Distorting Vocals? Techniques?

[84K]

Hey Fellas,

Distortion has often been a charming effect on rock vocals. I was wondering what people are using to get different "distorted vocal sounds." I have tried:

1) Having the singer distort the mic.
2) Running the vocal back through a mic pre (and/or compressor) and distorting the signal.
3) Sending vocals through a guitar or bass distortion effect pedal.
4) Running the vocal through a guitar amp.

Sometimes one of the above mentioned techniques does the trick. Obviously, it is never one thing that works in every track with every vocalist. I am trying to learn all the different ways of doing it to continue my experiments. Thanks in advance! GO EAGLES!-Kris

[BrianBrian]

My most-used tricks are running the vocals through:

1.) A guitar amp (Fender for slightly crunchy, Mesa for distorted)

2.) A 24db/oct Moog filter that I drive hard

3.) 1176 in "nuke" mode

4.) Bit-reduction plugin + waveshaper

I usually have to layer one or more of these to get the right sound.

[Drumsound]

ART MPA makes a great distortion box. I send all kinds of things through it when mixing or tracking. It has input and output controls and a high-pass filter.

SM57 through a Mesa Dual Rec. is cool too.

[Mike Tholen]

I split the vocal signal after the micpre into a stereo pair of TAB U73b's (see pic).
I go from ch.1 into ch.2, I can vari the effect by tweaking the gain structure from the one into the other. The signal is tracked onto a secondtrack mixed to taste.
With my setup, I need to slip the distortion track 1 sample forward to be locked phase wise.YMMV
I've tried other compressors to do this but I like these 99.9% of the time.

slam it to tape!

[jho]

Zillions of plug-ins also...

Sansamp
Ampfarm
Soundtoys Filterfreak
etc

If you can use VST's there are a bunch of free distortion plugs at kvraudio.com

[kudzu]

mult the vocal track....delay it.....distort it with whatever!!!!!...blend it...u get the quality of the singer + a wee bit of an edge on the tale...works good

[84K]

Originally posted by kudzu
mult the vocal track....delay it.....distort it with whatever!!!!!...bend it...u get the quality of the singer + a wee bit of an edge on the tale...works good

Thanks everyone for your suggestions so far. Some good stuff!

kudzu: I am not trying to magically make a bad vocal good with distortion. I am not trying to create character for a boring vocal. I am trying to find another edge that can add to an already good thing. Distortion can be tasteful and fitting in certain songs.

[biggator6]

cheap radio shack mic into a Boss DS-1 gets pretty nasty.
"-)

[deft_bonz]

i usually tweak my ensoniq dp/4. it has some nice guitar amps plus you can always put in some other fx with feedback. this way i get always some unique effects.

deft:::

[doorknocker]

SansAmp all the way for me, the (hardware) PSA-1 is great for this and also my go-to bass 'amp'. You might also use the Sans-Amp plug-in if you want more options in the mix. A POD might work great too. (Try the 'Insane' setting! )
Another method would be to use miked mini amps. Haven't tried this for vocals yet but I got really great guitar sounds with both a Danelectro Honeytone and a Fender Mini Twin, sometimes by using the POD as a glorified stompbox/additional gain stage/EQ.
I think it works best in small doses though, as far as I'm concerned, distorted vocals are/were what VH-style tapping was in the 80ies. Fresh and exciting for a minute, over-used and dated 15 minutes later....

Andi

www.doorknocker.ch

[redman]

i´m surprised nobody mentioned the distressor yet. 1:1, dist 3, link and input between 7-10.

[subspace]

I try to track the vocal with the distortion in place so the vocalist can push it when he wants to. My fave screamer treatment is a TL Audio "toob" pre set wide open. Six inches back from the mic you can cut a clean breathy whisper, than kiss the grill for clipped out distortion.
For after the fact distortion, I'll usually mult out through a LittleLabs Redeye feeding a Mesa Triaxis preamp. It has two differently tuned DI outputs which I blend to taste and I'll sometimes push a cab in the big room with a close and far mic for more options.

[joeq]

I like using a small amp and I usually prefer picking it up with a vocal mic, rather than the mic I would normally use to record guitar thru the amp.

funny how many people here seem to be quite comfortable with distorting the vocal.

