Studio To The Road
An effect that has been limited to studios is double tracking, where a main track is duplicated on a second track, lending a fuller sound—and many times, with the two tracks being panned left and right, providing a stereo signal from a mono instrument.
We can sort of emulate double tracking live by applying a very short delay to a signal and feeding both the original and delay signals to the PA. This gives a “thicker” sound especially useful on guitars and vocals.
However, Waves recently introduced the Abbey Road Reel ADT, designed to emulate Abbey Road Studios’ process of Artificial Double Tracking, a signature effect created at the studio in the 1960s for The Beatles. The Reel ADT was developed in association with Abbey Road and the process has been a closely guarded secret of the facility until recently.
The original process was created by Abbey Road engineer Ken Townsend, who connected a primary tape deck to a second speed-controlled tape deck allowing two versions of the same signal to be played back simultaneously. By varying the speed of the second machine, the replayed signal could be moved around to simulate a separate take.
The Abbey Road Reel ADT can even emulate the sound of tape complete with wow and flutter effects, providing the closest thing yet to real double tracking. Where was this a few years ago when I mixed a Beatles tribute band?
Lexicon has long supplied go-to reverbs, with the PCM96 stereo verb and effects processor one of the most popular. It has 28 legacy and new reverbs, delays and modulation effects that can be integrated into both digital audio workstations (DAW) as well as live rigs.
While the 1RU package is compact, it still takes up space and adds weight, while its price may not be in the budget. Plug-in format to the rescue, with Lexicon offering the PCM Bundle that utilizes the same algorithms and presets from the PCM96 hardware unit at about a quarter of the price.
A really cost-effective direction for getting the vintage Lexicon sound is the Native Instruments Reverb Classics plug-in that provides emulation of some reverbs based on the classic Lexicon 224 and the 480L, which are still used in many top studios. Although the number of room and hall choices compared to the PCM Bundle is limited, the Native Instruments Reverb Classics could be just the ticket for a vocalist who is singing classic hits.