Getting the Lo-fi sound for weak vocal

  • Thread starter Thread starter hongteck
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hongteck

hongteck

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I seldom record my own vocals but when I do I usually get disappointed with the result. I find with my own vocals sound much much better with the lo-fi sound with my little Sony IC Recorder that I carry with methan the 'hi-fi' sound with all my proper homestudio equipments. Its definitely because the clarity will expose my weak vocals.

How do I reproduce that 'lo-fi' sound with my studio equipments so that I can consistently record my own voice in it. I usually use a NT1 or a SM57 with a Art Tube or Mackie VLZ preamp to track vocals.

Any ideas will be appreciated.
 
There are a bunch of things you can do.

1) You can do eq tricks

2) You can record with an old, cheesy mic (I have an old Telex that sounds like a McDonald's drive-thru speaker)

3) (my personal favorite) Download and install Izotope Vinyl. It's one of the coolest free plugins available. It's a record simulator. Too cool to describe, but it's awesome and very tweakable. ...does wonders for drum tracks too.
 
hongteck-

If you have two tracks available for vocals try this;

Set up both the SM-57 and NT1 right next to each other so they are almost touching, so as to prevent phasing problems. Plug the SM-57 into the ART Tube MP and overdrive the sound by turning the drive (or is it gain ?) knob up high, so it starts to distort a little bit. Now record your vocals.

This will give you two vocal tracks to mix together, one clean and one lo-fi. Hugh Padgham, producer of early Peter Gabriel albums used a similar method and I stole the idea from him.

Let us know if you try this.

Take care.
 
All of what Sean said. If you are using a computer I would suggest some of the amp sims too. They are great for dirtying up vocals. If you aren't using a computer (or even if you are), you can use dirtortion pedals, a pod, sing through an amp, whatever.

Here is a link to a song I did with dirtied vocals, mixed with normal vox. Click on MF Valentine.
http://www.home.earthlink.net/~adamcrose/index.html

BTW, I am also now taking singing lessons so doing these things becomes a *choice*;)
 
or....you "could" just be a freak, like me...and try this setup...

Mic....Boss TU-12 tuner..yep...i'm "not" kidding...
Compressor...MXR Dynacomp, heavily compressed....

you "should" be able to get enough gain from just the dynacomp....you can usually "bypass" any external mic pre's...

BTW....you can plug the Boss TU-12 tuner (or "any" tuner with a mic and a output) into a guitar amp, and mic the amp... for a cool drum room mic sound....(headphones work for this as well)

JET
 
Thanks for all your suggestions

I'll try them all out and let you know of the outcome !
 
easiest way i know of is cut out all the lows and highs, just leave the mids
 
low fi sound still won't help vocals

I think the most important thing you could do is just sing without trying. Lo-fi vocals aren't going to do anything for you except sound lo-fi. This doesn't mean that "bad" vocals can't be hidden...listen to commercial radio and see if you can find a song that doesn't have extreme reverb on the vocals...it's cosmetic, not artistic. You can try and sing like you think you're supposed to sing, and maybe dirty up the track a little bit and throw in some reverb...but I think the best thing to do is just sing like yourself, the worst thing you can do is try really hard.

Dunno if that helps...maybe the advice was more stylistic than technical.


-max
 
I agree with Althofma, justsing naturally. I used have problems recording my own vocals until I started to relax a bit. You tend to get more volume this way too.
Just remember, there's no right or wrong when it comes to voices. Unless it's out of Key or something......
 
Seanmorse79 said:
There are a bunch of things you can do.

1) You can do eq tricks

2) You can record with an old, cheesy mic (I have an old Telex that sounds like a McDonald's drive-thru speaker)

3) (my personal favorite) Download and install Izotope Vinyl. It's one of the coolest free plugins available. It's a record simulator. Too cool to describe, but it's awesome and very tweakable. ...does wonders for drum tracks too.
Click to expand...

the coolest thing about that plug is you can 'unscrew' the ffaceplate to reveal developer credits.
 
i have the same problem somewhat, whenever I practice/perform my vocals sound fine through the speakers and such, but when ever i sit down to record they sound like crap and i can barely listen to it. Still don't know what to do.

fuck my voice
 
Run the vocals thru a cheap little guitar amp. I've heard that is what The Strokes did for their vox.

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Meriphew
www.meriphew.com
 
meriphew said:
Run the vocals thru a cheap little guitar amp. I've heard that is what The Strokes did for their vox.

________________
Post indie electronic
Meriphew
www.meriphew.com
Click to expand...

I've tried that, You have to do a lot of eq'ing to get it close to good.
 
i have the same problem somewhat, whenever I practice/perform my vocals sound fine through the speakers and such, but when ever i sit down to record they sound like crap and i can barely listen to it. Still don't know what to do.
Click to expand...
I do too sometimes. Sounds like you're afraid of pushing the (record) button. Whiskey helps, so does a good mix in the cans when you're tracking.
 
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