Quick Reaper Tips 5: Vocal Thickening Trick

[@LiveeviL6969]

I was hoping to hear a sample of what it does.

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Yeah I should have done that. I'll make a follow up next week for it. My apologies.

[@rasjudah2106]

😂 I mean, I was watching intently, never noticing that little time bar was getting smaller and smaller! 😂 headed to your page now!

[@ninkichan7209]

Videos should be like this, direct and clear! Thank you for this. But the best take away for me is saving the chain, I have never done that and will do it from now on.

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Aww thank you so much. I try to be thorough and concise at the same time. Which I wasn't in this one I failed to "show" what it actually does. I got to redo all my FX chains since going to this new computer. They really are a time saver.

[@CaffeineFC]

Well done, another tool for the arsenal! Hope you're having a great weekend.

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Thanks and it makes it a lot quicker if you have it saved as an FX Chain :)

[@MikeWittmer]

Hey Anita, I didn't know about saving FX chain so this was cool to see. Thanks!

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

You're very welcome Mike :)

[@joshuakapela8396]

Very great Tutorial Awesome Anita

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Thank you so much Joshua! :)

[@mellowmel2012]

Clear as a bell! Thanks!

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

You are very welcome mellowmel :)

[@joshuakapela8396]

Thank u Anita!!!

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

You're very welcome Joshua :)

[@paul-seager]

Thank you for the video! It helped me a lot!

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

You are most welcome Seags! Glad to have helped :)

[@mimoochodom2684]

Fantastic. Thankyou.

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Thanks and you're very welcome 🙂

[@jennykproductions2640]

Yeah, that's a great trick. And saves on track count, let's not forget that. :D I did it manually in Logic a while ago and it was just such a bother I only did it once. Reaper Rocks and that's that. :)

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Yep saves on the track count and if you want to freeze render it you can which will save on CPU too :D

[@teslatravels4197]

Thank you Anita. I just moved to Reaper and was wondering how I was going to do this neat trick from PLAP. You saved me having to work it out.

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

You are most welcome Tesla Travels. I'm happy to help out where I can :)

[@alexeytereshonok]

Very helpful! Thank you Anita!

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

You are very welcome Alexey :)

[@aztekaamusiik]

Really good video thanks

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

You're very welcome Aztekaa Music :)

[@TheHudsonValleyWanderer]

ANITA! You da bombbbbbb

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Awwww naaaaah...you da bomb!!!!!

[@TheHudsonValleyWanderer]

@@AnitaPotterProductions haha 👍

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

:)

[@papaieasypianotutorial394]

This is very helpful, thank you mam for this video. 😊

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

You're very welcome :)

[@moonsofmoons7254]

So much easier on Reaper than in ProTools. Thanks!

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

You're very welcome and thank you :)

[@charliebryce3783]

Wow, a lot easier than PLAP, assume that you apply the fx to a single track, rather than multiple tracks as shown by warren?

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Hi Charlie! Yep I send the vocals to one auxiliary track and put the vocal thickening once on the track. I see no need to have 6 or more extra tracks for this one thing.

[@charliebryce3783]

@@AnitaPotterProductions that’s what I thought👍

[@The_Rockstar05]

I was waiting for the sound sample but any way I will try your advice today...

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

I redid the video that includes the sample here kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKK5aXVjgLeeiqc

[@michaelmurray2595]

Doesn't work in Reaper 6+ - just get a in-out fade effect left and right. Okay for a kiddies play pool, but not much use producing sound tracks.

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

I haven't been in Reaper for a minute now so I'll have to update and check it out to see what's changed. Just out of curiosity did you turn it all the way down and blend it back in?

[@sync83edgar]

Thanks for the "translation" to reaper! I have changed the algorithm to "élastique 2.2.8 soloist" I liked a bit more than default one.

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

You're very welcome Edgar. I haven't tried changing the algorithms in that dropdown box yet. I may have to do that to see what the difference is between them. Thanks :)

[@darcyforneri8290]

Im gonna give this a go..i write and sing metal like judas priest...skid row ect... And want to have a fuller vocal track ..hope this works..

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Let me know how it goes Darcy!

[@JuanMariaSolare]

Hey Anita, so basically you have twice the same settings in each channel. Didn*'t you know you could just Ctrl+Copy the existing effect and paste it right there? You save time and possible mistakes-

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Technically they are the same but they're panned opposite each other in a way not all the negatives are on one side and vise versa with the positives. It balances it out without it leaning one way or the other.

[@emilyjane012]

For some reason when I save it it does not show up in FX Chains. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong? I saved it as a file first and still nothing.

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Did you save it as an fx chain? This is the video I have on how to do that here kzbin.info/www/bejne/oGannH6KftRnY9U but if something changed in version 7 of Reaper please let me know.

