Should You Double Track Your Vocals? | Home Studio Tips

[@EricAmesmusic]

do you guys ever double track your vocals? ⬇️

[@Karlush]

Yes, but only in the Chorus and always panned. But I've never thought of having them all in the center. Will try this next time! Thanks for an awesome video :)

[@EricAmesmusic]

panning them is definitely a good sound as well! you can always try stacking the melody parts in the center and panning your doubled harmonies.

[@ArturoRodz]

I do!

[@GreggOliverBass]

I do

[@kevddiaz]

Hey man, don’t apologize for promoting your band!! Get your stuff out there, with pride! it was a smooth way of mentioning your own music

[@sleepinggiant333]

Agreed. I wanted to hear more of it more so than other bands haha

[@DutchNovak]

Great stuff men, you’re good at articulating and using examples

[@johntractor9799]

I did a recording where i would sing the lead vocal. Then on another track, i sang the harmony for each chorus, (2 choruses in the song). I wanted to add another harmony (to make a 3 part harmony) for each chorus, but being lazy i tried copying that harmony track that i previously recorded and changed the pitch. It didn't sound good at all - strangely enough it just sounded like a pitch altered vocal track, (which it was). So i then on the 3rd harmony track, i cut the 2nd chorus vocals and pasted them to the 1st chorus, (and vice versa). This was much better, the differences when i sang each chorus really added to the sound when i switched them.

[@kclife7734]

Excellent video, and great conclusion! Thank you for that! Very cool. I'll looking forward to watching more of your videos

[@nathanimboden]

Love this video bro. I'm a professional musician trying to improve my studio production skills so this was a really useful video for me.

[@pesmuz5521]

Cool job dude!

[@PhilipMurrayDesign]

Thanks Eric - really great advice

[@Hast4656]

I love how people in comments say that singers who are using pitch correction are imposters, and most likely after that turn on their favorite track containing - with no doubt - pitch corrected vocals. Guys, almost EVERYTHING you listen to has pitch corrected vocals, if it wasn’t recorded before 2000s

[@ggmusic3483]

thank you so much, Eric that was so informative and helpful!

[@TawdryTempest]

Does the vocalist listen to the first track (in the headphones) while recording the second? In this example there is only one vocalist.

[@EricAmesmusic]

great question! in my experience, no, because it gets confusing trying to figure out which voice is coming out of your mouth and which voice is being played back haha. it can throw you off pitch super easily. if you're recording at home or in the control room, you can keep your eye on the waveforms of the main vocal track to see how long to hold out certain words etc.

[@mr.e8432]

My buddy sings in to an sm57 and he sounds great. I double track, triple track and my voice still sounds like ass. You really didn’t mention panning much. Some guys will double track right down the middle, others will take the second track and run it through something like Soundtoys Alter Boy to Split it hard left and right. Also a small cut around 2-4khz on the double can help it blend in better with the main track.

[@jasonbodden8816]

Well, I don't know what you sound like but for any layering to sound good you first have to have a good vocal take to work with, then your layered vocals have to be done well also.

[@mr.e8432]

@jasonbodden8816 yeah, if I could actually sing that would help.👍

[@davidarsenault7214]

dude, great video. Subscribed (found you via your post on reddit_)

[@EricAmesmusic]

thank you! and thanks for subscribing, I appreciate it! more videos to come 🤘

[@peterm13]

Thanks. If you in California, watch out for smash and grab, that window reveals your treasures

[@alexalexanderman1238]

thanks for the vid. just wondering if you would use this technique instead of or in harmony with vocal thickening which is something different of course? thanks

[@darrylchambers7801]

Diana Ross doubled the lead vocal on "You keep me hangin on "

[@Magpie16music]

Great video! Thanks for sharing. 🙂

[@scott7521]

Two questions Eric: Would you recommend using two different mics to achieve this? I know you can just use the same mic twice but would you get an even better sound if you used two different ones? 2nd: do you recommend hard panning the vocals? Love to hear your thoughts.

[@EricAmesmusic]

it all depends! I use the same mic because the recordings match up more closely and that's what I'm usually going for. if you hard pan the vocals, you'll get a different effect but one that's still pretty neat. I would recommend just trying stuff and see what you like the best.

