Overdriven distorted 50's vocal as in the example?

[mishitoku]

Hi,
I'm looking for a plug-in or an advice how to get 50's distortion as here in 1:06 and 1:26?
http://c0383352.cdn.cloudfiles.rackspac ... 801R05.mp3
(to see exact time use your browser player by pasting the link to a new tab)

I've tried Soundtoys Decapitator but this distortion sounds little different.

Thanks

[garryO]

hey,

Not so much experience here, but i think as your example is from the 50´s, you probably have to do more then just add distortion.

They used different mic´s, amplifiers back then and recorded on tape or something.

So i would try some different tube amp and tape saturation vst and see what combination sounds closest.

The player you use for the example don´t show time info so it´s hard to know what 1:06 sounds.

[DMG68]

Sorry that I can't direct you to anything specific, but definitely look for tube modeled plugins.
I think that sound is often a singer hitting a tube mic really hard and then running through a tube pre-amp.

[garryO]

And maybe sound design isn´t the best place to ask, it probably suits better in effects.

[CHOOS]

It literally sounds like the vocal level was too hot for the mic or whatever it was recorded on so simple clipping would make sense

[mishitoku]

Thanks, guys.
I'll try to move the topic to effects section.

[donkey tugger]

The marvellous RC-20 by XLN, amongst many other things, includes a distortion mode called 'air', which really nicely mimics the effect of air pressure overloading a mic/speaker. Not really heard anything else quite like it.

[garryO]

tried to find out if a mic is soft or hard clipping

"distortion from the mic itself but this is very rare because in order to get a signal with distortion from the mic you would need to sing above the SPL(Sound Pressure Level) of the mic, which usually is above 130db, and would be really difficult to sing that loud unless you are screaming while touching the mic with your mouth."

https://recording-voice.com/how-do-i-st ... -clipping/

but maybe this is only for modern mic´s.

anyways, i would try soft clipping for the sound of old gear.

[BertKoor]

The distortion comes not from the mic, but the needle (driven by a transducer) that cut it to vinyl. Amplitude gets larger than it can handle, so there it clips.

Btw I have some 45's played grey (used worn needles too often) and that comes close as well.

[mishitoku]

The marvellous RC-20 by XLN, amongst many other things, includes a distortion mode called 'air', which really nicely mimics the effect of air pressure overloading a mic/speaker. Not really heard anything else quite like it.

Thanks, donkey tugger. RC-20 seems to sound quite close.

[mishitoku]

The distortion comes not from the mic, but the needle (driven by a transducer) that cut it to vinyl. Amplitude gets larger than it can handle, so there it clips.

Btw I have some 45's played grey (used worn needles too often) and that comes close as well.

That's interesting, but as far as I know the record has never been on vinyl and comes directly from portable recorder (music ethnologist archive).

[Uncle E]

If you haven't already, try pre-EQ'ing into the distortion. The recording is mainly midrange, with a ton of highs and lows filtered out. Sorry if I'm stating the obvious but the distortion will sound different based on the signal driving it, like the difference between an electric guitar with a magnetic pickup vs. an acoustic-electric with a piezo pickup.

[mishitoku]

If you haven't already, try pre-EQ'ing into the distortion. The recording is mainly midrange, with a ton of highs and lows filtered out. Sorry if I'm stating the obvious but the distortion will sound different based on the signal driving it, like the difference between an electric guitar with a magnetic pickup vs. an acoustic-electric with a piezo pickup.

I tried that in first place, but it's a good point. The problem I got now is that my distortion sounds somehow metallic, it lacks this softness from the example. I can cut to some level the metallic feature with EQ but then I lose a lot of this nice qualities of the distortion and it all gets too muddy.

[mishitoku]

Hey guys, if you'd like to follow on that here is the link to the new topic updated with my recordings in Effects section. viewtopic.php?f=6&t=559776