I trialled Gamma and with the SPECTRE25 DISCOUNT, it cost just £48.00 (big thanks to this channel, 21 May 2024)🏆😎 - and it's well worth it. If you've got Cubase 13 and therefore, Steinberg's new Vocal plugin, which took me quite a while to get used to, then you'll find Gamma easier to dial in and much swifter results!! All the best ✌️🤠
I can only count in one hand how many metal singers are actually great at their craft. Most have some talent but their parts fall off in the composition or vice-versa.
Not the whole truth .. Some people have a nice voice on thier own .. Like Lou Reed had for example .. So there are exceptions. So if you are not the best singer then you should be caring that you sound is very cool if you sing . If you rely on Autotune then you wont get better thats another thing in 2024 .. People are lazy and think singing is not an instrument.. You got milk out where you are good and dont bend up yourself because you have the idea that you got to hit high notes. But i am agree for 90 % because of exceptions, i like people who are selfmade singers if they sound cool .. Sorry for bad english I'm dutch
Well, I used to have a 6 octave range and could do all kinds of vocal effects, I was urged to get into opera... but my voice just never sounded good, and there's nothing I could do about it other than seeing if some facial, and dental surgeons want to reconstruct my sinuses and the rest of the shit to fix it! And well, I'm sure there's plenty of reasons to call it a no go. I also fell in love with the guitar, and made it my craft, and then even found I like to and can build them better than playing them! So It's what I have been doing for nearly 5 decades. But I do agree that many who think they can sing, are not good at it. I noticed that some don't call themselves "Singers" but "Vocalists" often in a way that makes it sound like the encompass more than just singing, when in reality they are saying the don't sing, but grunt and squeal really well: Listen to (at your own risk) Yoko Ono!
As a struggling alcoholic and solo music fucker, alcohol definitely fucks everything up. If you can't record without drinking, look into some help, and I mean that out of love and empathy. I am having a really hard time myself. Much love
I stopped drinking 3 years ago (not by my own willpower, happened naturally) i have noticed that I don’t write and mix anywhere near as well as i used to. My aim is to eventually enjoy hobbies as i did when i was a kid. All without booze but highest excitement! Still working on it. In-fact, at my studio now enjoying Saturday evening doing some spring cleaning listening to boof heads videos! Try to open the heart space to create, your soul will thank you and your drinking will suddenly stop. Namaste!
I swear dude, you have an uncanny ability to release a video just at the same time I start thinking 'Well, I watched everything I wanted for today...' Happened three times in a row!
I Also swear, like two years ago he did the same thing, but for every mix problem I was trying to solve. Several days in a row. I was freaked out. Musta been channeling something XD
This is one of your best, non comedy episodes. Great work, beautiful mastery of use of reverb, delay and mic timing-distance. That plug-in is POWERFUL.
Your cousin is damn right. Not only strip dairy and alcohol, but sugar(!!!) drinks! Also, eat less than usual eventually, and the MOST important and efficient thing to me to ensure my vocal performance is on point: sleep enough 2-3 days before the gig! I hate sleeping early and "missing out on my day", but proper sleep is absolutely crucial to focus and hone in on your craft. This is a thing which is often understated.
around 8:00 I'm pretty sure that's the kind of crucial tip usually given in expensive courses, to hear it for free feels like a robbery lmao, thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge Glenn !
Ahh much better blend on the video editing this time! Not too much, not too little and let me focus in on what is going on better. Keep up the awesome work everyone!
Saw this on another channel recently. solid plugin! This is like what the Waves Scheps Omni Channel wants to be. this plugin literally has everything I already use to put on my vocal chain in one plugin at a good quality (which i find kinda rare for these all in one solutions). The thing is that i just don't reach for channel strips for the entire strip and i probably won't use this like that either, but the big highlights for me here that i don't see often in these style plugins is that the saturation is actually really good and offers various optoins, width and doubler control, and that ducking feature (something I do in automation if the mix is dense or calls for it).
Great advice... I would drink green tea with honey the day I'm tracking vocals. The honey cleans the pipes by getting garbage to stick to it and flushing it out. I usually track the main vocal, add width to it... then I usually add about 3 more vocal tracks under it panned differently with less volume than the master vocal track and layer it so that it sounds in unison.
The secret to having a great vocal sound is to start by singing in tune, followed by having a bit of character in your voice. A lot of people think they can sing when they really can't.
God, I've spent so much time micromanaging vocals. You have some singers that just can't stay in one spot and perform, so you gotta chop up the performance, do clip gain on individual words, and do separate EQ on bits that have more proximity than others. Only because the performances were bloody amazing and worth the trouble. It worked though. For my vocals, I just hit the mute button. Instant mix saver. 😁
Whereas I don’t sing screaming/growl metal but cutting through the mix when low is important and taming when belting is the eternal balance between the instrument mixing. This sounds like a really great tool Glenn. It’s an all in one utility. Thank you
Glenn! I think it was in this video when you mentioned or hinted at this idea that a lot of metal has gotten boring. As a listener I kinda feel like sometimes musicians focus too much on showing off the cool stuff they can do even when it's not appropriate and it got me thinking about what makes a hit song. I was listening to some pentatonic-based stoner rock today and got to thinking that what gets that second and third and hundredth listen isn't that your music is difficult to execute, it's that your music is difficult to forget. Sometimes the simplest riff or vocal line is the best earworm.
