Getting vocals to turn into "machine" sounds

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jfoshun

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Hopefully you all have a good idea what i'm talking about. It's probably pretty prevelant on all the nu-metal albums and some techno stuff. But, I'm trying to experiment with taking some recorded vocals and then having them sound "normal" until the last syallabl and then have the sound morph into a machinesque sound.

I've been trying a combination of phasers, modulators and delay, but i haven't come across anything I really like. Anyone have any suggestions or techniques or maybe a VST that will do it for me ;)

Thanks!
 
the only thing that is coming to mind is some of linkin park's vocals when they start to seem like they skip, but then the vocals sound like they are digitally created instead of someone actually singing them. i know they do this in "in the end" but i'll look for some better examples

EDIT

I guess I'm trying to go for something like the very end of "Breaking The Habit" by linkin park
 
Go into a wave editor and copy and paste multiple times the last(or first) sound in the phrase (ie: propert-t-t-t-ty).
 
Check out Orange Vocoder for a quality vocoder effect or try experimenting with modulation effects such as flange or chorus and set the speed or modulation to fast, then turn up the feedback, that will also do it.
 
jfoshun said:
I guess I'm trying to go for something like the very end of "Breaking The Habit" by linkin park
Click to expand...
I think you're referring to that stuttering thing. The producers for that album went to BT to get his trick, then ended up using a watered down version for Linkin Park... Just like pappy999 said before, just copy and paste the last syllable in an audio editor. With Linkin Park, I think they did it on the sixteenths or something. You might need to play with the decay envelope (fadeout envelope of the audio clip... Cubase allows for this, probably others have similar features) to make is sound "propa"...

Other than that... why does everyone jump to vocoders for "machine like" sounds? There are so many more interesting ways to fuck up vocals.

1. Ring modulation... This is great when going for scarifying effects. If you set the modulator's rate high enough, you get high-pitched screeming effects yet it sounds quite machine like. If there is a provision to have an envelope follower control the modulator's rate, so much the better. The only thing with this is that RM has a tendency to destroy intelligibility, so you may need to mix a small amount of the dry signal to help with that.

2. Aliasing. Yup, digital aliasing has a great way of machinifying vocals, again, specially if you automate the sample divider's frequency.

3. Waveguides. Pass a vocal line through tuned waveguides basically using that as the exciter. You get a vocoderish sound, withought a modulator, and since waveguides are basically tuned delay lines, you can morph from waveguides to comb filters to flangers to chorus to delay.
 
don't forget serious and unrelenting tuneing
set, relaxed-fast.
better yet, go graphical, tune EVERYTHING and then set fast as possible.
 
For the "skipping" effect, it'll probably come down to cut, copy and paste. Make sure that you're in your DAWs equivalent to grid mode; it will make your life a thousand times easier.

Along with what other people said about auto-tuning, ring modulation, etc., get a softsynth (there are plenty of free ones) and tweak the filters.

Duplicate the track and apply the effects to one of them. Then, you can toggle and/or mix them as necessary.

Someone posted this link the other day... I can't remember who it was. Sorry!

http://www.sadglad.com/freevstplugins6.html
 
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