cut one pristine clean and the other slightly dirty. Try some delay 'to tempo' with chorused repeats. Cut the other dry, or try a delay with different delay time (but also to tempo) on the other with no modulation on the repeats. For a more traditional organic sound, go the same direction with the slide bar for both tracks. For something more unusual, approach the slide from above the target chord on one instrument, and below on the other. The more effected the approach, the lower it will probably want to sit in the mix.

* Track a banjo part with thumb and finger picks, double with bare flesh. Not bluegrass-approved for sure, but an interesting texture.

* Ever play a loud amplified instrument, and then when you hit certain chords, that acoustic guitar sitting on a stand in the corner starts "playing itself"? Sympathetic vibrations. Acoustic guitars, banjos, etc. can be mic'ed up and even specifically tuned to milk the smpathetic drone thing.

* Probably not an approach that "real" keyboard players take very often (?), but I love doubling pianos, analog string synths, etc. with different chord inversions for big chordal washes. With traditional pianos, try playing the track that's to be prominent as you normally would, and add a sneaking-in-the-mix additional track with the sustain pedal engaged throughout.

* Multiple harmonicas in related keys, again for the chordal pad thing. Some harmonica keys will favor certain full chords within the chord progression, with others working best with single notes. I've used as many as three related key harmonicas.

* Any monophonic instrument can be turned into an orchestra with multi-tracking. I love the kazoo army novelty. I like the different textures that metal and plastic kazoos provide.

* A few years back I was co-producing a record and one tune was screaming for the old horse jawbone percussion effect like you hear on War and Osibisa records from the 70's or like Ray Cooper did with mid-period Elton John. There were no dead horses laying around, so I picked up a wooden Vibra-Slap Deluxe model from Latin Percussion. The tone can be varied by rotating the sound chamber. I liked the initial attack best with tighter tension, but sustain was better with it looser, so I cut it both ways. It sounded a bit cartoonish as panned left and right, so we made a composite track from the two.

* Poor man's glockenspiel or bells. Double simple arpeggiated parts with tuned glasses of water. Depending on how many "notes" you want, there can be considerable prep time, but it's worth the effort. Mark the glasses in advance of the session with lines drawn by magic marker, as well as the name of the note. Then fine tune by adding or subtracting water when it's time to track. Spoons, knives, and other metal (or even hard rubber) objects can provide different tones. Lead crystal glasses are probably best, but ask for permission before you start hauling off the significant other's prized fine glassware!

* There are some great vocal suggestions in the thread. John Lennon was a big fan of doubling his melodies. For two, three, and four part "ooohs and aaahs" - if you have two or three good singers around with different timbres, you can get great natural chorusing by having the singers sing each part in unison in real time. I also like doubling main melodies an octave above or below; this is a fairly pronounced effect, so featuring it sparingly, or on a tune now and then, is probably the tasteful call.



I never copy and paste to create a doubled track, it is always another new performance.

Yes, with a few exceptions here and there.

On vocals, doubling enhances a chorus lead in and the chorus.

On guitar, it can do the same thing, and adds a wonderful wobble.:lol:

Another "trick" I like to do is copy a track, add vocoder, then compress the snot out of it. Keep the level low, and it's sonic glue.

Another "trick" I like to do is copy a track, add vocoder, then compress the snot out of it. Keep the level low, and it's sonic glue.

That's one I'd never heard — definitely gonna try that!

Great stuff! Keep 'em coming..

Bb