How can one person sound as a complete choir?

[nico1096]

Hi,

I recorded my chorus arragement by microphone.
All seperate male vocals (TTBB) in seperate tracks.

Can I multiply each seperate input as if there is a choir?
Over and over again?
But still having 4 tracks?

I remember seen something like that in a professional studio.
But is it possible in Audicity as well?

Nico
The Netherlands

[whomper]

a qualified yes. BUT... it will not sound like you think it should.
at least not without a lot of extra work. you can add them up and keep them in four tracks. BUT just repeating the same voice and adding them together will not sound like a real choir. singers are not perfect. a choir sounds good because of all the small differences not because they are all identical (which would just sound like one person singing louder not like like a choir singing together). you need to have multiple recordings of each to start, each with very slight changes in pitch and loudness and timing etc. to get a realistic choir. you may find some filters on the web to help. usually easier to record the same piece a few times first and then combine them.
give it a try in audacity and see if taht is what you want. then try to make small changes before combining and see if that is better or not.
remember audacity is a good tool, but it is not the same as a pro studio with all the equipment and f/x.

[Trebor]

Q. How can one person sound as a complete choir?

A. Chorus effect (before-after example attached)

Before-After BlueCatStereoChorusVST.wav

(876.26 KiB) Downloaded 2995 times

http://downloads.cnet.co.uk/0,39100207,39168831s,00.htm
Other chorus effects are available.

I used this VST effect (plug-in) in Audacity 1.3.11 running on Windows Vista.

[steve]

Here's a short solo vocal smaple that I grabbed off YouTube, then repeated with "choir".

The choir was made from multiple copies of the first sample with changes to the pitch, speed, start time and pan position. The sustain of the note was also adjusted by editing (cut and cross-fade) to provide two versions of the voice. The whole lot was then mixed and stereo reverb (Freeverb) added.

where-were-you.mp3

(310.2 KiB) Downloaded 2162 times

[whomper]

look at this months recording magazine.
guy in HI used the copy and add mutliple times approach after recording twice but also mixed in some synth voices. humans made it sound real. the total added up to a big choir.

[Trebor]

The choir was made from multiple copies of the first sample with changes to the pitch, speed, start time and pan position. The sustain of the note was also adjusted by editing (cut and cross-fade) to provide two versions of the voice. The whole lot was then mixed and stereo reverb (Freeverb) added.

Did something similar with a sax solo and converted it to a big band ...

Before-After, Sax solo to big band..mp3

(821.22 KiB) Downloaded 1174 times

I used the free ANWIDA reverb VST that Irish pointed out, rather than Freeverb.
Also used "random amplitude modulation" and "random pitch modulation" plug-ins from here ... http://audacityteam.org/download/nyquistplugins (in last 10 on the list) to add a bit of variation to the various copies.

[steve]

Nice one Trebor.

One major disadvantage with creating "choirs" from a single recording is that there is a tendency for it to produce a "phasing" effect which can make it sound sort of "electronic". This is caused because the similarity of the sound waves for each "instrument" causes interference with the other "instruments" (similar to a "comb filter" effect). The best way to avoid this is to use more than one instrument as the source - the more the better. Using multiple "takes" as the source will generally be more convincing than manipulating a single take.

If you are stuck with just one track to use as the source material, stretching and pitch shifting to make the instruments slightly out of tune with each other in addition to small changes in the start time can help to reduce the phasing effect.

[Trebor]

One major disadvantage with creating "choirs" from a single recording is that there is a tendency for it to produce a "phasing" effect which can make it sound sort of "electronic". This is caused because the similarity of the sound waves for each "instrument" causes interference with the other "instruments" (similar to a "comb filter" effect).

A tiny hint of "Random Pitch Modulation" applied to each copy avoids any comb type effects ... http://audacityteam.org/nyquist/randompitch.ny
Not too much or it will sound like a warped record.

[steve]

Yes it will - vibrato will do the same thing, but different vibrato speeds should be used on different tracks.

[ctravis]

How large of a choir are you trying to emulate? Why only four tracks? Are you mixing down to a four track? How many different harmony lines? Technically you should have no problem doing this. Refer to Freddie Mercury from Queen. He was a one man choir. You should be able to record each virtual individual on separate tracks. To the maximum that Audacity allows if you want. Depending on the number of harmonies, you take short cuts by coping and pasting groups. If you want to give it a bigger sound and make it sound like different people with different timing, then carefully select certain tracks and use the time shift control to slightly (slightly) move that person/harmonic duo out of sync. Experiment with this. Do not put chorus or reverb in until you mix down. If you put in on each individual track it will get confusing and everyone will sound like they were in a different room. If you were recording a live session of an actual choir the sound of the room would apply reverb to all so apply reverb to all at mix down. Add the outboard effects when you mix to the four track. (Assumption). If you are wanting to end up with four tracks on Audacity, the record as many initial tracks as you want leaving four open, then mix all other to the open four. Also, when mixing down, try to ad a little compression and sonic maximizer. Again, when using effects in recording, less is always better. Just go for that subtle but not obvious enhancement

Hope this helps.
Good luck