Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Lead Vocalist using effects
- Thread starter DeepFriedBass
- Start date
Agreed....There is a world of difference between 'unorthodox' and 'unprofessional'...….I used to use one of these in the 00s and, now that Im getting back into gigging a lot more, I may go back to it...like anything else, its knowing how to use it correctly
Yeah man I get advice or requests to change or try different tones and that's part of being a band. In fact it happens all the time. The drummer may say, can you match this part to my part like this.. or can you try overdrive or use an effect for this part. And I absolutely will without hesitation, it's called being a team player. It doesn't mean i have to do that from now on, but why would I rob another member of an opportunity to try his idea in the context of the song? It would be selfish to say 'well no I'm the bassist and I choose the bass sound AT ALL TIMES" and same for vocals drums or whatever else.
The singer I work with uses effects and I really think it just muddies up the mix. Many comments from the audience like, "we can hear him singing but we can't make out what he's saying." Granted, he's not a very powerful singer, but the net effect in a reflective room is just mush. Outdoors it's much Lee's of an issue.
I was an addition to his and guitar players band, plus I'm not a great singer, so I hesitate to Try and direct him on this.
I was an addition to his and guitar players band, plus I'm not a great singer, so I hesitate to Try and direct him on this.
also this ^
Nobody is telling the guitar player "turn off that chorus, limiter, reverb, phaser, compression, tube screamer, flanger, memory man, big muff pi, octave, tremolo, wah-wah, turbo-rat, etc...and let us hear what you REALLY sound like"
I run across singers from time to time that like to have some effects (usually reverb, sometimes something else) on their voice. I run my effects back to the board via channel strips rather than the effects returns, so that I can route them to monitors when somebody wants to hear something like that, without having to route to FOH.
The first part I'm totally in agreement, but the second part (bold) not so much.
It's a band, not your sound or my sound. It's perfectly normal to discuss and suggest things to other members, because we're thinking about the sound overall. If I come up with a slap part for a chorus and the band doesn't like it... I'll end up playing something else. If I choose an envelope filter effect and the band thinks it's too much, then I don't play that. Similarly, if I have an opinion about what the guitarist is doing with his sound, I open my mouth.
It's a band, a collective, and no ego matters more than the overall sound.
Trying to tell the singer that effects will hurt the PA is a laughable position. Doing the same thing on guitar is OK - why would it be any different on vocals? They're in the same frequency range.
Singers that want to be drowned in effects are usually lacking in confidence about their voice. If your singer sounds good, tell them that their voice is great, and covering it up with effects on every tune will be destroying a beautiful thing.
There is a primal connection between an audience and a singer with a great voice - the more effects, the more you risk breaking that connection. In the grand scheme of things, us instrumentalists are there to paint a backdrop on which a (hopefully) beautiful human voice is put front and center. Once in a while messing that voice up for effect is an artistic choice. Doing it all the time? You either need to get your singer to be confident in his or her voice, or get a singer that is.
Singers that want to be drowned in effects are usually lacking in confidence about their voice. If your singer sounds good, tell them that their voice is great, and covering it up with effects on every tune will be destroying a beautiful thing.
There is a primal connection between an audience and a singer with a great voice - the more effects, the more you risk breaking that connection. In the grand scheme of things, us instrumentalists are there to paint a backdrop on which a (hopefully) beautiful human voice is put front and center. Once in a while messing that voice up for effect is an artistic choice. Doing it all the time? You either need to get your singer to be confident in his or her voice, or get a singer that is.
the problem is the difference between "Suggestion" and "micromanaging" - arguments usual happen right at that grey border: theres usually at least one person in a band who thinks their opinion is fact (if you don't have that, consider yourself lucky)
No, not lucky: I just walk from bad teams.
Don't settle for bad situations, and you'll be in better bands.
It doesn't mean that life is conflict free, but you need to be in a group where you can discuss things like adults... unless you just want to be a hired hand, which is fine, but not the case for most people.
Yes... tons of musicians who are current use them.
These days there is finally enough respect for vocalists that they actually get to control their own effects just like instrumentalists do.
And I chose Lennon because everyone knows who he is.
To me this question of vocal effects or no vocal effects kinda reminds me of the 4 vs. 5 string, pick vs. fingers, slap vs. pluck issue. If the band REALLY thinks it sucks then it might just suck. If you are using too much and that is not the vocal sound the band wants you should listen and make a decision I guess. Just like alcohol, moderation is key.
This. I don't really see what the problem is. Some people want effects on their voice. Unless it just sounds bad and turns the audience off, I don't really think there's any harm in it. We almost always used reverb, at least a touch of it, back in the day because a dry voice sounds unnatural. That never harmed anything.
If someone tried to tell me how I should eq my own voice after doing this for many years, I'd recognize that I had just stepped into amateur land.
I rarely use anything beyond reverb in a live setting, but if I'd recorded my vocals with processing I would want to use the same sort of processing live. A voice is just another instrument in the mix. I have zero understanding of how a processed vocal would magically rise to the level of damaging speakers when all that dirt everyone else is throwing on their signal is of no concern.
Again for anyone not reading through, I have no problem with effects and they are largely responsible for how music sounds today. But theres never really an instance where 75% wet chorus with a TC Doubler is going to work for a full set with a cover band. I mean, a chorus and doubler is like multiplying the same effect.
I remember when I learned sidechaining the bass and kick, and started to mix everything like it was techno so the kick would just suck everything out of the mix entirely because I was obsessed with the effect. Techno is a niche audience though, and we are trying to appeal to a wide variety of listeners.
His processing sounds amazing on an Ozzy or Bush song. But it doesn't work for The Doobie Brothers or Live, for example.
I've just never encountered someone who thought that a stomp box pedal was their personal legendary sound. It's just boring to listen to after a few songs. After a while, it's super doubler chorus.. again???
I remember when I learned sidechaining the bass and kick, and started to mix everything like it was techno so the kick would just suck everything out of the mix entirely because I was obsessed with the effect. Techno is a niche audience though, and we are trying to appeal to a wide variety of listeners.
His processing sounds amazing on an Ozzy or Bush song. But it doesn't work for The Doobie Brothers or Live, for example.
I've just never encountered someone who thought that a stomp box pedal was their personal legendary sound. It's just boring to listen to after a few songs. After a while, it's super doubler chorus.. again???
(1) Effects will not damage your PA.
(2) Lots of vocalists use effects.
(3) A little goes a long way.
(4) You're going to have to tell him that he's using it too much and when you use it all the time it loses its "effect". Don't go there about damaging gear (it won't), just tell him its a little too much for this band. In other words, its not wrong (he's not wrong), its just too much for this particular situation.
(2) Lots of vocalists use effects.
(3) A little goes a long way.
(4) You're going to have to tell him that he's using it too much and when you use it all the time it loses its "effect". Don't go there about damaging gear (it won't), just tell him its a little too much for this band. In other words, its not wrong (he's not wrong), its just too much for this particular situation.
