all about D'Angelo vocals

[txgator]

D has to have some the best vocal harmony parts. Can you talk about how you process (engineer and mix) them?

Corey

[Russell Elevado]

hey corey,

First i have to say that D'Angelo is a genius at harmonies...

vocals were recorded with neumann U67's and U47's. and i usually used an LA2A or a Fairchild 670 and sometimes an 1176 for compression. I recorded with slight compression to tape. I used a focusrite pre on the focusrite board.


D is one of the most amazing singers i have ever heard, let alone record.
For a song like "the root", at the most dense point in the song, there's anywhere between 16 to 24 tracks of vocals singing at the same time. This is because he would triple most of his harmonies and there's lot's of overlapping of different vocal parts. And 4 or more harmonies per part.

I really learned a lot about harmonies and arrangement from D. And he's got a great ear. We spent time together to get the general balance as he's very particular in the blend and i would fine tune it from there.
I would usually group his backgrounds to a stereo compressor and eq's in the mix. For mixing i used the 670, 1178 or 2254 compressors. I liked having different compression on the backgrounds to give each song slightly different coloring in the vocals. And lastly there was a lot of riding in the automation. Little subtle rides to get the blends to move instead of just staying locked.

More later...

all the best

[Sidious]

Amazing.

[Dave Derr]

You said you compressed going to "tape." Was tape used or did you record digitally?

[Russell Elevado]

Originally Posted by Dave Derr

You said you compressed going to "tape." Was tape used or did you record digitally?

hi dave,

everything went to tape and mixed off tape.
3 songs were edited in pro tools then bounced back to tape and i mixed off tape.

cheers

[jahtao]

Wow.

[walth]

Hello,

What EQ did you use for vocals. There's also phasing on “The Root”. How did you get that effect? I understand if the phasing effect is one of your trademark secrets. LOL.

Thanks Man
Walter

PS. You’re the George Martin of R&B and Soul. You’ve influenced a lot of the young people coming up man. At least in my generation. Thanks for doing your thing bro. Also thanks for agreeing to this Q&A session.

Peace.

[Russell Elevado]

Originally Posted by walth

Hello,

What EQ did you use for vocals. There's also phasing on “The Root”. How did you get that effect? I understand if the phasing effect is one of your trademark secrets. LOL.
Thanks Man, Walter
PS. You’re the George Martin of R&B and Soul. You’ve influenced a lot of the young people coming up man. At least in my generation. Thanks for doing your thing bro. Also thanks for agreeing to this Q&A session. Peace.

hello walter,

btw, the root is one of my favorites on voodoo. i create phasing with anything from an mxr blue phaser/flanger, a leslie, lovetone flanger, mutron, etc. i'm just not sure what i used for the vocals on that particular song and i only used it on a few words. in fact, if you listen close, there's about 4 different types of phasing (one right after the other) on the one line "my blood is cold and i can't feel my legs". though one hint is i'll blend in the original sound with the flanged. varying the difference of the two gives you different phasing. i love flanging and phasing things. you have to use it the right way though. i haven't heard a plug-in flanger/phaser that sounds better than an analog one.

for eq's i used anything from a focusrite ISA110, neve 1081, 1073 and pultec EQP1A.

many thanks for the huge compiment ! wow, if i had half the talents of george martin...! is that true that have i've influenced a lot of the young people coming up? it is, that's really cool man. it's important that we don't lose our roots....and that's what i think you can hear in my work.


cheers

[walth]

hello walter,

btw, the root is one of my favorites on voodoo. i create phasing with anything from an mxr blue phaser/flanger, a leslie, lovetone flanger, mutron, etc. i'm just not sure what i used for the vocals on that particular song and i only used it on a few words. though one hint is i'll blend in the original sound with the flanged. varying the difference of the two gives you different phasing. i love flanging and phasing things. you have to use it the right way though. i haven't heard a plug-in flanger/phaser that sounds better than an analog one. mo

many thanks for the huge compiment ! wow, if i had half the talents of george martin...! is that true that have i've influenced a lot of the young people coming up? it that's true, that's really cool man. it's important that we don't lose our roots....and that's what i think you can hear in my work.


cheers

Thanks for the info bro ,

Yeah it's true. Many of the songs and records that you've mentioned have definitely influenced me and my friends. Those phasing effects, they way the bass/kick sit in the mix, all of that. LOL. You're the man bro. And i'm picky about mixes. LOL. Your stuff is timeless. Pino and Ahmir are great musicians, i'm sure that made things easier. For people who still play the pocket/rhythmic groove on that record always gets talked about. It definitely sets a new standard.

Peace

Walter