Rough Singing Vocals like 40s recording?

S

Swimn'n Bird

New member
I use Audition but it might not make much of a difference if anyone knows how to make vocals sound similar to thisThat would be so cool to me, I've been trying to use FTT's (pardon me if that's the wrong acronym, I first used them today) I tried using like that telephone preset, it seems like a step in the right direction but a few miles off maybe.Any help is appreciated!Also I want the vocals to cut through like they do here, ya know?
 
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it sounds like they've used eq to boost in the upper mids and cut below about 100Hz; add to that the vocalist is using a rough, throat based technique to sing (you can hear stuff rolling around on the vocal chords as he sings causing the grittiness of the vocal sound) and you get the full sound
 
upper mids means 600Hz - 1.5kHz

also, you have massive amounts of boost when this is a much subtler technique adding a bump rather than creating an ogive (that is the shape of the curve, s-like in shape)

good luck
 
I never knew a thing about mids and lows, so I had to google it, the things I found were off a bit haha anyways It sounds really close to it now, thankyou. I really appreciate both you guys helping me out.
 
Don't forget the distortion the gear of that time used to have, though I don't know how to mimic it.
I would try to get my hands over a very old microphone, or at least a very old amplifier (though I don't know if that's very hard, it probably is). :)
 
it is a myth that there was a lot of distortion present in the sound due to the equipment - everything was designed with a minimum of distortion (<1% thd) as the design goal and the implementation usually met that goal or bettered it - however, I challenge you or anyone else to actually be able to thd @ 5% and below

a possible source of saturation might be in the tape bias (the high frequency scrambling of the ions on the tape applied just before the recording head passed over that section of tape), but it would still not introduce distortion as most saturators do to today.

I agree with deranged that an older ribbon mic might help achieve the sound as it would also provide the necessary bump in the frequency response without having to artificially create it with eq, maybe even a carbon mic if you can find one
 
Well there was at least distortion introduced in some way, and we should not forget to introduce that to get the old sound.
 
I think you are mistaking the vocal technique - rasping the vocal cords as he sings - with added distortion - the time period we are interested in avoided adding distortion to recordings pre or post recording like it were the bubonic plague.

not everything we hear is recorded with modern techniques - this is so old school that we are using valve amplifiers in every stage of the recording process but no distortion - I know that runs contrary to popular myths about valve amplifiers, but they do not inherently introduce distortion to the signal
 
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I think "distortion' is just the out of text word here. If you replace "distortion" with "vintage sound" everything steffeeh is saying is true. I think this is a matter of the wrong word being used to describe a sound that I can't even describe any better than "vintage".

But that sound is due to everything from the mics to the pres to creativity because of lack of tools we all possess now to the captured emotion to the raw talent to the engineer having to REALLY KNOW WHAT HE WAS DOING(something I feel I could never do on a daily basis, lol)to the room to the recording being to tape and pressed to vinyl to the heroine that fueled the sessions(or lack of, lol), ect. I don't know exactly why, but I know it was the way the record was treated from start to finish. Sounds corny, but musicians couldn't rely on effects so they PERFORMED. Engineers couldn't rely on "exciters" and "waves bundles", so they MIXED!!!!

Not trying to sound disrespectful at all, I just always get impressed by how music used to be created when comparing to how it is now. Not attacking anyone chiming in, just saying it's great to know how something was done knowing you could never do the same without putting in work. Not the same feeling when someone asks you how to do an effect in a trap beat.
 
most of what we hear as distortion on this recording is either pop and crackle from the vinyl being played back or the vocal timbre in use - listen to that bass part - it swings hard but is not distorted in any shape or form. the brass uses mutes and other techniques to introduce acoustic distortions but not actual clipped distorted waveforms, the same is true of the other instruments
 
bandcoach said:
most of what we hear as distortion on this recording is either pop and crackle from the vinyl being played back or the vocal timbre in use - listen to that bass part - it swings hard but is not distorted in any shape or form. the brass uses mutes and other techniques to introduce acoustic distortions but not actual clipped distorted waveforms, the same is true of the other instruments
Click to expand...

I agree with this, it sounds more like a weathered vintage sound than distortion to me. Also the guy's voice is a bit raspy, not extremely in his speaking voice but he has that ability to make it really rough- kinda like Steve Blum . Here's what he sounds like with more recent equipment if anyones curious.

 
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