distorting vocals in a metal band

[triple rectumfrier]

Hey everyone, I am in a metal/hardcore band, and while I play guitars, I also do backups. I would love if I could distort my vocals a little bit to get my screaming a little thicker and nice.

Think Norma Jean. But not SOO much distortion. Anyways, my question, is there a pedal I can get that will give me this distortion? Maybe a rack unit (that would be better) if they have them...maybe a vocal processor...

Thing is I dont need all the bells and whistles, I just want a good distortion to distort my vocals a bit.

Thanks guys!
Matt

 

[Russ]

Something you could try is that little purple digitech thing. I have seen it used live and it works pretty good for such a cheap little stomper. As far as technique goes try cupping your mic if you have a free hand. By this I mean hold the popscreen at the business end of the mic like you would grasp an egg that you are going to throw at someone. This tends to add something to your vocals. Many that use that style of vocals do this if they don't have the voacl range to get there normally. I know that while you're playing guitar this can be inconvenient but if used at a break or a pause in your playing it can be quite an effect because there is less to get in the way of your vocals. Think of it like a Punk Rock dramatic pause in your guitar playing but an opportunity to be heard otherwise for your vocals.

 

[triple rectumfrier]

^ thanks, I saw the digitech purple stomper thing, and might give it a try, i just dont need all that other stuff, I was thinking i could just take a distortion pedal made for guitar and somehow get it through the pa...i dont know if that would work though...

When I sing without guitar...i do cup the mic and it sounds GOOOD, sadly I just cant do that while playing guitar, my hands dont leave the fret board, except during breakdowns, but im not usually screaming during breakdowns.

I will give the purple digitech stomper a try. it is pretty cheap

 

[Russ]

With that in mind, I have seen some people using distortion effects on their vocals. The thing with that is just getting the levels right and maybe eq'ing some.

 

[triple rectumfrier]

yeah EQing would be desired. I went ahead and picked up a Digitech VX400 off ebay...for recording purposes as well, it would be pretty cool it seems. I dont know if it has any distortions within it like the Vocal 300 has...I thought the VX400 would be a bigger cooler Vocal 300 but it says nothing about there being distortion.

We will see when I get it, I will still be happy to record stuff though

 

[Russ]

Personally, I am partial to Halford's vocal style myself. I like to sing along when I hear Priest, but people look at me funny because I usually nail every note with volume. That is about the time that the sunglasses come down and I grin.

 

[triple rectumfrier]

Got the VX400, lets just say this thing is AWESOME. So many sounds this thing can get you, plus many you would never need haha although quite amusing I must admit, there is a GOAT setting, which makes your voice wiggly and high pitched, haha its hilarious, then there is this monster setting that you can set the "growl", turn that thing low and you got some mean ass low growls. I wouldnt use that setting live though, pretty misleading, but its funny to joke around. Sounds like a bear when its pissed.

There is a grunge and overdrive that you can edit that sound...bad ass. The grunge preset, think Norma Jean, for sure. A little TOO much drive for my tastes, but it is pretty awesome. Plus the thing has an expression pedal. I set it up on the "Strobe" setting which makes your voice cut in and out like a strobe, pushing the pedal down makes the gaps closer (quicker) I cant wait to practice with it tonight and give it a try.

Oh yeah not to mention the computer integration this thing has, it is pretty neat.

 

[Russ]

Let us know how it went.

 

[triple rectumfrier]

Alrght, so I finally had a practice with the thing. I sounds bad ass. but has aLOT of feedback on the distortion setting. This thing will need a lot of tweaking to get it prime. I probably had too much gain on the settings. What I had to do is program the expression pedal to be a volume pedal, when I screamed I would have to turn up the volume pedal and lower it when I was done.

Maybe I will give the noise gate a try, Haven't messed with that yet.