[@theeouapolal7262]

I've only seen one other video that you've done, and this one is a lot better than the previous one I saw. I saw a comment about giving an example of this on a vocal track, but you already agreed to follow up with an example... I almost didn't watch this one, because I got the impression that you weren't really an expert on reaper from your other video I saw... In that one, you were showing how to import tracks from another project, and you seemed to be exceedingly concerned about setting the tempo before you perform the import. You even said about forgetting to set the tempo, "just don't do it"... You're probably aware by now, that reaper has a lot of functionality and many fixes for all kinds of issues, and adjusting tempo globally and throughout the track is fairly easy to do, so much so, that it's really kind of unimportant when you choose to adjust your tempo. You can do it whenever you want, with or without affecting the pitch or playback speed of the imported files relatively easily! ....I need as much help as I can get with my vocals, so I'm going to try this and see what it does for me! THANKS!!! 😊

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

The import multitracks was also a part of a larger series on mixing in Reaper. Making sure everything is set properly is just something I do to start with. It's not an end all/be all thing just one way of doing it and no one way is the right way, there are many ways in Reaper to achieve what you want to do. This link is for the updated Vocal Thickening Video as I forgot to play a sample of what this technique does in this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKK5aXVjgLeeiqc

[@theeouapolal7262]

@@AnitaPotterProductions Hey, thanks for the link to your follow up video. I just watched it... you actually do really good work! It kinda helps that the girl's voice in the track you were "thickening" has a really good singing voice, but yeah, using reapitch this way does seem to help support the vocals! Thanks! (I just subscribed to your channel 👍)

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Awww thank you! I hope to get back to making the tutorial videos soon. If there's anything you would like me to cover when I can get back to it just let me know and I'll add it to my list. Thanks again :)

[@TheFendertak]

Hi Anita, I tried your vocal thickening tip on my vocal and my result was a bit T- pain effect, is this what's supposed to happen, now I do have 3 other plugins on my vocal track before ReaPitch, them being reatune, reacomp, reaeq, what am I doing wrong please help, the song I'm recording is a country ballad, I did double check I followed you steps adding shifters correctly, thanks in advance

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Drag the volume on the thickening all the way down. It's not meant to be audibly heard. Blend it in with the other stuff you've got going on. Turn it up until you can just make it out and then turn it down by a db.

[@remotehighwaymusic629]

@@AnitaPotterProductions Yes, I had a kind of phasing effect from it and then balanced wet/dry and took the level down and it was perfect. I was also new to 'saving FX chain' so thanks for this Anita.

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

You're very welcome. I'm happy that you got it figured out. Which you've reminded me, since I switched computers I have to rebuild my own FX Chains again :)

[@anthonyhayes5811]

I was wondering if you could please help me my vocals sound slightly tinny on my tracks so I try eq the vocals but it doesn't seem to help, can you suggest any plug ins that maybe more useful. Thank you

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

A lot of things could be causing it to sound tinny. Taking too much out with the eq, the choice of reverbs and delays. I tend to start a high pass on vocals around 110 a good 90+% of the time I don't go any higher than that. If you've boosted anything up on the high end take it down. Try boosting a little somewhere around 500 if it's lacking a little of the midrange. It could vary though so move it around to the left and right of there. It could also be the eq plugin you use. I find Reaper's ReaEQ to be a clean EQ unlike TDR Nova that adds a slight color to the sound. Let me know how it goes.

[@anthonyhayes5811]

I don't think I have TDR, where would I be able to retrieve the file for this is you know? That would be great, I was looking for a top middle bottom kind of plug in but I cNt find anything

[@anthonyhayes5811]

Maybe if I send you the reaper file and see what you think would be my best option?

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

@@anthonyhayes5811 TDR Nova is by Tokyo Dawn Records. It's a free eq plugin hopefully the link will post. www.tokyodawn.net/tdr-nova/

[@anthonyhayes5811]

That's great I will check it out, thanks

[@AVoxintheVoid]

Hi, I attempted to use this technique and unfortunately it's ended with some kind of chorus/phase sound rather than a clean, thick boosted one. Any ideas why this might be happening?

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

I made an updated version of this video kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKK5aXVjgLeeiqc in this video you hear how it's supposed to sound and everything to do with it that I failed to do in this first version of this video. Watch that new version then pretty please let me know if you're still having issues with it.

[@persiaguitar]

I had to go through whole video and did a lot of work at last that was not what I wanted I wish there was a sample

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

There is an updated version that includes what it sounds like here kzbin.info/www/bejne/iKK5aXVjgLeeiqc

[@cougario6747]

my audio came out sounding like a robot, what did I do wrong

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

Hi Cougario! Make sure you're putting the effect on its own track and send your vocal track to it via the routing. This isn't intended to be used on the main vocals but on an auxiliary track to blend it in with the main vocal. Turn the volume on the vocal thickening track all the way down then bring it up (play the main vocal while doing this) and bring the volume of it up until you can just hear it then back the volume down slightly. Other than that, double check your settings and plugin that your using. Let me know if any of this helps.

[@cougario6747]

@@AnitaPotterProductions thank you for the quick response, how would I put the effect as its own track and then send it to a vocal track via routing?

[@cougario6747]

@@AnitaPotterProductions oh wait, I figured it out, thanks for your help

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

@@cougario6747 YAY!!! Glad you got it sorted out! Let me know if you need anything else.

[@donmeles7711]

@@AnitaPotterProductions could you please explain the routing part anyways? I have no clue what you are talking about but it seems to be crucial.

[@Zei33]

Sorry but this kinda sucks. Not sure if my voice is just not what you were expecting. But it just hurts my brain.

[@AnitaPotterProductions]

This is only meant to help vocalists that don't have a strong vocal presence. It's not meant to be a stand alone you blend it in with the original vocals. Not every vocal will need it. It's up to your discretion whether to use it or not.