Wall of voices for extreme music? My take on it

AgeOfGeburah

Member
Jun 3, 2009
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Enköping, Sweden
Hi guys and girl(s) :)

I just wanted to share my take on how I approach this, there's alot of different techniques on this and I will only go trough the one I most often use and the one I feel is the simplest one.

I made 2 examples by covering one of the most famus "Wall of voice" bands, Behemoth :)

Conquer All
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1520413/Conquer All-01.mp3

Here I really went all out on the voices just to make it very extreme sounding.

Normally I record 4 different vocal takes (2x L/R 2x Center)
One of the center ones should be pitchshifted -1 to -2 semitones
(You can make this even simpler, recording 3 tracks and put a doubbler which duplicates the center tracks sound source and then adjust the pitch and delay to your liking)
I Like to keep the pitched track with a focused lowend on it to take care of those crushing basstones and boost the normal pitched tracks abit on the highend, just EQ it so it sounds good ofcourse :)

On this specific song I actually used a doubbler with 3 extra sources of sound on the two center vocals (Also panned 100L + <C> + 100R)
Adding a 6 voices, making a total of 10 voices coming at you! (Remember to experiment with the detune/pitchshift and delay on the doubbler)

Here's the bus I used for the vocal takes.
https://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1520413/Conquer All Voice.JPG


Ov Fire and the Void
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1520413/Ov Fire and the Void.mp3

This one I went with an cleaner aproach but still having relatively crushing vocals.

I did as i explained above

4 takes 2x L/R (These will only be kicking in occasinally) and 2 Center (Remember one is pitched -1)
Even here I used a doubbler adding 2 sources of both center tracks panned L/R (barely audible, they're just there to make them sound abit bigger)
Same thing here, play with the doubblers settings to make it fit, it's hard to make a doubbler sound good. But It's way easier to make tight sounding rather than actually having to sing it that many times.

Almost the same bus settings I believe.



And remember I'm pretty new to guitar, and singing I began with this year so try not to flame my slopiness :)

Hope you found this usefull in any way, getting ideas etc.

The reason my EQ curves might seem strange is because this was recorded on an SM58 :puke:

I'm not saying this is the way to go, only that this is how I've done it.

Feel free to discuss this entire topic and share your own experiences and tips on it, I sure would love to learn something different :)


Have a good one! :headbang:


EDIT:
Ofcourse it's best to record each take individually and skip the doubbler
I liked this method for Behemoth's songs, would sound too natural without doubbler.
And since Im not a singer I cant record 10 takes super tight, so this will have to do :)

But the Idea is that you can replace the voices generated by the doubbler with actual takes to make it sound more natural.
I would still use pitch shifting for one center track to blend, Behemoth did it on Demigod and so do I.
 
That's really good! I liked Ov Fire and the Void better, its a lot cleaner and meaner. The Conquer All take is pretty good as well, but I'd try panning something like 50/50 or something closer to the center than what you did. It sounds like different sources more than a wall of sound.
 
What's with all this doubler bullshit? Do a few extra takes and fuck with the pitch yourself. Otherwise it just sounds like phasey shit.

4 takes, tighter than a virgin on prom night before you even start editing shit. If you can hear anything that really NEEDS editing before you start editing this shit, do it again. Just make minor, minor tightening jobs. Bumping an already insanely tight performance to lock to the grid will sound nice and natural, don't bother keeping anything less than supremely tight takes.
fuck all this pissing about with doublers and pitch shifting, get a fuck load of NATURAL, tight as fuck takes and put them together, there's NO substitute.
 
Damn man good stuff here. I as well use a lot of layers but I will try some of your ideas. Here is a link to a track of my band where I used a mad amount of layers. I think I just sang it 7 times in different tones. Its a 2005 recording



Now when I hear it, its not so great :p but I'll try some stuff on our new album that I am recording now and put it up when its done.
 
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i love the voice of Glenn benton mixing low growls with high pitched screams






the vocal production on behemoth´s Demigod is EPIC.
i always wondered about how many vocal takes are there :S


like gareth said
theres nothing that can substitute a few tight as fuck vocal takes

there are people that "breaks" sentences in two or three parts when
they record so they are...mmm..."full of air" XD i don't know how to say this in English.
so in the end of the sentences they are not out of breath and every word sounds powerful
and EPIC.:kickass:
 
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there are people that "breaks" sentences in two or three parts when
they record so they are...mmm..."full of air" XD i don't know how to say this in English.
so in the end of the sentences they are not out of breath and every word sounds powerful
and EPIC.:kickass:

I get what you're saying. Sort of like how Lars would play takes as hard as he possibly could then took a break for a while so everything would sound TEH HEAVY.
But if a vocalist cannot perform an entire line with consistent intensity they do not deserve to be in a band. But there's me just being a vocalz fascist again I guess.
 
NAME REMOVED LOL says:
http://www.ultimatemetal.com/forum/...voices-extreme-music-my-take.html#post8651343
NAME REMOVED LOL says:
I lolled at this topic
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I looked at the last comment
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and thought "that veronicafalls guy seems to be talking sense for once, I wonder who he stole that line from"
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then scrolled up
Poured forth gracefully, this ctheric tincture says:
hahaha
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and low and behold
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it was you

Oh, MSN, what a wonderful thing.
Name removed for bitchiness factor.
 
I get what you're saying. Sort of like how Lars would play takes as hard as he possibly could then took a break for a while so everything would sound TEH HEAVY.

I cant express with words how loud i laughed with that one XDDDDDD
 
The reason that Behemoths vocals sounds so huge, is because Nergal has an insanely brutal and powerful voice and is an awesome fucking singer. The dubbing adds some effect sure, but even when he is by himself he sounds just as monstrous.


As for dubbing techniques, I've messed around with plenty of options and everything sucks except simply singing one take higher and one take lower. Add as many more takes as you feel like, but make sure that there are (human made) pitch variations between all of them otherwise you're going to get a 6 foot phase-issue shoved up your vagina.
 
I always thought the big wall of sound was interesting, but after seeing the making of vid of Evangelion, I think Nergal's regular screams are just more brutal on their own. That guy can yell.
 
I cant express with words how loud i laughed with that one XDDDDDD

Well that's what he actually did for And Justice For All wasn't it? Wore himself out with every single take because he was hitting so hard he was sweating buckets in minutes. Then taking huge breaks and resting up before the next take.
 
Well that's what he actually did for And Justice For All wasn't it? Wore himself out with every single take because he was hitting so hard he was sweating buckets in minutes. Then taking huge breaks and resting up before the next take.


LOL i didnt knew that
 
At least I'm pretty sure that's how they did it. I think someone on sneap forum posted that info infact, if anyone can step up and confirm it that'd be cool actually haha.