death metal vocals?

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Nathan1984

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I am using a line6 ux2 for my vocals, it has the modeling preamps. Question-I haven't been getting very good vocal tracks with it for some reason. If anyone may know how to help me get a better vocal recording for a death metal style. I have dynamic mic's, and a mxl 990 condensor, I have pop filters. Basically, if you can help me figure out a good method of getting a good result that would be awesome. Any advice, de-essers?Compressors? Noise gates? reverb? what do you guys have for me?
 
What is it that you don't like about the vocal recording?

Generally, I use dynamic mics for those sorts of vocals. I always compress on the way in, but any compressor in the pod would be after AD conversion, so that makes it really easy to cook the converters while the compressor turns it down far enough for you not to know that the input level is too much.
 
Yeah, I have been getting mixed results. I use a cheap Peavey dynamic mic, sometimes, got good low vocals, then I use a mxl 990 and get better highs. I have encountered like a clicking/crackle sound on my recordings with vocals sometimes. I don't really know why, but it wasn't on my recordings until I mastered my track and exported it as a wav. Do I need to mess with my settings more like eq, compressor, and gate? And I have no idea how I should set my eq for death metal vocals? Any tips on eq'ing death metal vocals?
 
The clicking is probably distortion caused by the mix being too loud. (I'm only guessing, without hearing it) You need to watch your levels.

EQ, compression, etc... relies completely on the sound you start with. You always have to listen to what you have, visualize what you want it to sound like, and set the EQ to the difference between the two.
 
Yeah, i figured out the clipping problem. Should I double track vocals like guitar, I am a musician, don't do just one thing. I sing, play guitar, bass, and drums, but I never really messed with vocals much, so it is kind of new to me.
 
What kind of vocals are you doing?

For growling I wouldn't double track it, I'd focus alot more on some reverb going on behind it, some presence boost to help it get through all the middy crap. Growls have a lot of unnecessary low end if you're growling really low.

For high/mid screams I'd double track them probs, maybe triple track. Get 3, leave one center and pan the other ones hard L and R.

If you get the parts almost *exactly* the same and just do hard L and R it will sound just about center and has a wicked awesome effect when you hear it. Has alot more impact then just doing one center. Delay is always fun for that kinda stuff.
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For fry... I don't do fry but if I were to record it I'd do the following.

No double tracking, I'd record one good solid take of just the fry screaming. Medium compression, nothing too hard. Let it breath. Play around with the EQ to accent whatever pleasent/cool characteristics are in the screamers voice.

Next I'd do a whisper track over it. Overdub the same thing as tight and exact as possible except doing a kind of forceful whisper. Compress the shit out of it, bitcrush/add distortion. Mix into the original scream to taste to give it some body.
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For a cool effect on big shouting vocals:

Have the main part still be center:
Record 3 high screams, and 3 lower growls. Maybe more growls depending.
Have one of each Center, L, R, and add more screams elsewhere in the mix for more effect.

Compress all of them, add a little reverb, and add a lowpass filter at around 19K for all of the vocals and it will give it more of a group-y sound.
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I don't know, any random questions? I use a toneport UX1 and a MXL990 or too, I'm running an M-Audio DMP3 into though which makes a world of difference for the clarity of all my vocals.
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For the recording itself the gain is turned down a hell of a lot. I want the scream coming in as low as possible so I still have plenty of headroom when I get to adding compressors. On the meters I keep it in the -18 to -12 range. I add my compressor and use the gain on that to boost it up to normal levels then just use the faders. After the compressor is where I'd put any EQ, followed by delay, then reverb last.

For the MXL don't get right up to it if possible. It distorts extremely easily but I don't like the I5's or 57's. I like the clarity of a condenser for all the screams. I'm probably a foot back. It's loud enough that none of the room sounds get in. Sometimes I might be more then a foot. Probably between 8 inches to 2 feet back.

For growls I get closer. 6-10 inches away. It's not as loud.

Some good reference tracks:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RESRl39ZYns (This is where I got the idea for group screaming yells and figured it out from)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p8atiEPs0bQ (Great for showing how some epic reverb and delay on growling can make it sound)
 
The main thing aside from EQ that's really going to make a major difference is compression. If you compress the "normal" way, you'll get a vocal track that sits well in the mix, meaning its level stays consistent with the rest of the instruments. If you use it the "wrong" way, it can add a bit of distortion and crunchiness that I find pleasing on metal vocals. As far as your mic issue goes, you might consider setting up both your condenser and dynamic and recording them both. This way you can EQ out the parts you don't like and mix the parts you do like together. Of course, you'll have to watch out for phasing problems but if you line up both capsules, you should be fine. Check out our blog for more tips on recording techniques and other cool stuff.
 
I think there is nothing bad in vocal recording and you must go for this.
 
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