Adding "Grit" or "Rasp" to Vocals - any vst plugin suggestions appreciated

[Qkimat]

Was already mentioned, but I need to +1 Analog Obsession. Great plugins with lots of character. There are preamps which you can drive to get that gritty saturation. There are compressors, which will push the vocals forward. Finally, there are nice EQs, which will help bring out those harsh frequencies. That's your free option.
For paid ones - you can try Kalnghelm's MJUC - it has an amazing saturation alogithm built in. If you push it using the 2nd compressor model, and bring up the compression a bit, you should be in the ballpark of the 'not-clean' tone you might be looking for.

[Aloysius]

If you're going to try Analog Obsession, be sure to do a virus scan before using.

[jamcat]

Cigarettes and whiskey.

[jens]

thats digitalfishphones which is sasha eversmeier who was at u-he
maybe you can find some blockfish heritage in presswerk, satin or uhbik

Nope, wrong company - AM Track and especially AM Munition are the plugins to carry on the Blockfish heritage. (AM Munition is basically Blockfish V2 minus the VCA mode, which can be found in AM Track, however in the latter case only as a single-stage)

https://www.magix.com/ch/musik/analogue ... ing-suite/

[imrae]

I have a clean sounding voice and prefer it to have a bit more character for many of the songs I do. I used to use Blockfish compressor which had a useful control for dialling in some grit/rasp/distortion - I'm not sure how to describe what I am looking for, just not clean.

Saturation processes add harmonics and smooths out dynamics; 'distortion' won't make a performance more gritty unless it's some spluttery fuzz.

If you're trying to add texture to something smooth, think about layering. If it's a busy rock mix, try overdubbing some screaming. If it's an intimate pop pix, try overdubbing some whispering. If something more electronic, a noisy vocoder could work.

[LeVzi]

Depends how messed up you'd want to make the vocal. Grit and Rasp, I dunno, id try a bitcrusher on it, very light wet/dry mix or as a send. Maybe a preamp overcooked, who knows, tbh that guy from Disturbed can add it just by the way he sings, so how you'd emulate that in the digital world is a question id like to know if can be answered.

[Effectsworks]

Pretty much any saturator will do you. I tend to use Soundtoys Decapitator on mine.

[andymcbain]

+1 for Decapitator

[Razzia]

thats digitalfishphones which is sasha eversmeier who was at u-he
maybe you can find some blockfish heritage in presswerk, satin or uhbik

Nope, wrong company - AM Track and especially AM Munition are the plugins to carry on the Blockfish heritage. (AM Munition is basically Blockfish V2 minus the VCA mode, which can be found in AM Track, however in the latter case only as a single-stage)

https://www.magix.com/ch/musik/analogue ... ing-suite/

Yeah but I'm 90% sure it's the same person, Sasha, who worked at u-he as well. There's been lots of talk about that

[billcarroll]

Noveltech Vocal Enhancer enhances the midrange, for vocals and pretty much anything else. Not sure how gritty or raspy, but I do hear some qualities like that when the plugin is pushed. Anyway, great vocal plugin.

[jens]

thats digitalfishphones which is sasha eversmeier who was at u-he
maybe you can find some blockfish heritage in presswerk, satin or uhbik

Nope, wrong company - AM Track and especially AM Munition are the plugins to carry on the Blockfish heritage. (AM Munition is basically Blockfish V2 minus the VCA mode, which can be found in AM Track, however in the latter case only as a single-stage)

https://www.magix.com/ch/musik/analogue ... ing-suite/

Yeah but I'm 90% sure it's the same person, Sasha, who worked at u-he as well. There's been lots of talk about that

It is absolutely the same person. Sascha Eversmeier. But that is certainly not at all enough to suggest Presswerk as a valid alternative to Blockfish - you could just as well suggest about every other plugin compressor by every other company.

it's very different plugins and between the initial release of the AM Suite, which is the direct commercial successor to the Fishfillets (i.e. based on the the same algorithms) and that of Presswerk, which is an entirely different plugin altogether, there was a looooong time.

(The Uhbik suite was developed by Urs himself btw.)

[Obsolete462444]

You can get that kind of gritty vocal saturation from Voxengo Tube Amp. Klevgrand FreeAmp will also get you in the ballpark. You can also use Freeclip with a soft clipping shape with the treshold set to flatten the overshooting transients, but not the main "body" of the vocals. If your DAW can bridge 32 bit plugins (?) you can also use good old Ferric TDS - after all these years still outstanding. MJuc jr set to fast setting with minimal gain reduction (1 - 2 dbs on the VU), followed by one or multiple of the mentioned plugins. All these options are FREE!

Additional tips:

Create a FX buss / Send channel and load a convolution / cabinet plugin. Load a guitar cabinet impulse (not an overly "heavy metal" one, think more 60s Fender or early Marshall amps) set to fully wet.

Now send some of your vocal signal into the FX buss. You now basically have a parallel channel of your vocal coming out of a guitar speaker. You can also put a guitar amp in front of the cabinet on the FX buss, but use a clean one (Ignite Amps Emissary clean channel or Shattered Glass Audio Ace)...

[Aloysius]

As I pointed out earlier. He/She/Whatever can get the exact thing by using the original thing (plugin). It's not rocket science.

[21tones]

Thank you to everyone for taking the time to respond. I appreciate it. I didn't realise it was possible to use 32bit vsts inside a 64bit DAW. It looks a bit fiddly, from the quick bit I have read. I'm not sure I can mix 64 bit and bridged 32bit vsts in the same song. I think I will just look for 64 bit vsts. I'm sure the quality of them will be better given we are 15 years on from when I first was using 32 bit ones.
There are lots of suggestions for me to explore here, and some interesting techniques to try as well.
Ultimately I just wish I had a different sounding voice but I don't!
If anyone here is old enough to remember The Who and have heard the song demos done completely by Pete Townsend where he sings the lead vocal, then compares the final track with a vocal by Roger Daltrey it feels like that. Townsend could never use a plugin or engineering/mixing technique to make himself sound like Daltrey. I know I can't get such a dramatic vocal change either but a bit more character will help. Townsend generally made the sacrifice not to do lead vocals for commercial reasons. As the songwriter and multi-instrumentalist I don't have those concerns!!!
Thanks again everybody.

[Obsolete462444]

About 32 bit plugins: it's sctually almost hassle-free to use them in some DAWs (Cubase before version 10, Reaper and Tracktion / Waveform have internal bit bridges, so no problemo here). Varietyofsound plugins (Win only) are still top-notch compared to most current plugins, but apart from those I have fully swapped my 32 bit go to's with 64 alternatives.

Correction: current version of Tracktion Waveform doesn't do 32 bit plugin bridging, but FL Studio does. Thanks to @pough for pointing it out!