[@harveyrutterford7061]

Should u pan them at all? Like one left and one right?

[@Filou796]

Couldn’t have explained it better, thanks man🫶🏻

[@carriesolomonmusic]

Is there not a 3rd vocal under the Kurt Cobain and Dave Grohl lead examples, singing an octave down also? I’ve thought about doing that but am a woman with a. High voice 😂 Anyway this vid was super helpful, thank you. I’ve been unsure whether to double my lead all the way through or just choruses/big parts and now I know it’s whatever I want to do😝 Helpful to have it broken down though

[@shawnamartin6118]

Regarding your Beatles example: To me it's clearly Paul doubling the track. John, George and Paul have all very distinctive voices and I don't hear John here. They did a lot of unisono parts though and tight harmonies.

[@mrfinlay7516]

Very informative video!

[@tenea24]

What if I duplicated a complete track and hard panned each of them?

[@EricAmesmusic]

they’ll cancel each other out and it will just sound centered in the mix

[@egorsazanovich]

Hey hey! "Smells like Teen Spirit" was recorded in three takes, so no intentional double tracks were recorded. But after the recording session, sound engineers decided to make it "thicker", so as far as I remember these parts were not even double-tracked, but triple-tracked

[@thischannelisdeleted]

This guy thinks pitch correction should be normalized, I can’t respect him.

[@jasonbodden8816]

@@thischannelisdeleted Pretty much every studio uses it for almost every singer. To what degree is totally up to you. You don't need to pitch correct to super perfect that it sounds robotic but slagging the guy for pitch correction is just stupid.

[@boonyco]

Maybe I’m missing it but where is the blog and/or video about sends?

[@EricAmesmusic]

it's the video after this one chronologically

[@j0kshe]

can you do it throughout the whole track?

[@coltercresse2783]

What do you use for pitch correction?

[@DrunkDuckXD]

So generally, when a harmony section come in, is that double tracked also? Having 4 vocal tracks?

[@savagechallenge217]

No actually that is rarely the case any harmony part in a song that I can think of is a single track

[@kayve214]

How do I pan the double tracks?

[@zohremaghsoodi9761]

That was a cool video. I had no idea what double track meant, so it was all very interesting to me.

[@lucasbowman7188]

Helpful informative video!

[@EricAmesmusic]

i’m glad it was useful for you!

[@dylanj8676]

I find fake double tracking can make cheap mics sound a lot better. Even with limited or no processing somehow mics without as much clarity and low end sound better with two of the same recording layered on different tracks. I don't know why this works, it just sounds fuller.

[@i55a9]

If I record twice should I pan one left and one right?

[@jSattJamboree]

I came here to ask the same thing.

[@Hello-pl2qe]

Nice subject and video man. Are pornstaches back in?

[@EricAmesmusic]

🥸

[@dagmerrie]

4 examples and zero 80's music where it got really popular to take it to it's limits. For example The Cure or Siouxsie and The Banshees should've been there.

[@thischannelisdeleted]

NO, you’re WRONG. Only imposter musicians use auto tune.

[@FreeKeenan]

There's way too much talking and explaining between samples.

[@FreeKeenan]

Too much talking and not enough straight to the point on the matter. So what's the secret tunings?

[@kylekazlaw9105]

Lost me on "Everyone uses pitch correction". Thats why todays music has shit for integrity in relation to yesterdays... Modern recording favors technology over performance, talent and ability. I'd rather be out of pitch slightly and deliver a great performance... Greatness is not in perfection. It's in delivery. Nuff Said...

[@longsnapper5381]

Adele doesn't use pitch correction.

[@happymum8612]

Yes she does lol.

[@longsnapper5381]

@@happymum8612 Sorry, she is often pitchy and it works beautifully for her. Don't comment on things you know nothing about.

[@simonetodd3490]

Maybe she doesn’t but the person who engineers her session does lol

[@longsnapper5381]

@@simonetodd3490 For people like you ,sure.....

[@thischannelisdeleted]

I can’t respect any musicians that uses pitch correction, I’m sorry (not sorry). This is why music is dead nowadays. Authentic artistry is dead in this age. It’s very sad.

[@cagedbutterfly93]

Great video, thanks!