George Michael/Freddie Mercury vocal effect

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ad0lescnts

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How do they achieve that vocal effect? It sounds dry but at the same time has a kind of chorus effect or something.

Hope it's something you can do post and not a tracking technique.

thanks guys!
T
 
ad0lescnts said:
How do they achieve that vocal effect? It sounds dry but at the same time has a kind of chorus effect or something.

Hope it's something you can do post and not a tracking technique.

thanks guys!
T
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Unfortunately it's a tracking technique: have the singer track 2 or 3 takes of the vocal parts. He has to be very very tight on it, otherwise it'll be quite obvious that it'll be double tracked.


otherwise, try slapping some chorus on there?
 
I don't know if their sexual preference has anything to do with it, but no doubt, both have (had?) very instrumental voices. I never really heard anything in particular about them other than they were normally tracked in a very controlled space with very good gear.
 
yeah... it really sounds like theres something on there besides just doubling the takes, but i guess they're just good lil homo singers.

how do you guys achieve a good chorus effect? Slight amounts of two different reverbs? I don't have any chorus plugins

Thanks,
T
 
Massive Master said:
I don't know if their sexual preference has anything to do with it, but no doubt, both have (had?) very instrumental voices. I never really heard anything in particular about them other than they were normally tracked in a very controlled space with very good gear.
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i agree. what does their sexuality have to do with anything - are those comments necessary? both those guys, especially Freddie Mercury are fantastic singers. Freddie is one of the greatest of all time for that matter. really stop and listen to all the Queen records. you'll find some amazing vocal work. after some time and experimentation you'll sort of be able to figure out how they did some of it. watching the "classic albums" DVD for "Night at the Opera" helps too, lol.

mostly double and triple tracking, great mics and pre's, and A LOT of talent.
 
clovermountain said:
what does their sexuality have to do with anything - are those comments necessary?
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It's called poking fun at someone:D Lighten up and give it a try sometime. :eek:

BTW...you might want to stay out of The Cave;)

Seriously though, as with so many things, it wasn't just one or two things they did to get that sound. There's probably only a handful of people that can answer this with any accuracy (the ones involved at the time) anything else is just, at best, educated guesses.:)
 
Are you talking about the harmonies?

I know for all the big harmonies like on bohemian rhapsody, they all recorded their vocal parts (yup, they ALL could sing like that!) 4 times over, so the ended up with 16 tracks of a 4 part harmony. That way it sounds like a huge group.
 
boingoman said:
Or uneducated, in your case.
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And that was called for because?????? I never even tried to offer any serious ideas as to how they got that sound. Educated, uneducated, or otherwise. Just where the CORRECT answer could be found (even though it is highly unlikely to obtain). If you want to get the CORRECT answer to a question, best get it straight from the horses mouth, NOT the horses ASS:rolleyes::D
 
There is no inflection in cyberspace! (hence the ubiquity of symbolism - bring back Mr Men).
Oh, on topic...I don't listen to Mr Micheals at all & I only listen to Mr Mercury 's 1st 4 LPs but I would, despite the "reunion" using the former, take offense at putting them in the same vocal booth - I'm a music snob I guess.
 
i think we all know that homo comments are stupid and childish....but things being what they are...we have moved out of that 80s type mindset where it was driven by some kind of evil ignorance....everybody is now totally aware of what is what ...so to me this kind of banter is done in a kind of ironic double take ......you shouldnt really take it too seriously....if the subject matter was silly but not to do with gay you would probably take it with a pinch of salt.

...and thats they way you should treat this...to give it anymore gravity is to almost be homephobic yourself!!
 
I'm a huge Queen fan and Freddy Mercury is one of my favorite singers up there with Rob Halford and Sebastian Bach (anybody hear his new Angel Down??? or Frameshift2?!); not so much a Wham or George Michael fan, although I believe he's a wonderful singer and an amazing songwriter.

To answer a question that was left stranded in this thread:
To get a chorus effect you need unison notes with almost identical pitch... as the pitch differential grows, you will start to hear an oscillation with a speed equal to the frequency differential.
For example, 108Hz and 112Hz will give you an oscillating (wah/chorus) effect at 4 cycles per second (Hz). This is very helpful when tuning guitars!!
As that differential grows, it will reach a point when your ears will not hear the chorus effect but two distinct notes. That point will vary depending on the listener and frequency; a few Hz might do it with low frequencies, and 50 or 60 Hz might be unnoticeable at higher frequencies.

So try this, copy a wave into another track, detune one a few cents and voilá. Do it again, this time detune the other way...

Here's a link to a free Chorus Plugin as well:
http://ag-works.net/plugins.ch2.htm
 
Excellent advice and a terrific way to end this thread...because otherwise I was planning to move it to the cave after I got a complaint or two.
 
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