KVR Audio

aluntay · Post by **aluntay** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 3:55 pm

Hi, does anyone know of a suitable plugin to achieve the vocal distortion used by Muse on their Absolution album? Ive tried various distortion and tube emulations but nothing quite gets there. It sounds to me like a highly overdriven tube but retaining the clarity and warmth, most plugs ive tried are either brittle sounding and/or crap for keeping the clarity.

Any idea what he actually uses?

scamme · Post by **scamme** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 4:01 pm

maybe a chorus after distorting can help.

aluntay · Post by **aluntay** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 4:13 pm

hi, thanks for the reply. dont quite understand how a chorus would help.
But anyway, what about the initial distorted sound, if I could find something like that then there would be little need to add chorus, or anything else for that matter, later.

scamme · Post by **scamme** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 4:28 pm

Sometimes chorus can warm up some distorted sounds in a very nice way.

Musicmad · Post by **Musicmad** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 10:34 pm

I haven't tried getting that sound myself, but I would definately try some multiband distortion like predatohm og that quad thing in Cubase/Nuendo.

No name · Post by **No name** » Sat Jun 11, 2005 11:05 pm

I think a problem may be that you need to turn the distortion down a little. At just the right volume, the distortion should have that sound but yet still retain some clarity.

Kim Lajoie · Post by **Kim Lajoie** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 2:58 am

Mix the distorted signal with the undistorted signal. The use clean signal for vocal clarity, and add some distorted signal in the mix for extra fuzz.

Forever,

Kim.

rockstarfx · Post by **rockstarfx** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 5:23 am

yeah, mix it with dry. i use guitar amp sims, smoother

brianbrian · Post by **brianbrian** » Sun Jun 12, 2005 7:44 am

I'm pretty sure live the vocal distortion comes from a Line6 POD.

AKJ · Post by **AKJ** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:03 pm

it did not hear muse but i izotope trash might be what you are looking for

akj

haydxn · Post by **haydxn** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:10 pm

well i can't speak for what they do in the studio, but every live gig has matt bellamy singing into a megaphone into the microphone to get his distortion

championrabbit · Post by **championrabbit** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 12:30 pm

What about a nice Green Bullet microphone?

bobby yarrow · Post by **bobby yarrow** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 3:08 pm

Musicmad wrote:I haven't tried getting that sound myself, but I would definately try some multiband distortion like predatohm og that quad thing in Cubase/Nuendo.

You know, I never noticed that quad thing until your post. Needed a 'crappy tape recorder' effect over the weekend, and there it was, worked like a charm.

the V · Post by **the V** » Mon Jun 13, 2005 4:01 pm

Maybe you've already did that, it's really basic,
but have you tried band-pass EQ after the distortion?

Distort as much as you want, even a lot,
then cut off to taste (possibly with a steep roll-off) some bass and treble - I think it simulates just the same limited bandwith response as a phone or a megaphone.
This could remove the harshness but leave the sound dirty.

Vocal distorton ala Muse