Holy balls, the screaming metal is really "in your face". Caught me off guard half listening the video at that point on my computer and I jumped a little haha! Sounds awesome!
One thing I love about mixing vocals is shaping the room. If it’s a wider mix and you want more present reverb, pre delay is so good for making the vocals appear more upfront and not washed out if the instruments are super wide, and if you side chain the reverb to the vocals you can get really beautiful sounding tails
I’ve been using Decapitator on my more aggressive vocals and it always winds up having a chirp to it. But this seems to do the saturated vocal thing pretty easily Hopefully it doesn’t devour CPU like Howard Benson Vocals
On vocal live sound: the PA is actually loud enough to let you hear the vocals. The problem here lies in how loud the other instruments are. Trust me, when you hold back a bit on the volume knob or drum stroke, you'll sound better
I wonder how this compares to the Howard Benson vocal plugin from jst. It is my go to plugin for vocals. This seems to be sort of the same with more tweak ability 🤔
Glenn have you tried XVox by nuro audio. It’s a vocal chain much like this and it’s got the ducking thing going on for the reverb and delay. I enjoy it quite a bit. I got the pro version on sale. I’d like to hear your perspective and see what you could do with it.
Gleeeeen! I would love to see an episode where you tell us how the EQ on our radios and stereos efect the sound of the music that we listen too. I do more harm than good whenever I try to make a little EQ adjustment.
if just a stereo (for example car) put a song on that has many different instruments of a genre you like and know what it's supposed to sound like. Pick first EQ knob, go overboard to know what it does in practise and come back down to where you like it. Next knob. Do this for all knobs and maybe 2-3 times again. If like phone->car stereo, phones often have these EQ wizards that tell you to shut out all other noise as much as possible (although you could be a passenger and do it with the driving noise for more accurate practise solution) and it makes a beep-test. You click yes if you hear it, no if you don't. Ofc turn the stereo up where you hear at least most of them. Then it'll drop the frequencies you hear better and bumb the ones you don't, often leading to a balanced tone. It can do wonders but since my car has a crappy radio/speakers/amps that isn't earily replaced, it's as good as it gets. Balanced to be sure, but kinda weak. One of my older cars went wont trashcan to surprisingly good by just replacing the radio to a Pioneer something. No discobass but surprisingly strong, for a 1989 opel! I've done it with some other stuff though, and it sounds stellar!
Well first, I cant sing. But I found the only way to make my really bad voice sound decent (mix wise anyways) I need to use TONS of plugins. LOTS of saturation, compression, EQ, finally LOTS of delay and reverb to hide my terrible voice behind. I also find doubling my vocals (by singing them twice terribly, not copy and pasting) also makes my vocals sound slightly less terrible. I'd get a singer, but Im incapable of working with any other musicians or having other peoples input in my music at this point. ALSO, Glenn if you read this - what did you think about the late great Steve Albini's recording methods? I feel like you'd have some disagreements with the way he did things, and at the same time lots in common.
Question, when is it appropriate to solo a track? Is it to take out any unnecessary frequences by using the EQ? I kind of ran into this issue where I was dialing in an amp tone (while having the the guitar track on solo) and when I thought it sounded it good, brought it into the mix and it sounded like shit. What am I doing wrong here? Thanks for everything Glen!
This one might actually help me, I am a vocalist. I'm no professional, I sing at home doing karaoke. I do have a few videos on FB and Instagram however. I know about dairy, I don't have any before singing....period! Trying to sing with a cold or just sick in general sucks too! UGH! I got Covid in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, that really fucked with me. For about a year, year and a half I couldn't even get in a full breath. It really screwed my lungs for the long haul, I was finally able to breathe regularly after about two years. I literally had to teach myself how to sing again, it took another 6 months to a year. It took a year to be able to actually hold a note so singing to Amy Lee was a no go and "Bring Me To Life" is one of my go-to's. It really sucked just trying as I'd get the breath but then trying to get a note out I'd start coughing and hacking. Instead I started singing easier songs with shorter notes so I didn't choke on them. In some ways getting Covid was almost a good thing, I think my voice actually improved! Not because I got sick but because of the extra work I put into my vocals after, I feel my voice is much stronger now than it was before. I realize I went off topic, I tend to do that. haha! Getting back on topic all I have right now is the mic on my laptop and phone. It doesn't seem to be too bad but obviously NOT great!! I'll keep watching your videos and take note of your tips, hopefully someday I'll be able to buy more equipment. I appreciate that you share your knowledge, I really should have started watching you a long time ago. I've also started following you on Instagram and FB as well.
So I’m curious about the dairy one. Alcohol dehydrates and that directly affects your vocal cords, but liquids never touch your vocal cords when you drink! That being said, the time-tested experience of a, say, opera soprano clearly should be heeded. I’m just curious how, if liquids never touch the cords, it can mess with or coat them! I hope someone has some insight on this because I’ve struggled with the idea for a long time! New fan here, I fugkin LOVE your channel dude. 🤘
When it comes to effects, one of the most useful things I do is a fairly severe low-cut and high-cut on echo and reverb. This applies to both studio and live. You get the gist of the effect but it isn't stepping all over the rest of the mix. Of course, that's only one of many things to getting a good mix but it's an easy place to start.
