Distorting Lead Vocals

[BackHand]

Hello!

I'm looking for a way (or "the" way) to distort vocals so they sound like recordings made my artist like The Strokes or The Hives for example, but those are just some of the many diffirent recordings inckluding distorted lead vocals as you all know..

How do you do it? Do you send a split line signal to an amp and mic it up?
Use of Tube Compressors which are overdrived?
Series of compressors which are overdrived for distortion like a series of UA 1176LN's?

Tips? I haven't really found a way to make vocals sound crispy distorted and not just round and fat without detail..well it's hard to describe sound..but maybe you'll now what I mean ?

Any tips ?

[NathanEldred]

Reamp into guitar amp, guitar pedals, plugins, Distressors.

[doorknocker]

Sans Amp, PSA-1 standalone or plug-in. Plenty of sonic options there.

Andi

www.doorknocker.ch

[tINY]

Make the singer smoke a bunch of sig'rettes and sing really loud....



-tINY

[scotty-o]

For that sort of stuff I like to slam the vocals on to a cheap cassette 4 track overdriving not only the tape but the input as well. Send it back to the DAW and line it up.

I read an article about the guy that did the Stokes records and IIRC, on the 2nd album, he mentioned the vocal was distorted mostly with an overdriven LA2

-Scotty

[muziqfreek]

...Distressor AND THEN SansAmp...!! Get it driving nicely w/Distressor then add the tweak the amount of buzz/grain/dirt etc. with SansAmp... its Great!! TDM version you could even automate it and it sounds as good as the hardware version..

...But..... I think the Culture Vulture is just that little bit more nasty.. and the Bias control just does something to the sound that nothing else comes close to... it makes lofi sound out of whatever you wanna bung through it in the sickest way!!!Nice sounding LPF's...if you havent yet...get a go on one!!

[Lectra]

Originally posted by scotty-o
I read an article about the guy that did the Stokes records and IIRC, on the 2nd album, he mentioned the vocal was distorted mostly with an overdriven LA2

That guy is Gordon Raphael.
Vocal chain on 'Room on Fire' is Audio-Technica 4033A, Avalon pre, LA-2A as well as a series of plug-ins that were on every single vocal channel and the same on every song: three times the FilterBank - three EQs in a row, on top of each other - one fake LA-2A and one real LA-2A

Another funny story from the same interview with Gordon:

All of the bands I worked with up until The Strokes were overjoyed to hear their music on tape, and I tried up until the first day to convince The Strokes to use tape. We spent an afternoon getting the tones of the instruments the way we wanted using tubes, mic pre's and compressors, and when all was perfect, we ran the first song to tape. After one playback, Julian exclaimed, 'Why did we spend all day getting all these great tones just to get this machine to change them all and ruin them?' Which was the last we heard of tape

[Fletcher]

Originally posted by muziqfreek
I think the Culture Vulture is just that little bit more nasty.. and the Bias control just does something to the sound that nothing else comes close to... it makes lofi sound out of whatever you wanna bung through it in the sickest way!!!Nice sounding LPF's...if you havent yet...get a go on one!!

I couldn't agree more... except that there is a seriously HiFi quality to the "LoFi" aspect...

[wwittman]

I think the Strokes vocal is just a cranked up Avalon unit...

but I find for that little edge of distortion on a vocal, that Antares Tube (a relatively inexpensive plug-in that also has a free 10 day trial download i think) sounds really good.
Not too over the top and annoying.

[Neddy Seagoon]

Try a UA610 - it'll distort wether you want it to or not!

[TonyBelmont]

Crank the input gain on a Neve module until the sound is horrible (make sure your rack has an output fader and bring that down halfway). Then back off one click (that would be -5db on the input gain). Then compensate for levels with the output fader. Presto, I use this trick on bass too...

[joeq]

I like to reamp through a guitar amp. My current favorite is the Pignose. I get good results from using a "vocal" mic instead of the mic I might normally choose on a guitar amp.

sometimes it works well just using a good amp on a "clean" setting. Not really distorted but it adds a little Beef to vocal track. The whole reamping thing becomes an adventure in itself- you can play with all your options and tailor the sound to the track. Of course its more time consuming than using a plug in or dedicated hardware box.

usually I blend the reamp back with the original and play with time slipping it to get out the phasiness.

[David R.]

Listen to some old Motown - I'm thinking of The Four Tops "I'll Be There."

Sounds like they did a level check at speaking volume. I just picture the VU's being pegged.

Bob O. should have some input on the input.

[BrianBrian]

Fender amp ->

overdriven Moog filter ->

1176 in nuke mode.

[warhead]

The Rat distortion pedal might do nicely.

I was tracking my brother's metal band and the backup "singer" went outside and smoked like a pack of cigarettes in like an hour, bent like all the way over to where I had to put the vocal mic about 6" above the ground facing up and he did this "scream" thing...not really a scream but lots of garbled up pressurized sounding stuff and it worked well for the song.

It wasn't loud either, he was just contorting / bending his body in such a way it sounded stressed. Kind of weird...but worked!

War

[wwittman]

It's true that many older records had hints of 'good' distortion, whether intentional or not, but remember that this was often acheived by overdriving some piece of gear in particular.
Yes, the 9 inch nails piano distortion is a cranked Neve module.
Yes many great guitar distortions have been acheived by overdriving an La2a ..
but not everyone has access to this stuff...
and frankly cranking up you Mackie or Presonus isn't likely to create something pleasant.

Which is why I suggested a plug in that's easily and cheaply available.

Given the choice, I'd certainly rather have a chain of 2 La2a's... but that's IF you have the extra $6000.

