How To Dub In A Vocal On A Messed Up Rap Line
In this video I am going to show you 2 SOLID reasons why you’ll probably NEED to dub in vocals on a regular basis and how powerful dubbing vocals into your song can truly be for your fans and listeners.
Most people don’t think like this, but this is Smart Rapper and you’re about to get smarter.
Now you might be where I used to be as a new rapper, I used to fear for years if I messed a line up I wouldn’t be able to match the line or even when I did add it in it didn’t sound the same so it would mess up the flow or sound weird.
Then you’d overthink it and hate it every time it played back, am I right? It would sound like this to you.
In this video I am going to show you how to dub in vocals to match as closely as possible so if you make a change it doesn’t sound weird or out of place. And I’m actually going to do it LIVE in a song that I need to do a dub in anyways so why not show you as I’m doing it anyways, right?
I’m Rob Level, this is Smart Rapper the NUMBER 1 Source for upcoming rappers, in the world… 200,000 subscribers please hit that sub button for me.
I’m going to show you how to avoid the dub in issue, how do this perfect and right every time as well how powerful this is for making you more lyrical… believe it or not…
By the way the song in the intro is my new song I’ll put a link for it on Apple Music, Sound Cloud and Spotify below. Check that out.
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/album/6lChy49CH828zTLt5ChzfO?si=I5YjzwPKTUy6HKvJY9ofvA
Lyric Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_U4DT9vYI
Genius Lyrics – https://genius.com/Rob-level-built-like-this-lyrics
The Power Dubbing In Vocals
Now let’s talk about dubbing these vocals in.
First BEFORE I show you HOW TO DO IT, I want to show you WHY it’s so important and powerful.
That song that played in the intro, this is actually the session for the song right here and I’m going to show you the spots I dubbed in vocals to fix lines AND show you how to dub them properly.
Now you may have a song where you LOVE the hook or the verses But you randomly want to change a whole bar, a word or even a set of bars.
And this could happen to you all the time, And here is a perfect example of what I had to do with my new Song Built Like This.
Now first let me explain something that may help you understand the power of changing an individual word in your raps and break it down Because it is very powerful and if you understand that you might need this method of dubbing in vocals a lot more than you realize.
Hence why I am actually going to do a dub in right in front of you here in a minute that I need to change for this song.
I may not have a gun but you know I got knife
in a penthouse now still lock THE door at night
And I want to change the lines to
I may not have THE gun but you know I got knife
in a penthouse now still lock MY door at night
Now let me show you something magical and why I changed it. There’s actually 2 things in this couplet I can show you.
Saying “THE” door in the line may imply me locking the Penthouse as a whole or the front door of it.
And what I want to get across to the listener is that I mean I still lock MY door in my actual bedroom in the penthouse because I still have the habit of being in fear from where I grew up and where I used to live.
Even though I made it to a Penthouse and I should feel safe to not worry about locking my bedroom door… I still feel unsafe inside because that feeling of fear for my life is still ingrained in me. So leaving the line with the word THE may not deliver the severity and true meaning of the line… so I had to change it.
I changed it to MY Door so it can at least be taken as my bedroom door OR the penthouse in general. Either way if it makes the line better, I’m going to do it.
Now another perfect example of how simply changing a line in a song is important for the listener…
The line before it says
I may not have THE gun but you know I got knife
If I had said
I may not have A gun but you know I got knife
It might mean I don’t even own a gun at all but I do have a knife.
But by saying I may not have THE gun… it will be taken as, I own the gun, I just might not happen to the THE GUN I own on me.
May not have a gun
May not have THE gun
Get me?
Simply from changing the word from being “A” to being “THE” makes it completely different.
Hope that didn’t confuse you. But for anyone who doesn’t realize how much thought goes into songwriting or if you didn’t realize I really know my shit… now you know.
Okay I’m going to go into Pro Tools and show you what we need to do here to get it just right.
How To Dub In Vocals To Match Perfectly
1) Re say the lyric out loud and try to match the tone out loud. It won’t match if the tone isn’t right, so play the song a few bars back from where you want to dub in. Stop it, say it out loud with nothing playing, play it again, say out loud to try to match the tone and do that a few times.
Don’t forget to MATCH the same ENERGY level you had in your original recording.
2) Make sure your microphone levels are the same as they were and make sure you are using the same music equipment if possible. Additionally make sure that the microphone is in the SAME PLACE where you recorded originally so the room reverb and acoustic sound you get matches the original.
And make sure you are the SAME distance from the microphone that you were.
3) Record to dub in a vocal BUT you don’t JUST record that one line. No. The trick is that you record from 1 to 2 bars back and that you continue rapping at least ½ to a full bar passed where you need the dub in.
You’re probably wondering why, but let me show you.
Show them the lyric dub in on Built Like This and how you start half a bar back then go on.
When you do it all the way thru it gives you an option to use your dub in a few lines back or further in. Then you can blend.
See where I used fades to make it fit just right?
You do the dub then test to see where in the dub it sounds best. Then you fade it to blend it.
To do this dub I think I tried 4 different takes. You don’t always get it on the first try because you also hear yourself recorded and can adjust the tone and sound accordingly until it’s as close to perfect as possible.
So to help you remember here is what you need to do again.
1) Make sure you are using the same microphone
2) And make sure that your preamp and all other settings are the same on the gear.
3) Make sure you are the same distance from the microphone as you were in the original take
4) Make sure the microphone is in the same position in the room if you can
5) Try to match the tone of the original take by doing it out loud a little bit first
6) Try to match the energy of the original take by doing it out loud a little bit first
7) start recording and saying the words 1 to 2 bars BEFORE the part you are replacing or dubbing in order to make it sound more natural and then also go 1 to 2 bars passed it.
BOOM you are now a master at dubbing vocals.
Check out my new single
Spotify – https://open.spotify.com/album/6lChy49CH828zTLt5ChzfO?si=I5YjzwPKTUy6HKvJY9ofvA
Lyric Video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=at_U4DT9vYI
– Rob Level