Ideas on tracking and mixing BACKUP VOCALS

[Dyno]

I'd like to hear different approaches for tracking and mixing BU vocals. I do alot of Americana material where the lead vocal is extremely punchy and in your face. My BU vocals are usually just a single harmony support, very present, but folded back under the lead.

I track my lead vox thru Lawson L47MP real close > Telefunken V76 > 1176ln comp at 12:1 very slow attack, super fast release. Of course, I have several other mics, pres and comps, but I tend to use the same set up on the BU vox as this combo is just killer for vocals IMHO. I do tend to compress the BU Vox more than the lead though; that keeps it very level and out of the way of the lead at lower levels.

Any other input on micing, comping and E.Q.ing back up vocals in contrast to the lead?

Thanks,
Dyno

[Rodgre]

When I want the backup vocal to sit back in a mix, I will often use an omni mic and face it away from the vocalist. Without having to mess with reverb and whatnot in the mix, tonally, it will sound like the vocal is behind the lead vocal.

I will often put high pass filters on backups too.

Roger

[Randall]

I like to take the background vocals and pass them all together through a gentle compressor and add just a little EQ around 10-15K to give them a little air(for lack of a better word)add just a little bit of reverb to achieve that nice Def Leapardy? kind of quality to em

[Rodgre]

ha.... I've tried for that Mutt Lange/Def Leppard thing a couple of times. I think I quintuple tracked each harmony track and added some Aphex Exciter and I might have even put a little Dimension C on it.

On one hand I felt dirty doing it, but on the other hand, once I accomplished something like that, and heard how HUMONGOUS it sounded, I was pretty psyched.

you bring up a cool topic. I have gone after certain sounds with backup vocals before: tried to mimic a tone I heard on other records.

The Mutt Lange thing is one example. I've certainly done the Beach Boys thing (I'm a BW fanatic!) and I even admit that I've done what I call the "Yes" backup vocal (I loved that "ahhhhhhhhhh" part after the acoustic breakdown in "Starship Trooper")

Another thing that I've tried to replicate is a really tight, electronic sounding thing, similar to "Any Day Now" by Elbow. I've also used vocoders for backup parts, a la "I Believe She's Lying" by Jon Brion.

Anyone else?

Roger

[JES]

There are almost no backup vocals on anything I do, so I've never really thought about it. These are the coolest ideas ever. Keep 'em coming!

Best,
--JES

[djslayerissick]

for almost *every* metal song, heres my backing vocal formula:

1. lead vocal: performed the same way it would be live, maybe a little more breathy than normal, no verb, lots of delay

2. a whisper track - basically talking loudly without any form of note - and then throw some distortion on there, no verb, no delay

3. very clear bassy vocal performed one octave lower than normal real smooth-like, then eq out the low end, some verb, no delay

4. deep, note-less "demon screaming" - like on a death metal album, with a ton of distortion - no verb, a little delay

5. abrasive yelling (not screaming, this has a note to it) with a touch of distortion, some verb and delay

[brian beattie]

I like crowding background vocalists around one mic. sounds more coherant to me. I think folks get the blending vibe intuitively from proximity. Using 4 tracks for 4 vocalists singing one background vocal part... uhh..... takes too long. all those gooey edges disappear, and you start obsessing too much.
I betcha mutt lange had angus and malcom and whoever else crowded around one mic when they screamed "HIGHWAY TO HELL"
but then he double tracked it. and triple tracked it. maybe.
brian

[Meriphew]

Try using a different vocal chain (mic/pre) for each bg vocal track.

[soundguy]

to echo meriphew, if you want your background voccal to sit in a different spot tthan the lead, use an entirely different signal path. If you have a ribbon mic, virtually ANY ribbon mic will put your voccal instantly behind a condenser. Try that out first. If you are using a tube mic and a tube pre, try a ribbon into a solid state pre annd you will immediately have something totally different to deal with. Thats usually how I do my backgrounds. Oh also, compress at a different ratio than the lead, regardless of hat the track sounds like it might need, just dont replicate the compressor ratio the lead is using.

dave

[inverseroom]

Rodgre--

Aphex Exciter and Dimension C? Dude, YOU ARE MY HERO!!!

Next thing you'll tell me you're tracking through a DOD Performer Flanger 575 and a Radio Shack electret condenser!

John.

[Rodgre]

Rodgre--

Aphex Exciter and Dimension C? Dude, YOU ARE MY HERO!!!

Next thing you'll tell me you're tracking through a DOD Performer Flanger 575 and a Radio Shack electret condenser!

John.

John, I forgot. It's actually a DOD 670 Flanger on the left channel, and an A/DA flanger on the right channel. I run that whole thing through the Edison and a BASE in parallel, then bounce it all to mono, then do the whole process again as a double.

Funny, of the hundreds of pedals we have at Tremolo, we don't have any DOD Performer series.... what's wrong with us?

Roger

[assfortress]

if youve got drums already set up, just have them sing backups at the drum set. pick a couple mics, add reverb or delay, and then pan the different mics.

[Meriphew]

if youve got drums already set up, just have them sing backups at the drum set. pick a couple mics, add reverb or delay, and then pan the different mics.

That's a cool idea.

[inverseroom]

Funny, of the hundreds of pedals we have at Tremolo, we don't have any DOD Performer series.... what's wrong with us?

You laugh, my friend, but that is a very cool analog flanger, that is capable of a wonderful vibrato. And the Performer compressor isn't bad either!

As for backing vocals, I once double-tracked a lead vocal by holding a walkie-talkie next to the mic as I sang, and then I mic'ed the other walkie talkie across the room, as the backup. And every once in awhile I pressed the litte button that makes the beep.

[Rodgre]

Funny, of the hundreds of pedals we have at Tremolo, we don't have any DOD Performer series.... what's wrong with us?

You laugh, my friend, but that is a very cool analog flanger, that is capable of a wonderful vibrato. And the Performer compressor isn't bad either!
.

Actually, i don't laugh. I was honestly wondering why we don't have any Performer series stuff. I used to have the Performer Chorus but it would make a popping sound whenever I would play through it, so it is one of only five pedals that I have ever parted with in the last twenty years. The rest sit happily on many shelves in the studio, or else on the pedalboards.

I wonder if the 575 Flanger is the same circuit as the FX75 flanger. I love my old 670 Flanger though. Instant Siouxsie circa '82 tone. Crazy fast vibrato that turns into pseudo ring modulation.


But this is for another thread. Sorry.

I've done that "sing into the drum mics" trick too. That's a very cool idea. I forgot about it. I did it because I was lazy, not because it was a stroke of brilliance!

Roger