I've been trying to get the female backing vocal which comes in at 28 seconds to sound effected like it's washing in and snaking behind the lead vocal track. I have tried panning using automation, and several different types of modulation such as phase and flange, and delay. It's still not quite what I'm hearing in my head. I can't really think of any proffesional tracks to say "Hey, I want this sound" so I hope my description of what I'm looking for will suffice.
Maybe instead of panning, I should use a stereo widener.
ANY suggestions are welcome.

BTW, first post here, so be easy on me!

PCD

 

Compression, saturation and a tad of plate reverb.

Damn, that sounds like my shitty band-demos from around 1995 (mixing-wise and somewhat sound-wise).

 

Last edited: May 9, 2016

It's got compression and the plate there. Maybe I should upload a sample without the flanger and panning going on that I had which I thought was the direction I wanted to go, but couldn't get the specific effect I was looking for. Not really wanting it to sound "normal", but processed. Almost synth like with some kind of modulation/panning going on. Swirly is the best adjective I can come up with. Thanks for replying, Baxter!

 

Maybe a Doppler effect might be what you are hearing in your head?

 

Try using the Waves Metaflanger (or any Flanger) on the a background vocal and mess with the Rate,Modulation and depth until it has that washy filter effect then HP the hell out of it until it fits right.

I tend to boost the highs, then lower the gain. Then you could automate it on certain words, that would be my approach maybe

 

Last edited: May 6, 2016

sounds like it is filtered quite steep around 3k (high pass). maybe doing that first and then fiddle with a flanger will end up in a better result

 

I have no clients tonight so here goes:
audio file(The first one is dry, second one flanged):
https://clyp.it/5sfnqxym
Settings used:
https://cdn.pbrd.co/images/JhfRCe1.jpg

 

Not sure whether it is a female or just the same guy doubling with say compression, flanger or phaser and sounds almost detuned or out of phase a little. Sounds almost like the old sort of Eventide H3000 factory setings that would do that kind of job but gonna be hard to replicate it exactly. Interesting track

 

When I watched a tutorial of a guy making background vocals, he also lowered the gain of their tracks after his FX adjustments. I'm hearing the backing vocal at the same gain level...but I'm on headphones right now. The second sample, the first sample was hard for me to tell it was a woman but, consider below.

I also remember a different reverb being used on the backing vocals to push them back more, with the lead having a kinda room reverb and the backing vocals having on the order of a hall. I think he eq'd the high ends differently too which greatly affects the perception of the reverb but, I forgot if he enhanced or decreased the highs...

It's possible to try to do stuff like in Melodyne where you slightly lower the formant of the background singers (and/or pitch, but only a few cents-which I think is equivalent to flanging), and/or add randomness to the pitch of each track further separating the formants.

The guy did that, and at the end lowered the gain of the backing vocals. The only reason why I remember this insignificant adjustment was because it made all the difference, like I went, whoa, ok now that works. Idk why, but it definitely made the lead sound up front and that was before he used any fast attack compression to further make the lead stand out.

On the other hand, the panning makes me want to smack you. It's so fast I track it like I have to hunt for something coming after me. (only talking about short 2nd track)

Pls take these suggestions in context, I've been doing this for 6 weeks, but even a talking monkey can relate other ppl's experience that seemed to work. Idk what "washing in" means yet. So I can only give you a suggestion about pushing them back.

Either way the male vocal can sing! and the unprocessed woman sounds nice.

 

Last edited: May 8, 2016

cut it from the low to 500h and from the high to 1.5k

 

I didn't know I was thinking about it, but walking around today I remembered that reverse reverb is in same class as the sound you may be trying to get that "washes" in. If you use the effect only on the attacks on in a little of the phrases of the female vocal, that may work possibly layered with other FX. There are plugins that do it auto now, like a plugin that starts with Ati or something, nut's I forgot...either way the "hard" way or easy way, it's not too hard...and it'll "wash" in.

After I make nice to my Mom, I'll check my other computer and update the name...
AudioEase Altiverb...

