Panning hip hop/rap vocals

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Desert Bizness

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Hi there. New to this website but ran into it a couple times googling when I first started out. I've recorded a lot of music with local artists where I'm from. I was wondering how many vocals layered or panning do any of you do. I usually have the lead vocal +5 higher then the adlibs/dubz. When I recorded with a local artist recently, he wanted me to dub/copy & paste the same lead vocal twice then he recorded 2 more & wanted them panned -30/+30. I just wanted to know what you guys do for some great sounding vocals. The end result after I tweaked them wasn't half bad but wasn't what I expected. Input on this subject, please?
 
Hi,

A wide ranging subject with a lot of different approaches.

The idea of doubling up and greater panning is a key area to exploit. Where possible you want different re-recordings of the same part to give you maximum flexibility in placement. If you double one recording into two, you have to process it differently otherwise in effect you just make the same part louder and lose the ability to pan effectively.

Try using the full extremes of Left and Right panning as well. Configurations like Lead 1 central, Backing Vox 1 Left, Backing Vox 2 Right.

I always have balance in mind with any configuration however. I prefer to distribute parts evenly to both channels so it does not tilt the mix.

Experiment away and see what works best for you.
 
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Sorry to respond so late. Appreciate the feedbacc though. I just started experimenting with pro tools 10. It's coming along well with the help of tutorials.
 
Right. Copying an already recorded part without any addition processing to the original will result in just high volume, in which ur fader and gain control can already do. If they wanna double have them record the part twice.

As for panning with 2 ad libs I usually go 65 on the pan pot in PT. I like to think of it as a clock. If you pan hard L/R you may need some low end clean up as it builds up the wider you go.
 
Different every song, man. Every song has its own feel and own vibe and asks for different treatment. I'll have this banger of a track, where the double ups need to be in your face and sometimes I'll have a more mellow vibe, where I want the double ups and ad-libs to be subtle details.
 
If you don't got more than one (good) recording, you can use the lead vocal and create two copies, pan them hard L / R. Now try to either place them differently in the time. Possibly one 50 milliseconds after the lead and the other one 50 ms before. Or you can mess with the pitch. For example detune one a lil bit up and one a lil bit down. Also you can mess with effects so that the backups doesnt sound like the lead. Roll them off in the lows so they doesnt take up too much space there.
 
Desert Bizness said:
Hi there. New to this website but ran into it a couple times googling when I first started out. I've recorded a lot of music with local artists where I'm from. I was wondering how many vocals layered or panning do any of you do. I usually have the lead vocal +5 higher then the adlibs/dubz. When I recorded with a local artist recently, he wanted me to dub/copy & paste the same lead vocal twice then he recorded 2 more & wanted them panned -30/+30. I just wanted to know what you guys do for some great sounding vocals. The end result after I tweaked them wasn't half bad but wasn't what I expected. Input on this subject, please?
Click to expand...

Tell him that if he wants you to just copy+paste the same take, he's being lazy.
If you want a quality dub, you need to *actually* perform multiple takes.
Unless you're doing some processing to one of the lead vocals he had you duplicate, there's literally no point in copying+pasting.

As far as panning +30/-30? Go big or go home.
I'm a big fan of LCR mixing.
If something isn't worthy of being panned completely to one side or the other, it shouldn't be panned at all.
Of course, there are exceptions, but those are just that -- exceptions rather than the rule.

Now sometimes, you'll end up with two vocals that sound too "different" to be hard panned like this.
This doesn't mean that you shouldn't hard pan them, but rather than you should go about making them sound
similar enough by your DAW's version of elastic audio (to fix timing differences) and independent compression/limiting
to make their audio levels similar to one another.

-Ki
Salem Beats
 
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