Transistor radio mix

H

hitman

New member
does anyone know the general technique for achieving the famous transistor radio mix in vocals. you know the squashed distorted sound put mainly on vocals for creative equalization. e.g. Soundgarden's "Spoonman" when he sings "all my friends are brown and red".
HITMAN.
 
I'm also wondering this myself and have explored into the realms of this technique. I've found that Frank Black (then Black Francis) from the Pixies used this technique in one of the songs off the Pixies album Bossanova called "All Over the World". He recorded the talking part using a CB radio while sitting in his car! Another way to "fake it" is to plug the mic into a guitar amp and set the EQ/distortion just right, and either run the Line Out (if available) on the amp into a direct box, then into the console, or very carefully mic the amp. I suppose another way of doing so is using a megaphone...obviously you gotta be across the room so that you don't blow the mic up! These are just some possibilities, and I'm sure there's other methods of doing this.
 
Actually....

The megaphone has worked best for me.

But you don't have to stand more then about 12-18" from the mic. If you get mic distorion, just don't aim the megaphone right at the mic. Aim about 15 degrees to the side and all will be well.

Try it! :)

Ed
 
Another quick way that works well is to use the talkback system built-into the console... (if you have a way of routing it to the mix busses).

Bruce Valeriani
Blue Bear Sound
 
hitman said:
does anyone know the general technique for achieving the famous transistor radio mix in vocals. you know the squashed distorted sound put mainly on vocals for creative equalization. e.g. Soundgarden's "Spoonman" when he sings "all my friends are brown and red".
HITMAN.
Click to expand...

Well, do you happen to have an Active Crossover?

If so, you can run the signal through the crossover (How I do it) then bring only the Mid band send into the mixer.
Then, by adjusting the crossover points-you can limit the bandwidth/frequency range between say 300Hz and 3K (depends on exactly how wide you are looking for).
Then you can run this signal through a distortion pedal.

Tim
 
I agree with Tim

300-3K Hz is the frequency response of the telephone.Record as normal and EQ to this range.Ala Aqualung by Tull,an effective use of this technique is to do a verse of telephone voice and the start the next verse with the normal EQ.The voice will enter with an impressive impact.
Tom
 
A friend of mine ran a vocal track to one of those cheap, tiny Rat Shack speakers and mic'ed it to get a pretty good effect. I've done a low cut and high cut to limit the frequencies to between 1k and 3k-- that seems to work okay, too. I like the megaphone idea :).
 
Megaphone

For an example of a megaphone used in a song, listen to Sonic Youth's "Mary Christ"...Kim is using the megaphone to talk...you can even hear it beep in at one point.
 
Re: Megaphone

El Barto said:
For an example of a megaphone used in a song, listen to Sonic Youth's "Mary Christ"...Kim is using the megaphone to talk...you can even hear it beep in at one point.
Click to expand...

Hey El Barto,
Sonic Youth!!?!
Have you heard of Royal Trux?
If you have, have you heard any of their last few CD's?


Tim
 
El Barto said:
Can't say I've heard of em...are they much like Sonic Youth? Are you a Sonic Youth fan?
Click to expand...

I just wondered.
Neil and Jennifer from Royal Trux are friends with Sonic Youth.
Neil from RTX used to be in a bnd in the 80's calle Pussy Galore-which spawned Boss Hog, and Tye Jon Spencer Blues Explosion.

My little brother is the Bass player in RTX (He joined in 1994).
They were signed to Virgin Records for a few years.

Tim
 
amp mod

A similar type effect can be achieved using a regular vocals and applying a process called amplitude modulation, sound forge 4.5 has it. i think it even has an am radio preset.
 
yeah,man,sonic youth,aren't those guys like 50 yrs old now?not that there is anything wrong with that,i mean i am rapidly approaching my mid thirties,blah blah blah,oh,off the subject,right,when i was first "experimenting" with studio techniques(circa 1989)i loved(i guess i still do)that vocal effect! i could not get enough and i did not exactly know how,the engineer guy ,whom was willing to try anything,let me abuse the studio for my ignorant reaching trying to get that "radio" effect,first we tried the distortion pedal,and that squashed the signal sooooo much,you couldn't hear it,it turned into the"dog whistle frequency",then we tried the megaphone,but it was to much work,either that or we had the laziest band and engineer,we eventually settled on miking the answering machine,we would go into the other part of the warehouse use one of the roomate's phones,get the longest headphone cable we cpoud find,then we'd play back the song through the headphones,and the singer would sing through the phone,and we'd pick up the answering machine running live,no beeps though.amazing how much you will put yourself through just to get a "great sound"ahhh,the rigors of studio work,and those quirky,lofty musicians.i eventually learned through this awesome guy dan rathsomething or other (idiot flesh,polymorph studios,oakland,ca) that through e.q. you could pretty much do what sound you want post production,he would just put the frequencies straight across,have no other effects and it,amazingly got the best out of all the previous attempts i tried,lately because of all the home studios and the amazing availability of just well...everything,i have just gone in after recording dry and with a really intricate e.q.,i just bring out the low mids and the high mids,turn the bass way down and the treble too,it can get pretty grating to the ears for an entire song,which like i said,i can't get enough,so i learned,with that frequency,you can mix really low (quiet)in there and it will still cut through and not hurt.about the little brother playing for virgin records,i am in philly now and i can't even get arrested here,i regret leaving s.f.,but ihear that i wouldn't even like what's become of it,it's all dot com'ers and no need for "original"music,but hey the west is the best,certainly not philly.
 
