vocal distortions

aramism

aramism

Member
Dec 2, 2006
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had a hard time with a search so i figured fire up a new thread...


curious as to how some of you guys get the vocal distortion. a while ago i tracked like one song i did for this band through a sansamp but the problem is i was stuck with the distortion. someone mentioned to me, like, reamping the clean vocal track as an audio track through the sansamp later, is this possible?


and besides the sansamp i'd love to hear some methods people use to get metal distortion. i don't have the luxury of a nice tube pre where i can just drive the pre to distort a bit but general i use distortion plug ins and it sounds pretty good but was wondering if there are any other methods people use. i ask because, well, i am curious, and also because i am recording a band with a female metal vocalist ala angela from arch enemy so i was wondering to get that little dirt in the voice what could be used.


thanks.
 
Free options:

Camelcrusher seems really good
Silverspike's Rubytube is good (don't think its on Intel Macs though). I loved using this before though.

I have also started using URS Saturation, not really a distortion effect but it can still add a bit of "hair" to the vocals. Its a nice effect. Also PSP Vintage Warmer can do a good job.
 
I use Voxengo TapeBuss and have also simply used Sonar's TapeSim plugin.
Those are pretty much all I've ever used because I am w/o a re-amp box up until I do a project that needs one.

You can get some decent distortion out of a lot of plugins. A lot of them are pretty light on the wallet.
 
I have used Guitar Rig for several years now for that purpose and it does the job very well.
Just make sure to have the undistorted track in the mix aswell. and check the phase =)
 
heads up i run logic on mac. so no TDM or VST plugs.

what's up with those free disotrtion plugs?

i have all the waves stuff, ssl api, and i was wondering how that psp vintage warmer is. is it more than just a channel strip? can it just add tape saturation, some analog dirt recreation type stuff???
 
I wouldn't really call it very channel strip like, its a bit of a weird one - trying it out would be your best bet man.

Have you upgraded to Logic 8 yet? I don't know which plugs are on 7, but the distortions in Logic aren't too bad for like all out distortion. Also if you use the tape delay and turn the actual delay off you can use its saturation.

Give camelcrusher ago, I tried it out quickly and it seemed good, and versatile. URS Saturation is cool and worth a demo (if you buy the CSP you get the saturation plug free right now too).
 
I had a pretty good sound on the last recording i did using Izotope's Trash on the Drive - Amp Drainer setting. I think that might be just VST/ RTAS so i dont know if that helps.
 
Machinated said:
I wouldn't really call it very channel strip like, its a bit of a weird one - trying it out would be your best bet man.

Have you upgraded to Logic 8 yet? I don't know which plugs are on 7, but the distortions in Logic aren't too bad for like all out distortion. Also if you use the tape delay and turn the actual delay off you can use its saturation.

Give camelcrusher ago, I tried it out quickly and it seemed good, and versatile. URS Saturation is cool and worth a demo (if you buy the CSP you get the saturation plug free right now too).
Click to expand...


yeah i'm still on logic 7. it took me so fucking long to learn it inside out (and i'm still not done) that i am kind of intimidated of the new one. though i will get it eventually i've just been so busy with non stop recording i haven't had he time the allocate to getting it and having the time to learn it properly. i am finally comfortable within 7 and just want to have a few weeks free to dick around with 8. i know they are stand alone programs so i might just get 8 anyway and learn as i go.
 
aramism said:
yeah i'm still on logic 7. it took me so fucking long to learn it inside out (and i'm still not done) that i am kind of intimidated of the new one.
Click to expand...

Logic 8 is stupid simple. I thought the earlier versions were kind of a bear to use, but I love 8.

To the OP: on Tool's 10,000 Days, they put up a 57 sent to some distortion source (I forget what) along with the normal vocal mic and blended the distorted signal in as needed in the mix. If you haven't tracked the vocals yet, depending on your setup, it could be worth a shot.

I've used a Sansamp plugin before, guitar pedals, pretty much anything. It's not supposed to sound pretty.
 
http://mixonline.com/recording/projects/audio_making_tools_days/

Tool - 10,000 days recording information.

“Then there was some extra double-miking, and we'd use some other things for that. If I was gonna distort Maynard's vocal, I would have him sing into his main mic and a highly distorted SM57 at the same time — a tape-them-together kind of deal — and then run them in a parallel chain so I could separate them and track them to two tracks. Then I could add any kind of gain that I wanted by bringing up the 57.”
 
Machinated said:
Massey Tapehead is available in AU, its a cool plug. No GUI though :(
Click to expand...

Where? I'm on their site right now, and it looks like everything's all PT only. :(

EDIT: it's at http://www.smassey.com/au.html

I was actually planning on picking up a couple reels of 456 for my old analog machine to reamp my guitar tracks to and dump 'em back into Logic, 'cause it sounds massive. I'll give Tapehead a shot and see if there's any need...
 
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