Tips on getting this tone for vocals..

M

maxabillion

New member
I posted this under vocals a couple days ago, but no responses, so Ill try it here.

Hey, So i am getting into the vocal phase of recording some pieces, and I am trying to get a rich tone in the recording. My voice is ok - it is on pitch, tonally full and resonant, but Im not Bocelli. Anyway, There are specific vocal tracks on songs that I really like, and despite not being sung by the "best" technical singers, they have that tone I am after. Most notably this song by Interpol called "Obstacle 1" (I can't seem to upload it - it is an m4a file - any advice how to get it on here so you can take a listen?). Listen to the vocal track (headphones really bring out what I am saying) for the slight fuzz and presence - almost like the overdrive on a guitar. Whether you like his voice or not, any ideas on how to get that type of sound? How would this best be achieved/simulated? I assume with a ribbon mic (which I don't have) but could it be mimicked in any significant way with a condenser (LD?) or dynamic mic? Thanks for reading - Again, I can put up the song, but I need to know how to get the M4a up here.
 
I would try duplicating a clean vocal track and running it through an amp sim. Mix the two tracks together.
 
You mean this?



Sound like an EQ thing to me... probably done in parallel, but I'm not the vocal recording expert... there are lots of things you could try though
 
This is probably a combination of several effects. First the mid freq of vocals are boosted, low end cut like this eq setting:

Boost +3.0dB 1000Hz (Adjust the +3dB boost to taste)
Cut -6dB 300Hz low shelf (Adjust the -6dB cut to taste)

Then the output of this EQ is then feed to a fuzzing/overdrive-like effect. I have experimented adding distortion vocals before, and I have written some guide here: Vocal Distortion Effects Plugin & Software for Rock using Antares Tube

The effect that I am using is Antares Tube in Adobe Audition. To have some spread and thickness of the vocals, layer is added..

The it looks like the vocals is dry..Minimal or very little reverb has been added. Try that and I hope you get the results you want.
 
Yeah thats the correct song, but for some reason on the album version, the vocals have this strange effect on them - not unlike in the video, but a little less transparency, and a lot more presence (at least on the vocal track itself - not necessarily in the whole mix). I can only describe is as a fuzzy kind of overdrive like I said. Unfortunately, the video doesn't have the same track.

Anyway, I will definitely try what Emerson said - it sounds like its in the exact direction I want to go. Thanks so much for the input - I'll let you know how it turns out :)
 
MIc height at chin level. it will get more of your chest and less of the nose.
Use proximity effect (one palm distance) BUT, angle the microphone to put if off axis of the air you will blow. Use pop filter too.
You ll get a rich sound without too much plosives
 
It sounds like your standard tube distortion/overdrive. You can do it if your tube preamp has an output level. Simply crank up the input and lower the output. This will cause the preamp circuit to be over-driven which causes that fuzzy sound.

Also there are dozens of tube overdrive plugins available that will simulate it when applied to a clean track.
 
This is an old trick, used, overused, then ignored in cycles for decades. (Interpol in particular borrowed their sounds pretty heavily from Joy Division)

As fate would have it, I just did an interview with Peter Katis yesterday, who recorded this recorded and mixed this album. Sorry to say, I didn't ask him about what he did specifically on this record. But the reason I didn't ask is that there's so many different ways to achieve this type of sound, and it's been discussed so thoroughly over the years.

A simple EQ with a HF and LF roll-off with an upper midrange boost is a common approach. Some people like to run vocals through an amp like on Feist's album "The Reminder". Others like to degrade the signal with hard-driven outboard, like Shane Stoneback re-recording all the vocals on the new Cults album through a Roland Space Echo. Others still like to use fukny quirky mics like the bing carbon or copperphone. Often, a whole lot of compression is involved. Sometimes these effects are used in parallel, and sometimes they're used for the whole sound.

I think the key here is not to replicate Interpol's sound exactly (that would be lame and uninteresting!) but to use it as a starting point and inspiration to try your own subtle vocal manglings.

Good luck!
 
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