Wednesday, August 21, 2013

4 Tips To Better Vocal Doubling In Hip Hop Production

By Frank Lubsey


The hip hop music genre involves much more than the use of awesome beats and instrumentals. It also involves the use of powerful vocals. Vocal doubling is a technique used in hip hop lyrics to attract and retain the listener's attention and make the track more pleasant to listen to. This technique is commonly used in both rap and rock. Vocal doubling brings together lyrics, beats and instrumentals creating and interesting track. Its main goal is making the main lyrics more prominent. It can be applied on parts of or throughout the song. Here are 4 ways to ensure that you are using vocal doubling the right way.

Use the best take as the lead. Recording a hip hop track involves a lot of takes. Before hitting the recording studio, ensure that your voice is at its best. Hydrating to keep the vocal cords lubricated is an easy way to do this. When singing, keep the mic at a constant distance throughout the recording. Compiling your track will be much easier if you perform your best during takes. If you believe that you can complete the entire verse or even track on a single take, prepare for it and then go for it. After a couple of good takes, select the best take and use it as the lead.

Rule #2. Find A Double For Your Lead Rap. After all the takes that you made to find the best lead vocals, you can compile all others which are good and use it as a 2nd or 3rd version for your double. But, if you venture into it, you can double the lead line by rapping as close to it as possible. This means, another take. One tip that can help you produce a record similar to the previous one is to keep one headset on and one off. This way, you can listen to the original rap while recording its double.

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.

Listen to the final production. After mixing the vocal doubles, it's now time to listen to the final production. If you follow the instructions mentioned above, you will easily create vocal doubles that blend well. If the final recording is not what you are targeting, more practice might be necessary to prefect doubling. A great way is to practice using the beats and instrumentals at the same time as training your vocals.




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