[84K]

I have heard that a lot of mixing guys mult the vocals, distort them, and bring them up on a second fader(as a few people here have mentioned). I have heard about that being done in rock and pop music. It is a treatment that can add a dimension without being noticed(if mixed in properly). There seems to be so many ways to do it. I am interested in trying as many techniques as I can, with various degrees of distortion. Thanks to everyone contributing.-Kris

[title]

i've been getting a good light/med distortion vocal sound with an AKGc300 into an ISA428 with a distressor on the insert. for me the key has been overdriving the signal at the Pre not the distressor. Gives it a nice edge (neveesque)....

in software, its all about the BF PSA-1.

MCDSP chrome tone actually works great too.

[TonyBelmont]

Try slamming an Alan Smart C2 with Crush on.........

[sixtoo]

OG PRO CO RAT.

SM58 through API, multed and mixed through rat.

[JeffSanders]

Ohm Force's Predatohm is superb for distortion.

Although the whole "tape-slammed" drums and vocal thing has just about run its' course I think. imho it's so cliche now it's almost irritating. On NIN records and Radiohead's "The Bends" it was fresh sounding.

I think the new Elliott Smith album - as beautiful as it is - marked the last straw in the distorted vocals and overdriven drum sound. imho. I expect to get some slack for this view, but it's just my feelings about the whole thing. In another 2-3 years it will sound cool again.

[maskedman72]

i floor a 1073(gain all the way up) then hit it into an la-2a than use the gain knob on the la-2a to adjust level to tape. a few years back i recorded the vocals on an entire record this way...each song.

on top of that you can also slam the meters on the way to tape for even more.

[ixnys]

Anybody know what they're doing to that singer from Muse in songs such at "time is running out" and "hysteria"?

[Reptil]

for hiphop things to get a really raw live sound, the only thing I have to do, is plug a dynamic mic in the preamp of my joemeek vc6 (the old one with the enhancer). nothing else needed (dirty box that one, murky and dark)
for a different flavour, I use modules in my modded doepfer. filters and stuff, and let it drift a little on an lfo...
brittleness can afterwards be ironed out with a spl charisma tube thingy (small amount otherwise it'll turn up too nice..

and yeah, it feels comfortable, bit primitive.

[84K]

Originally posted by ixnys
Anybody know what they're doing to that singer from Muse in songs such at "time is running out" and "hysteria"?

Sounds like they run him through an guitar amp.

[84K]

Originally posted by JeffSanders
Ohm Force's Predatohm is superb for distortion.

Although the whole "tape-slammed" drums and vocal thing has just about run its' course I think. imho it's so cliche now it's almost irritating. On NIN records and Radiohead's "The Bends" it was fresh sounding.

I think the new Elliott Smith album - as beautiful as it is - marked the last straw in the distorted vocals and overdriven drum sound. imho. I expect to get some slack for this view, but it's just my feelings about the whole thing. In another 2-3 years it will sound cool again.

I know Trent Reznor likes to run his voice through a "Depth Charger" which is a bass overdrive pedal.

[crypticglobe]

Originally posted by ixnys
Anybody know what they're doing to that singer from Muse in songs such at "time is running out" and "hysteria"?

OMG, have you heard "Stockhold Syndrome" on that same record? That track freaked me out more than anything I have heard in a LONG time. Truly creative and innovative and BEYOND powerful! Great distorted vocals all over that record... and it does sound like a guitar amp... and then maybe through an 1176 for nuking it into oblivion. That is my only disappointment with that record. Some of the tracks just squash out too much when the band really kicks in. But they are very dynamic.... and the market REQUIRES everything to be the same volume..... LOUD! *sigh*

[Waylon]

where is the "twangtrust" when you need em?

[BrianBrian]

The Muse singer uses a POD for his vocal distortion live. Not sure what he uses in the studio, could just be the same POD.

[aidyhall]

Just as an aside, if you are distorting vocals a la Muse, please go through and duck the breath-noises! Breathiness can sound urgent, exciting, or even sexy, but too much and it gets ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong, I love that Muse album, but he does sound like he is in the middle of an asthma attack, and it gets annoying after a while. As always, YMMV.

[JeffSanders]

Hahaha!!!!

After two songs, that's all I can focus on.

The music's great, but that wheezing gets nauseating fast.

[Blast9]

There was a great Rich Costey interview in Sound On Sound a few months back, about the recording of Absolution, and he basically hired every Neve 1073 in LA he could lay his hands on for the mix, (Cello studio).

He says the vocal overdrive is from a Neve 1073... recorded though one, then slammed through one during the mix, to get that fatt harmonic overload! Rock n rewll...

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Apparently the Motown overdriven vox sound was partly the Altec pres... I think Bob Ohlsson said that on a thread here...