Vocal mixing using short delays

[songwriterdemos]

Forgive me if I sound a little green ... because I am! :) I was reading somewhere online recently about getting a vocal doubling effect, by using a short delay 20-30 mill. panned hard left and the vocal track panned hard right. I tried the suggestion, but it just sounded wierd and overly processed to me. I had the delay set up via the return, with the return pan set hard left (I didn't try it with a plug in). Was I way off base here, or is there another way to get this effect? (I'm basically trying to get the lead vocal to sound wider, if you know what I mean).

M

[Bob L]

On a lead vocal, you may want to try a chorusing effect which essentially does a similar thing... it adds delay doubling, but will vary the delay so things aren't so static and mechanical sounding... a good chorus will thicken and widen the vocal depending on the settings.

The Anwida modulator pack of plugins works very nice... and they are available as DX versions or as native SAWStudio versions if you are considering or using SAWStudio.

Many other chorus plugs out there... you may want to try searching on www.kvr-vst.com

Bob L

[Arco]

Also that extreme panning might be OK for clearly hearing the effect but sounds too much for a "lead" vocal. Maybe clear those hard left and right panning changes and see what you have.

For certain parts of the vocal actually singing it again will provide a good way to add heft..mix it in at a lower volume panned off from the original (experiment).