Linkin Park vox effect

[SteveFireland]

Hi guys,

My singer has been asking about the vocal effect that seems to be happening on the chorus of "What I've Done"... basically, when there's a held note, the vox just sound bigger - like the reverb just opened up or something. Anyone have any idea what it is?

I'm thinking some sort of reverb automation... tried to do something like it myself there, but ran into problems with the vocal levels increasing - and all of a sudden I could see an automation nightmare opening up in front of me for this 13 song album we're working on!

Cheers,
Steve.
http://www.fireland.tv

 

[musickey]

I think the effect on that song is pretty simple, the singer just removed the dick from his mouth.

Sorry man couldnt help it. I have not heard the song but i remember reading somewhere how David bowie would have a room mic set up with a gate on it that would not open until he would sing a loud note.

 

[HeadCrusher]

Here's my go at it (dunno how to properly set that up though):

1) Vox Track
2) Vox Reverb Track

2) has a gate (sidechain from 1) ) on it that only opens up if the note that is being sung is loud enough.

1) + 2) are routed to a group which is then compressed and/or limited so that the level isn't increased.

 

[AStacy2]

I think the effect on that song is pretty simple, the singer just removed the dick from his mouth.

Yeah, I'm pretty sure that's how they achieved this particular effect as well.

 

[KeithRT99]

on a side note, has anyone else noticed how overused autotune is on their new single?

 

[Sloan]

Here's a video about Linkin Park's recording process:
http://www.youtube.com/v/JYNRhzX6gw8

 

[HeadCrusher]

^best vid in a long time!

my go at the question was meant serious though!

 

[musickey]

Here's a video about Linkin Park's recording process:
http://www.youtube.com/v/JYNRhzX6gw8

RAWKIN

 

[Exocaster]

Sorry man couldnt help it. I have not heard the song but i remember reading somewhere how David bowie would have a room mic set up with a gate on it that would not open until he would sing a loud note.

David Bowie is a bad motherfucker of a vocalist.

Soundgarden's Superunknown is full of shit like that. That's an amazing album all around, but a lot of attention was payed to the vocals on there, not just "slap a comp and some verb on it and bring up the fader". Great room sounds, some really cool distortion effects from overloading the mic pre, etc.

 

[Kadmium]

Speaking of Bowie...

 

[SteveFireland]

A lot of useful suggestions in there...

It's an odd one - the reverb thing is sort of there, but there must be something else going on too. If only SoundOnSound would do their cool mixing articles on something like this rather than rap and RnB stuff... ack...

Cheers,
Steve.

 

[HeadCrusher]

Here's my go at it (dunno how to properly set that up though):

1) Vox Track
2) Vox Reverb Track

2) has a gate (sidechain from 1) ) on it that only opens up if the note that is being sung is loud enough.

1) + 2) are routed to a group which is then compressed and/or limited so that the level isn't increased.

Did you actually try that? I'm curious if that works cause I just wrote this down from what I would try but never actually did..

 

[SteveFireland]

I didn't try that exact method because the notes we want it to happen on aren't actually louder than the rest of the material... I'd considered using a gate with a slow attack to do the same thing but it was getting a bit kludgy!

I just did the automation by hand (effectively what the compressor would have been doing automagically in the example) with a limiter on there to stop it getting louder. I also tried it with the reverb as an insert then just automating the % mix... still wasn't quite right.

Some engineer somewhere knows the secret, or maybe that's just what the guy sounds like!

\m/
Steve.

 

[Charlie E.]

Here's a video about Linkin Park's recording process:
http://www.youtube.com/v/JYNRhzX6gw8

lol thanks that was pure genius

 

[Hard to Breathe]

on a side note, has anyone else noticed how overused autotune is on their new single?

On their new single...hmm... havent´t heard that one but I think they´ve always used to much..... I really don´t like that sound.

 

[RKelly]

Another option is to automate the reverb so it swells with the notes you want.

Or make a copy of the vocal track/note and process it HEAVILY (ie tons of distortion, compressions, drastic EQ, something) and then use volume automation to keep it just below where you can pick it out. Bring it in on certain parts and it will thicken up the vocals without being too noticeable.