Tighter Vocals (Backing or

Doubling) Using the Flex Tool

James Arter on May 6th 2011 with 15 comments

Tutorial Details
Difficult: Intermediate
Time: 10-20 minutes
Requirements: Logic Pro

This entry is part 3 of 17 in the Recording Vocals Session - Show All

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The vocals are always the most important part of a mix. They sit right up front and are the main thing that
the listener will latch on to. If they sound too lazy and loose, it can throw the whole track out and give an
overall messy feel.

Now, getting the vocalist to sing rhythmically and on-the-beat is one thing, but trying to get them to do that
again for either a chorus double, or backing vocals, is another! When it comes to parts like this, that need to
be spot-on, there’s something you can do in post-production to help the situation out. With the use of the
Flex Tool, in Logic, I’ll show you a quick tip to do just that.

Step 1
Locate the two phrases you want to be matched. In this case, a lead vocal and a vocal double, to beef up the
chorus.
Step 2
Trim the parts so they are the same length.

Step 3
Select each track, one at a time, and set them to ‘Monophonic’ in the Flex Time menu.
NB: There are two places for this;

1. in the Inspector Menu under ‘Flex Mode’

 2. turn Flex Mode on with the button above the arrange page then use the drop-down menu on the track
itself.

Step 4
Make a Groove Template of the track you wish to be master (the one you wish the double track to tighten
to). This will analyse the track and find the hit points of the phrase.

Go to the Inspector menu on the left (Hit ‘I’ if it’s not already visible)
Go to the Quantize menu at the top
Choose ‘Make Groove Template’ from the list (should be right at the bottom)

Step 5
Now select the track that you wish to be the slave (the one you wish to tighten to the first one).
Step 6
Go to the Inspector menu again, but this time for the doubler track.

Go to the Quantize menu again and choose the quantize value at the bottom – it will be labelled the same as
the clip name of the master (in this case ‘Lead Vocal.3′).

Step 7
View both tracks together to see how they should match up to each other and therefore, be much tighter!
This quick tip should help you to bring a little more focus to your mixes> It’s all very well doubling up your
vocals to make the choruses sound thicker, or layering backing vocals to add colour to a section in a song,
but if they are too loose and out of time it can sound sloppy.

Also, why stop at just vocals? Apply this same technique to other applications, for example: Locking the
bass into the drums, bringing two strummed acoustics together for better rhythm or perhaps just bringing
electric guitar stabs bang on the beat for more punch.

Get tightening!

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By James Arter
James Arter is a song-writer, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. He holds a First Class BA (hons) degree
in Music Technology, at the London College of Music, and produces his own music as well as others. He
fronts a band called DiceJar and is also part of the music production duo, Happy Bunny // Poison Peanut.