Help With My Death Metal Vocals

[shinderhizzle84]

Hello, how are you? I know this has probably been asked on these forums before but I'm not necessarily asking for help mixing death metal vocals in general but more like my OWN vocals.

Here is a vocal cover I did of one of my favorite bands:



I mixed this myself in a friend of mine's copy of Adobe Audition. I had basically no idea what I was doing.

Which is why I'm coming here. I'm wondering about specific instruction over how I can get my vocals sounding as professional as possible with my pretty mediocre equipment

I'm using a Shure SM58 microphone which is hooked up to a USB slot in my computer using SONY Lightsnake.

This being said, I'm wondering what various effects and/or plugins I can use to enhance my vocals to the maximum amount. The sound that you're hearing is pretty much raw, save I think a +5 boost to the highest frequency on Adobe Audition's built-in graphic equalizer and a small "Vocal Reverb" effect.

But I'm wondering how I can get it more clear and full without lowering the sound quality.

Also, if you can, please don't just say "Reverb a lot" or whatever. If you're going to suggest using a specific type of effect, I'd like to know more specifics: for EQing, which frequencies should I be changing and by how much? For Compression and reverb, which I've also heard have a huge importance when mixing and mastering death metal vocals, what settings should I change and how much should I change them by?

Things like this will save a lot of us, including myself, some time, and it would be greatly appreciated if any of you guys can help me out! Thank you so much, and I'd appreciate all of the help that I can get!

 

[jackbraglia]

here are some things you can do to get that full sound, play around with em, find what you like for your vocal style

the main 2 things for gutterals are:
1. multiband compression - compress the shit out of the low end and boost it
2. harmonic exciter - will give gutturals that extra harshness

with those alone you'll notice a huge difference, buta lso try playing with these:

some slap-back delay is always good, but dont over do it, automate it to come in on certain screams u want to emphasize
and some multi-delay of course on the ends of phrases

also you can double track (10-25ms delay)
and maybe even pitch shift that 2nd track down a few semi-tones

also you can create 2 duplicates of the original vocal, pan them left and right, pitch shift on down a few cents and the other up a few cents. bring their faders up slowly until you find the sweet spot, not too much or it becomes too apparent.

 

[Mago]

Generally speaking about harsh vocals:
Compress the shit out of them.

EQ, Harmonic exciting and so on isn't a must all of the time. If your voice works good with your mic you may not even need EQ at all.

Personally most of the the I do:
Eq, Compressor (you can try one hard compressor, or you try more compressors in a row whith softer settings), Reverb.
Delay sometimes works, sometimes it doesnt, depending on the song/part.
Tracking several performances and panning them also is a normal thing on most productions (that doesnt mean to just copy the track and throw delay on it though)
I'm not a friend of pitchshifting vocals.
Thats it for the general part.

I may have to add: Judging from the Youtube video it might be easier to work on your vocal skills...
the black metal screams sound good, but the deeper growls sound quite weak, and no FX can fix that.

 

[shinderhizzle84]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

@Jack: I have a multi-band compressor built into Adobe Audition, but I've got no idea how to use it. If I take a screenshot of it's interface, can you possibly show me which settings to tweak to "compress the low end and boost it"

Are there any good free Harmonic Exciters out there? If not, what are some good ones just in general?

@Mago

Haha, I'm kind of laughing a bit about your comments on my video. First of all thanks for watching. I just think it's funny because most people that I show the video say the exact opposite. I'm kind of glad you think differently, though, because I'm kind of starting to agree.

But I RARELY use my low growls. Only if I'm covering a real song. If I'm recording a song that I've written in Guitar Pro or something of that nature, I use high pitched screams almost 90% of the time.

Also, on a side note, I've heard the thing about duplicated vocal tracks and layering them on top of one another before. But whenever I do this, I get this really weird scratchy-echo-esque effect on the vocals. It kind of sounds almost robot-y, it's very weird. Could this be because I haven't ever tried putting a "10-25ms delay" on them? Generally I just duplicate the track twice and then pan one all the way right, and the other all the way left.

