Hip hop is not just about instrumental beats. It is also about powerful vocals! In this music genre, an effective technique to engage the attention of listeners and to make rap lines more interesting is through vocal doubling. Hip hop and rock commonly involve vocal doubling. This transforms a song into a wonderful combination of words and instrumental beats that allows it to captivate its listeners. The primary goal of this technique is to make the main vocal rap more powerful. This can be applied to a choice of word for emphasis, to a single line, a verse or even the entire song. But there are a few ground rules that you should observe to make sure that you are doing it right.
Rule #1. Choose your best take as the lead rap line. A lot of takes, that's the first step in recording. As much as possible, make sure that you and your voice are up for recording, this means keeping yourself hydrated with water to lubricate those vocal chords. Also, keep the mic at the same distance at all times. With a good take, compiling would be easier. If you are gifted with a silver-tongue and you can nail down the entire verse or track in one take, you should go for it. Out of all those takes, choose the best one and make it your lead vocals.
Find a double for your lead. After selecting the best take for your lead, listen to the other takes made and select them in the order of close similarity to your lead. However, if free styling or flowing is your thing, it might be harder finding takes that are close to same. In this instance, you will have to make another take rapping as close as you can to the lead. A great technique used by most artists is wearing only one headset when making their takes. This allows them listen to the original lead and simultaneously record its double.
Hide doubles when mixing. The aim of vocal doubling is to make the lead prominent avoiding the illusion of two rappers singing the same lyrics. Keep the volume of the double so that it doesn't take over from the lead. 10dB to 12dB for the double works best as it ensures that the vocals are more comprehensible without giving away the fact that it's doubled. For a spacious effect, two doubles for the lead will work best. To do this, pan one double left and the other right by 0.10 seconds. This technique delays the track by 10 seconds using the left pan and times it earlier by the same time using the right pan. This makes the doubling effect virtually hidden.
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.
Rule #1. Choose your best take as the lead rap line. A lot of takes, that's the first step in recording. As much as possible, make sure that you and your voice are up for recording, this means keeping yourself hydrated with water to lubricate those vocal chords. Also, keep the mic at the same distance at all times. With a good take, compiling would be easier. If you are gifted with a silver-tongue and you can nail down the entire verse or track in one take, you should go for it. Out of all those takes, choose the best one and make it your lead vocals.
Find a double for your lead. After selecting the best take for your lead, listen to the other takes made and select them in the order of close similarity to your lead. However, if free styling or flowing is your thing, it might be harder finding takes that are close to same. In this instance, you will have to make another take rapping as close as you can to the lead. A great technique used by most artists is wearing only one headset when making their takes. This allows them listen to the original lead and simultaneously record its double.
Hide doubles when mixing. The aim of vocal doubling is to make the lead prominent avoiding the illusion of two rappers singing the same lyrics. Keep the volume of the double so that it doesn't take over from the lead. 10dB to 12dB for the double works best as it ensures that the vocals are more comprehensible without giving away the fact that it's doubled. For a spacious effect, two doubles for the lead will work best. To do this, pan one double left and the other right by 0.10 seconds. This technique delays the track by 10 seconds using the left pan and times it earlier by the same time using the right pan. This makes the doubling effect virtually hidden.
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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