Vocal Distortion / Saturation

[Studdy]

Let's discuss vocal distortion / saturation. Obviously no rules here, but general starting point or what usually works for you.

1. Generally where in the chain are you adding it. First, Last, Middle.

2. Are you using it on an Aux Send/Bus for the distortion, on a duplicated track, or just inserted on the track using the wet/dry knob?

3. Do you generally keep the vocal distortion constant , or are you automating a lot?

4. Any further tips/tricks/techniques you use?

 

[DanLights]

I've never been too succesful with it, but I'm pretty sure I'm just doing it wrong, in some mixes you can hear it and it's awesome. I mostly tried duplicating the track and distorting it, then mixing with the "clean" one. I think a good question would be what kind of distorsion, and if it's a plugin, what plugin do you use? Obviously a good preamp pushed to saturation is key, but not all of us have that option. Console emulation saturation? Plain "tubescreamer-like" distorsion/drive? Clipping? Whatever else?

 

[nezvers]

For me always before saturation/ distortion comes EQ that I shape along when I'm pushing signal into saturation. Saturation brings up some mid mud or can react on few Hz bit too sharp. Than I have EQ after to reshape overall sound.
If you remove unnecessary of bad Hz before saturation it can be driven very hard and sound pleasant.

 

[cfh11]

i have found that light saturation/distortion usually sounds good on screaming vocals. something like lofi on PT or klanghelm SDRR. like the last post said, EQ before is a must and maybe after as well depending on what you are going for. besides EQ i usually put it last in the chain after EQ/comp/de-esser.

 

[Fluffbot]

I have always had to use this on screaming vocals, even just a little bit of saturation/distortion really warms them up and makes them pop out a little more, and connects them nicely to the distorted guitars IMO.

Always on a BUS track (aux send), I've heard iZotope Trash discussed for this a lot on here but I haven't had the money to throw at it as I'm not sure the $240ish is worth it yet. I just use the ProTools Sansamp plugin 80% of the time and AIR distortion if I feel the Sansamp isn't producing the results I want. The one thing I never do is add a dist/sat plugin directly to the vocal track, not to say it would never work, I just don't like what it does.

I like to EQ Before and after since distortion is a damn frequency hog and tends to boost unwanted noise as well (especially if tracking in a noisey or subpar room) Heavy roll-offs; cut where needed. I wouldn't worry too much about the usual vocal do's and don'ts, this is just to add flavour so do whatever makes the vocals happy!

 

[Terminus]

Since i normally use channel strip types of things on vocals to save on cpu and headaches, and NastyVCS is a great plugin, I just use the saturation on that and it seems to work fine most of the time. It's first in the chain after the trim. I've also used klanghelm SDRR on vocals to decent effect, also first in the chain. Just a little goes a long way on a good vocalist.

 

[Mago]

I usually start with console saturation (VCC), maybe even driving it really hard. then all the processing, then distortion (parallel with the mix knob).

I try to not make the distortion really audible, more using it to shape the tone with the tone knob, and adding some more compression with the distortion.
The Pro Tools Air Distortion is really nice on some voices.

Also think that some vocalists just either don't need or benefit from distortion. I've had one who sounds so rough and brutal, that it even sounded worse with distortion, cause he was so compressed to begin with.

 

[EOC]

i´ve been experimenting with VTM or the FG mu of VBC. Crancking the input in both of them produces a really tasty distortion which of course gets blended with the mix knob. Decapitator is sweet also.
If i have the time i send it too my 1073 clone and crank it up and then smash it witch an 1176 and la2a. You could also reproduce this with plugs, waves schweps and Clas plugs for example.
I have also tried the TSE 808 with good results =)

 

[Christian WUFU]

I usually get most of my saturation (screams and growls only) from really squashing the tracks with Rcomp using really short attack and release times.

If I feel that it still needs more I'll usually just reach for Cubase's "distortion" plug. The Neve clone in Pod Farm is actually pretty cool too. Makes everything smooth and throaty.

 

[Ermz]

This question comes up a lot. You can find almost identical questions (and everybody's respective answers) in threads a little while back.

1. Saturation near first. Distortion near last.
2. Wet/Dry
3. Constant unless FX use.

 

[guy in latvia]

I really like Fabfilters Saturn for vocal saturation, sounds absolutely amazing on any vocal style.

 

[neptunian]

Try this new FREE multiband distortion called SquaShit: http://klevgrand.se/squashit/ It's AU only though.

 

[Heabow]

I always use VCC first. Then I go for Camel Crusher which works well on vocals. Sometimes Kramer MPX, sometimes PSA-1. I'd like to have Decapitator tho.

 

[mva801]

My favorite way to record metal vocals is with a distressor. 6:1 or so, tons of gain reduction and 3rd dist engaged. Then maybe a little lo-fi from pro tools is all I've ever needed.

 

[tgs]

My favorite way to record metal vocals is with a distressor. 6:1 or so, tons of gain reduction and 3rd dist engaged. Then maybe a little lo-fi from pro tools is all I've ever needed.

Damn, now I want a Distressor...

 

[XxSicRokerxX]

A while ago Nick said he used Izotope Trash for vocals' saturation/distortion. I gave it a shot and have never looked back. I've played around with others but I always resort back to Izope Trash (the 1st one).