I've tried not doing that and instead raising one track a few tones up and the other a few tones down, but I STILL get that odd scratchy/echo effect...

How would I go about doing the 10-25ms delay thing? Is it just a matter of placing the track in the DAW a little bit to the right of the original track? Or is there some special tool??

 

[Mago]

Thanks for the responses, guys.

@Jack: I have a multi-band compressor built into Adobe Audition, but I've got no idea how to use it. If I take a screenshot of it's interface, can you possibly show me which settings to tweak to "compress the low end and boost it"

Are there any good free Harmonic Exciters out there? If not, what are some good ones just in general?

@Mago

Haha, I'm kind of laughing a bit about your comments on my video. First of all thanks for watching. I just think it's funny because most people that I show the video say the exact opposite. I'm kind of glad you think differently, though, because I'm kind of starting to agree.

But I RARELY use my low growls. Only if I'm covering a real song. If I'm recording a song that I've written in Guitar Pro or something of that nature, I use high pitched screams almost 90% of the time.

Also, on a side note, I've heard the thing about duplicated vocal tracks and layering them on top of one another before. But whenever I do this, I get this really weird scratchy-echo-esque effect on the vocals. It kind of sounds almost robot-y, it's very weird. Could this be because I haven't ever tried putting a "10-25ms delay" on them? Generally I just duplicate the track twice and then pan one all the way right, and the other all the way left.

I've tried not doing that and instead raising one track a few tones up and the other a few tones down, but I STILL get that odd scratchy/echo effect...

How would I go about doing the 10-25ms delay thing? Is it just a matter of placing the track in the DAW a little bit to the right of the original track? Or is there some special tool??

you have to record the same part 2 times, pan one to the left, the other to the right. copy the same track doesnt work.
Forget about the 10-25ms delay stuff, if jackbraglia ment what I think he ment.
The only effect you're getting with coping the same track and placing it 10-25ms later in the daw (i guess thats what he ment) is a weird chorus like effekt.

 

[shinderhizzle84]

Okay, thanks then, Mago. I will try recording twice tonight.

Out of curiosity does ithave to be EXACTLY the same as my first recordings? As in if I hold a particular word a bit longer or shorter than the first time I record, am I going to have to start all over again? Should I scream one in high rasps and the other in low growls, or would that just sound terrible?

Do I EQ each track differently, or do I just lay off of the eq settings and try compressing both identically?!?! Thanks again!

 

[Mago]

the 2 performances have to be as similar as possible.
you can add a higher one in the middle, or record another 2 takes of higher ones and pan them harder.

generally, same fx on the same kind of vocals.

 

[shinderhizzle84]

the 2 performances have to be as similar as possible.
you can add a higher one in the middle, or record another 2 takes of higher ones and pan them harder.

generally, same fx on the same kind of vocals.

Okay, thanks then, I think those are all of the questions I've got.

I'll try this tonight and try fooling around a bit and see what I can come up with. If I'm pleased enough with it, maybe I'll upload it to YT tonight (the song I'm recording sucks, because I wrote it , and it's a crappy sounding MIDI from Guitar Pro) so I can get some other opinions on it. Thanks once again!

 

[AntonioPetrole]

great song choice, but definetly work on technique about all. Your lows are not tight enough, too slurred i guess. Your hows sound pretty good compared to the vocalist in kalmah

 

[AHChris]

I really like the Floorfish compressor plugin for that kind of vocals. It´s from digitalfishphones.com (part of the fish fillets pack) and it´s free! Compress the vocals really hard with a rather fast response and add a ton of the included saturation. Have fun!

 

[shinderhizzle84]

I really like the Floorfish compressor plugin for that kind of vocals. It´s from digitalfishphones.com (part of the fish fillets pack) and it´s free! Compress the vocals really hard with a rather fast response and add a ton of the included saturation. Have fun!