Yeah, Sonic Youth is in their 40s...Kim Gordon is 47 (she's the oldest). I think they are immortal...they are ageless. They look the same now as they did when they started (in 81) just about. The Bennies are a great local band from the Philly/Harrisburg area...check em out if you ever hear of them playing a show. They are awesome alt. rock.
 
Megaphones - yes! a local band uses one for Harp - it gets a great sound and he can also get great feedback as well!!
He just uses a cheap Shack type.
Ditto all suggestions regarding question - loved the answering machine one mojovoodoo

Cheers
John :)
 
"Pound for Pound" is an awesome record. So is "Sweet Sixteen" and that EP that I don't remember the name of. When I saw Royal Trux a coupl'a months ago Jennifer Herrema used two mics: one normal and one with a sound like this thread is about. She would hold one stand in each hand and switch back and forth, or sing through both at the same time. Very cool. She doesn't really need the effect though since her voice kind of sounds like that anyway. If any of you have seen "High Fidelity" the music that is supposed to be the little skate punks' band is actually Royal Trux.

Ptron
 
Ptron said:
"Pound for Pound" is an awesome record. So is "Sweet Sixteen" and that EP that I don't remember the name of. When I saw Royal Trux a coupl'a months ago Jennifer Herrema used two mics: one normal and one with a sound like this thread is about. She would hold one stand in each hand and switch back and forth, or sing through both at the same time. Very cool. She doesn't really need the effect though since her voice kind of sounds like that anyway. If any of you have seen "High Fidelity" the music that is supposed to be the little skate punks' band is actually Royal Trux.

Ptron
Click to expand...

It's funny because when Jennifer calls-she sounds like that in person! Hahaha It's not something put on...
Yep, so you got to see my little brother play bass. He's a killer bass player; maybe the most versatile one that I know.

What's funny, is they Toured Scotland around 1995 or so, and The Goo Goo Dolls was their opening act! hahaha
Dan said those guys were really cool/easy going guys, so he was Glad for them.
We were hoping the RTX was really going to Take off, because
They had a good sound, and in between that and Jennifer Modelling for Calvin Klein-heck, I thought they were going to hit the bigtime.

Man, they essentially Wrote and recorded "Pound for Pound" in like 4 or 5 days-It was all assembled in the Studio. I think that might be why it has such a great feel to it.
"Sweet Sixteen" was recorded in their homw studio-24 Track ADATS a 24 channel Mackie Board, and almost no outboard gear-Dan had some of My Gear in his bass rig at the time-but I don't know if they recorded with it.
I do know that they burned up a couple of ADAT machines-which caused me to quickly decide to go with the Tascam DA-38's.
Oh, and they did have a killer Drawmer Compressor that they used on the vocals.

Of course, by the time Greg Archilla did his number on it, who knows what all happened at mixdown. (G. Archilla did the Collective Soul mix for the song "Gel" from the Jerky Boys Movie. )

Tim
 
i kept on seeing royal trux ads when i lived in s.f.,i just assumed they were a bay area band,where are they based at?and they still with virgin ?do record labels even exist anymore?does rock and roll even exist?i thought we aree to expect that entertainment execs just kinda put together some pretty boy or girl band complete with choreographed dances,looks are necessary ,musical ability ,optional.i don't know if this story is true,but it's consistent with this....when the chili peppers were running an ad for guitar players,my friend went and auditioned ,was not even allowed to pull his axe out,they took one look at him,and said"sorry,we're lookin' for somebody much taller with dark hair........."teee heee hee.long gone are the days were people put together a band in their mother's garage,and played because it felt good and pissed off the neighbors,and especially attracted a lot of attention from the opposite sex.hey can someone explain microphone pros and cons,i am now just really making sense engineering,and i have my sights on a large diaphragm mic,like a rode nt2,where afriend is seriously pushing just a good condenser mic,where he is pushing the concept of transparent and true reproduction,i just want som nice tones ,colorization,maybe even a unique mic,but my budget will only be 200-275$,i have done recording for the last year with a cheap dynamic mic,and i have spent far too much time tryingf to e.q. the hell out of it,and overcompressing,i am working with mostly female vocalists,totally different styles and techniques,i want a versatile mic for all around.anyone care to embellish?
 
yeah is that the ad"hey good lookin' ,be back to pick you up later!"?you mean all this research,and all i gotta do is buy the mr.microphone?man,i guess i really have fallen way off track.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top