020051013 22:50 • 
Working earlier with comped vocals, I applied a favored technique for atmosphere and the touch of strange.
Where I originally learned the trick on David Bowie’s “Heroes” vox is lost to memory, but I’ve used variations many times. It’s tremendous fun while recording live and the vocalist can play with their volume, but with automated manipulation of levels (I use volume envelopes in Ableton Live) may be used in controlled and programmatic fashion on any source. I’m not sure if the progenitor is Visconti or Eno, but my thanks go to either or both for a shining example of emotional soundscaping through studio magic.
The basic trick is accomplished with an original close mic vocal take and two (or more) aux sends:
- The main track gets a very light touch of reverb.
- The sends have progressively heavier gating on each, letting through only louder levels of vox. The gate on the final send must be set to only open when vocal volume is at maximum loudness.
- After the gates place a reverb on each send to suit your application, each progressively wetter than your main take.
Often I find perfection at this point, but a final light compression and touch of verb to gel the signals can sometimes serve as sonic icing.
If you want faithful reproduction, keep in mind Bowie was recorded in a large room with three mics placed progressively farther away from him. As above, vary the wet/dry ratios progressively to emulate the close/far situation, but use the same or identical reverb space on each.
Remember: don’t stick with tradition or you’ll miss all the thrills. I’ve used this effect on everything from vox to guitars, keyboards to drums, with mismatched reverb spaces and heavy compression and subtractive EQ for sculpting each signal.
This technique lasts far longer than “just for one day.” Heroes experiment.