OK, off of Cher and onto NIN vocals

[dbho]

OK, so we all agree that the Cher vocal blows and she can't sing. (btw, I heard on the radio that the engineer said he did it becasue she was sooo off). Anyway, In the new song Starfu*kers of "The Fragile", there is a very cool vocal effect. This should NOT be confused with the Cher crap. It sounds like an appregiated vocal. I tried to route one of my vocals through my VirusB but it wont do that Im not SURE I want to do this in one of my songs but it was a cool trick and wanna know how to do it.

DBHO

[dbho]

Oh yeah, I forgot to add. How the HELL does he get his screams to sound so freak'n strong? I have tried more compression, less compression etc and I cant get the same sound. I have tried this with my 103 and my 149 through my Mackie D8B and cant it right. I can add a little reverb and back the vocal off a little but then its distant and not in your face. If I try a Small room etc it doesnt cut it. Any insights on recording screaming vocals?

DBHO

[Dorian]

.Sounds like they might be using that new Roland VP-9000 vari-phrase preocessor. It is basically a fancy sampler but you can take a vocal part record it into the VP-9000 and manipulate it with a keyboard or other mid-device. You could arpeggiate it or pitch correct it or do whatever you want to it and in real time. You could actually READ the part into the Roland and play it back as a melody by using the pithces assigned from the controller. I do not know for sure if this is how THEY did it but they most likely used the Roland. The bad news is the thing costs $2500.00+ and seems pretty complicated and worst of all it comes with a dreaded Roland manual.Not too sure about the screaming thing although for in your face vocals you generally use med high comp(say 6:1 or so with a high theshold(close to 0Db)Then you can play around with the attack release times from there.The 103 is pretty sensitive and not really intended for screamers maybe you could experiment and try a dynamic mic instead.

[Dorian]

By the way I am very jealous of your D8B!!!

[ametth]

Repeat after me boyz and girls....P R O - T O O L S...can you say it? I knew you could.


I love the song, but what part are you talking about anyway?

ametth

[Dorian]

PRO-STOOLS?

[This message has been edited by Dorian (edited 06-10-2000).]

[syn]

by the way that F*ck stole my idea about the arpegiated vocals, shoot, what am i worried about though, I can do them better!
another interesting nin factoid: in further down the spiral, eraser, if you fast foreward the song you can hear him saying eeeeeeerrrrrraaaaaaaassssssssseeeeeee mmmmmmmmeeeeeeeeeeee if played at normal speed its just like some unintelligable streached out sample, now thats genius!

[dbho]

I might have to check into that Roland piece you mentioned. As far as the other comment about what am I talking about in "StarF&ckers",, its in the verse vocals. Its like "myyyyyyyyy God sit in the back of a lemozeeeeeeen" sound. Its not correction, its COOL. And basicly, NIN is not a "they" as much as a "he", trent reznor. Damn he is an engineer. I highly recommend going to nin.com and checking out his studio. The site is hard to nav but when you find the flash part that lets you view his studio its worth it. Anyway. OK, more thoughts on the screaming vocals?

DBHO

[dbho]

Oh yeah. And why exactly should I use Pro Tools? Face it. Its a hardware dependant package (which is in my opinion how they keep it from being pirated, which is ok I guess) that LIMITS the number of tracks you can record without buying more hardware. I use samplitude on a deal PIII 500's is a gig a ram and I have songs well over 70 tracks. (not all full tracks but still) They charge you for everything to use pro tools. Its a closed system and for my money, I prefer the limits of my machine and not my wallet. Is it true that protools is still 16 bit or some such? Or was it that it was only 48K. Dont remember. Ah well.

DBHO

[37point5]

Here's how I get strong screaming vocals a la NIN:

I scream into my Rode NT-1 (I mean REALLY scream. Loud enough to scare people), which is going into an ART Tube MP and then into a Delta 66, and then into Cakewalk. I don't overdrive the ART. In Cakewalk, I apply an amp simulator to the vocal; I usually use a moderate to low fuzz or overdrive amp setting. Of course, another way to do this is to plug a mic into an amp with the distortion up a bit, and then mic the amp or run a direct line from the preamp.

It also helps a lot to double or triple the vocal. This really thickens up the screaming. Oh, and try boosting between 200-500 Hz (depending on your voice) for more power in the low end.

Good luck,
Ryan