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Harmonica Mic Effect

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2013 6:09 pm
by Tekk
Hey guys so I've been working on this tune for a bit and I've been trying to replicate that harsh distorted vocal effects used in a lot of "raunchy" (word used tentatively) blues/punk/rock

Here's an example of the sound I'm talking about, but not to its full effect. The slight saturation in his voice is not completely overbearing and dominating the rest of the song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkcGuZHPbKk

In this example the effect pretty much got its ass cranked in itself like 3 times: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHRrnED2_yQ

And since this is an electronic music forum I'm sure you're all familiar with the classic Justice vs. Simian giant: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nr90nbqxuZk

I know that in some cases artists will used specialized mics with the effect built in so they can easily perform with the effect rather than routing mics through more gear, but I already have these vocals recorded on a clean channel and I want to replicate this effect purely in the box. I've been trying with a couple of distortion/saturation effects and nothings really come out how I want it.

Any tips/experience with this kind of effect?

Re: Harmonica Mic Effect

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2013 6:46 pm
by mthrfnk
Bandpass EQ then compress it hard and then distort/saturate.

Re: Harmonica Mic Effect

Posted: Sat Jun 08, 2013 7:36 pm
by SunkLo
There's no substitute for a ballsy performance. But in terms of that particular sonic signature, you should be able to get there with saturation and EQ. Boost on the pre-EQ to emphasize what you want to get hit by the saturation, then do the opposite on the post-EQ to counteract it if need be. You might need to saturate a few times in series instead of trying to do it all at once. You may also want to have a bit of dry signal mixed in or several busses of parallel saturation and compression of varying amounts. A parallel buss with bitcrushing/sample rate reduction might help add the dirt you're looking for.