4:16 But that's a crucial point, though, isn't it? Compression is one of the main steps to get a vocal that sits well in the mix. You shouldn't skip over that part. I'd even compress that vocal further still.
I really like this kind of all-in-one plugins for my workflow and overview. This is why I landed on iZotope stuff a long time ago. Alloy and Nectar 2 at first, now Neutron for all purposes and Nectar 4 for vocals. Just so convinient, but might give this Gamma a try also
Awesome Glenn! I miss these type of videos. Reminds me of the early days. You also missed a great opportunity for some kind of Americans + cheese joke when talking about laying off dairy.
That seems like reasonable advise, Glenn. Singing is a very physical thing. The key to me, is energy. Pushing out air and making it sound good in a healthy way, demands energy. Certainly in a studio where the clock is ticking away, you need to be able perform line after line after line and that can be sooo demanding. Not having enough energy means trouble. The kind of trouble that will strain your voice and vocal chords. So I'd advise to get enough sleep, not going on benders a good period of time before studiowork, even eating less carbs (I'm not a food expert but that works for me). But there is the psychological side aswell. Don't go changing that kind of stuff over night. On a studio day, go about your normal routine, unless you normally get shitfaced every day. What I mean is, don't go drinking gallons of water if that's not your habit. Grab your normal cup of coffee etc. Beside energy it boils down to technique. Everyone can learn how to sing. Threat your vocals like an instrument and learn how it works, grab some lessons on a regular basis, find a coach that isn't just a singer that needs money. Personally, I'm a fan of the CVT school because it's science based and works with a vocabulary that I can work with, so it doesn't matter what coach I'm talking to. So not drinking alcohol or consuming dairy, might be a good start but it's a way longer process than that. So vocalists, spend the money the other bandmembers are spending on gear and spend it on vocal lessons, even if you think you're the bomb. You're probably not (or not yet).
Went ahead and added RIVER to my playlists. The production on that djenty song also sounds tight though! I'd love to listen to the finished product of that - I'm a sucker for all kinds of well-produced music. Would you point me in the right direction? Thanks!
Boss DD2 or 3 with electro Harmonix holy grail reverb,soz analogue is more for me hands on.. but you understanding of our brains into digital is great your sound is great .
Sounds great! a lot of things I do with multiple plugins so I’m curious to try this one. I also use a side chain proq3 on the instrument mix that dips the vocal frequencies just a small amount. Let’s it sit “more in the mix”
I just use drawmer s73 for compression, JST soar for delay (tape), and tsar reverb. Reverb and delay are on busses though, no way would I ever put a delay or reverb on the track channel.
These kind of plugins are cool (I've tried Izotope Nectar and IK's Joe Chiccarelli plugin) but I much prefer to do reverbs and delays separately so I can use as many as I need to and easily adjust them individually.
@3:31...ohhh! It's a commercial 🤣 Seriously though. There are some fantastic vox plugins available these days. I've used the IK JC Vocal Strip with amazing results.
I like those all in one plugins, because they just stream line the workflow. I use my own go-to vocal chain, but I've thought about getting the Howard Benson vocal plugin. But then again, I'd only buy it for convenience.
My vocals sound bad because I’m not a singer but no one in my town is a metal vocalist so I’m on my own if I want to write and record music. I don’t WANT to sing but I want to make music because I love it. So I do the best I can! Thanks Glenn I’m totally going to check this out!
The only metal vocalist is the ones that use the Cookie Monster technique. Don't go full Cookie Monster. The rest of the metal singers are opera singers and or blues singers.
Question...Why are there no recent videos, and what nots of all the bands your working with all these years? I scare away almost every musician I work with once I mention recording, and or making a video for RUclips 🤔🍻🤘
I've been needing this exact plugin. It's crazy how many self-styled "recording engineers" have no idea how to properly mix vocals. They see them as just background noise for the guitars, I guess.
Another good idea is giving up sweets. I sing also and I gained at least half an octave after two weeks! Certain higher notes used to irritate my throat horribly because I was so into sweets. Giving them up changed the game.
Some people here say that they cant sing .. If you want to sing then i have a tip .. Search the range of your voice first and practice with a piano or guitar if you can hit the notes .. Use words like EH or NA or HNGGG and bend it up not to far otherwise you make maybe some damage .. I never use autotune and thats good too because you got to learn to love your voice and you got to hear what you maybe doing wrong .. Autotune is used by people who want to sing out of range and dont know how to sound cool or sometimes they even cant sing I like raw oldskool recording with no time stamps and no autotune as fixer .. Good Video as always . I like Glenn he is cool..
Two Producers whom I would love to see their brain picked are Matt Thomas and Pete Hinton - they recorded some , no THE favourite guitar tones of all time for me!
