4 Ways To Make Vocal Doubling In Hip Hop Better

By Frank Lubsey


Hip hop music production is not just about beats and instrumentals. It also involves the use of strong vocals. Vocal doubling is the most effective method of grabbing and retaining listener's attention as well as make the lyrics more interesting. It's commonly used in hip hop and rock music. This technique transforms separate beats, instrumentals and lyrics into a track that listeners will enjoy. Vocal doubling aims at making the vocals more prominent. It can be applied to specific parts of the song such as words, verse or entire song. Here are 4 tips to ensure that you use vocal doubling better in your hip hop tracks.

Rule #1. Choose your best take as the lead rap line. A lot of takes, that's the first step in recording. As much as possible, make sure that you and your voice are up for recording, this means keeping yourself hydrated with water to lubricate those vocal chords. Also, keep the mic at the same distance at all times. With a good take, compiling would be easier. If you are gifted with a silver-tongue and you can nail down the entire verse or track in one take, you should go for it. Out of all those takes, choose the best one and make it your lead vocals.

Find a double for your lead. After selecting the best take for your lead, listen to the other takes made and select them in the order of close similarity to your lead. However, if free styling or flowing is your thing, it might be harder finding takes that are close to same. In this instance, you will have to make another take rapping as close as you can to the lead. A great technique used by most artists is wearing only one headset when making their takes. This allows them listen to the original lead and simultaneously record its double.

Rule #3. Keep The Doubles Inconspicuous When Mixing Rap Lines. The goal in vocal doubling is to enforce the lead, not to create an illusion that there are 2 or more rappers behind the record. Tweak the volume of the second version so that it blends well with the lead rap. Pushing the double 10 to 12 dB can usually do the job as it makes the vocals thicker without creating the impression that it is doubled. If you are aiming for the spacious effect, use 2 doubles and pan one track hard left and the other hard right by .10 seconds. Left pan delays the track by 10 seconds while the right pan times its entrance 10 seconds earlier. With these, the doubles should be unnoticeable.

Listen and tweak the final mix. After recording your vocals alongside the beats and instrumentals, it's time to listen to the final mix. If it the doubles don't bend well, tweaking might be necessary. You might also need to practice more to master doubling. Practice your vocals on beats and instrumentals to perfect the art of vocal doubling.




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