vocal reverb/delay

let's have a thread talking about different vocal fx.

How does one get that 'shiny' and 'silvery' sound that phil collins' voice had on "in the air tonight".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YkADj0TPrJA

I know the male member of the knife often achieves that sound.

I'm especially goin for the sound of the voice in this track:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iNAvg4-L9zE

at 1:37, 'beyond the mental shell'

Also, I was wondering what kind of fx panda bear is using in 'rosie oh'

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wpZlEb9uva0

if I had to guess:

1) Slapback (and EQ...and probably a chorus'd/pitch'd/detuned signal mixed in and panned to thicken things up)

2) Haas effect (and EQ)

3) tight "mod" delay (also, sounds like the delayed signal(s) is/are LPF'd...@ roughly 10-12Khz, perhaps?...also probably slightly panned, if I had to guess)

Really just a bunch of variations of pitch, time and panning.

Me thinks a lot of that is simply Phil too.

well theres always the reverse reverb trick... take a sample, reverse it, record only the wet reverb, then reverse that

pretty sure the phil collins track is just a short delay with the feedback set really low. LIke only 1 or 2 repeats. A lexicon will do that.

Pretty sure it's the same on the second track too. It could also be that they are overlaying several recordins of the same part.

Animal collective also sounds like some delay derived sound. Just with a really short delay time. Maybe tape delay from how it dies away.

The thing about Phil Collins' solo efforts is that they're more commercial and therefore more satisfying in a narrower way, especially No Jacket Required and songs like "In The Air Tonight" and "Against All Odds" (though that song was overshadowed by the masterful movie from which it came) and "Take Me Home" and "Sussudio" (great, great song; a personal favourite) and his remake of "You Can't Hurry Love," which I'm not alone in thinking is better than the Supremes' original. But I also think that Phil Collins works better within the confines of the group than as a solo artist - and I stress the word Artist. In fact it applies to all three of the guys, because Genesis is still the best , most exciting band to come out of England in the 1980s

lol

also double take overdub.

  On 10/2/2012 at 9:54 AM, slightlydrybeans said:

pretty sure the phil collins track is just a short delay with the feedback set really low. LIke only 1 or 2 repeats. A lexicon will do that.

 

Pretty sure it's the same on the second track too. It could also be that they are overlaying several recordins of the same part.

Sounds like more of a room reverb in the second track, imo. But yeah, I think it's doubled as well, at least in the second track. It's also got a lot to do with voice characteristics though. I really wish I could sing like that!

needs more phil collins

The Manhattan Transfer reverb sounds like a room verb. The first thing I would try is this: on a send, open a reverb plugin that allows you to adjust the balance/volume between the early reflections and the tail. Lower the volume of the reverb tail entirely so that you are left with just the early reflections and then limit that pretty hard. That should give you a very pronounced room sound to blend in with your vocal signal.

As for the Animal Collective song, it's likely just a short delay of some sort. Not quite a slap echo, but with a little more feedback.

The Phil Colin's vocal effect may actually be a combination of the two. I'd try a longish slap echo (around 110 ms) in mono, maybe some chorus on that, and a med to large room verb. Then, of course, there are some quarter note delays on choice words of his. Also, a vocoder used to accent "I remember".

Nice bit of unrelated article there. The vocals, as far as I know, were recorded in Phil's home studio.

hm thanks for all the input. I'm sure with a little tinkering and experimentation and trying out you guyses tecniques I'll be able to get that sound.

and remember, when all else fails, quit!

  On 10/4/2012 at 10:06 AM, slightlydrybeans said:

and remember, when all else fails, quit!

Thanks for that - i knew i was doing something wrong

Okay, here is a little snippet from a composition I'm working on. I think I'm getting closer to the sound. I have a stereo spreader and 'enverb' on a very tight setting. The vocal takes are very rough, as I only am using laptop mic right now.

http://soundcloud.com/happycream/pashtun