GLEEEEEEEEEEEN, I really like your videos and your cientific approach to the issues regarding recording and more, but please enlighten me, what is de deal with avoiding dairy products and vocal performance? I'm asking for a friend (wink wink) greetings from Montréal
I have this plugin and really like it. The problem is it makes my vocals quite, so I have to click "throw" on the delay section and then unclick it for the vocals to be back up to normal volume. Does anyone else have this problem, I'm using it in Reaper. BTW it does it on two different computers.
has anyone used this and the howard benson vocal chain plugin and compared them? Is there one that you like more? I have the howard benson but I would be interested in checking this out!
so what is the WIDTH and DOUBLER actually doing? are either/both of them a good substitute for actual double tracks? im mainly thinking about clean vocals here. is one/both of them basically just delaying the right or left channel by a few ms? or is there more going on? anything i can do to avoid having to record two perfectly identical takes would save me a lot of time as i only ever record myself as a hobby. i like to throw ideas together quickly. also curious how much latency it adds because i can run mostly stock FL plugins and get compression, de-ess, eq, reeverb, delay for all of 2ms. i can run it all live if i want
doubling the same take doesnt have the same effect has redo another one. it gives a different sound. It's up to you to choose what the right things to use.
I'm curious about how the width effect is created. The reason I ask I that I wonder how it will sound when bended to mono (like playing though a single Bluetooth speaker. Gotta make sure the mix still works in mono.
My vocals sound alright in a mix... until I hear myself on different headphones or speakers. I want to get studio monitors once my finances get there. Still, when I started to test out the mix (Glenn trick) on multiple sound playback systems, it helps a lot. I just got to remember to do this when I speed record and speed mix
I'm from Scotland, so having a deep-fried pizza (yes Scots do that) and chips (french fries) just before you go on is bad? Might explain the Proclaimers.
Hmmh... Okay, this video wasn't quite for me. I've got the singing part down, thanks to years of singing lessons, but I could use some kind of a ground-up thing especially with the compression which you skipped here entirely. I guess I could use some kind of an explanation on what each bit of the plugin does here and why use them. And sorry, Glenn, you seemed to be showing off the plugin more than, you know, how to use it to the best effect. I don't mean to sound like "do my work for me", but... perhaps you could do a bit of a ground-up approach? Never mind me. I'm so used to getting the best advice from you that I'm at loss when it doesn't connect. :D
A tip I would give anyone recording vocals or just learning to sing especially into a microphone, if you can't hear yourself with headphones on monitoring yourself, you're singing wrong, make sure you're using your sinuses, should feel full in your head, and make sure your voice is in front of your mouth, not the back of your throat
I trialled Gamma and with the SPECTRE25 DISCOUNT, it cost just £48.00 (big thanks to this channel, 21 May 2024)🏆😎 - and it's well worth it. If you've got Cubase 13 and therefore, Steinberg's new Vocal plugin, which took me quite a while to get used to, then you'll find Gamma easier to dial in and much swifter results!! All the best ✌️🤠
Even with a good mix my vocals sound “ew is this what I sound like” 🤦🏻♀️
Everybody hates their own voice lol
Sounds sick !!!!
Everyone feels this way, it is something that goes away with time, being silly and comical about it helps ease the pain sometimes lol
Bone conduction fucks up perception. Wear hearing protection and increase the volume of the monitoring to negate it
@@UToobSteak nah, I love my voice. The problem is convincing anyone else to like it haha
The reason most vocals sound like sh*t in the mix is because most people cannot sing. True story.
Man is that ever true
I can only count in one hand how many metal singers are actually great at their craft. Most have some talent but their parts fall off in the composition or vice-versa.
Not the whole truth .. Some people have a nice voice on thier own .. Like Lou Reed had for example .. So there are exceptions.
So if you are not the best singer then you should be caring that you sound is very cool if you sing .
If you rely on Autotune then you wont get better thats another thing in 2024 .. People are lazy and think singing is not an instrument..
You got milk out where you are good and dont bend up yourself because you have the idea that you got to hit high notes.
But i am agree for 90 % because of exceptions, i like people who are selfmade singers if they sound cool ..
Sorry for bad english I'm dutch
Well, I used to have a 6 octave range and could do all kinds of vocal effects, I was urged to get into opera... but my voice just never sounded good, and there's nothing I could do about it other than seeing if some facial, and dental surgeons want to reconstruct my sinuses and the rest of the shit to fix it! And well, I'm sure there's plenty of reasons to call it a no go. I also fell in love with the guitar, and made it my craft, and then even found I like to and can build them better than playing them! So It's what I have been doing for nearly 5 decades. But I do agree that many who think they can sing, are not good at it. I noticed that some don't call themselves "Singers" but "Vocalists" often in a way that makes it sound like the encompass more than just singing, when in reality they are saying the don't sing, but grunt and squeal really well: Listen to (at your own risk) Yoko Ono!
This!!
My vocals sound like sh*t in a mix mostly because I can't sing.
Same
Yes! I find my day job is... how do you say indispensable?
Same lol
Right there with you, buddy.
- Does dairy affect your tone?
- Dude dairy IS my tone
Same here! I can’t do my bedroom voice without beer and Pizza! 😂
That would be a funny idea for a VST, just a vocal plugin that is designed to look like a cow. Had a single knob that says "MOO"
I thought milk actually helped me with my distortion 😭
The sharpening visual effect on "harsh esses" at 8:42 was a very nice touch.
Ok, so I WASN'T trippin'?
As a struggling alcoholic and solo music fucker, alcohol definitely fucks everything up. If you can't record without drinking, look into some help, and I mean that out of love and empathy. I am having a really hard time myself. Much love
The hardest struggle with alcohol is paying for it ;)
More seriously, props to you, I just _convince_ myself I _want_ it ;)
tbh if u cant record without drinking that probavbly means u choose the wrong career.
