8/22/2013

4 Tips To Better Vocal Doubling In Hip Hop Production

By Frank Lubsey


Hip hop music production is not just about beats and instrumentals. It also involves the use of strong vocals. Vocal doubling is the most effective method of grabbing and retaining listener's attention as well as make the lyrics more interesting. It's commonly used in hip hop and rock music. This technique transforms separate beats, instrumentals and lyrics into a track that listeners will enjoy. Vocal doubling aims at making the vocals more prominent. It can be applied to specific parts of the song such as words, verse or entire song. Here are 4 tips to ensure that you use vocal doubling better in your hip hop tracks.

Select the best take and use it as the lead. If you've produced a hip hop track before, you know that a lot of takes are involved before recording is complete. Always prepare for recording by hydrating to keep your vocal cords in top shape. Keeping the mic at the same distance throughout recording will ensure you get even volume levels. Target yourself to perform your best during takes. If you can sing the whole track or even a verse on a single take, prepare and go for it. After a couple of takes, listen to your vocals and select the best and use it as the lead.

Select a double for the lead. After making a couple of takes and selecting your lead rap, you can select another take and use it as the leads double. This is based on how closely it sounds like the lead. If you're into flowing and free styling, this might be hard. In this case, you will have to make another take that sounds closest to the lead rap. An easy way to achieve this is listening to the lead and rapping along. You can wear one headset to make it easy to rap along.

Rule #3. Keep The Doubles Inconspicuous When Mixing Rap Lines. The goal in vocal doubling is to enforce the lead, not to create an illusion that there are 2 or more rappers behind the record. Tweak the volume of the second version so that it blends well with the lead rap. Pushing the double 10 to 12 dB can usually do the job as it makes the vocals thicker without creating the impression that it is doubled. If you are aiming for the spacious effect, use 2 doubles and pan one track hard left and the other hard right by .10 seconds. Left pan delays the track by 10 seconds while the right pan times its entrance 10 seconds earlier. With these, the doubles should be unnoticeable.

Rule #4. Listen to the Final Mix. After working hard to make sure that the outcome of the recording will be up to your standards, it is time to listen to what you just did. If the double does not blend well with the lead, you might need to rehearse more to master doubling. Rehearsing to instrumental beats while practicing your vocals would be a great way to gain mastery of vocal doubling.




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