 

Thank you, EVERYONE for all of the fine suggestions! Out of any other forums I follow, I've always thought you guys were the most helpful.
FunkU, interesting idea. I don't know if a Doppler is what I'm looking for, exactly, but I'm going to try it to hear how it sounds with that track. Nimbuss, thank you for taking the time to prepare and post up a sample. That is just awesome right there. The track I posted has a flanger on it, with settings close to the image you posted. It just didn't come across as pronounced as I would have liked, but I'm wondering if that might be due to the phase correction plugin (PhasePI) I used on that track. I'm going to try it with the effect outside of the correction plugin.
Lean, it is a female track. I'm not trying to replicate it, that is the track I'm working on, and you are right on the money with what's being used in it. I think the phaser you're hearing is the correction plugin and the flanger fighting each other.
jettglobal, reverse reverb might just be what I'm looking for, but with a short tail. I hadn't thought about that. Excellent suggestion. I like the flange and panned sound too, so maybe all of them will give me what I'm looking for. And thanks for the compliment on the vocals!
Was going to get desperate and try a vocoder, but I don't want it sounding too robotic.

 

Another thing came to my mind apart from what others have suggested is Freeze effect. it works a lot like what you're trying to describe (I guess).
It is relatively unknown to some because it was the result of a recent collaborative research between IRCAM and INA-GRM. the former made a Max4Live device while the latter made it as VST.

 

@Amirious , I went looking for some audio samples from IRCAM and INA-GRM, but couldn't locate any.

 

There's a more melodic way to do a vocoder effect, using Absynth or Kontakt I forgot but, I remembered to remember. There's a better way to vocode than forcing the voice to a synth, I think the better way reverses that process keeping the formant of the voice. My little brain should remember wtf that was sometime today...woo hoo, faster than I thought! It's the "tone machine" mode of Kontakt:

and if anyone can tell me wtf is the guitar vsti that guy is using, I'll send you a cookie jpg. 7:31 in. It says: Guitarist on it. It's really good.

Also, I saw "washing" referenced to ohh, ahh vocals in a Kontakt bank, so I hope I'll finally understand wtf that means soon.

@Amirious I can't find it either unless it's an exclusive Ableton plugin...is it?

 

Last edited: May 9, 2016

@jeffglobal , I guess I should clarify when I say "washing", that's my description, not necessarily something in the industry, and may not mean what I think it means! I'll check out that clip. Though currently don't have Kontakt and not sure what the learning curve is for it.

 

Kontakt is almost like learning about women. Once you think you got a handle on it, caboom. Ok, not so inscrutible, Kontakt is like another daw in a daw, it's really not that bad, if you approach it a little at a time. (I've only had a little time, so I approached it a little and then learned there was an "under the hood." and only because someone told me, yo, there's alot of stuff in there, if it's not the player...)

It depends how you react to synths like Zebra 2, Absynth or Omnisphere. If they don't make you want to puke, it's a piece of cake. Even if you can handle Massive, or Sylenth, it's probably not much more complicated in it's worst most complex application. I was not impressed at all with it's 32 step sequencer after I've seen Absynth's envelopes. FM8 I think can be as complicated as Kontakt, given my current level of ignorance and lack of use of either yet.

 

I haven't done anything with samplers or VSTi yet. Everything we've written and recorded to date has been guitar oriented so I haven't delved into that, but I'm sure that will come at some point. I'd love to sing something over a nice piano part!
I'm going to try some of these suggestions tonight, and will post up a clip of the winning method and how I did it if I find it. Maybe someone else will find it useful.
If it comes to using Kontakt, I'm sure it'll be several days before I have something ready.

 

Well it isn't like a sample pack to have audio demos. You better look for a trial version or read some reviews/watch youtube videos from well known sources.

And definitely would be good to see how you've done it and hear the result

 

As I mentioned, one works only in Ableton and the other one uses iLok protection so there's no "try before buy" thing (unless released recently)

One thing I would like to say is that creative effects are a unique addition to your arsenal for sure but they are not something you can't emulate with everyday tools and experimentation. do it like how BT made 5000+ vocal chops in 1 song by hand before any stutter/glitch plugins were born.