Crash course in mixing double-tracked vox?

TelePaul

Anybody have any tips for mixing double tracked vox? As I'm overdubbing myself, I find it hard to get any distinction between the lead and the overdub...some phrases sound more like a single vocal take that's been smothered in 'verb.

So as far as tracking goes, should I use a different mic? Any performance tips (aside from singing a harmony or 'perfect' harmony, obviously).

How about mixing? I'm guessing I should consider panning the second vocal to give it some room. If so, to what extent? And should I pull back the volume on the second vocal take? Or leave both volumes intact? Given that the overdub only occurs at certain parts, it seems like I'd be riding the volume curve a fair bit if this was the case.

As for processing - I'd usually eq and mildly compress vocals. Should I do this to both takes? How about reverb or slap-back delay? Both vocals or either/or?

I know the answer to most of these questions is 'it depends', so I apologise for the ecoteric nature of this post! I just seem to be having an awful lot of trouble with what is a pretty standard technique. Thanks in advance chaps!

ZV Yoda

I suppose the short answer is “whatever works”, There’s a lot of people on here more qualified then me to give advice on this, but here's what I do:

Pan
I generally pan first... helps me to "place" each vocal so I can hear what's going on. Main in the centre... or if 2 mains, then pan them at about 10% left & right. After that, BVs are panned to taste depending on the song/singer. I Usu only go to 75% with panning vox... any more than that makes me feel like there’s people singing out in the wings

Volume
I've found it's better to set gain levels so that I don't move in/out from the mic. Stops proximity effect/too much room ambience etc. I still haven't figured out how to automate in Pro Tools (it's a NY resolution) so if neccessary I will use audiosuite to apply gain directly to a specific section. It's not a great way to do things, but it works for me & means I don't get into a muddle with automatiion.

EQ
No hard & fast rules, but generally EQ the main vox to give a bit more presence & try to ensure any BVs are EQ’d so the vox frequencies aren't all bunched up. Generally for me, I find main voc work better with more presence, while BVs are better with more air (can’t believe I actually said that… need to stay away from this forum for a while!)

Compressor
I flick through various plug-in presets (I just have the normal Pro Tools ones plus both IK Multimedia T-RackS ones)... there's usually something like "Male vocal add air"... so I'll try them all to see what works on each vocal… sometimes they need a bit of help to stand out /or tone them down. If they don't need one, then I leave it out.

Reverb
I set up one vocal reverb buss. I don't use verb on individual voc channels as it eats CPU & sounds cloudy. All of my vocal tracks are sent to the verb buss so I can adjust the wet/dry signal of each vocal track. Generally the main vox will have slightly less verb than the BVs (to keep it out in front). The BVs can then be set as far back as is needed. If my room was better treated, I could probably get into more manual manipulation of parameters, but I’m still relatively clueless on a lot of the details, so I find presets do the trick.

After the initial tracking is done, I’ll always create a vox group (including the verb buss) so I can mute/solo the vox with / without music to be sure I’m happy with the results.

PMI

As long as the double is recorded exactly the same, ie: same length on each word same power etc.. etc.. and on and on.... you should not find it to hard

I always Pan them out until it feels right, some backing vox or choruses I tend to like full pan each way with spot mono harmony vocals, just remember theres no rules

I think the main thing is spend time getting the tracking 100% close to the original take as you will find it will sit alot better....

Also double tracking can be over used too, when a straight mono vocal will give it enough