Any ideas for a vocal effect for quieter songs?

  • Thread starter Thread starter NotThatBright
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NotThatBright

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Every now and then I'll record a song where I don't have the din I'm used to all around my voice. The link goes to an example. Anyone have experience with any vocal effects that don't make you sound like a robot, but can cover up some vocal flaws? I'm tired of using delay, and reverb doesn't do anything good.

All I have on this one has is small amounts of compression and reverb (this song's a few month's old- I stopped doing the reverb). The voice could use a little cloaking. Not a shitload, but some.


https://soundcloud.com/user92696274096/heres-to-the-losers/s-S4KEU


This is a Drag the River song, by the way. My version sucks but it's the best example I have.
 
Sorry, I probably should have put this in a different forum.
 
Take a pitch plug, detune it ever so slightly according to taste, then blend with the original to suit.
 
I don't know what you perceive to be the problem with your vocal, so it's probably hard to give you any real opinion as far as effects go. The vocal in the track you linked to didn't seem out of place or obviously flawed. I think there is always a strong element of self loathing going on when trying to mix your own vocal. I hate the sound of my recorded voice, but have had others tell me it sounded fine when i thought it was really horrible.

Only other thing i would say, at risk of sounding cliched and dogmatic, is that by the time you are reaching for effects to cloak flaws and imperfections, it might be time to practice and retrack what you want to hear. It's probably hypocritical of me to say that too, because i have always found it hard to not reach for reverb, delay, chorus, phasers, flangers - whatever it takes to make my voice sound more palatable. Most often i'll just end up going over the top with a deliberately effected vocal sound and say that was what i had always intended. Also composing and writing is rarely a very organised affair for me, so my intention is rarely a clear one.. Lame, I know, but vocals seem over rated, and the least part of most music to me anyway, and i've never recorded any covers, so i'll just drift on through my own little false reality of music production techniques. :D
 
Anders Erisian said:
I don't know what you perceive to be the problem with your vocal, so it's probably hard to give you any real opinion as far as effects go. The vocal in the track you linked to didn't seem out of place or obviously flawed. I think there is always a strong element of self loathing going on when trying to mix your own vocal. I hate the sound of my recorded voice, but have had others tell me it sounded fine when i thought it was really horrible.

Only other thing i would say, at risk of sounding cliched and dogmatic, is that by the time you are reaching for effects to cloak flaws and imperfections, it might be time to practice and retrack what you want to hear. It's probably hypocritical of me to say that too, because i have always found it hard to not reach for reverb, delay, chorus, phasers, flangers - whatever it takes to make my voice sound more palatable. Most often i'll just end up going over the top with a deliberately effected vocal sound and say that was what i had always intended. Also composing and writing is rarely a very organised affair for me, so my intention is rarely a clear one.. Lame, I know, but vocals seem over rated, and the least part of most music to me anyway, and i've never recorded any covers, so i'll just drift on through my own little false reality of music production techniques. :D
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Can't really argue with that. In the end I almost always just say fuck it and do it without effects. When I do use something, I usually wish I hadn't afterwards. I always record with the effect on, so it's on there permanently, which I know is a bad practice, but what are ya gonna do? :)

Thanks for the response.
 
Well, for a start, record dry. You're screwing yourself if you record a signal with an effect and then want to change it somehow. Record multiple (dry) takes, then work on blending them - sometimes the subtle differences between takes can make the vocal sound fuller. You can do things like add a preamp plug-in to one, EQ one differently, etc.
 
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