Any thoughts, I'd love to hear them
Washed Out / Chillwave. Vocal & compression technique?
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- KVRist
- 127 posts since 31 Oct, 2004
So, how are the vocals on Washed Out's tracks done? I'm guessing; saturation, loads of reverb with a gate and a bit over compressed? There's some weird side chaining stuff and harmonies going on also.
Any thoughts, I'd love to hear them
Any thoughts, I'd love to hear them
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- KVRer
- 24 posts since 13 Jan, 2009
trying making 3 diff returns with three diff reverbs.
One short and tight reverb, one big hall or concert hall reverb, and one plate reverb.
Send some of your vox to each of those (not to much but mix to taste). Then compress and EQ your return channels to phatten and bring the volume of reverb up for more of a washed out sound. You can then side chain some of the return channels to the kick or snare and have to main vocal still stand out while the reverbs are sidechained and etc.
Also maybe try sending all your returns to another channel and add a little top end saturation to it, maybe a bit of distortion. Use effects that give the vocals distance but not too far back in the mix, i.e (40 to 50 ms of delay, vinyl emulations, chorus, etc)
used some of those techniques for mixing the vocals in my band. It way more subtle than washed out or any lofi music but i still used the same techniques mjust more sparingly
www.soundcloud.com/themoroseproject
Cheers!
One short and tight reverb, one big hall or concert hall reverb, and one plate reverb.
Send some of your vox to each of those (not to much but mix to taste). Then compress and EQ your return channels to phatten and bring the volume of reverb up for more of a washed out sound. You can then side chain some of the return channels to the kick or snare and have to main vocal still stand out while the reverbs are sidechained and etc.
Also maybe try sending all your returns to another channel and add a little top end saturation to it, maybe a bit of distortion. Use effects that give the vocals distance but not too far back in the mix, i.e (40 to 50 ms of delay, vinyl emulations, chorus, etc)
used some of those techniques for mixing the vocals in my band. It way more subtle than washed out or any lofi music but i still used the same techniques mjust more sparingly
www.soundcloud.com/themoroseproject
Cheers!
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- KVRian
- 1439 posts since 25 Nov, 2008 from Seattle, WA
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 127 posts since 31 Oct, 2004
Hmm... interesting comments. Thanks I'll give the 3 x Reverb thing a go, never done that before so even if it sounds terrible at least it will be fun trying
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 127 posts since 31 Oct, 2004
Added on SC, your tracks are really interesting and I see what you mean with the vocal, that's in the same ball park as I'm looking for
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- KVRAF
- 4074 posts since 28 Apr, 2004
in general (not just the vox) it's a very saturated sound, and it's deisgned to sound a bit old and knackered. any tape/vinyl/tube saturation plugs set way too hot will help here. actually running it to an old cassette deck too hot (not a reel to reel) will be even better, especially old tapes that have been recorded and rerecorded and then left in a box for ages. i like running sounds through a little mini/toy marshall amp and then into a recording walkman to get a very similar sound, although i do it less now that tape/saturation/preamp plugs have got so much better.
the vox itself as tnismo88 explained, is being sent to several reverbs of different types (small/medium/large). there's also a lot of heavy sidechain compression stuff going on that's giving that rythmic volume variation.
cheers,
steve.
the vox itself as tnismo88 explained, is being sent to several reverbs of different types (small/medium/large). there's also a lot of heavy sidechain compression stuff going on that's giving that rythmic volume variation.
cheers,
steve.
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- KVRist
- Topic Starter
- 127 posts since 31 Oct, 2004
Right, I have the 3 x reverb thing going on and its really starting to sound good. Can you explain the sidechain thing a little more to me? I why am I doing it and how should it be sounding? At least then I'll have a direction to aim for. Thanks.
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- KVRAF
- 4074 posts since 28 Apr, 2004
the sidechain compression is what is causing the volume fluctuations that gives the vocal a rythmic quality. my guess is that they are compressed using the kick/snare as the sidechain input.4ppleseed wrote:Right, I have the 3 x reverb thing going on and its really starting to sound good. Can you explain the sidechain thing a little more to me? I why am I doing it and how should it be sounding? At least then I'll have a direction to aim for. Thanks.
this means that the volume of the vocal/vocal returns is "ducked" whenever the kick snare hits, giving it that push/pull sound with the beat.
bit of a crappy explanation, it sort of helps it all to gel together rythmically, giving space for the sidechain input, in this case the beat, and filling up the gaps with vocal.
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- KVRist
- 111 posts since 25 Jul, 2005 from los angeles
The answer to this was just posted over at GS.
John Maskew who recored 'Within and Without' replied with this about Ernest's vocals for that album specifically:
John Maskew who recored 'Within and Without' replied with this about Ernest's vocals for that album specifically:
We recorded Ernest's vocals using an AT4047 into a BAE 1084. From there we went in to an EL Fatso in to an old Roland RE-201 Space Echo and finally in to an API 512c as a trim control.
The Space Echo was simply used as a "gritty, lofi" effect with no delays. We crushed the hell out of everything that went in to that mic. Ernest has a very soft whispery voice that blends well with itself, therefore we did lots of harmony stacks and doubles. On average there are about 5 tracks of vocals at any one time. All vocals were Melodyned.
Although we mixed a lot of the record as we went along, I only recorded the album as Ben H. Allen produced it.
Ben mixed it with Rob Skipworth assisting.