I've been trying for years to get good, usable doubling and harmonies without having to sing those parts. I'm not a good enough singer to accurately and reliably sing those parts myself. And, truth be told, I'm a bit lazy about trying over and over to get them just right.

So, I bought a double-tracking plugin (can't recall the name right now) and was never happy with the results. Then I tried just duplicating my vocal track and time shifting it a wee bit. That kinda worked for doubling but I was never thrilled with it. I even tried the harmony feature in early versions of the Nectar plugin from izotope with poor results.

I tried using the TC Helicon feature (I think that was the name) that was built into BIAB a few versions ago but it sounded way too robotic and was cumbersome to use. I bought an actual TC Helicon vocal harmonizer pedal from Sweetwater and while it is kinda cool it is waaayy too fake and robotic sounding!

So I bought Waves Doubler plugin but I couldn't get any decent doubling that I liked. I bought the Trivox plugin on GuitarHacker's advice but, again, I just didn't like the results I got even though I remain quite impressed with the harmony results GH got with it!

I had almost given up until I purchased Synth V last year. This product produces awesome synthesized vocal tracks using sung inputs from different vocalists. I quickly discovered how to import my vocal track, convert it to MIDI, assign a voice, clean it up and produce a new track with a different singer singing my vocal track! So, for doubling this can be extremely useful but what about harmonies? Well, you can edit the MIDI to pitch up or down. And I found a couple of scripts that will pitch up or down while also maintaining correct harmony notes! Game Changer! It is quite a bit of work to go from recorded vocal to synthesized harmony but def Game Changer!!!!

So, problem solved, right? Right!

BUT, as I mentioned earlier, I am lazy. 😂 So, when Nectar 4 came out I listened to their demos and was curious about the new and improved harmony/doubling feature. I had been disappointed by this feature in Nectar before but the upgrade was affordable so I took the plunge. And OMG, SUPER GAME CHANGER for me!!! Problem def solved!

I copy my recorded vocal track to a new track in my DAW, apply the desired harmony effects (usually just by choosing a preset), mute the main vox on the new track and just cut the areas where I don't want the harmony.

The Nectar 4 solution is fast and easy and it sounds awesome! I am beyond delighted with this! I'm still very happy with Synth V too but will mainly use it only when I want a different voice. For harmonies generated from my vocals it is Nectar 4 forever!