@@n1troni Politics is where it's at.
I stopped drinking 3 years ago (not by my own willpower, happened naturally) i have noticed that I don’t write and mix anywhere near as well as i used to. My aim is to eventually enjoy hobbies as i did when i was a kid. All without booze but highest excitement! Still working on it. In-fact, at my studio now enjoying Saturday evening doing some spring cleaning listening to boof heads videos! Try to open the heart space to create, your soul will thank you and your drinking will suddenly stop. Namaste!
I swear dude, you have an uncanny ability to release a video just at the same time I start thinking 'Well, I watched everything I wanted for today...' Happened three times in a row!
I Also swear, like two years ago he did the same thing, but for every mix problem I was trying to solve. Several days in a row. I was freaked out. Musta been channeling something XD
This is one of your best, non comedy episodes. Great work, beautiful mastery of use of reverb, delay and mic timing-distance. That plug-in is POWERFUL.
Wow, thanks!
I'd love to see you interview Devin Townsend... amazingly versatile singer, great guitarist, and supreme mix engineer all in one.
Any chance of this?
Your cousin is damn right. Not only strip dairy and alcohol, but sugar(!!!) drinks! Also, eat less than usual eventually, and the MOST important and efficient thing to me to ensure my vocal performance is on point: sleep enough 2-3 days before the gig!
I hate sleeping early and "missing out on my day", but proper sleep is absolutely crucial to focus and hone in on your craft. This is a thing which is often understated.
around 8:00 I'm pretty sure that's the kind of crucial tip usually given in expensive courses, to hear it for free feels like a robbery lmao, thank you for sharing your experience and knowledge Glenn !
Ahh much better blend on the video editing this time! Not too much, not too little and let me focus in on what is going on better. Keep up the awesome work everyone!
Keeping the algorithm alive Glen. I play your playlists while I'm busy at work. Hoping for a fast and full recovery for the hubby.
Saw this on another channel recently. solid plugin! This is like what the Waves Scheps Omni Channel wants to be. this plugin literally has everything I already use to put on my vocal chain in one plugin at a good quality (which i find kinda rare for these all in one solutions). The thing is that i just don't reach for channel strips for the entire strip and i probably won't use this like that either, but the big highlights for me here that i don't see often in these style plugins is that the saturation is actually really good and offers various optoins, width and doubler control, and that ducking feature (something I do in automation if the mix is dense or calls for it).
Great advice... I would drink green tea with honey the day I'm tracking vocals. The honey cleans the pipes by getting garbage to stick to it and flushing it out. I usually track the main vocal, add width to it... then I usually add about 3 more vocal tracks under it panned differently with less volume than the master vocal track and layer it so that it sounds in unison.
The secret to having a great vocal sound is to start by singing in tune, followed by having a bit of character in your voice. A lot of people think they can sing when they really can't.
It's like in a group doing karaoke the worst of the bunch always hogs the mic. People that suck do so because they don't think they do.
Proper diction is important. Anybody can be a mumbling muppet and many pro singers are.
As always Glen, you rock! Thanks again for the info.
That's a neat plug in. That would be great for guitar too.
I'm trying to be very stripped down stuff.
Hoping for the best for you and Julie, Glenn!
God, I've spent so much time micromanaging vocals. You have some singers that just can't stay in one spot and perform, so you gotta chop up the performance, do clip gain on individual words, and do separate EQ on bits that have more proximity than others. Only because the performances were bloody amazing and worth the trouble. It worked though.
For my vocals, I just hit the mute button. Instant mix saver. 😁
I must say, I haven't watched many SMG videos recently (a year or two even), but this series has made me come back.
9:28 What's the name of that song and is it released or not yet?
No dairy before the recording/gigs to prevent brown notes
🤣🤣🤣👌🏿
Whereas I don’t sing screaming/growl metal but cutting through the mix when low is important and taming when belting is the eternal balance between the instrument mixing. This sounds like a really great tool Glenn. It’s an all in one utility. Thank you
Glenn! I think it was in this video when you mentioned or hinted at this idea that a lot of metal has gotten boring. As a listener I kinda feel like sometimes musicians focus too much on showing off the cool stuff they can do even when it's not appropriate and it got me thinking about what makes a hit song. I was listening to some pentatonic-based stoner rock today and got to thinking that what gets that second and third and hundredth listen isn't that your music is difficult to execute, it's that your music is difficult to forget. Sometimes the simplest riff or vocal line is the best earworm.
Cool plugin! Very comparable to Howard Benson Vocals. Gonna have to try this out!
Holy balls, the screaming metal is really "in your face". Caught me off guard half listening the video at that point on my computer and I jumped a little haha! Sounds awesome!
One thing I love about mixing vocals is shaping the room. If it’s a wider mix and you want more present reverb, pre delay is so good for making the vocals appear more upfront and not washed out if the instruments are super wide, and if you side chain the reverb to the vocals you can get really beautiful sounding tails
thanks for this huge plugin tip! I was able to replace tons of plugins in a "difficult" track and it was amazing what I could do using only it!!!
