Sweet Vocal Trick: Making Vocals sound Evil as FUuuuu

[NSGUITAR]

I'm sure a lot of people use this trick, but I've been loving on it a lot lately.


There's a cool trick to make select vocal lines sound huge/multiplied/evil.

NOTE: This effect is easy to make things sound fake, so only use where you think would best fit.

First, start out with the vocal take you want to fuck up..


Add another blank track. Then duplicate the part you're wanting to affect... In reaper, all you have to do is hold CTRL and drag it down to the track.

On that track add two things:

-Waves doubler (Or equivalent)

-Some sort of pitch shifter



I typically just mess with the doubler until I think it sounds like multiple voices..

After this step I pull the pitch shifting plug down until I think it sounds pretty satanic..

Viola! That's it..

I think this method really helps in some situations.. And most of the time I like it better than doing multiple takes of the same vocal line with different pitches.. But it's very easy to overdo. I like it best in very short snippets or on long screams.

I uploaded some examples.. Using some stems I got from the forum actually (GOOD stems!)



EX1: Solo vox only:



EX2: Solo Vox with effect:



EX3: Vox no effect, in mix:



EX4: Vox with effect, in mix:



And here is the entire song, where there are several spots I use the effect:

 

[xdarkknightx]

Pretty cool. Reminds me of the beginning of Whitechapel's "This Is Exile."

 

[zirkonflex]

I sometimes use a bitcrusher and, a wave modulator and a guitaramp on the second vocal track, but its really down to your vocalist
In your case, it sounds quite cool.

 

[dcb]

cool, i do that to lame vocals too.
basically the idea of a split harmonizer taken to the extreme. its actually a pretty common technique in movies, for the reaaaly evalll guyzzz.

 

[NSGUITAR]

cool, i do that to lame vocals too.
basically the idea of a split harmonizer taken to the extreme. its actually a pretty common technique in movies, for the reaaaly evalll guyzzz.

Woah sweet!

How does it work with taming vocals, outta curiosity?

 

[AntonioPetrole]

Woah sweet!

How does it work with taming vocals, outta curiosity?

i think he meant "lame" vocals. Im not too sure but thats what he typed haha

 

[dcb]

haha, yeah was kinda confused, but naaaahh, i dont TAME vocals with that

 

[Eddy]

In Reaper there's also JS/SStillwell/Ozzifier. Worth experimenting with.

 

[musickey]

Cool tip man nice use of soundcloud as well

 

[Vendo]

Isn´t that effect also done by the CLA Vocal plugin....i think so.

 

[NSGUITAR]

Isn´t that effect also done by the CLA Vocal plugin....i think so.

Not sure. I don't have any CLA plugs.

 

[kernelxsanders]

Pretty cool. Reminds me of the beginning of Whitechapel's "This Is Exile."

i was just thinking the same thing haha its a pretty cool effect though when used wisely

 

[amarshism]

Been doing this for ages. Never tried the doubler though. Works well on highs as well with the double track pitched up.

 

[Williamn]

Also did this trick on ep im mixing.. the screamer was not the greatest and was screaming high pitch stuff, so in order to beef it up a bit a added some extra tracks pitched down a third. works nicely.

 

[MichaelPickhard]

which pitchshifter do you guys use for it ?

 

[chrisrivalry]

the one that comes with the waves bundle is nice, i forget what it is called, has the single slider to change the pitch and such.

 

[AudioGeekZine]

I dig it.

Edit -
This technique is known as a split harmonizer.
In reaper you can copy the phrases to 2 or more tracks. Slip each out of time slightly then pitch down in Item Properties.
Not exactly the same as you've done but close.

 

[MichaelPickhard]

nice, i guess the soundshifter pitch or whatever the precise name is...

 

[chrisrivalry]

yeah that's the one