Doubling a vocal (singer sings a second pass in unison with themselves) is one of the easiest and most straightforward ways you can bring up the intensity to a section of a song in which you’re trying elevate the energy (typically the chorus). The end result is often very subtle to the listener. Most of the time, a doubled vocal is rarely an effect that music fans consciously are aware of-they simply feel the emotional shift of a raised energy level.

A little while back I came across some video interviews on YouTube of Butch Vig breaking down some of the production techniques used to record Nirvana’s Nevermind record.

In one of the videos Butch dissects the song “In Bloom”, and how they doubled Kurt Cobain’s lead vocal, as well as Dave Grohl’s harmony vocal in the choruses. Butch pulls up each part one at a time, so you can clearly hear how this technique filled out the arrangement in a powerful way.

I’m currently in the studio with the band Kink Ador. On Monday we singled out one of the songs we’re working on, and focused on recording some background vocal and additional guitar parts for it. One of the first things we did was double the lead vocal in all the choruses.

But in the middle of recording the vocal double, I began to think back to that Butch Vig interview, and I got inspired with another idea. I liked the approach Butch took of having a different voice sing and double the harmony vocals. So I basically copied the essence of that idea, but with a bit of a spin on it.

Kink Ador is a band made up of one female lead vocalist-Sharon. The rest of the band is guys. Nick, the lead guitar player, also sings background vocals. In the middle of tracking Sharon’s lead vocal double, I got the wild idea to go back and triple the lead vocal in the choruses-but with Nick singing the tripled part.

I was a bit hesitant with the idea, but we tried it and it turned out awesome. It added another layer of just the right amount of texture and intensity to Sharon’s vocal in the choruses. The end result is very subtle-you can’t tell that there’s a male vocal layered underneath. In the end, it simply imparts a sort of gruffness to Sharon’s lead vocal, which is perfect for adding energy to the choruses.

So next time you’re looking for ways to add intensity to certain sections of a song, it may be as simple as doubling the lead vocal, or even tripling the part with another member of the band.

Here’s the Butch Vig interview that inspired this idea in the first place:

//Jon
Website: jonstinson.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/stnsn
Twitter: @stsn

photo credit: fiddi1
I was talking on the phone yesterday with a friend of mine, Jacquire King [www.jacquireking.com], and we began discussing the idea of community in the music industry. The whole conversation kind of coincides with my post from a month ago, The People Business. We concluded that most successful music happened when a group of people came together to form a community. The resulting sum was immensely more powerful than what the individual parts could have been on their own. There have been several of these key movements in the history of recorded music that are tied to a decade, a group of musicians/bands, a few key producers, a few key engineers, a few key record labels and/or publishing companies and a geographical location.

Examples include:

photo credit: tpholland

• The 50′s era American rock music in Memphis with Elvis, Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Sam Phillips, Sun Records, etc.
• The 60′s era British Invasion with the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Kinks, The Yardbirds, The Who, Norman Smith, Geoff Emerick, George Martin, Andrew Loog Oldham, Gus Skinas, EMI, Decca, etc.
• The 70′s Punk era with The Clash, Sex Pistols, The Ramones, Sire Records, Seymour Stein, Richard Gottehrer, etc.
• The 80′s Hair Bands era in America with Motley Crue, Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Poison, etc, and New Wave/Post Punk era in Manchester, England with Joy Division, The Church, Cocteau Twins, Echo and the Bunnymen, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Factory Records, 4AD, Rough Trade Records, Geoff Travis, Tony Wilson, Ivo Watts Russell, Peter Kent, etc.
• The 90′s Seattle grunge with Nirvana, Soundgarden, Pearl Jam, Alice In Chains, Mother Love Bone, Temple of the Dog, Sub Pop Records, Butch Vig, Brendan O’Brien, Terry Date, etc.
• Recently in Nashville with the Muzik Mafia, Movement Nashville, The Music Society Nashville, Big and Rich, Gretchen Wilson, Chance, Cowboy Troy, Luna Halo, AutoVaughn, Kings of Leon, The Pink Spiders, etc.

photo credit: nichcollins

Jacquire also brought up Stax Records [www.soulsvilleusa.com], Muscle Shoals Sound Studio [www.muscleshoalssound.org], and Daptone Records [www.daptonerecords.com]. Each one of these companies is unique in that not only are they a part of a community as described above, but they also are companies that take an “all in house” approach. In the case of Stax and Muscle Shoals (both of which are no longer around), a house rhythm section was provided on recording sessions. These companies are also unique in that they have never tried to be all things to all people. Instead they have excelled in offering the best quality content to a niche who are interested in that content.

The point in all of this is that people want a community. People want to feel like they belong to something special. The people in these examples came together because they all had a common interest, and they wanted an outlet to express what they were passionate about. They began playing together, and as a natural occurrence attention was brought to what they were doing.

People as fans also want to feel like they belong to something special. They get attached to a story. They want to be able to retell the story of how a certain musical movement came into existence. People feel compelled to be the first on the scene. They want to be the authority in their social circle for this information.

Now with the internet and social media, this community has taken a whole new shape in the 21st century. As you continue to build your career as an artist or producer, think about your community and how you can actively become involved in it. There are infinitely new ways to propagate a community online built around your music. Pursue your dream purely for the sake of achieving your deepest desires. Focus on forming a social bond with fellow musicians, engineers, producers and other music industry people in your area. Focus on sharing a connection with fans. Create a story.

What do you think? What are some other musical communities/time periods that I didn’t mention here? What ways could you team up with other members of your community, or use social media to help each other gain exposure? Leave comments with your thoughts.

Note: All photos are Licensed Under Creative Commons