After doubling, tripling, quadrupling and adding chorus, reverb, delay ANYTHING I can almost stand the sound of my voice.
I’ve been using Decapitator on my more aggressive vocals and it always winds up having a chirp to it. But this seems to do the saturated vocal thing pretty easily
Hopefully it doesn’t devour CPU like Howard Benson Vocals
Shocked about Glen’s opera singer cousin - but now the 2022 “hello everybodyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy” makes sense.
On vocal live sound: the PA is actually loud enough to let you hear the vocals. The problem here lies in how loud the other instruments are. Trust me, when you hold back a bit on the volume knob or drum stroke, you'll sound better
Bingo !! :)
That plug-in seems like it would work well with just about any rock pop or metal vocal.
I wonder how this compares to the Howard Benson vocal plugin from jst. It is my go to plugin for vocals. This seems to be sort of the same with more tweak ability 🤔
Please PLEASE tell us how you're getting that incredible bass sound!!
This whole time i thought it was my horrible voice? I need more than a bucket to carry a tune 😔
Glenn have you tried XVox by nuro audio. It’s a vocal chain much like this and it’s got the ducking thing going on for the reverb and delay. I enjoy it quite a bit. I got the pro version on sale. I’d like to hear your perspective and see what you could do with it.
Welcome to Spectre Sound Studios. I've done everything the fucked way so I can tell you how to do it right!
This Plugin is truly Amazing!
Gleeeeen! I would love to see an episode where you tell us how the EQ on our radios and stereos efect the sound of the music that we listen too. I do more harm than good whenever I try to make a little EQ adjustment.
Speaker size is important. I believe smaller the speaker the more high end is stressed and the larger the speaker the more bass is stressed.
if just a stereo (for example car) put a song on that has many different instruments of a genre you like and know what it's supposed to sound like.
Pick first EQ knob, go overboard to know what it does in practise and come back down to where you like it. Next knob. Do this for all knobs and maybe 2-3 times again.
If like phone->car stereo, phones often have these EQ wizards that tell you to shut out all other noise as much as possible (although you could be a passenger and do it with the driving noise for more accurate practise solution) and it makes a beep-test. You click yes if you hear it, no if you don't. Ofc turn the stereo up where you hear at least most of them.
Then it'll drop the frequencies you hear better and bumb the ones you don't, often leading to a balanced tone.
It can do wonders but since my car has a crappy radio/speakers/amps that isn't earily replaced, it's as good as it gets. Balanced to be sure, but kinda weak. One of my older cars went wont trashcan to surprisingly good by just replacing the radio to a Pioneer something. No discobass but surprisingly strong, for a 1989 opel!
I've done it with some other stuff though, and it sounds stellar!
Wow that plugin makes it easy. Just run a good performance into it and you're done. Check out the sE Dynacaster, Glenn.
Well first, I cant sing. But I found the only way to make my really bad voice sound decent (mix wise anyways) I need to use TONS of plugins. LOTS of saturation, compression, EQ, finally LOTS of delay and reverb to hide my terrible voice behind. I also find doubling my vocals (by singing them twice terribly, not copy and pasting) also makes my vocals sound slightly less terrible. I'd get a singer, but Im incapable of working with any other musicians or having other peoples input in my music at this point. ALSO, Glenn if you read this - what did you think about the late great Steve Albini's recording methods? I feel like you'd have some disagreements with the way he did things, and at the same time lots in common.
ngl you just sound like you make hyperpop.
How did you know???
Interesting... I wonder how it stacks up against JST'S Howard Benson vocal plug...it has similar features.
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Question, when is it appropriate to solo a track? Is it to take out any unnecessary frequences by using the EQ? I kind of ran into this issue where I was dialing in an amp tone (while having the the guitar track on solo) and when I thought it sounded it good, brought it into the mix and it sounded like shit. What am I doing wrong here? Thanks for everything Glen!
This one might actually help me, I am a vocalist. I'm no professional, I sing at home doing karaoke. I do have a few videos on FB and Instagram however. I know about dairy, I don't have any before singing....period! Trying to sing with a cold or just sick in general sucks too! UGH! I got Covid in 2020 at the start of the pandemic, that really fucked with me. For about a year, year and a half I couldn't even get in a full breath. It really screwed my lungs for the long haul, I was finally able to breathe regularly after about two years. I literally had to teach myself how to sing again, it took another 6 months to a year. It took a year to be able to actually hold a note so singing to Amy Lee was a no go and "Bring Me To Life" is one of my go-to's. It really sucked just trying as I'd get the breath but then trying to get a note out I'd start coughing and hacking. Instead I started singing easier songs with shorter notes so I didn't choke on them. In some ways getting Covid was almost a good thing, I think my voice actually improved! Not because I got sick but because of the extra work I put into my vocals after, I feel my voice is much stronger now than it was before. I realize I went off topic, I tend to do that. haha! Getting back on topic all I have right now is the mic on my laptop and phone. It doesn't seem to be too bad but obviously NOT great!! I'll keep watching your videos and take note of your tips, hopefully someday I'll be able to buy more equipment. I appreciate that you share your knowledge, I really should have started watching you a long time ago. I've also started following you on Instagram and FB as well.
So I’m curious about the dairy one. Alcohol dehydrates and that directly affects your vocal cords, but liquids never touch your vocal cords when you drink!
