dan wrote:Run a cheap dynamic through a hi-z XLR-1/4" into this baby.

Use the onboard distortion, and crank both that and the volume all the way. Through a nice condenser in fornt and enjoy!

I have one of those!

burun wrote:and was looking for suggestions on how to make the vocals sound as if I were "underwater."

The best examples of this I can find are the vocals on "Cannonball", and a few Sparklehorse tracks. Basically I want the distortion to cover up a multitude of sins on my part, but not render the vocal track an indecipherable mush.

Try a Tremolo or vibrato. ?

I have also toyed with the idea of using the Mac's built-in mic to record the vocals, but nobody I know has tried this, so I have no idea if it's effective or not.

Deer Hoof.

burun wrote:Any help you guys have will be appreciated, because there is a very good reason why I do not sing.

I guess the suggestion depends on what you think is "wrong" with your voice. In my case, I don't have a lot of top end in my singing voice, so to try to get a little harmonic content in there, I've been double mic'ing, with one of them being an old Astatic crystal mic, which has no bottom end at all. On its own, it has that cheesy "through the telephone" effect, but when blended with, say, an SM58-ish mic, it's not bad. If it's a "tone" thing that bothers you, I'd start looking for mics that have peaks where you'd like more, and roll off where you'd like less. Sounds dumb writing it out, but it works for me.

As for the built-in mic on the Mac, it depends on the Mac you have--my old PowerBook 190 (yep--not even a PowerPC) had a really nice little condenser mic in the screen. Not hi-fi, but not bad, either. Subsequent PowerBooks and the current MacBook Pro have mics buried somewhere near the speakers, and they end up picking up a lot of hard drive and fan noise.

As effects, following up on kerble's tremolo option, there's a nice downloadable Leslie simulator from http://mda.smartelectronix.com/ You need to download the whole collection, which also contains a ring modulator. For distortion, what about Camel Crusher? And if you want to do an IDM or Thom-Yorke-playing-at-IDM type of thing, I'd recommend something from Destroy FX. All of these are free, btw.

Though...does GarageBand take VSTs? Or just AUs? I dunno.

Maurice wrote:I guess the suggestion depends on what you think is "wrong" with your voice.

The easier answer is what is right with my voice? Not much. It is completely horrible.

As effects, following up on kerble's tremolo option, there's a nice downloadable Leslie simulator from http://mda.smartelectronix.com/ You need to download the whole collection, which also contains a ring modulator. For distortion, what about Camel Crusher? And if you want to do an IDM or Thom-Yorke-playing-at-IDM type of thing, I'd recommend something from Destroy FX. All of these are free, btw.

Though...does GarageBand take VSTs? Or just AUs? I dunno.

I think GB takes VST's. I also use Ableton, and that takes VST's just fine, so in a pinch I can record into that.

I have some DFX plugins already, they are pretty cool - I love Scrubby. But that Leslie sim sounds pretty awesome. Gonna get it now.

burun wrote:

Maurice wrote:I guess the suggestion depends on what you think is "wrong" with your voice.

The easier answer is what is right with my voice? Not much. It is completely horrible.

OK, but what kind of horrible? Too thin, too dark, too piercing, not enough character, bad intonation, what? Keep in mind that "horrible" can be "awesome" by other standards and in other applications. (Like, I'd much rather listen to Killdozer than Whitney Houston, but mainstream America would disagree.)

burun wrote:I think GB takes VST's. I also use Ableton, and that takes VST's just fine, so in a pinch I can record into that.

I have some DFX plugins already, they are pretty cool - I love Scrubby. But that Leslie sim sounds pretty awesome. Gonna get it now.

MDA's Looplex should be in that bundle, too. He was nice enough to recompile it for Universal Binary for me, and I get a lot of use out of it. Actually, there are a lot of gems in there.

Jon wrote:try sticking the vocals through a guitar amp and then micing that up. especially small combos or nasty amps.

I can vouch for this. Some of the recordings I have done I've used a little peavy 30 watt combo. It probably sounds better if you use an output from a really crappy pa though, at least in my experience anywayz.

i've miked up PAs before, to very good effect. get the mic back a few feet from the PA speaker to get a bit of room on there. if the singer's in the same room as the PA, you'll probably get a bit of direct vocal spill as well. it makes for a good sound, to my ears.

burun wrote:looking for suggestions on how to make the vocals sound as if I were "underwater."

I have also toyed with the idea of using the Mac's built-in mic to record the vocals, but nobody I know has tried this, so I have no idea if it's effective or not.

Maybe you can hook up a speaker of the playback and immerse it in the tub, along with a piezo mic... perhaps leave the leads out of the water and only sumberge the cone.



noboody I know has tried this, and i have no idea if it's effective or not, but it could be interesting. Maybe i'll do it and post the results.

gio wrote:

burun wrote:looking for suggestions on how to make the vocals sound as if I were "underwater."

I have also toyed with the idea of using the Mac's built-in mic to record the vocals, but nobody I know has tried this, so I have no idea if it's effective or not.

Maybe you can hook up a speaker of the playback and immerse it in the tub, along with a piezo mic... perhaps leave the leads out of the water and only sumberge the cone.

noboody I know has tried this, and i have no idea if it's effective or not, but it could be interesting. Maybe i'll do it and post the results.

threads on underwater recording:

http://www.electrical.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=613
http://www.electrical.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=2349


also, in another thread,

Mayfair wrote:I have an very old tympani drum I use more often for a reverb chamber for percussive instruments like watter bottles that lay right on the tightened head. I also have a very small amplifier that I can put face down on the head without dampening it too much. It creates a very unique, almost underwater sound for organ or guitar.