Thanks, I'll give it a shot later tonight. Out of curiosity, what settings make a compressing job "harder". In other words, I'm a complete newbie who has no idea if maximizing all of the main settings make the compression "harder" or "softer?"...

Also what qualifies as a "rather fast response"? My computer's speakers are very bad and if I'm only making a slight and subtle change to a track, it's almost completely impossible to hear the difference, even if it might make all the difference in the world on somebody else's computer or on headphones or something, so I kind of NEED specificity.

Sorry to be such a bother haha

 

[shinderhizzle84]

great song choice, but definetly work on technique about all. Your lows are not tight enough, too slurred i guess. Your hows sound pretty good compared to the vocalist in kalmah

also yeah, I can see what you mean now. I always thought the actual tone that I was getting with my lows was nice and powerful but I did learn low's much later than high's, and I run out of breath very quickly, so I tend to rush through a verse while doing lows.

Definitely something to work on, so thanks for pointing that out!

 

[AHChris]

Thanks, I'll give it a shot later tonight. Out of curiosity, what settings make a compressing job "harder". In other words, I'm a complete newbie who has no idea if maximizing all of the main settings make the compression "harder" or "softer?"...

Also what qualifies as a "rather fast response"? My computer's speakers are very bad and if I'm only making a slight and subtle change to a track, it's almost completely impossible to hear the difference, even if it might make all the difference in the world on somebody else's computer or on headphones or something, so I kind of NEED specificity.

Sorry to be such a bother haha

Uh OK... With "response" I mean the knob labeled "response" you´ll find on the Blockfish plugin (sorry that I wrote Floorfish in my previous post, I actually meant the Blockfish). It sets the Attack and Release settings of the compressor. If you use a fast response, the compressor reacts to incoming peaks immediately, so you can even-out your vocals nicely. The Blockfish is a very simple compressor and it´s rather hard to let it sound wrong. Just fiddle with the knobs a bit and listen closely what it does. Read up on what the parameters on a compressor do.

 

[cent73]

Out of curiosity, what settings make a compressing job "harder". In other words, I'm a complete newbie who has no idea if maximizing all of the main settings make the compression "harder" or "softer?"...

One of the best sites to get familiar with compressing is http://lintrophx.com/irn/resources/compuncomp/

Check it out, it's worth it.

 

[SimonTaddio_Qc]

One of the best sites to get familiar with compressing is http://lintrophx.com/irn/resources/compuncomp/

Check it out, it's worth it.

Wow! Nice read!
Thanks buddy!

 

[DanLights]

One of the best sites to get familiar with compressing is http://lintrophx.com/irn/resources/compuncomp/

Check it out, it's worth it.

this site is plain awesome and I had lost the link to it some time ago, thanks!

 

[shinderhizzle84]

Okay, thanks for the idea about the Fish series, AHChris.

I fooled around a bit with all three compressors, actually, and believe I have gotten pretty favorable results. I think I still need to tinker a bit more, though.

Although I have to tell you that even though you told me to increase the built-in saturation, I feel obligated to tell you that I didn't like it. It created this terribly static effect (that's probably what it's supposed to do ) but my vocals sounded more like they were coming from a cheaply-built webcam than they did a high-end production. I have very cheap gear and don't have a very good sound card, so obviously I want to increase the sound quality as much as possible for a clear but "filling" effect. Is the saturation supposed to do something else that I'm somehow missing?

 

[metalslave]

Hi shinderhizzle84
I do death metal vocals and i mix my vocals in Sony Acid Music Studio. Personally i find editing vocals to sound deep and harsh not a great thing to do. Try practicing to improve your vocals if you are planning to do death metal vocals seriously. I have mixed few songs myself check it out here. I am not great at what i do or anything, its been only like 1 month since i started growling. I haven't specifically done anything to sound good, just increased the volume a little bit to overcome the actual vocals in the song. Keep growling have fun and make sure not to hurt yourself.