distortion on vocals?

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Lt. Bob
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distortion on vocals?

Post by Lt. Bob »

In Jdod's vocal thread I noticed someone talking about putting distortion on vocals.

Enlighten me please.

And no, I don't use plug-ins and can't use plug-ins so talk to me in just general terms.
For me to do it it'd have to be something I could do with hardware.
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Lt. Bob
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distortion on vocals?

Post by Lt. Bob »

damned double posts
Last edited by Lt. Bob on Mon Mar 06, 2017 10:53 am, edited 1 time in total.
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JD01
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by JD01 »

Lt. Bob wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 10:47 am In Jdod's vocal thread I noticed someone talking about putting distortion on vocals.

Enlighten me please.

And no, I don't use plug-ins and can't use plug-ins so talk to me in just general terms.
For me to do it it'd have to be something I could do with hardware.
I'm looking for a good vocal distortion pluging - but can't find one! I don't mind paying either.

Do you want the effect, bob? If so what do you want it for?

This is the sort of thing I am after
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pZaqn74MJrI&t=56s
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Lt. Bob
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by Lt. Bob »

I'm wanting to know why and in what sort of situations would someone WANT distortion on vocals?
Also what kind and how much?

Plug-ins are non-doable for me period so I'd have to do it with hardware or pedals.
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JD01
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by JD01 »

Lt. Bob wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 10:55 am I'm wanting to know why and in what sort of situations would someone WANT distortion on vocals?
Also what kind and how much?

Plug-ins are non-doable for me period so I'd have to do it with hardware or pedals.
I just like the sound of it, like in that example YouTube I posted up. Remember I did that Amy Winehouse cover a few weeks ago? I'd like a distorted vocal in the verse for that. In fact, I'd like a distorted vocal in the verse of loads of things
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by rammer24 »

Lt. Bob wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 10:55 am I'm wanting to know why and in what sort of situations would someone WANT distortion on vocals?
Also what kind and how much?
It depends. Some songs have heavy distortion on vocals. Some songs just have a subtle amount to help them cut through a bit. I can't think of any specific examples of either right now, but we've all heard it. Harvey Gurst suggested putting a little bit of distortion on a vocal track that needs to cut through a dense mix a little more.

I've found a couple of good distortions for vocals in the JS plug-ins, but I know that doesn't help you. I would even try a regular guitar distortion pedal and play with that.
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by JD01 »

rammer24 wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 11:11 am I've found a couple of good distortions for vocals in the JS plug-ins,
Which ones?
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by rammer24 »

I told you in your other thread a few days ago.

"JS Paranoia Mangler", "JS Saturation". A few of the JS plugs have good distortion, but you have to go through them all because some of them don't have the word "distortion" in their name.
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by JD01 »

rammer24 wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 11:17 am I told you in your other thread a few days ago.

"JS Paranoia Mangler", "JS Saturation". A few of the JS plugs have good distortion, but you have to go through them all because some of them don't have the word "distortion" in their name.
Cheers, I thought you did but I completely forgot about it. As soon as I asked you just now I started thinking "Hmmm, I'm sure he's told me this before and I've just forgotten it!"
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Lt. Bob
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by Lt. Bob »

I'll try it and see what it does.

Oddly enough some years ago I tried a DS1 distortion pedal on sax and you couldn't hear any difference no matter how much distortion I dialed in.

I think it's because a sax waveform is naturally very similar to distortion
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rammer24
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by rammer24 »

Yeah, I can see that. A sax already has that sawtooth-ish wave form. You'd probably hear it on almost any other horn, like a trmbone or trumpet.
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miroslav
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by miroslav »

You can try reamping your vocal track through your guitar amp...set the distortion how you like it...and then record that back to a separate track...and then blend to taste....?
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by Greg_L »

miroslav wrote: Mon Mar 06, 2017 2:42 pm You can try reamping your vocal track through your guitar amp...set the distortion how you like it...and then record that back to a separate track...and then blend to taste....?
That's actually a fairly common old-school approach to distortion on things that don't normally have distortion. Some guys use guitar sims to "reamp" a signal for some distortion.
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by Farview »

You would use the distortion in the same sort of situations that you might want to do the megaphone voice effect.

Just to make a part stand out a bit.

alanis morissette's song "you outta know" has a distorted vocal (at least the chorus)
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by miroslav »

I've got one song where I must have pushed the front end harder than I realized...so when I solo the vocal track, I can her some light distortion on the more louder parts. I don't even know where/what caused it, TBH...it's not the mic, since I've used it many times and no issues...so it must have been the pre, but I only noticed it later on when I soloed the track...so by then the settings were gone.

Anyway..as weird as it may sound, the vocal actually sounds good to me even with that light distortion on the louder parts. You don't really hear any distortion in the mix on the vocal, but it just makes the vocal stand out a bit.

I've not ever done it on purpose again...but I've thought about trying it, just to see if it works on another mix. Mind you, it's very light distortion...and maybe it's just the tape saturating, since I did record it real hot on that track.

I'm guessing it's the harmonic content in the light distortion/saturation that's making the track stand out a bit in a pleasant way.
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by Farview »

If you really listen to stuff from the 70s and 80s, you will hear that sort of light distortion on the vocal. (Foreigner is one that comes to mind) When I did it on purpose, I was just hitting my la4a-type compressor a bit too hard. That got me the same thing as those old albums.
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heatmiser
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by heatmiser »

Hey bob. I've messed around with some hardware options to distort vocals with at least moderate success.

Like you, I don't have access to plug-ins, so I've improvised...

I've tried my two dedicated distortion pedals - currently a RAT and a fuzz pedal, but they didn't produce good results. What worked better pedal-wise was using one of those digital multi-fx pedals and combining mild distortion with various amp sims and even a subtle flange to give it sort of a bullhorn effect.

Another thing that can sound pretty cool but admittedly lo fi is simply singing through a mic run through a guitar amp with the amp set to distort slightly (I don't have the equipment to re-amp).

Just some thoughts...it's definitely possible to get a decent sounding distorted vocal with just guitar gear.
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by JohnnyAmato »

Green Day does it a lot. Totally has that megaphone effect, and that's what I always thought it was. But I read in an interview once that it is light distortion with some reverb, and occasionally other effects. Billie Joe said it comes from back when he was much younger and playing gigs with no PA, and would sing through a guitar amp.

Some prime examples;
Know Your Enemy (intro)
Letterbomb (middle breakdown)
American Idiot ("It's goin' out to Idiot America" line)
Revolution Radio (a few fill-in lines here and there)

Tons more, these are just a few that popped into my head. He does it a lot.
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by Greg_L »

JohnnyAmato wrote: Mon Mar 13, 2017 7:38 am Green Day does it a lot. Totally has that megaphone effect, and that's what I always thought it was. But I read in an interview once that it is light distortion with some reverb, and occasionally other effects. Billie Joe said it comes from back when he was much younger and playing gigs with no PA, and would sing through a guitar amp.

Some prime examples;
Know Your Enemy (intro)
Letterbomb (middle breakdown)
American Idiot ("It's goin' out to Idiot America" line)
Revolution Radio (a few fill-in lines here and there)

Tons more, these are just a few that popped into my head. He does it a lot.
I know what you're talking about. Billie Joe's bullhorn effect is more of an effect though than than the harmonic distortion most people look for on audio tracks. There is a difference.
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Re: distortion on vocals?

Post by Farview »

If you are using a mixer, you can just turn the trim up until it distorts. You will need to back off the high shelf and turn the fader way down to get it to sound good and fit in the mix.
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