Tighter Vocals (Backing or Doubling) Using the Flex Tool
Tutorial Details
- Difficult: Intermediate
- Time: 10-20 minutes
- Requirements: Logic Pro
The vocals are always the most important part of a mix. They sit right up front and are the main thing that the listener will latch on to. If they sound too lazy and loose, it can throw the whole track out and give an overall messy feel.
Now, getting the vocalist to sing rhythmically and on-the-beat is one thing, but trying to get them to do that again for either a chorus double, or backing vocals, is another! When it comes to parts like this, that need to be spot-on, there’s something you can do in post-production to help the situation out. With the use of the Flex Tool, in Logic, I’ll show you a quick tip to do just that.
Step 1
Locate the two phrases you want to be matched. In this case, a lead vocal and a vocal double, to beef up the chorus.
Step 2
Trim the parts so they are the same length.
Step 3
Select each track, one at a time, and set them to ‘Monophonic’ in the Flex Time menu.
NB: There are two places for this;
- in the Inspector Menu under ‘Flex Mode’
- turn Flex Mode on with the button above the arrange page then use the drop-down menu on the track itself.
Step 4
Make a Groove Template of the track you wish to be master (the one you wish the double track to tighten to). This will analyse the track and find the hit points of the phrase.
- Go to the Inspector menu on the left (Hit ‘I’ if it’s not already visible)
- Go to the Quantize menu at the top
- Choose ‘Make Groove Template’ from the list (should be right at the bottom)
Step 5
Now select the track that you wish to be the slave (the one you wish to tighten to the first one).
Step 6
Go to the Inspector menu again, but this time for the doubler track.
Go to the Quantize menu again and choose the quantize value at the bottom – it will be labelled the same as the clip name of the master (in this case ‘Lead Vocal.3′).
Step 7
View both tracks together to see how they should match up to each other and therefore, be much tighter!
This quick tip should help you to bring a little more focus to your mixes> It’s all very well doubling up your vocals to make the choruses sound thicker, or layering backing vocals to add colour to a section in a song, but if they are too loose and out of time it can sound sloppy.
Also, why stop at just vocals? Apply this same technique to other applications, for example: Locking the bass into the drums, bringing two strummed acoustics together for better rhythm or perhaps just bringing electric guitar stabs bang on the beat for more punch.
Get tightening!
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By James Arter
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Great Tip! :)
Thanks! :D
This is a really awesome tip! Very simply laid out as well!
Some audio samples really would have been nice. Thanks for the tips though, will definitely try them out.
Just a great tip !
i always kind of missed the Vocalign plugin for Logic, but now it seems not anymore :0)
Best,
Rob.
In my inspector menu of the slave doubler, there is no option for ‘quantize.’ The only option i have in the inspector menu for the slave track is to check or uncheck the loop button…
You might want to make sure that the track has it’s flex mode selected; in this case, ‘monophonic’.
Oh, this looks promising. I’ll be sure to try this one out the next time I’m mixing vocals. Thanks!
I’m a Reason + Cubase user…how would I be able to do this with Cubase? I know there’s a plugin called VocAlign…have only seen it around for Mac.
Can’t remember if Cubase has User Groove Quantize functionality…gotta look it up.
Viren
Hmm, I’m not too sure actually as I don’t really use Cubase. I’m pretty sure it has that function you mentioned though
how can I do this in pro tools? please reply thank you!!!!!!!!!!!
I’m thinking this is possible in ProTools as well…is it a similar process? Also, how clean do you think it sounds when you slave the doubled track to the master?
Does anyone know any good pluggins for Logic 9 mainly for vocals such as rnb’ hip-hop etc!? Would be great if someone got back to me..Thanks :)
D low – whats wrong with the pluggins you currently have?
9 times out of 10 they are fine for what you need. i have seen multi platinum records be made in logic with no pluggins, have a play around with what you have before you go out and spend some cash man. trust me on this one! i had to learn the hard way. (i got pluggins i didn’t even need or know what they did)
nate
I have a problem with flex time. Some flex markers, when dragged, give static clicks and pops. Even when i bounce the track off line these clicks and pops reappear. Could it be my disc is too slow? I have a 7200 rpm disc inside a MacBook Pro so I wonder. Nowhere on the net do I read about this problem so I’m guessing I’m one of view with this issue… James, or anyone, did you ever encounter this problem?
Hi, great article and great site, im a bedroom newbie to logic really enjoying reading through the articles and getting to grips with possibilities, thanks.