iZotopeVocal Doubler is a free plug-in designed to enhance your vocal with a natural doubling effect, adding richness and depth. Our acclaimed doubling technology has been reimagined with a brand new interactive UI dedicated to helping you achieve a great double faster than ever.
Want to learn how to mix vocals? Get essential vocal mixing tips in this round up of our most popular tutorials. Learn how to process vocals, make vocals cut through a mix, learn all about vocal doubling, and more.
Available as two separate plugins that handle specific vocal doubling tasks, the Sonnox VoxDoubler is natural-sounding, pristinely designed and easy to use. The slick user interface sports large knobs and easy-to-read parameters.
The Thicken plugin creates a new stereo doubled voice and overlaps it with the original source, making it great for emulating the effect of singing the same part twice. The controls are identical to the Widen plugin with the exception of a stereo spread control in place of the width knob.
Based off the Eventide H3000 and AMS DMX 15-80s hardware pitch shifters, MicroShift (which comes bundled with the more stripped down Little MicroShift) widens the original signal and features controls for mix, focus (which allows you to add width to a specific frequency range), three distinct styles that spread and color the sound differently as well as detune & delay.
Towards the top of the plugin are separate controls & displays for stereo spread, volume of the doubles, detuning and an equalizer that only affects the doubles. Users can replicate the signal up to four times, and there are per-voice controls that allow for fine adjustments of the doubled sounds. Controls include on/off, gain, pan, delay (0 to 100 ms), feedback, octaver, detune and modulation depth & rate.
Normally multiple vocal tracks are recorded while the singer listens to a backing-track in headphones (or the drummer may be listening to a click-track) so all takes have the same timing. And then if you double-track the little imperfections add to the effect.
I'm looking for something that is similar to the Doubler 2 plugin offered from Waves on iOS. I've tried the 4Pockets harmonizer but it has some serious delay when its applied. Is there anything similar to what I'm looking for? Specifically for vocals as well
@YZJustDatGuy said:
I'm looking for something that is similar to the Doubler 2 plugin offered from Waves on iOS. I've tried the 4Pockets harmonizer but it has some serious delay when its applied. Is there anything similar to what I'm looking for? Specifically for vocals as well
Vocal doubling might be the most common mixing technique we see in modern vocal mixes. It allows us to take a single vocal source and double it to create a more exciting stereo image. With a vocal doubler, we can make a copy of an audio signal and pan it the opposite direction to create width.
On the other hand, when it comes to the automatic doubling effect or ADT, a singer will cut a single lead vocal take and run it through a plugin to get doubled vocals. Back in the day, this was done through the use of tape machines, wherein signals were "doubled" using slight pitch changes and delays.
The original ADT or "artificial double tracking" technology came about in the early 1960s, when a few Abbey Road engineers came up with a solution after a complaint from John Lennon, who was sick of double-tracking his vocals during the recording process.
The plugin certainly has a special sound to it, and it allows you to pan the source and the double in any way you please, so you can choose how wide you want your stereo image to be. There's also a cool drive control, allowing you to add a bit of distortion or saturation to either one or both of your vocals.
Beyond that, Reel ADT takes it a step further by including Varispeed and LFO settings, allowing users to determine both how fast the second "tape machine" is moving, as well as the speed of the LFO based on the particular project.
Sonnox VoxDoubler comes as two distinct plugins, allowing you to take on multiple vocal doubling tasks at once. The great thing about this plugin is that it offers a very natural doubling effect, great for when you want it to sound like you recorded another vocal track.
The Widen plugin takes a single voice and creates two separate mono voices, panning them right and left of the original signal. It's the best choice for anyone who needs to take a mono vocal performance and give it some stereo width. There are also plenty of onboard controls for tone, width, and depth, as well as a mix control for parallel processing.
As for the Thicken plugin, this takes a stereo doubled voice and puts the original signal on top, making it seem as if the person sang the exact same part two times. You'll find the exact same parameters on the Thicken plugin that you'd find on the Widen plugin, though instead of the width knob, they give you a stereo spread control.
It's the sound of the '70s wrapped up in a single, easy-to-use plugin. If you're a fan of Van Halen, you'll likely recognize the effect right away, as Eddie was known to use the MXR Flanger/Doubler unit a lot in his recordings. The same goes for Dimebag Darrell, the guitarist of Pantera.
