Hey there!

I'm working on my first mix ever where I've got a lead vocal track and some vocal doubles panned left and right. I want to put some reverb and delay to give the lead vocal a sense of space and depth, but I'm not sure how to go about it without causing a mess.

I've seen tutorials where people use stereo delay on the main vocal to get that Haas effect and widen the stereo image. But here's my concern: I want to avoid messing up the clarity of the panned vocal doubles with the delay in the main vocal and ending up with a chaotic mix.

So, my question is, how can I add reverb and delay to my mono lead vocal without messing with the distinctness and separation of the panned vocal doubles? I want to create that spacious vibe around the lead vocal.

I'll leave an example of the dry vocals here: https://voca.ro/1g7RevszXWV5

Please keep in mind that I'm a beginner and still need to add more processing to the vocals to make them sound the way I want them to.

Thank you very much for reading this and helping me out. Bless!

 

something like this ? : https://vocaroo.com/1bkxwjeaK9J7

if you like it this is the settings :

 

based on description, my first thought was some Mid/Side EQ and Compression from FF Pro-C2 and Pro-Q3. Or Auburn Panagement might be next. https://www.auburnsounds.com/products/Panagement.html

 

I am not sure what you are trying to do but there is some compromise and you are going to get some shifting as phase cancellation, etc...

Take a stab at placing everything in mono before or after your doubles, which themselves are just pitched delays with modulation.

You can make sends to a mono delay.

Filter your reverb by taking out the low and and carve out some space in the highs.

It's going to be a compromise, you can't make chocolate cake and keep the distinctiveness of the vanilla and cream completely intact.

A bit of optical compression on as sub group and a send from that to a very light spacious reverb will glue it all together.

Good luck.

 

I will add some information that i know about reverbs in stereo. Not all reverbs are equal in stereo becouse of the way they receive the input signal. So for example, if you are hard panned left, and send to a reverb, one may take that signal, in mono, and then output it in stereo making an even spread left and right, when another reverb might keep the input hard left and only out put the to the left. Have a look at at hard panning and test what plugins you have, I think that Valhalla plate has some algos that are both mono and stereo input.

 

I'm sorry for not delving into explanations this time - not really in a mental state to do so. So I'll make this quick.
1) Your goal does not make a lot of sense with double-tracked harmony. It will be heard anyways.
2) Your issue is most likely that reverb clashes with the rest of the mix - not with harmony. Make it shorter and less wide (not mono), and with longer predelay. Send harmony to the same reverb, make this send 6 or more dB quieter than the main one. Attenuate the send itself to -16 dB or even lower.
3) Also listen to what JMOUTTON said.
4) Don't treat this appoach as a universal constant. With experience you'll know when and how to break these rules.

 

have you tried any of Pasttofuturereverb's irs? they're out on the complement site.

 

Are the doubled harmonies active throughout the whole track? If not, try to automate the delay so it's not active (or at least much lower in volume) whenever the double harmony parts are playing.

If I use a very obvious and purposefully loud delay, I usually use it on just a few places here and there (like delay throws at the end of lines etc). The other delays and reverbs are usually quite subtle and wouldn't clash with any vox harmonies.

 

. This is called a throw? I was going to mention this, but I couldn't think of a way to explain without a lot more text. I do this with sounds a lot, I duplicate the channel (not the audio), with only minimum delay or reverb on the main portion of the phrase, so the delay/reverb doesn't stack up on itself. I chop the last portion of the phrase, drag it down into the duplicate channel, and automate the delay/verb of the plugin to make it more prominent than just a tail.. like a comp track edit.

 

Yeah, that's at least what I've heard most call it. It's probably has a bunch of different names, but "delay throw" is the most common term I've heard.

Ducked delay is pretty similar, but to me delay throws are when the delay isn't going all the time, but you rather choose different words and phrases that you want delay repeats of while the rest of vocal track is unaffected by that delay.

 

Look into Abbey Road Reverb Trick as well as ducking/sidechain compression (dry vocal ducking the wet reverb/delay to make space). Also learn about the importance of predelay (reverb) to enhance/preserve intelligibility.
I would say those tricks are even more important than what reverb/delay you use.