Backing Vocals in the mix

[montanasan]

Can anyone give me any top tips to help get 3 part harmony backing vocals to sit nicely in a mix? I'm relatively new to hands on mixing as, up until now, I've had the privilage of having someone else do it for me. Any top tips will be greatly received.
joe.

[dbbubba]

Any valid suggestions are going to require you to describe the style of music.

I'd say that if they are in a pop setting you would want to double them all.
Even if you don't want a strong doubled sound, sneaking the double tracks up under the primary tracks can help things along.

If it is a more traditional sound or the focus is on a group singing the harmony then doubleing isn't probebly right. The need to sit up front according to the "importance" of there place in the song.

I like my BGs panned about halfway out with the two parts spread out each to a side.
I might spread the double in or out a bit, too.
I like them to fell connected to the lead vocal which 99.9% of the time will be centered.

Some stuff has the vocals panned hard left and right, but I think that makes them seem disconnected from the rest of the vocal "action."

WHAT IS THE STYLE YOU ARE WORKING IN?

[juicylime]

I really like it when BV's are there for a subtle flavour. It's amazing how low you can put them but still have them adding a harmonic dimension that would otherwise not be there. I especially do this in the verses and often do an octave below doubled then whatever intervals or melodic lines I want higher up. I bring them down in the mix until they aren't clearly audible but that you really miss them when they are gone. But then when the chorus comes I like them to be louder. Nothing says "chorus" like a few stacked harmonies.

[montanasan]

I'd describe what I'm doing as somewhere between Neil Young and Al Green with bleeps thrown in for good measure.
The track is quite mellow and apart from vocals, it has drums, bass, rhodes 73, some backwards guitar, strings and a few bleeps. The lead vocal is "in your face" close and I'd like the backing vox to feel close but be more of a texture than a feature if you know what I mean?
joe.

[Benmrx]

A little trick (not my own) that I like to use sometimes is to copy the BGV's to a new stereo track and:

Micro-pitch (+11, -11)
Hass delay (15ms, 30ms)
Compress to hell
HPF around 450hz
HF Shelf @ 12K quite a bit
De-ess to hell
Mute the track track
Pre-fade send @ unity to a decent short verb (I usually prefer a hall setting for this) with a predelay around 60ms (this can vary quite a bit)
Compress + HPF, LPF verb a bit......or alot


Now bring up that verb return till it sounds good.

And then start tweaking all those settings from above till it sounds even better.

[luctellier]

Originally Posted by Benmrx

A little trick (not my own) that I like to use sometimes is to copy the BGV's to a new stereo track and:

Micro-pitch (+11, -11)
Hass delay (15ms, 30ms)
Compress to hell
HPF around 450hz
HF Shelf @ 12K quite a bit
De-ess to hell
Mute the track track
Pre-fade send @ unity to a decent short verb (I usually prefer a hall setting for this) with a predelay around 60ms (this can vary quite a bit)
Compress + HPF, LPF verb a bit......or alot


Now bring up that verb return till it sounds good.

And then start tweaking all those settings from above till it sounds even better.

Tried it, nice tip, thanks!

[Benmrx]

Damn that was quick. Sometimes I forget you people have internet at your studios.

[Led]

Panning is great, eq is really helpful, dipping the mids so they don't step on the lead and even some lo pass filtering with a gentle curve starting around 10K can help, depending on the sound you are going for.