GETTING A COOL VOCAL DISTORTION

msmith92 · Post by **msmith92** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 6:10 am

anybody know the best way to apply a cool distortion effect on vocals? i use dp5 and i have uad-1 (studio pak +) but when i apply a distortion effect from either of those it never sounds great. also if it's a plugin thing how should i set it up? i usually apply effects directly to the track.

things i'm comparing to are:
B.R.M.C. (black rebel motorcycle club)
DANDY WARHOLS
JOHN LENNON (for that mild distortion ala i am the walrus)

m2 · Post by m2 » Tue Jun 20, 2006 11:31 am

well a common way is with the mic pre you are using. Although you are printing that to the track and there's no dialing it out. Another cool way is with a compressor on the track. Try an 1176 comp and over drive it. IF the Plug works the way the hardware version does you can get all kinds of neat stuff.

good luck!

MT · Post by MT » Tue Jun 20, 2006 11:33 am

m2 wrote:Try an 1176 comp and over drive it.

That's a great route, right there. Or, if you have a Distressor around...

msmith92 · Post by **msmith92** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 11:50 am

hmm..i'll try the 1176 and see if that does it. i have a focusrite voicemaster pro. i've never tried to get a distortion out of that. how would i set that up?

MT · Post by MT » Tue Jun 20, 2006 12:31 pm

msmith92 wrote:hmm..i'll try the 1176 and see if that does it. i have a focusrite voicemaster pro. i've never tried to get a distortion out of that. how would i set that up?

I used to have one of those as well. I'd just set up the mic and start moving knobs, especially on the EQ and compressor areas of that thing. May work for you.

chrispick · Post by **chrispick** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 1:13 pm

You could try singing through a guitar amp or small speaker unit, then mic'ing that.

Or singing really loudly into something like an SM57 (you'd need a really loud voice).

Have you tried parallel distortion? Maybe run an aux feed from your clean vocal into an aux track that has an amp sim plug.

How about mic'ing a walkie-talkie or bullhorn, then mixing that with a clean vocal, maybe low-passing it as well?

Just some more options to consider.

msmith92 · Post by **msmith92** » Tue Jun 20, 2006 6:29 pm

thanks all. keep 'em coming if you got them

jerkrecords · Post by **jerkrecords** » Fri Jun 23, 2006 7:05 am

chrispick's ideas are all golden.
try sending the pre-recorded track out into an amp - mic it - then record it to a new track. bring that up underneath the existing vocal till it sounds right. recently, i've had good luck printing the vocal w/ disto:

loud mouth -> 57 -> x73i -> distressor -> A/D.

that chain broke up nicely when Mr. Hardcore began yelling his head off.

-pete andrews

Macinbowl · Post by **Macinbowl** » Wed Aug 16, 2006 6:47 pm

Try recording with a second microphone beside the good one but use a cheap mic (karaoke type with jack or mini-jack instead of XLR connector). Sometime it does the trick with just a little boost on the gain and a nice mix with the "good" vocal track. Routing this "cheap" signal into a light overdrive on a POD or any amp simulator can add more control also. But like it was said before, routing the main vocal track throuth an amp does perfectly the job.

Mat

David Polich · Post by **David Polich** » Thu Aug 17, 2006 9:37 am

Two plug-ins I use for distortion effects - Antares Tube, and Izotope Trash.

Tube is great for overdriven mic preamp type sounds - it's not gritty guitar amp distortion, it's - well, mic preamp overdrive. Like toasty syrup - use the "Orange" mode for the best results.

Izotope Trash is one of the best distortion plug-ins around, and many of the presets work if you just dial the distortion drive back somewhat. Trash features a lot of cabinet emulations and if you take out the distortion/drive you still have this cool sound with the cabinet emulation which is very different and cool for vocals.

splatterbass · Post by **splatterbass** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 9:11 am

death metal trick guys use live and works in the studio as well.
58 and cup the mic.
used on the otep recordings.
dont need someone who can overdrive the mic with a loud voice alone.
a lot of these guys cant do it without cupping the mic.

just my 2 cents