[GYang]

I found very funny way to distort everything. I modified SPL Qure equalizer by replacing (optional) input-output transformers (that colour sounds nicely by itself and raise gain, too) and replacing stock tubes with 1953's Mullard ECC83 that is the best distortion tube so far IMO.
When you put signal through the tube chain (via so called Qure-effect circuit) and crank up input and output gain you get at the end a hell lot of distortion, but WHAT DISTORTION.
Smooth, wide, no slightest fuzzy or harshness and tweakable by Qure control+3 band parametrics+ lo/hi cut.
Although it was probably the last function conceived for high-aspiring (mastering) equalizer, I found it one of the most usable, so I kept this EQ parallel to TUbe-Tech EQ that is my main EQ (although not so versatile on distortion subject).
I'll continue to work on further modofications of SPL Qure, as it seems, that this device indeed has a huge potential beyond its main function as parametric EQ.

For vocals I agree with opinions related to SansAmp (damn good thing) and Thermionic gears.


GYang

[Tetness]

1176 in Nuke mode for sure. All distortion is, is compression.

[wwittman]

>>All distortion is, is compression.

actually that's not true.

In fact, as you compress a screming guitar amp sound, you'll find it sounds LESS "distorted" subjectively.
you smooth out the squareness.

[DirkB]

A TG2 preamp with the input overdriven and the output turned down distorts quite cool...

Greetings,
Dirk

[Gravity8058]

My favorite way is very similar to Tony Belmont's. It's all about the red knob on the 1073, although to make it a bit more controlled I use a different path. I use an API mic pre for the mic, then run the output of the API into the distressor with the british mod on and a little bit of compression just to tame the nasty transients that ARE TO COME! Then I run that signal into the 1073 and crank the hed knob to suit. If you dont have an output fader on your 1073 then you'll need to bring the volume back down somehow. This also gives you lots of flexibility to hit each peice of gear exactly as hard as you want.

[modulation]

Tc 2240 works good for distortion, run your signal into the first input and out directly into to the second input. overdrive to taste and tweak the eq to dial in the distortion. works greats.
i would be curious to hear a culture vulture. looking for more distortion options currently

[Steve MacMillan]

Fisher Price makes this great little cassette deck with microphones, so toddlers can sing along with Barney. Crank it up to full and sing into the mic. Unreal.

STeve

[Bump Music]

http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/Apr0...donraphael.asp

Here's an excerpt:

One of the most distinctive features of Is This It is the sound of Julian Casablancas' vocals, which are curiously distorted and compressed from beginning to end. "There were two techniques," explains Gordon. "One consisted of an Audio-Technica 4033A mic going through the Avalon 737, and I would usually work with Julian for an hour just to get the voice tone. Until the final result was achieved he would be extremely suspicious and unhappy, and invariably the final result would have some kind of messiness or not-quite-rightness about it, at which point he would smile and say, 'This is great.' So, that was one technique, and then the second technique was something that Julian had discovered on his own at home while making the demos. He liked to sing through his Peavey practice amp, which is about eight inches tall, and I'd mike that with a Neumann TLM103, so he'd still be singing into the Audio-Technica (Julian found the Neumann distasteful!), but I'd be Neumanning it in order to get the exact details of what this horrible little amp sounded like. He wanted it shitty, but not too shitty. He would always say things like, 'This sound needs to have its tie loosened.' Those were the kind of technical descriptions I would get every day. On the EP, two of the tracks have live vocals, whereas on the album he knew from the beginning that he wanted to be in the control room with me while they were tracking, just concentrating on that and leaving the vocals for later. The band played to a click track."

[allencollins]

Originally Posted by BackHand

Hello!

I'm looking for a way (or "the" way) to distort vocals so they sound like recordings made my artist like The Strokes or The Hives for example, but those are just some of the many diffirent recordings inckluding distorted lead vocals as you all know..

How do you do it? Do you send a split line signal to an amp and mic it up?
Use of Tube Compressors which are overdrived?
Series of compressors which are overdrived for distortion like a series of UA 1176LN's?

Tips? I haven't really found a way to make vocals sound crispy distorted and not just round and fat without detail..well it's hard to describe sound..but maybe you'll now what I mean ?

Any tips ?

I think the guy in the strioke is just a very bad singer. The distortion is in his vocal chords. Just hire him to sing. He's washed up now anyway. I hear his unemploment checks are almost up.

[Benmrx]

A radio shack mic (the kind with the built in cable --> 1/4") into a DI, crank your pre nice and hard, use an opto limiter and crush it, then slap a couple Massey tape head plugs on top of each other.

[norman_nomad]

oh man ... there's so many ways to distort things you should just experiment.. Distortion makes music fun!

Anyhow... I think most modern techniques, from what I've observed and what I've done myself fall into 3 main categories... all of them ending with "amp"!

1. Preamp (overdrive the input, back off the output)
2. Sansamp
3. Re-amp

I personally prefer good preamp distortion if I'm going to push a rock vocal into the red... the TG2 works great for this....

[Museamp]

Originally Posted by BackHand

Hello!

(or "the" way) to distort

Any tips ?

NOTHING COMPARES TO THE THERMIONIC CULTURE VULTURE - TO DATE FOR ANY TRACK THAT NEEDS DISTORTION



Tommy Hollister

[Mike Caffrey]

I find that when people ask for a distorted vocal, they tend to react most positively when I roll off a lot of high and low end with EQ and then add minimal distortion. I think often what they're really asking for is limited badwithdh/frequency response and not as much fuzz - which can exagerate certain mid frequencies giving it a similar frequency curve to tha HP/LP'd signal.

[redrue]

Originally Posted by Mike Caffrey

I find that when people ask for a distorted vocal...what they're really asking for is limited badwithdh/frequency response ...

Which makes a lot of sense... the Strokes (and other distorted) vocals sound
like they were run through a 'telephone' EQ curve.