Vocals - The Cure/The Killers

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corban

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OK, so you might be familiar with this vocal sound. I'm interested in what you think is the entire chain, including processing, that produces this effect. I have my ideas, but thought there might be some other wisdom out there. Any thoughts?
 
For Robert Smith I'm sure the audio chain goes something like this:

Bacon Cheeseburger > Lots of drugs and wine > Fat Bob > Microphone > Preamp > Bunch of Delay
 
And plenty of black makeup and nail polish.

G.
 
and sexual ambiguity. and you have to record in ancient english castles.
 
:D

Well, I had started to believe again that if I ventured outside of the cave perhaps I could learn something. How naive. :rolleyes:

:D :D
 
Here, feel free to learn some things as I answer your silly question:

1.) FIND YOUR OWN VOCAL SOUND.

2.) HOW SHOULD I KNOW? I WASN'T ENGINEERING EITHER SESSION.

3.) HIRE ROBERT SMITH TO SING FOR YOU.

4.) EVEN IF YOU HAD THE *EXACT* SAME MIC/PRE/STUDIO YOU WOULD END UP WITH A DIFFERENT END PRODUCT SO WHY BOTHER.

5.) UNLESS YOU ARE RECORDING THE SAME SONGS, WITH THE SAME SINGER, MIXED THE SAME WAY, YOUR END PRODUCT WOULDN'T BE THE SAME.

6.) VOCALS ARE MORE ABOUT PERFORMANCES RATHER THAN EQUIPMENT CHAINS.

7.) CLEAN THE WAX OUT OF YOUR EARS AND LISTEN TO THE CD AND FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF.

8.) THROW GOBS OF DELAY ON THE VOCAL.

Feel free to go back to the cave at any time now. :)
 
turn the "crap" knob on your mixer all the way up and it might get the sound you're looking for
 
hey an excuse to dust off my Cure CDs. I'll take on 4 of their songs, and I'm open to any dissenting opinions.

BOYS DON'T CRY:
normal reverb (rather than a whispy eq'd reverb with all the bottom extracted) with a good pre-delay setting so that the vocal reverb doesn't run overtop of the vocal itself. giving it the perception that it was recorded in a long space where the vocal reflection takes a bit to come back. the reverb helps fill the space since its just drum, bass, guitar, and vocal.

dude, i love that song.

I WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU:
much less pre-delay on the reverb so it kicks in quicker, and the reverb isn't as prominent either. more of a quick delay than a real reverb but much lower than the lead vocal. the instrumentation carries a good deal of reverb especially since that organ is ringing out pretty much the whole way, so the vocal really does not. i listened to it twice, and i think the 'effect' is actually robert smith punctuating the end of the word instead of the start of the word.

LULLABY:
obvious reverse reverb fx in the beginning and in spots during the song, but sounds to me like the base of the vocal sound has more to do with heavy compression and close micing a breathy vocal.

FASCINATION STREET:
reverb with little to no pre-delay right down the middle with the lead vocal, and an EQ'd (much less bass & less mids) long throw ping-pong delay-reverb combination left to right that sounds like the feedback allows it to repeat 3 times. the ping-pong vocals sound all wet with none of the original dry signal being delayed, but rather just the reverb being repeated.

longest non-disco intro I've ever heard in my life. between this song, The Smith's "how soon is now", New World Orders "Blue Monday", and The Church's "Reptile", I was hooked on "white boy music" which I took quite a beating for on a number of occassions. i lost a few black girlfriends from it too, but that was ok, because white girls gave head.

i never noticed as a teenager listening to this music how basic the melodies really were. strip away the reverb and delay and they really aren't playing that hard.
 
Cloneboy Studio said:
7.) CLEAN THE WAX OUT OF YOUR EARS AND LISTEN TO THE CD AND FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF.
Click to expand...


Then, what would be the point of this forum?

Hey, why don't we establish a rule that no one may ever refer to an existing recording (especially one on a major label) in this forum? That way we can keep the conversation ambiguous and esoteric!

Seriously, I know that some people come around here asking how to magically sound just like their hero of the week. That's not the vibe I got out of corban's question.
 
crosstudio said:
i never noticed as a teenager listening to this music how basic the melodies really were. strip away the reverb and delay and they really aren't playing that hard.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I know what you mean. I think The Cure's appeal lies more in the whole package ("vibe", "feel", "sound", whatever you want to call it) than in any technical skill.
 
Cloneboy Studio said:
Here, feel free to learn some things as I answer your silly question:

1.) FIND YOUR OWN VOCAL SOUND.

I never said I wanted to emulate that vocal sound.

2.) HOW SHOULD I KNOW? I WASN'T ENGINEERING EITHER SESSION.

Which is why I was asking for speculation.

3.) HIRE ROBERT SMITH TO SING FOR YOU.

I never said I wanted to emulate that vocal sound.

4.) EVEN IF YOU HAD THE *EXACT* SAME MIC/PRE/STUDIO YOU WOULD END UP WITH A DIFFERENT END PRODUCT SO WHY BOTHER.

I never said I wanted to emulate that vocal sound.

5.) UNLESS YOU ARE RECORDING THE SAME SONGS, WITH THE SAME SINGER, MIXED THE SAME WAY, YOUR END PRODUCT WOULDN'T BE THE SAME.

I never said I wanted to emulate that vocal sound.

6.) VOCALS ARE MORE ABOUT PERFORMANCES RATHER THAN EQUIPMENT CHAINS.

Oh, good to know. I guess it doesn't matter what my chain is then.

7.) CLEAN THE WAX OUT OF YOUR EARS AND LISTEN TO THE CD AND FIGURE IT OUT YOURSELF.

I said I had my own ideas, and was asking for opinions.

8.) THROW GOBS OF DELAY ON THE VOCAL.

OK, wow, thanks.

Feel free to go back to the cave at any time now. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks to the few of you who answered in the spirit of my post. It was meant to be a light hearted speculation. The Cure was a bit before my time, but I just heard a song of theirs the other day, and thought I'd ask a question. I'm not wanting to emulate a sound, just interested in learning about differing techniques and chains. I know the reasons for the knee-jerk reactions, but honestly, try reading the original post. Thanks crossstudio, that's cool info.
 
I'm going to give the benefit of the doubt and assume that nobody who posted in this thread was balls-less enough to leave me anonymous negative rep.
 
Wow, I never realized so many people hate the Cure. I like 'em.

Brit Pop has had a huge influence on a wide range of modern music.

Without the Smiths, the Cure and the rest of Brit Pop there wouldn't be a lot of my favorites: Radiohead, Ryan Adams, Pete Yorn, Interpol...
 
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