People singing at end of DMB's Best of What's Around? How?

[LVC_Jeff]

I am mixing a song for a school project, and it has a real anthemic, kind of a everyone wants to sing along chorus section, and I want to make it sound like the end of Dave Matthews Band's The Best of What's Around (on Under the Table and Dreaming).

I tried doubling and giving the doubled tracks chorus and verb, but that didn't quite do it. Should I just keep doubling and delaying or something? It sounds so incredible when the DMB does it, gives me goosebumps. I want to get that effect! Ahhhhhh.

Thanks in advance.

[nlmd311]

I haven't listened to this in a while but I'm pretty sure it's just a "gang vocal" take in a fairly live room. If you are manipulating a single vocal I don't think you are going to be able to get the type of effect you are looking for. By overdubbing the same vocal (assuming it is just one vocalist), even if they are singing in different keys/ranges, you are still limiting yourself to a certain sound. See if you can get a group of people together in front of a single mic or a stereo set up and have a go at it. I find that it helps to have people who aren't completely in time and in key in there for certain tracks. It gives it a much more natural, "live" feel in my opinion.
If that isn't an option, continue overdubbing, but on top of having the vocalist(s) singing in front of the mic add some overdubs where you either move the mic or vocalist around, or both. Try to get different spacial things happening. Close, distant, hard left, hard right, higher register, lower register.

Not sure if that helps at all but if possible try the gang vocal. I'm pretty sure that is what I recall going on.

I've got to go listen to that song now.

-Darrill

[LVC_Jeff]

Thanks for the help, I think I kind got it. It was three vocals, two male, one female. I bounced them to two other tracks, and ran that through a tc electronics verb unit with a verb time of around 147 ms, and then bounced the vocals to two more tracks, and verbed that with another verb unit, with a time of around 153 ms. I think it sounds fairly good. Certainly has the effect I was going for, anyway.

And yes, you should listen to that song, and that whole album. Amazing.