Take Lanes/Comping/VocalSync and Doubling Vocals Approach/Process Recommendations

[tunesmithers]

I have only recently discovered the power of using take lanes/comping for vocals.  It's been a game changer for me in terms of efficiency to a good vocal performance.   I'm late to the party I am sure, but can't say enough how great its been for me to actually finish tracks!

I will typically record four or five "takes" of each verse and each chorus, and then go through and use the take lanes to "comp" a vocal track.  I also typically do separate tracks for verse, chorus and bridge.  Works great.

First question:  Is there a way to mark/tag/change color the clip/take that I am ultimately selecting?  It would be great to be able to indicate the take that I plan to use... I don't want to delete those not used for a number of reasons... I have been using the Clip Lock because it puts a little lock icon on the clip, but didn't know if there was another way.

Now I want to start experimenting with doubling my vocals (thicken, effect, layering two performances of the same vocal, not just duplicating one) and thought I could use other, unused takes from the track and use those by selecting Ctrl and selecting two (or more) takes, they will both play, but I might want to mix the double of the track on it's own.  I tried creating a copy of the first track  (with the Clip Lock) marking and did it that way but it can get a little cumbersome with all the take lanes, etc.  So, I was wondering...

Second question:  is there a more efficient way to do vocal doubling using a single track with take lanes?

Thanks!

[Tim Elmore]

To change the color of a clip, select the clip (left-click it) and then you can select the foreground and background color of the clip in the Inspector. If the Inspector isn't already open, the standard shortcut key is "I". In the Inspector, get access to the clip properties by clicking the Clip tab:

One way to do doubling in take lanes is to record with "Sound on Sound" selected (in Preferences >> Project >> Record). You can then record overlapping clips in separate take lanes within the same track. However, I prefer to record a double in a completely separate track because that provides independent adjustment of playback levels and other parameters (panning, effects, etc.).

[User 905133]

30 minutes ago, tunesmithers said:

First question:  Is there a way to mark/tag/change color the clip/take that I am ultimately selecting?  It would be great to be able to indicate the take that I plan to use... I don't want to delete those not used for a number of reasons... I have been using the Clip Lock because it puts a little lock icon on the clip, but didn't know if there was another way.

I don't use take lanes, but I did explore them for my own potential use a bunch of years ago.  I used the field in each take lane for my notes about each.  Item J in the Figure in the online documentation shows the "Comments" field.   https://legacy.cakewalk.com/Documentation?product=Cakewalk&language=3&help=Arranging.47.html 

Edited January 21 by User 905133
to add a link;

[mettelus]

1 hour ago, Tim Elmore said:

However, I prefer to record a double in a completely separate track because that provides independent adjustment of playback levels and other parameters (panning, effects, etc.).

This is wise advice. A quick alternative to populating the background track is to shift-drag clips from take lanes into another "Background Vocal" track. Shift-drag preserves timing (CTRL-drag makes a copy, CRTL-Shift-drag does both) so in your case, just using Shift-drag will move them out of the original track (leaving holes from where you took them) so you are not confused by what remains in the original track.

Quick edit - You could also construct the Lead Vocal track the same way to avoid confusion. Have the original track with all of the takes, then shift-drag clips to the appropriate (Lead or Background) track... then when you are done, everything left in the original track can safely be deleted.

Edited January 21 by mettelus

[tunesmithers]

5 hours ago, mettelus said:

This is wise advice. A quick alternative to populating the background track is to shift-drag clips from take lanes into another "Background Vocal" track. Shift-drag preserves timing (CTRL-drag makes a copy, CRTL-Shift-drag does both) so in your case, just using Shift-drag will move them out of the original track (leaving holes from where you took them) so you are not confused by what remains in the original track.

Quick edit - You could also construct the Lead Vocal track the same way to avoid confusion. Have the original track with all of the takes, then shift-drag clips to the appropriate (Lead or Background) track... then when you are done, everything left in the original track can safely be deleted.

Thanks everyone! Super helpful!  I think all of your thoughts will get put to use. 

I like the idea of the Shift-drag to create the comp track on a separate track, leaving me with the remaining tracks to choose from.