It’s pretty awesome. Which is why it’s used so much. Chances are, you probably use it yourself. Doubletracking makes things sound bigger and thicker. Who wouldn’t want that? Do I need to count the ways? Guitars. Especially overdriven guitars. And distorted guitars. And overdriven distorted guitars. The more the merrier. And by ‘merrier’, I mean [...]
Alternatives to reverb
by Kim Lajoie on August 14, 2009
Reverb adds two properties to sounds – diffusion and depth. While there are many ways of changing the balance between diffusion and depth, there are times when a more extreme approach is required. Reverb may not be the best solution if a sound needs a lot of diffusion but very little depth, or a lot [...]
Backing Vocals
by Kim Lajoie on August 5, 2009
Recording backing vocals is a little different to recording the lead vocals. Rather than recording them forwards, then backwards, then forwards, I simply record them one section at a time – typically four or six takes for each part. I prefer a combination of syncronised harmony vocals (in time and harmony with the lead vocal) [...]
Vocal doubling
by Kim Lajoie on April 30, 2009
Sometimes people talk about making a lead vocal sound thicker by “doubling” it – copying the track and applying some subtle effect to the copy (such as delay or pitch shift), and then sometimes panning the two tracks opposite each other. Personally I never use such doubling tricks – if I want to emphasise the [...]