Double tracking

[humeurs]

What is your take on this?

Different people have different taste, but do you like double tracking guitars and vocals? Phil Spector style on everything?

For me I guess I like the application of it but not all the time.
I never get tired of it when listening to the Beatles, so why would I for others? And then sometimes I over track soemthing and thvink 'good lord this is fabulous!' I dunno. Thoughts?

[Mathieu Benoit]

If done well, absolutely. but it's really easy to mess up too.

[humeurs]

Have you ever listened to 'when the angels make contact' from Matt Mays? I think he's done an incredible job of this on many of the songs. At first I didn't notice, but once I did I realised it was everywhere. It's a pretty thick record.

[macrae11]

Most of the time when going for a "studio style" production I'll double track guitars. Sometimes quadruple or even octuple tracking works great. As long as the guitar player is relatively tight it sounds great. Guitar tracking is quite a bit more forgiving because you got six strings going on so minute changes in pitch are not noticed nearly as much. Slight variations often help thicken the sound even more.

For vocals it's much more difficult to pull off because they're usually the main focus, and it's much easier to hear discrepencies. So unless I'm dealing with a super pro singer, I'll usually create the double from an alternate take, and just fix any major changes. It's very difficult to hear your own voice and double it perfectly because you're always reacting to what you're hearing. Singing it as you would naturally on two different takes is often closer for most singers.

[Jef]

Works well on back-up or harmony vocals.

[macrae11]

Yes I was referring specifically to lead vocals. It is a bit easier with back ups because they can be buried a bit, and hopefully they're fairly close timing wise already. I do love doubled lead vox when done well though. I'll also sometimes double them an octave up or down.

[humeurs]

I certainly love it on guitars and I think I'm going to experiment a little more on the vox and try to get them tight. I know what you mean by following the song and havving it not come out 'tight'. Maybe trunign down the music a little to help keep the focus on the vocal.

Roachie taught me a neat trick years ago with adding reverb to a second vocal and burying it in the mix a little while keeping the main vox dry.
since then I like to try it all the time. ISometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

[LarryS]

I think I have found (in my limited experience) that the decision to double track depends on the situation.

One of the first recording projects I did was a demo for a band on a Fostex VF-80. The singer for this project had what I would call a less than stellar voice BUT when double tracked it was just amazing how cool he sounded. His voice would have a whole new timbre. His case was the most remarkable that I have experienced. It just put a whole new angle on his vocals.

I do like double tracking guitar and taking them slightly out of phase. But I don't think this is applicable in every situation.IMHO

[macrae11]

Roachie taught me a neat trick years ago with adding reverb to a second vocal and burying it in the mix a little while keeping the main vox dry.
since then I like to try it all the time. ISometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't.

This is also great when the second vocal is an octave up, and a bit higher energy than the main lead. Then if the mood strikes later in the tune, usually the last chorus, you can turn it around and make the high energy vocal the lead, and put the lower octave track more in the background, or simply double up on the higher part.

[Malcolm Boyce]

I think of "doubling" as the exact same part doubled.

An octave up or down to me isn't "doubled" but a harmony.

I don't reach for "doubling" parts as a regular tool. I do like doubling parts with different instruments/sounds to hear how they interact.

When done well, doubling is an "effect" like no other, and is extremely powerful. There really is no "electronic" equivalent.

When you're listening to a Mutt Lange record, you are hearing "doubling" taken to the most extreme level, both in layers, and perfection. It is part of his "sound", as much as anyone before or after.

[macrae11]

I don't reach for "doubling" parts as a regular tool. I do like doubling parts with different instruments/sounds to hear how they interact.

That's funny, I don't think of using another instrument as doubling, although I do like using another instrument in this regard though. I guess everybody has their own definition.