That being said, the time-tested experience of a, say, opera soprano clearly should be heeded. I’m just curious how, if liquids never touch the cords, it can mess with or coat them! I hope someone has some insight on this because I’ve struggled with the idea for a long time!
New fan here, I fugkin LOVE your channel dude. 🤘
When it comes to effects, one of the most useful things I do is a fairly severe low-cut and high-cut on echo and reverb. This applies to both studio and live. You get the gist of the effect but it isn't stepping all over the rest of the mix. Of course, that's only one of many things to getting a good mix but it's an easy place to start.
"how much voice saturation do you want?" Black keys vocals: "Yes"
4:16 But that's a crucial point, though, isn't it? Compression is one of the main steps to get a vocal that sits well in the mix. You shouldn't skip over that part. I'd even compress that vocal further still.
he already done it , watch the waveform, so no need to add furthermore 👍
I have the joey sturgeos vocal plug in and am pretty happy with that, the layout on this one is a bit better I'll say.
I really like this kind of all-in-one plugins for my workflow and overview. This is why I landed on iZotope stuff a long time ago. Alloy and Nectar 2 at first, now Neutron for all purposes and Nectar 4 for vocals. Just so convinient, but might give this Gamma a try also
Awesome Glenn! I miss these type of videos. Reminds me of the early days. You also missed a great opportunity for some kind of Americans + cheese joke when talking about laying off dairy.
give up beer n pizza? next youll say i should give up smoking pot daily too😂🍻
I know. The nerve of this guy!
Maybe quitting pot smoking is a way to eat less pizza cuz no munchies
I quit smoking weed while working on my last album and it made a huge difference.
That seems like reasonable advise, Glenn. Singing is a very physical thing. The key to me, is energy. Pushing out air and making it sound good in a healthy way, demands energy. Certainly in a studio where the clock is ticking away, you need to be able perform line after line after line and that can be sooo demanding. Not having enough energy means trouble. The kind of trouble that will strain your voice and vocal chords. So I'd advise to get enough sleep, not going on benders a good period of time before studiowork, even eating less carbs (I'm not a food expert but that works for me). But there is the psychological side aswell. Don't go changing that kind of stuff over night. On a studio day, go about your normal routine, unless you normally get shitfaced every day. What I mean is, don't go drinking gallons of water if that's not your habit. Grab your normal cup of coffee etc. Beside energy it boils down to technique. Everyone can learn how to sing. Threat your vocals like an instrument and learn how it works, grab some lessons on a regular basis, find a coach that isn't just a singer that needs money. Personally, I'm a fan of the CVT school because it's science based and works with a vocabulary that I can work with, so it doesn't matter what coach I'm talking to. So not drinking alcohol or consuming dairy, might be a good start but it's a way longer process than that. So vocalists, spend the money the other bandmembers are spending on gear and spend it on vocal lessons, even if you think you're the bomb. You're probably not (or not yet).
no chocolate cake before a gig Rod Stewart
"Ben Gay is important before any performance" Mick Jagger . Lol
Rod used to shove his cocaine "where the sun don't shine," so it didn't destroy his voice, too.
@@castleanthrax1833 yea my guitar teacher told me about this nurse he used to know she did that way too.
Went ahead and added RIVER to my playlists.
The production on that djenty song also sounds tight though!
I'd love to listen to the finished product of that - I'm a sucker for all kinds of well-produced music.
Would you point me in the right direction?
Thanks!
Binge watch for Julie. Wishing you the best Glenn.
Boss DD2 or 3 with electro Harmonix holy grail reverb,soz analogue is more for me hands on.. but you understanding of our brains into digital is great your sound is great .
Shotgun svg 6, sm57, or b906 ribbon for vocals? Their all I have. Thanks in advance🤘
Sounds great! a lot of things I do with multiple plugins so I’m curious to try this one. I also use a side chain proq3 on the instrument mix that dips the vocal frequencies just a small amount. Let’s it sit “more in the mix”
Yerba Mate is my go to when I record vocals. Homemade tereré in a French press and drink regularly while recording.
Hey Glenn! Could you do a clip with your take on recording vocals in a closet compared to an untreated room?
10:02 needs to be made into a short🤣🤣
I just use drawmer s73 for compression, JST soar for delay (tape), and tsar reverb. Reverb and delay are on busses though, no way would I ever put a delay or reverb on the track channel.
Glen, have you noticed what channel you marked on the description? hahaha you tagged a health channel, not the band sticks and stones channel...
These kind of plugins are cool (I've tried Izotope Nectar and IK's Joe Chiccarelli plugin) but I much prefer to do reverbs and delays separately so I can use as many as I need to and easily adjust them individually.
Wait I see in the master track that it’s clipping but I don’t hear anything clipping
Do a show on what a vocalist can eat and drink before a gig or recording session.
@3:31...ohhh! It's a commercial 🤣
Seriously though. There are some fantastic vox plugins available these days. I've used the IK JC Vocal Strip with amazing results.
I like those all in one plugins, because they just stream line the workflow. I use my own go-to vocal chain, but I've thought about getting the Howard Benson vocal plugin. But then again, I'd only buy it for convenience.
