Foo Fighters/Dave Grohl - Vocal Recording Question - Not metal related :p

[dandan]

I bet someone on here is familiar with Foo Fighter songs and Dave.

What effects does he use to smoothen out his voice on records?

I feel he especially used it a lot on The Colour and the Shape but has also used it pretty much on all the albums

Live he has a slightly rougher not as "pretty" voice you could say.

So whats he doin to his voice in the studio to smoothen it out?

Is he using a lot of whatever he is using on his voice or just a little?

Reverb? Chorus? Delay? Ts-9 jk?

 

[Radd]

I'm guessing it's all Dave, a little compression here, a little eq there.
A lot of doubling.

 

[~BURNY~]

Yes, tight doubling and/or very short reverb... Maybe.

 

[Suicide_As_Alibi]

Virtually all of his vocals are double tracked - on 'Colour And The Shape' I think everything is - but I don't think there's any real studio trickery going on, he just takes his time to get the best take, and isn't straining to be heard over the rest of the band.

Basically in the studio he's singing with more control and less volume, so his vocals are smoother - live he has to reach a bit more and sing a bit louder, which makes his voice scratchy. I have the same thing; live my voice is more raspy because I naturally push harder when I'm playing with a full band than when I recording on my own.

Steve

 

[silverwulf]

Yep...it was stated that Dave's alwasy been insecure about his voice, especially on the earlier albums. So, he doubled most everything on "The Colour and the Shape." I've always liked his voice, personally.

 

[dandan]

hmm..

so basically just one extra vocal track(a good matching take), some compresion, eq ?

Reverb? none?

My voice isn't that rough to begin with but it does have its rough edges on some parts/some pronunciations of words. that i would LIKE to sound just a tad smoother.

 

[xmidihcx]

hey dude, i have some experience with rough vocalists, being that this is a metal forum and all. lol, anyways, i have heard a lot of stuff by the ff and i can say that you're definately going to need some reverb and delay, maybe a tiny drop of a chorus but i wouldn't use it throughout the whole song, only certain parts. u also need a nice tight double in the same exact pitch. i can't stress that enough. anyone who's heard a recent post with a bad vocal doubling, i'm not gonna name cus i'm not here to defame anyone, knows that PITCH is the key! keep the better take significantly louder and find a good balance so it sounds rich but not fake. he definately compresses his vox so all the syllabals come out clearly and you may even wanna use some multiband or a d-sser. just for kicks, you may even wanna use 3 or 4 layers for certain parts, fuckit, experiment a little. good luck and have fun! let us know how it comes out. . .

 

[chadsxe]

a little compression here, .

Take another listen to them.....they are compressed to high hell.....

 

[Radd]

Take another listen to them.....they are compressed to high hell.....

Yeah, I'm still learning about this stuff. How can you tell they are compressed to high hell? I know if something is over compressed there is a pumping effect that sounds aweful and I guess if it's under compressed there would be an uneven volume situation but how can you tell if something is compressed just right (or close to it) or if it is real high but not pumping? I don't hear any pumping in his vocals. Is it a matter of training my ears with this? Is it obvious? I don't know.

I wish I could hear some audio sample comparisons.

 

[Brett - K A L I S I A]

Maybe it's because you can hear everything, from the breathing to the shouting...

 

[chadsxe]

Maybe it's because you can hear everything, from the breathing to the shouting...

Bingo.....Try recording his part and then listen to it without compression.....

 

[Suicide_As_Alibi]

That doesn't necessarily follow - a good singer will move into the mic for quieter parts and out for louder bits. It has pretty much the same effect - personally I prefer that to lots of compression, it means you only get breathing on the 'qiuet' sections because of the proximity - you aren't boosting those sounds on the 'louder' sections. Dave Grohl doesn't have much variety, just a loud voice and a quiet one, so it would be pretty easy to do.

I'm not saying it's NOT compressed like crazy, I'm just saying you could do it without compression.

Steve

 

[~BURNY~]

I'm not sure that compression is related to dandan's question.