Effects for vocals?

[hybridsound]

Hey. I was just wondering what kind of effects you guys/gals like to put on your vocals. I personally like to put a 5 voices chorus (pro) and then do a mastering width with the pan/expand. But, I'm really looking for a way to get a good effect combo for a really slow song.

[AW - Cakewalk]

Male or female voice?

I made a slow tune with a female vocal, and added a delay that really highlighted the *sibilants* in her voice.

I think it came out nice:
http://artists.mp3s.com/artist_song/3068/3068489.html

Cheers -

[Change of POETS]

It really depends on the stle of the music. Is it R&B, contemporary, pop, alternative etc...

Different effects apply to different genre's of music.

Listen to other professional artists within your genre, and pay close attention to the effects on the vocals.

Is it just a small reverb? Is it a fluxuating reverb with panning? etcetera etcetera...

Try your best to mimic what you hear.

[chrisharris]

5 Voice Chorus?!?!?! Christ, I don't think even OZZY uses that, lol.

Obviously, it depends on what you're going for, but that particular setting is almost more like a "special effect" than a real effect for a vocal. I'm all for using unusual "out-of-place" effects whenever possible...but the longer I've recorded, the more inclined I've become to stick with some pretty simple (and boring) standards. I listened to some of my first CD last night, and some of the choices I made...lol...well, let's just say they seem less "cool" today than they did then.

Not that you should listen to me, lmao...I wouldn't...But here you go anyway:

1. Record the vocal;
2. compress the vocal;
3. EQ the vocal IF necessary (this includes De-essing, for me);
4. Reverbs - some fairly non-offensive ones in CEP are slight variants of the presets for "VOCAL - Nice Presence" or "VOCAL - Natural Reverb" (something like that) or "Concert Hall Light" (I use this a ton for backup vocals)....or "Medium Vocal Plate" - I like cutting the Wet on this one in half (from 30% to 15%) for faster tunes. It hollows out the vocal a bit, but it rules for getting that soft "sss".

I haven't used a chorus effect on a lead vocal in probably 2 years, but I do use a TWO VOICE or ACOUSTIC chorus on backups some.

2 more cents - the coolest chorus I've found is just making a copy of a mono vocal track, putting it on another track, and offsetting it about 20-30ms from the first one...and decreasing the volume a couple of db...it fattens up a vocal nicely without sounding like another, "slightly more retarded me trying to keep up."...I saw somebody post that once, and it cracked me up.

[dobro]

Well, I'm pretty much in line with Chris, although I EQ before I compress. It's a matter of taste unless you're up to something unusual, special or cunning.

Oh, yeah - I keep the vocal panned centre - people notice a human voice before they notice anything else.

[chrisharris]

Originally posted by dobro
Well, I'm pretty much in line with Chris, although I EQ before I compress.

Yeah, I think a lot of people do. My reason for compressing first has a lot to do with my sibilance. Compression brings all the frequencies back to the same level (like 6K), so it negates any Surgical De-Essing I've done.

[hybridsound]

Thank you all for all of your input and opinions. I will surely try some of your techniques in some of my future works. BTW, the style of music I record is mostly like stuff you'd hear from Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Marilyn Manson.

[chrisharris]

Originally posted by hybridsound
BTW, the style of music I record is mostly like stuff you'd hear from ... Pearl Jam....

If you want that cool Eddie Veddar stereo spread on the vocal, just record the vocal mono...then make a copy of it, put the copy on a seperate track, and offset it from the first one by 30ms. Pan one left about 70%, and the other one right about 70%.

It gives a kind of stereo chorus effect that none of the presets do, and it's how his vocal is actually mixed. VERY little reverb on most of "10."

Kurt used a little more verb than PJ uses, but it was still never more drastic than the "Concert Hall Light" preset in the normal reverb section.

Rock on,
Chris

[hybridsound]

Wow! That was really helpful! I have to say that this is the most help I've ever received from this BBS! Thanks again!

[dobro]

Tell you what, Hybrid - ask the right question in the right way, and you get a useful answer every time. I'm talking about life here, not just this forum.