Vocal effects for the beginner

[AshInAmsterdam]

Reverb and compression are two musts for me. I use the built in versions on our rehearsal room's PA, or if our singer sets his PA up he has a series of foot switches for all sorts of fun, I can ask him about that - but my channel is just reverb and compression. Backing vocals, like bass, benefit from less changing than a lead instrument might, in my opinion.

For my own use I have been eyeing up the Boss VE-20 and the TC Electronic units both mentioned in this thread, they're both very useable according to YouTube research I've done, and I haven't yet made my mind up, so this thread may help me out too.

 

[bassliner50]

IMHO, over use of reverb and other vocal processing sounds amateur. I gag on harmony boxes, auto tune etc. Focus on always singing on pitch and nothing is needed to hide behind. You may disagree, and that is fine with me as well.

 

[s0c9]

a useful pitch correction feature (if needed)

if needed, make sure you DO NOT put the corrected pitch back into the singers monitor mix.. give them the uncorrected signal.

 

[s0c9]

IMHO, over use of reverb and other vocal processing sounds amateur. I gag on harmony boxes, auto tune etc. Focus on always singing on pitch and nothing is needed to hide behind. You may disagree, and that is fine with me as well.

We do 3-part harmonies.. no autotune, pitch correction or fancy stuff.. just some reverb/delay on the vox channels.
All it takes is a little practice, and becoming familiar with you band members skills. Then, you automagically know which harmony line is yours.. no matter the song.

 

[bassliner50]

We do 3-part harmonies.. no autotune, pitch correction or fancy stuff.. just some reverb/delay on the vox channels.
All it takes is a little practice, and becoming familiar with you band members skills. Then, you automagically know which harmony line is yours.. no matter the song.

That sounds good. Use reverb and even less delay (why mess with the rhythmic edge?) but not so much that it is evident. Think of a photograph when corrections and "fixes" are visible. Not what you intended for sure.

 

[tfer]

if needed, make sure you DO NOT put the corrected pitch back into the singers monitor mix.. give them the uncorrected signal.

I'm not sure that's possible with this pedal. It affects the signal before it gets to the board.

The pitch correction feature works chromatically. If the singer is out of tune, you hear the 'beats' and it guides you to the correct pitch. Use it mildly, otherwise it gets very robotic and processed sounding.

I got one, because it doesn't require a chordal instrument to be connected to it. You've got to be pretty close to the correct pitch, otherwise it'll pull you to the incorrect note.

 

[travep]

Zooberwerx...I will post it on Thur night or Fri morning...I prob should have waited to post until I had the info but was so anxious to research I jumped out there. Thanks for the advise...

 

[azfatboy]

Another vote for the mic mechanic. I had one and it worked great. I only sold it because I went whole hog with a Voicelive 3... Sometimes I wish I would've just stuck with the MM. It's so easy and transparent to use--I still haven't figured out the VL3...

 

[electracoyote]

electracoyote, I'll have to check what board it is. It's in the practice space now and I can't remember. I think it was an old Behringer box type board but I can't remember. It has compression and reverb type effects on the vox channels but I could not detect any difference when I applied them.

Generally with built-in effects there is a master FX section where you dial in the chosen pre-set and the master level, and then you need to dial in the desired level at each mic channel as well.

 

[hrodbert696]

IMHO, over use of reverb and other vocal processing sounds amateur. I gag on harmony boxes, auto tune etc. Focus on always singing on pitch and nothing is needed to hide behind. You may disagree, and that is fine with me as well.

In general, I agree... in general. You're right for a lot of music one could play. But there are times to play with the other toys that are out there, and some of them can extend the capabilities of the group. I would agree, for instance, that if you can't sing on pitch, you probably just shouldn't be singing, and forget about autotune to make up for your deficiencies. A weak voice soaked in reverb is still weak. On the other hand, there are popular songs out there where overt autotune is used deliberately as an effect, and if you want to cover those, you may as well crank it up.

Right now I'm launching a cover trio doing modern alternative rock stuff. There's only three of us and the drummer doesn't do vocals. When we do something like X Ambassadors' "Renegades," we need to sound like a crowd, and the guitarist and I aren't going to pull that off by ourselves. We do the Arctic Monkeys' "R U Mine?" and there's a high female voice an octave above the lead in much of it - no way the guitarist is going to hit those notes. So we're experimenting with TC Electronics pedals for doubling and octave effects to try and recreate more of the original mix than we could do by ourselves. The trick will be how much makes it work without its becoming too much.

 

[travep]

bassliner....no disagreement on the preference for minimal effects from me. I'd prefer not to do much and would prefer not to use the auto-tune at all. However, we really have no "singer". The two main vox are not strong and I'm really not a singer. For me, I just don't want to detract from the main focus when I'm required to do the oohs and ahhs in the chorus and singing is not really my thing. I appreciate your input and plan to use minimally...but I think we need something...especially a touch of reverb

 

[s0c9]

I'm not sure that's possible with this pedal. It affects the signal before it gets to the board.

It's not with the Mic Mechanic.. In my experience, when you put the corrected pitch back into the monitors, the vocalist doesn't adjust their singing because they hear the corrected version. That can be problematic if they are slightly off and they DO try to adjust.

 

[tfer]

It's not with the Mic Mechanic.. In my experience, when you put the corrected pitch back into the monitors, the vocalist doesn't adjust their singing because they hear the corrected version. That can be problematic if they are slightly off and they DO try to adjust.

Fair enough, but if you keep the blend on the correction low, the singer hears themselves, with a slight beating, depending on how far out of tune they are. But the pedal corrects to the nearest chromatic note, so if you are singing a C, but are flat, and closer to the B than the C, it'll pull you towards the B. If your pitch is pretty good, it works well. Especially on long Ooohs and phrases like that, that require good breath control to not go sharp or flat.

 

[s0c9]

Fair enough, but if you keep the blend on the correction low, the singer hears themselves, with a slight beating, depending on how far out of tune they are. But the pedal corrects to the nearest chromatic note, so if you are singing a C, but are flat, and closer to the B than the C, it'll pull you towards the B. If your pitch is pretty good, it works well. Especially on long Ooohs and phrases like that, that require good breath control to not go sharp or flat.

Fair enough .. I've never used that particular device but do own (and have used live) a Harmony-G, a VL-2 and the [rack-mount] AVP-1.