BIIG OLd school Vox. HOW?

[ripingitar]

Anyone here have experience with generating BIIG old school Vox. My band was featured on a Kiss tribute cd and Its alot of "classic" tunes on there... I noticed had that BIg 80s choruses/ harmonys recreated to the T on many of the tracks. And most of it sounded processed to my ears being a musician but didnt sound fake so much. I thought it was cool . I cant afford an Eventide .. pitch shifters in Sonar sound fake and have artifacts .
any input on how to get that Big old school harmony sound?

 

[omtayslick]

Sorry, no help from me. I just wanted to comment on the 80's being "old school". Man, I must be gettin' old.

 

[TexRoadkill]

The basic trick is to just record the background vocals over and over for one big chorus sound.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Sorry, no help from me. I just wanted to comment on the 80's being "old school". Man, I must be gettin' old.

LOL, thank God I wasn't the only one to feel that way when he read that. And Kiss is "classic" ? I guess that must make Steppenwolf "prehistoric" ? Well, I guess the fact that we can still actually read this small print must mean we aren't quite THAT old yet...

Seriously, though, the 80s were a big decade for choruses. Believe it or not, when I am looking for a big 80 chorus sound - which isn't that often these days, as those kind of choruses seem to have fallen out of fashon faster and deeper than a rock in a swimming pool - I actually go to an old Alesis Quadraverb2 I still have been too lazy to pull out of my rack, and switch to the Quad Chorus model.

If you don't want to buy old hardware like that, in software you might want to try the Voxengo Chorus which is also a decent quad stereo chorus, but in VST form.

I have not tried the "Fluid" plug from Audio Damage myself (I just can't bring myself to use a product from a company that uses the phrase "most leet" in their slogan ), but I have heard some strong recommendations regardless of their disdain for the English language.

G.

 

[MessianicDreams]

try this:

double each vocal part (if there are harmonies) a whoole bunch of times. Slap a nice big bunch of Chorus over these. Pan the vocals a lot - make sure they properly cover the stereo spread.

 

[ripingitar]

yeah 80s isnt that OLD school. Im 40 Y.o. and grew up in the 80s but I think my Younger bandmates and Vh1 classic calling 80s "classic" must be rubbing off on me!
SO.. wide stereo and chourus slapped all over it. How many times should I layer the backing tracks?? I guess till it gets big enough.?? what abouy using my AVOX Chorus Plug in??

 

[omtayslick]

You might try playin' around with this:

http://www.cloneensemble.com/

 

[Steve Henningsgard]

try this:

double each vocal part (if there are harmonies) a whoole bunch of times. Slap a nice big bunch of Chorus over these. Pan the vocals a lot - make sure they properly cover the stereo spread.

That wouldn't really be "Doubling" then, would it? Just givin' ya shit haha

 

[Rokket]

I get that sound by recording two separate 3 part harmony parts. I pan them hard left and right, then I will record a 3rd three part harmony part and leave it under the lead vocal and straight up the middle.

It works, but if you are the one singing all the parts, you have to watch the performance, so that when the parts are all playing together, it sounds like a big chorus, and not two different groups.

 

[Rokket]

I get that sound by recording two separate 3 part harmony parts. I pan them hard left and right, then I will record a 3rd three part harmony part and leave it under the lead vocal and straight up the middle.

It works, but if you are the one singing all the parts, you have to watch the performance, so that when the parts are all playing together, it sounds like a big chorus, and not two different groups.

One more thing I found lately: using the 'ozzifier' plugin in Reaper....

 

[TerraMortim]

big old school vocalist. seriously.

 

[TerraMortim]

Sorry, no help from me. I just wanted to comment on the 80's being "old school". Man, I must be gettin' old.

tell me about it. People are now speaking about the 90s as if they are retro... holy shit. it must be even worse for those who grew up in the 80s

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

tell me about it. People are now speaking about the 90s as if they are retro... holy shit. it must be even worse for those who grew up in the 80s

80s?!?! Try the 60s/early 70s.

And that's for a young un like me. For the folks everybody looks up to as being the real engineers and producers; people like Harvey Gerst, Lou Ayres, George Martin, Bruce Sweiden, etc. They grew up with Ralph, Potsie and Fonzie in the 50s, and I mean *for real*, not the TV show. Your average rock and roll icon is pushing 70 years old these days.

If Elvis weren't already dead, he'd already be dead.

Seems like yesterday that the dividing line between old and young was whether you were born before man landed on the moon or not. Shit, now there are people on this board whose *parents* weren't born until after the moon landing.

G.

 

[Elton Bear]

I read 'oldschool' and thought '50s, a la Presley & Cash.

And I was born in 1989, so not that old!

 

[TerraMortim]

Seems like yesterday that the dividing line between old and young was whether you were born before man landed on the moon or not. Shit, now there are people on this board whose *parents* weren't born until after the moon landing.

I was born before the moon landing. I'm 24.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I was born before the moon landing. I'm 24.

Trying to get me to rise to the bait, eh, Terra?

G.

 

[carlosguardia]

I thought that the whole landing on the moon thing was staged somewhere in Arizona or Nevada...
ripingguitar: Pitchshifters in Sonar might sound fake, but if you track the same take a few time and only shift each track a few cents (both ways high and low) you will get the chorus effect without having to add phat chorus.
BTW, I'm only 31 and for me KISS in not old school...