The plugin gives you the ability to switch back and forth between the flanging and doubling effect, as well as adjust the dry and wet ratio, the oscillation speed, and the width. You can even flip the phase and sync your effect up with the host tempo.
The Manual Knob is one of my favorite features on this plugin, as it allows you to manually adjust how the effect swings. It's a nice cherry on top for when you want to get experimental. I often find myself using the Mix knob on this plugin too, blending it in with my dry vocal tracks to get the best of both worlds.
The plugin works by widening the original signal using your choice of three distinct styles, each of which you can adjust with different delay and detune settings for a wide range of unique doubling tones. There's also a mix knob at the end, allowing you to dial the effect in parallel.
When it comes to Soundtoys plugins, I'm a pretty biased follower. They all sound so good, and most of them offer an analog sound quality that's hard to get elsewhere. Plus, it's one of the easiest plugins on this list to use, meaning you can dial in a final sound in a pinch.
Though this classic Waves plugin is nothing new, as it has been on the market for quite some time and the user interface could certainly benefit from a little modern love, it is still one of the most capable tools for vocal doubling out there. Pair that with its harmonization features, and you have an incredibly versatile yet budget-friendly modulation tool.
On the upper section of the plugin, you'll find dedicated displays and parameters for managing double tracking, stereo width, detuning, and equalization, giving you complete control over the tone of your dry and doubled vocals.
One of the main downsides to Waves Doubler is that it does not have a Mix knob, meaning that if you want to use parallel processing, you'll have to use an auxiliary track and route your dry vocals to it.
Antares has long been known as the developers for auto-tune, though the company also happens to make one of the best vocal doubling plugins on the market. Duo is a pretty straightforward piece of software. You get simple doubling parameters that allow you to dial in the volume and panning of both the doubled vocal and the dry vocal, as well as change the pitch variation, timing variation, vocal timbre, and vibrato.
One of the unique things about this plugin is that it also asks you for the vocal range of the dry vocal that you are working with, so that it can provide you with a cleaner doubled vocal with fewer artifacts. You'll find a couple of different options, including Soprano, Alto/Tenor, and Baritone/Bass. There is also an option for instruments if you're doubling something like a synthesizer or guitar.
The pitch variation adjusts the amount of random pitch variation that you'll get between the two vocals, while the timing variation adjusts the delay between the two. You can then use the vocal timbre control to make the doubled vocal either sound lower or higher in pitch, as well as the vibrato control to give the doubled voice a bit of natural vibrato.
Acon Digital Multiply is another free plug-in designed to give you doubled vocals in a pinch. The team from Acon recently updated the plugin with a few improved EQ features, allowing you to have better tonal control over your new stereo doubled voice.
However, the central focus of this plugin is the ability to dial in multiple voices with independent frequency modulation controls. The amplitude modulation is very clean, meaning you'll get a more natural chorused effect that doesn't sound so 'swooshy.'
I don't often find myself using this one on lead vocals, however, just because I think there are some better vocal doubler plugins out there. However, if I even want to thicken up background vocals quickly, it's a great tool.
When it comes to doubling vocals, I always recommend tracking a few takes, as you'll get the most natural sound by doing so. With that said, once in a while, using a vocal doubler plugin can be a nice way to get a similar effect or an effect that's completely out of this world.
I often come across mix sessions in which a lead vocal has been duplicated onto another track. The producer usually explains to me that they were hoping for it to sound like the vocal is doubled. We should all know that duplicating an audio track is not a double, right? Duplicating the track will make the volume louder. This type of double might even be used to add some energy or color when treated with a parallel-processing technique, like drastic EQ, compression, or distortion. True doubles are something else, though. We create doubles by recording matching performances onto new tracks that play along with the primary track.
Lead vocal doubles can be used for emphasis and punctuation, like when the last word of an important line is doubled. Doubles can also increase the sense of power, like when a rapper doubles their entire lead vocal. Doubling an entire vocal can work for some people, but sometimes doubling an entire verse can sound sloppy or dated in style. Artists like Eminem, Kendrick Lamar, Madonna, and Chris Cornell, not to mention the Beatles mastered the art of doubling lead vocals. A proper double can add texture, thicken a tone and mask pitch problems.
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