Unwanted phasing effect on vocals

Whenever we double track vocals we get this sort of phasing effct. now i did wonder if it was some sort of lag betwen the tracks but when i line them up exactly its still presint.
has anyone got any idea what is causing it? Its a problem weve had a long time!

thanks

TinaM

Is that ‘two takes’ or cloned?

two or more separate takes.
But in fact when we record anything we get two tracks, i guess the sondcard is set to record two mono tracks & this effect is present if they are played back together,. So normally we delete one.

and when they’ve been deleted and the remaining tracks monitored solo?

yeah we get the phasing effect

Solo’d, in mono? Phasing?

Yeah, most apparent on long notes

Urrrrhm!?
Double check for eronious vst fx plugs - turn off all processes (tiny little green light in the top-left of the main track area).
Could be some kind of internal loop going on with your soundcard?
Where are all the wizards?

No joy Tony, but thanks for the ideas.

If you don’t mind us asking what kind of headphones are you using to monitor while singing?

I do remember someone else saying this happened to them (over in the M-audio forum a ways back) but I don’t remember what the cause was…right now, bit hung over ??? …but it might come to me as my brain clears.

keep shinin

jerm :cool:

Sorry Tina, I’m trying to think it through, but my machine is at the menders so I can’t dive into it.
The only way to be sure of the theory would be to make sure no fx were added when they were recorded. It could be many things - but will be sortable.

HEy

Just so we are on the same page here do you have the 2496?

Tony, is it also possible there is some kind of AUX setting going on causing a loop?

keep shinin

jerm :cool:

Lets have a look…beyerdynamic dt990. a christmas present & probably one of the most expensive pieces of gear weve got.

Missed those other posts!
Were definitely not using any effects when we record the vocals.

No, we have 2 soundcards installed but the 2496 is disabled & we are using the delta44

There is a guy over there (Bakus13) who ran some phase test on the 2496 that showed the L and R slightly out of phase from center, using CueMixFX Phase analysis tool.
But when he rendered the tracks down and tested them again they were fine.

With that in mind Tina we need to start eliminating possible sources for what you are “hearing” and determine if it is a recording issue OR a playback issue.
You could start by taking a single vocal track and mixing it down.
Then take that mixdown into another app (windows media player, quicktime, etc etc) play it and see if the phase sound is still on it.

I’d like to see what happens when you render BOTH mono tracks down to one as well and play that through an independent app…the reason being if there is some sort of fluctuation going on in the stereo center of the two tracks (as the M-audio forum guy detected) it could cancel itself out by centering both tracks and mixing them down to one stereo track, since the fluctuation would then not sway left to right.

THe reason you would be hearing a phaser effect on TWO mono tracks that you are recording at different times for the doubling effect is because each track only represents one side of the stereo recording which is swaying left to right just a bit off center, adding two of the same side of that sway is only going to make the effect more obvious to the ear.

We won’t know for sure if this is it until you do a recording of vocals KEEPING both sides of the stereo track (two mono’s) and mix them down together to see the results.


keep shinin

jerm :cool:

Yes, Jerm - could be all and any of that shiit. Tina! Have you got aux’s open? It could also be a case of, ‘pick it up by the cables, and punch it in the monitor’.
:laugh:

many thanks jerm for all that, I will try doing that tomorrow.

one thing i had wrong was both soundcards are in factt enabled though only 1 - the delta44 is being used

threres no aux channels open tony

must go to bed

TinaM

Quote: (TinaM @ Oct. 10 2010, 5:29 PM)

Lets have a look...beyerdynamic dt990. a christmas present & probably one of the most expensive pieces of gear weve got.

Those are nice, :)

but when it comes to recording vocals it's more important to get the right kind of headphone for the application than how much they cost.(didn't look up the specs on those)

There are open and closed back styles.
The closed back if memory serves me correct are good for vocals since they do not allow sound to leave the headphones and eliminate unwanted bleed.
IF course if you were experiencing bleed or anything that would cause a feedback loop for your described symptoms you will also faintly hear the music as in the vocal track as well.

My money is on the 2 mono track center offset problem not these fine headphones :)

PS, get some sleep, tomorrow is another day and you will come fresh out the cattle shoot ready to get this cracking!


keep shinin

jerm :cool:
:agree: