Vocal effects on 50 cent and many other Rap/R&B tracks. What are they using?

  • Thread starter Thread starter SerenityThen
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SerenityThen

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Question and example: On 50 cents' song "21 questions" featuring Nate Dogg, When Nate sings his part, what kind of effects are being used to get that "full" or "fat" vocal sound? I also hear this sound on "at da club".

I hear it all the time in R&B and rap songs. Can you get that sound with-out spending thousands? My budget for any vocal effects is under $500 hundred.

Besides your basic reverb effects, what equipment does a guy need to spice up vocal tracks and especially obtain the sound listed above?

Thanks for any info!!
 
doubling the parts is very inexpensive. just sing the tune on multiple takes, pan the ghost tracks to taste and you can even delay them a bit to push them behind the main vocal take.

since the other takes aren't exactly the same as the original vocal, they lend thickness to the track more than a simple delay would... if the volume, pan, and delay are set well.

also, i will use reverb on the main vocal parts during the chorus, but rarely during the verses, and if i do use it on verses i do so sparingly.

as someone else on this BBS once remarked... reverb ain't funky.
 
CROSS is on the nail...

Things I may do to the the vocals will mainly revolve around the song type. Reverbs I use to put you in the proper setting for the song. Club song clubby reverb... Underground I try and use a basement studio sounding reverb... Battle songs i'll try to make bigger than life with a certain hall feel... Story telling i'll try to put the cat in your ear all warm and roomy.... But never too much reverb just enough to provide a setting.. R&B is something kinda diffeerent come to find out.

Simple chorusing effects are nice for battle typa songs... Depending on the settings just seemed to add some intensity to the voice and I'll chunk it on when it comes to over duds.

Delays to smooth gaps and always thicker on the overdubs... I started tempo matching em on some songs and that shit is just dope.

Samples on certain parts played backed pitched down i've done before and they add another level to choruses and whatever. Time consuming sometimes...

By the way i'm using hardware EFX (VS1680) and have not gotten the same results from my very few attempts with software.
..............................................

Yo CROSS you ever tracked anything through the EFX on your ASRX? I'm slowing building up to taking my NT1 and a few beats through this thing to see what kinda sound might come out. Headroom seems to be good as hell from the thing and the convertors have a sound that might add a whole new depth to my tracking. I got this one song i'm tracking completely off the RM1X that I can get the dull RM1X sound and cheese out of but it's a radio cut.... I want that punch so i'm hoping the charater of the ASR-X will add some color to this track if I track through the ASR-X compressor. Just something running through my head....
 
I basically do what Cross said.
To simply put it: I find my best take, then I copy the vocal track to two seperate tracks, having a total of three of the same takes on three different tracks. Then I jerk the ghost tracks around from A-Z until it has that feel that I want. Adjusting the volume, adding reverb, delay and other effects won't stand out on the copied tracks as much, but will only add the depth and that fullness you were referring to in the main vocal track. When I have the sound I like, I bounce the whole thing to a stereo track. It is a rather simple concept depending on your setup.
The main thing is: The more you mess around with it, the more you'll find out about it. The key is not to forget what you did!




Trizza
 
when you record the vocals do 4 takes... First do the lead twice, as close as you can..pan two different ones hard L/R and then try and dub another 2 takes while rapping in harmony (not the same notes) Even rap has notes.. When you can harmonize SOME but not EVERY word, it gives that 2pac, 50 feel. I did that on one song called Why (Mama don't Cry) on my mp3 site www.mp3.com/jadion_music Listen to that one and If that is the sound you are going for , the above is how I did it. Take care people.
 
Thanks for all the help. Why (mama don't cry) is a dead on example of what Im trying to achieve. Also, What a vast collection of music done right. Wish you lots of success! Only wish I had a high speed internet connection for listening to mp3's.
 
glad I could help... let me hear it when you get done!! Make that shit HOT !!
 
hey lazi, since i use Sonar as a sequencer and get the drums just how i want them, I generally record my drum tracks with effects already printed. i really like the ASR's fx, but I've never tried to put anything else through it... except samples.
 
Yeah Yeah thats all i do. Double the tracks up. Me and my artist Just did a song this weekend and just for Hook of the song we used 10 tracks. :)
 
originally posted by dj DJTonyMOMO
Me and my artist Just did a song this weekend and just for Hook of the song we used 10 tracks
Click to expand...

let us check em out.
 
Actually................

Actually the track we did will be on the Rawcut compilation album that is coming out in 3 months. :)
 
Off topic, but...............

Hey cross - when's the baby due?

I been in lotza different forums recently an' I heard u goin' on about a kid - when, when?

Oh and congratulations!! (ok maybe a bit early, but)
 
congrats

congrats cross, my son troy is now six months old. there is nothing like having a kid.
 
I don't know why I have been sleeping on this forumn...I gotta try this shit myself...
 
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