Does anyone know how to get that noisy vocal sound?
- Thread starter earwhig
- Start date
IchabodVer7
New member
Depends on what you are recording with. If you are using Pro Tools and have the Sansamp distortion plugin that comes with bomb factory, that has been some of the best distortion I have heard on vocals.
EleKtriKaz
Home (w)Rec'r
There's a thread currently in the Microphone forum about the Strokes that describes how they get their distorted vocal sound. Check it out.
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=125231
https://homerecording.com/bbs/showthread.php?t=125231
I used to use a Sansamp guitar pedal a lot for that sound
Still do, actually; works great .
I've been experimenting lately with a Matchless Hotbox tube preamp pedal
that was designed for guitars, but works really nice as a mic preamp .
Hardly any noise at all, and it can be bright and clear or warm and thick if
I use both pre-volumes .
I can also dial in a nice trashy-CB radio sound if I turn up the gain .
Still do, actually; works great .
I've been experimenting lately with a Matchless Hotbox tube preamp pedal
that was designed for guitars, but works really nice as a mic preamp .
Hardly any noise at all, and it can be bright and clear or warm and thick if
I use both pre-volumes .
I can also dial in a nice trashy-CB radio sound if I turn up the gain .
evhwanabe
New member
Someone mentioned the Strokes in a previous post, I will elaborate a little more.
I read an article about how they recorded the first album and I guess the singer was dead set on running his mic to a little practice guitar amp to get that "low-fi" type of sound. Then I believe they just thew an SM-57 in front of the amp to get the vocals to tape. Since pretty much everyone has an old practice amp laying around (you can even buy them for under $50) this might be a cheap and easy way to acompolish what you're trying to do. I used to have an old HONDO practice amp that would have been perfect for this!
I read an article about how they recorded the first album and I guess the singer was dead set on running his mic to a little practice guitar amp to get that "low-fi" type of sound. Then I believe they just thew an SM-57 in front of the amp to get the vocals to tape. Since pretty much everyone has an old practice amp laying around (you can even buy them for under $50) this might be a cheap and easy way to acompolish what you're trying to do. I used to have an old HONDO practice amp that would have been perfect for this!
adam_in_audio
New member
For a Beastie Boy type of sound, I've used cheap microphones and a dod Bass overdrive pedal. When I'm looking for an older Foghat sound, I'll use a tube Emulator. I've heard that Al Jourgenson (of Ministry fame) got his 'brickwall' sound by running his voice through a series of compressors. Ya just gotta' mess around a bit. 
A.
A.
Mixerman
New member
earwhig said:
There are many ways to get a squelchy distortion sound. You can use pedals, a guitar amp, an amp farm guitar amp, a pod, a sansamp, or a sans-sansamp (that would be my name for the plug-in version of a sansamp, since sansamp means literally, without amp, then a plug in would be without without amp, but I digress). Some good pedals for this application are Big Muffs, Tube Screamers, and Swollen Pickles, but quite honestly, you should just use whatever you have, or whatever your guitar player friends might have for you to borrow.
Some mic pres distort great for this, like 1272's can get nicely squelchy. You can use heavy doses of EQ to produce interesting distortion as well.
You can even have the singer sing into a walkie talkie and mic the other walkie talkie. The tiny condensor microphone on the walkie talkie compresses and distorts very nicely.
Getting just the right distortion for a track isn't so cut and dried as selecting your favorite box and applying it. I will often spend some time experimenting for just the right type and amount of distortion, as it's very track dependent, and audibility dependent.
Mixerman
Welcome to homereckers, Mixerman!The infamous Al Jourgenson from Ministry "vocal distortion" sound is a chain of about six compressors ran sequentially squishing the hell out of it. Personally this is the best way to distort vocals for me.
Overloading the microphone diaphragm is another good way.
Generally distortion pedals/plugs don't sound great to me.
Overloading the microphone diaphragm is another good way.
Generally distortion pedals/plugs don't sound great to me.
glimmer_doll
New member
earwhig said:
what the heck does squelchy mean...? i can't seem to find it in my dictionary...any examples you can list of what you're looking for..?
I did this the other day:
Took a cheap microphone, and had the dude talk into it, and ran the preamp up really really high. Probably hit the tape at about +16. For whatever reason, it didn't come back very distorted.
So, on the Neve VR we were mixing on, the artist had the idea to turn the compressor on, but not use it for compression. Instead, we jacked the line trim, and the makeup gain all the way. This distorted the next stage in the chain. Then the fader was turned down to a reasonable level. With the EQ, we cut the bass at around 200 Hz, and the trebble was rolled off at 5kHz. There was also a massive (+10dB or so) midrange boost applied around 1khz, with slightly wider Q than usual.
The frequency responce of a telephone is approximately 300Hz to 3kHz.
Distortion, in this sense, is created by clipping. And clipping can be achieved by running too much signal into a preamp, and then turning down the output. EQ after distortion, for maximum effect.
If you have protools, try the gain plugin, up the gain really really high, and print it to the file (use the plugin as an audiosuite). Then run the gain plugin again, as audiosuite, and gain it back down. Now add two-band shelving EQ, to taste, but generally, as above.
Sometimes running +4 signals into -10dB gear makes interesting distortion too.
Guitar effect distortion works sometimes, but generally, this isn't the 'low-fi' sound people are looking for.
Took a cheap microphone, and had the dude talk into it, and ran the preamp up really really high. Probably hit the tape at about +16. For whatever reason, it didn't come back very distorted.
So, on the Neve VR we were mixing on, the artist had the idea to turn the compressor on, but not use it for compression. Instead, we jacked the line trim, and the makeup gain all the way. This distorted the next stage in the chain. Then the fader was turned down to a reasonable level. With the EQ, we cut the bass at around 200 Hz, and the trebble was rolled off at 5kHz. There was also a massive (+10dB or so) midrange boost applied around 1khz, with slightly wider Q than usual.
The frequency responce of a telephone is approximately 300Hz to 3kHz.
Distortion, in this sense, is created by clipping. And clipping can be achieved by running too much signal into a preamp, and then turning down the output. EQ after distortion, for maximum effect.
If you have protools, try the gain plugin, up the gain really really high, and print it to the file (use the plugin as an audiosuite). Then run the gain plugin again, as audiosuite, and gain it back down. Now add two-band shelving EQ, to taste, but generally, as above.
Sometimes running +4 signals into -10dB gear makes interesting distortion too.
Guitar effect distortion works sometimes, but generally, this isn't the 'low-fi' sound people are looking for.
mshilarious
Banned
glimmer_doll said:
I'm guessing it's leftover from CB radio days . . . the 'squelch' control is basically a noise gate so you don't hear weak, static-y signals. Thus, a squelchy sound would be the sound of a CB radio.
I'll take this moment to plug my new microphone, the Shure Green Bullet. This thing is perfect for this, just get right up to the mic and yell. For quieter distorted vocals you'll need to add a bit of distortion via amp/plug/whatever.
4-Man Takedown
New member
I've done this pretty easily by just cloning a track and using very liberal high and low pass on it. So it basically sounds like a phone or an old radio or something. Then I just mix it in with the other original vocal and I kinda get a vocal sound that sounds like it's coming iff a radio in the 50's.
Pro Tools User
New member
Amplitube does a nice job of this if your running PT? If mixing and recording out of the box then a guitar effects processor can give the same results. Yamaha is what I have used in the past. The whole walkie talkie thing is a new one on me, but great ideal. Im gonna have to try that for fun to see how audiable it its.
Peace
Peace