MeldaProduction

alexis1 · Post by **alexis1** » Tue Oct 11, 2016 3:14 pm

Hi - I've been listening to a lot of music where the make vocalist sounds like there is sand in his larynx - Rod Stewart, John Lennon c. 1962-4, and many Motown artists, for example Davis Ruffin of the Temptations.

Has anyone used a Melda plug to realistically transform a smoother voice into one of those? I had a digital box a few years ago that had a setting that tried (TC Helicon VoiceOne), but it really was practically pretty useless from that point of view.

Thanks!

David Ruffin, at 1 min, 50 sec:

Rod Stewart at 45 sec:

John Lennon:

MeldaProduction · Post by **MeldaProduction** » Tue Oct 11, 2016 7:42 pm

Hi,

I actually think it's a lot done byt the voice itself

. But I'd suggest MMultiBandSaturator, or if you want to be more agressive try tiny bit of MMultiBandFreqShifter (but I think it's a little too much

).

mccy · Post by **mccy** » Tue Oct 11, 2016 8:20 pm

Cool idea... would be fantastic, if it's possible, but I bet it's a complex task...

ZentralmassivSound · Post by **ZentralmassivSound** » Tue Oct 11, 2016 8:47 pm

I'd also throw in MWaveFolder, or possibly a multiband setup of it.

steve2KVR · Post by **steve2KVR** » Tue Oct 11, 2016 9:14 pm

...please let us all know if you get lucky!.../s~

ZentralmassivSound · Post by **ZentralmassivSound** » Tue Oct 11, 2016 9:50 pm

BTW I just remember I did this with MCharacter, there is also an example in the teaser video on the Melda page. If you boost around the fourth to fifth octave, you get some of that sand. And if it's not there, you can synthesize it.

alexis1 · Post by **alexis1** » Tue Oct 11, 2016 10:01 pm

ZentralmassivSound wrote:BTW I just remember I did this with MCharacter, there is also an example in the teaser video on the Melda page. If you boost around the fourth to fifth octave, you get some of that sand. And if it's not there, you can synthesize it.

Thanks for all the answers. Sounds like Mr. ZentralmassivSound is the only one to have gone down that road ... I will trial MCharacter, boost the 4th/5th octaves, fingers crossed that does the trick - thank you!

(I would have thought the "gravelly" sound would have been more of a formant manipulation, but really that would have been just a wild guess without anything to back it up).

ZentralmassivSound · Post by **ZentralmassivSound** » Tue Oct 11, 2016 10:10 pm

Yeah you can also try MAutoPitch and shift the formants (leave auto tune off). It can add gravel, but it also sounds like you stuff a potato in there singers throat. ^^

steve2KVR · Post by **steve2KVR** » Tue Oct 11, 2016 10:36 pm

...worked with a couple I would have liked to..." stuff a potato in there singers throat"...but I digress...

.../s~

ZentralmassivSound · Post by **ZentralmassivSound** » Wed Oct 12, 2016 8:42 am

I just checked again. On some vocals it works great, on others it sounds a little bit artificial. You can also try a simple EQ and boost somewhere at around 8k. You only need to put a deesser then. Alternatively use MDynamicEQ with high gain and negative dynamic gain from the start, so you always boost the highs except when a sibilance comes in the boosting is automatically paused. That sounds pretty similar.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed Oct 12, 2016 9:05 am

Have you tried MGetABetterSinger?

ZentralmassivSound · Post by **ZentralmassivSound** » Wed Oct 12, 2016 11:07 am

whyterabbyt wrote:Have you tried MGetABetterSinger?

The "sand" content in the voice is not a matter of "better" or "worse" singer.

whyterabbyt · Post by **whyterabbyt** » Wed Oct 12, 2016 11:10 am

ZentralmassivSound wrote:
whyterabbyt wrote:Have you tried MGetABetterSinger?
The "sand" content in the voice is not a matter of "better" or "worse" singer.

wow. whooosh.

MeldaProduction · Post by **MeldaProduction** » Wed Oct 12, 2016 1:37 pm

Oh

. Positive energy folks!

MeldaProduction

KVR Audio

Add grit/sand to vocals - can Melda do that?