Hmmmmm
My vocals sound bad because I’m not a singer but no one in my town is a metal vocalist so I’m on my own if I want to write and record music. I don’t WANT to sing but I want to make music because I love it. So I do the best I can! Thanks Glenn I’m totally going to check this out!
Where you from/live if don't mind me asking?
The only metal vocalist is the ones that use the Cookie Monster technique. Don't go full Cookie Monster. The rest of the metal singers are opera singers and or blues singers.
@@BudRV New Jersey, USA
Question...Why are there no recent videos, and what nots of all the bands your working with all these years? I scare away almost every musician I work with once I mention recording, and or making a video for RUclips 🤔🍻🤘
Have you tried to cup the mic recording the guitar amp?
I need this plug-in! I'm tired of adding every one of these individually.
I've been needing this exact plugin. It's crazy how many self-styled "recording engineers" have no idea how to properly mix vocals. They see them as just background noise for the guitars, I guess.
I like that you still have that midas 522. What do you usually use it for?
Is the version released via Distro Kid the one you worked on? Mix sounds slightly different, even if vocs do not.
Is that a cover of the Vinland Saga opening? 🤘
Another good idea is giving up sweets. I sing also and I gained at least half an octave after two weeks! Certain higher notes used to irritate my throat horribly because I was so into sweets. Giving them up changed the game.
Some people here say that they cant sing .. If you want to sing then i have a tip .. Search the range of your voice first and practice with a piano or guitar if you can hit the notes ..
Use words like EH or NA or HNGGG and bend it up not to far otherwise you make maybe some damage ..
I never use autotune and thats good too because you got to learn to love your voice and you got to hear what you maybe doing wrong ..
Autotune is used by people who want to sing out of range and dont know how to sound cool or sometimes they even cant sing
I like raw oldskool recording with no time stamps and no autotune as fixer .. Good Video as always . I like Glenn he is cool..
Two Producers whom I would love to see their brain picked are Matt Thomas and Pete Hinton - they recorded some , no THE favourite guitar tones of all time for me!
GLEEEEEEEEEEEN, I really like your videos and your cientific approach to the issues regarding recording and more, but please enlighten me, what is de deal with avoiding dairy products and vocal performance? I'm asking for a friend (wink wink) greetings from Montréal
I have this plugin and really like it. The problem is it makes my vocals quite, so I have to click "throw" on the delay section and then unclick it for the vocals to be back up to normal volume. Does anyone else have this problem, I'm using it in Reaper. BTW it does it on two different computers.
has anyone used this and the howard benson vocal chain plugin and compared them? Is there one that you like more? I have the howard benson but I would be interested in checking this out!
so what is the WIDTH and DOUBLER actually doing? are either/both of them a good substitute for actual double tracks? im mainly thinking about clean vocals here. is one/both of them basically just delaying the right or left channel by a few ms? or is there more going on? anything i can do to avoid having to record two perfectly identical takes would save me a lot of time as i only ever record myself as a hobby. i like to throw ideas together quickly.
also curious how much latency it adds because i can run mostly stock FL plugins and get compression, de-ess, eq, reeverb, delay for all of 2ms. i can run it all live if i want
doubling the same take doesnt have the same effect has redo another one. it gives a different sound. It's up to you to choose what the right things to use.
I'm curious about how the width effect is created. The reason I ask I that I wonder how it will sound when bended to mono (like playing though a single Bluetooth speaker. Gotta make sure the mix still works in mono.
Amusingly, the last session I did was the first time ever that I actually like the sound my vocals were making! :-P
Now that was a top tier Chris Barnes impression at the beginning
Yo is that 2nd song released yet 👀
It lacks tone wood and tubes for warm and punchy. Jk 😂 Plug in sounds great! 😁👍
😂
I was thinking exactly the same.
that growl buried in the mix at the beginning was hilarious
To start with the vocals I did a simple psychedelic rock song and tried to do the Roger Waters thing. I'm still not convinced with the result.
What is the first band you were mixing the vocals of? It sounds so good.
Sticks n Stones. Link to band is in the description
@@SpectreSoundStudios Thanks man I appreciate it!
My vocals sound alright in a mix... until I hear myself on different headphones or speakers. I want to get studio monitors once my finances get there. Still, when I started to test out the mix (Glenn trick) on multiple sound playback systems, it helps a lot. I just got to remember to do this when I speed record and speed mix
I'm from Scotland, so having a deep-fried pizza (yes Scots do that) and chips (french fries) just before you go on is bad? Might explain the Proclaimers.
Hmmh... Okay, this video wasn't quite for me. I've got the singing part down, thanks to years of singing lessons, but I could use some kind of a ground-up thing especially with the compression which you skipped here entirely.
I guess I could use some kind of an explanation on what each bit of the plugin does here and why use them. And sorry, Glenn, you seemed to be showing off the plugin more than, you know, how to use it to the best effect.
I don't mean to sound like "do my work for me", but... perhaps you could do a bit of a ground-up approach?
Never mind me. I'm so used to getting the best advice from you that I'm at loss when it doesn't connect. :D
A tip I would give anyone recording vocals or just learning to sing especially into a microphone, if you can't hear yourself with headphones on monitoring yourself, you're singing wrong, make sure you're using your sinuses, should feel full in your head, and make sure your voice is in front of your mouth, not the back of your throat