What are you guys harsh EBM guys doing for vocals?

[Estin]

So i just recently became interested in adding vocals to my work. Mostly in the harsh or *terror* EBM style like tactical sekt, Suicide Commando. I'm also interested in the lo-fi distant sounding vocals like older Covenant. Not looking to copy anyone just looking for some tips and direction since i'm new to vocal processing.

[Simonator]

No idea about these artists... but I'd recommend you look at Speakerphone if you have a lot of money to spend, and decimort regardless of your finances.

[Looping Loddar]

Voice -> SM58-> flexible distortion (Nobels DTSN will work) -> valve preamp ->compressor
RM could be a nice spice
Octavers (-12 or -24) could be interesting
sometimes Sherman -> Distortion ->valve preamp sounds very good on voice
overdriven old mixer channels (depending on model) can sound very "EBM"
Big Muff (russian models preferred) could be an good alternative for distortion -> valve preamp

Oh, and there is a cheap Behringer guitar valve preamp, which works great after changing the valve (i do prefer my Hughes & Kettner). Maybe even a Line6 or cheap Zoom guitar multi-FX would work fine.

[zosthegoatherd]

I would guess pitch shifting, a bit of overdrive and a lot of compression with some limiting after for the harsh stuff. Both suicide commando and TS have less of the generic, distorted(with that pedal the guitarist was going to throw away!), modern terror banana sound, and a bit more of the older skinny puppy/ministry (lets have fun with our eventide and lexicon gear, because we can) sound to their vocals (at least to my ears)
Darksonus also has this article up that might at least be a starting point
Improving Your Industrial Vocals | DarkSonus
I would also try the usual software suspect (Trash, OhmForce, whatever guitar sim) Pitch shifting + limiting (rather then distortion) seem like the key to that sound though...

[James Meeker]

Originally Posted by zosthegoatherd

Darksonus also has this article up that might at least be a starting point
Improving Your Industrial Vocals | DarkSonus
I would also try the usual software suspect (Trash, OhmForce, whatever guitar sim) Pitch shifting + limiting (rather then distortion) seem like the key to that sound though...

Oh man, that article is ancient. (I wrote it.)

[funkycam]

+1 on d16 Decimort, also check out Audio damage Kombinat .

[kraku]

Vocoder.

[zosthegoatherd]

Originally Posted by James Meeker

Oh man, that article is ancient. (I wrote it.)

It was a valiant but futile attempt. I think it comes down to the fact that most younger frontmen don't start as singers, and never really work on that aspect of their music. Ohgr, Uncle Al, and all the rest wanted to sing. I think a lot of EBM singers these days are in front of the mic because they can't find anyone else, and are more comfortable playing guitar or programing a patch.

[James Meeker]

Originally Posted by zosthegoatherd

I think a lot of EBM singers these days are in front of the mic because they can't find anyone else, and are more comfortable playing guitar or programing a patch.

It's hard to find a singer for that style. I spent about five years looking before I totally gave up and devoted myself to audio recording. A few years after that I had moved on and wanted to do stuff that was more soundtrack oriented ala John Carpenter meets Jarre.

[Rust Creep]

kraku is that your track? badass shit man

[Estin]

Originally Posted by kraku

Vocoder.

fackin cool reminds me echo chamber - negative format.

:edit: great tip man! i got a killer pitch shifted terror ebm sound out of the FL studio vocodex! many thanks

[kraku]

@Rust Creep:
Yep. I made the track back in 2009.

@Estin:
You're welcome There's a lot you can do with vocoder. Another tip to get vocoded kind of sound without a vocoder:

1. Sing your vocals using only one pitch.
2. Autotune the hell out of your vocals so that they sound almost mathematically precisely pitched.
3. Use pitch shifter to drop down the vocals one octave.

The result should be raspy and robotic like vocal which sounds cool. I've used that trick in a couple of my tracks.

[offki]

I second Decimort. Have a look at some of the Ohmforce stuff too.