Vocal Processors, advice needed.

[Phil Starr]

And please don't tell me not to. I want advice on how to, not on the artistic merits. Preferably from people who have done it or worked with people who have

 

So, I sing backing vocals for a very cheesy covers duo with the emphasis on audience singalong. Believe me it's as awful as it sounds but people are loving it. Bass/Guitar and programmed drums. Basically I sing the audience bits so they know when to come in. Mainly what I want to do is add in things like reverb and delay without touching the mixer and using my feet to switch between songs. There's a few songs where I need to sound like more than one person so doubling would be one effect I'd use and maybe a subtle octave shifted third voice. I might experiment with harmonies but the idea would be to fill out the sound rather than to slip into the robotic sounding stuff some over enthusiastic harmonisers serve up. At the moment our vocalist adds harmonies to the backing tracks for three or four songs. I'm trying to steer a route so that we are live in the room though, not some sort of karaoke act. I'm seeing using a processor to fill out my voice as being preferable to an increasingly rich backing track even if the backing is all us. Ultimately I'm just looking to fill out my vocal sound without the audience noticing anything artificial going on.

 

I'm currently looking at the Zoom V6 SP as the right balance of features and price combined with ease of operation but I'm open to other suggestions

[Mykesbass]

TC Helicon is a cracking piece of kit. It works stand alone as a vocal effect, but can also add harmonies which it will work out if you plug a guitar into it. Worked with two very good singers who use them to very good effect.

Edited April 16 by Mykesbass

[naxos10]

Our vocalist used the TC Helicon reverb unit (foot pedal version) to good effect so their current range would be worth a look as per Mykesbass post above.

[Phil Starr]

I've been looking at the TC Helicon stuff too. Reviews of the sounds produced are positive but to get similar functionality I'd be looking at the VoiceLive 3 at £600+ which is a lot to spend on experimenting. I did borrow a VoiceLive 2 a while ago but couldn't get the sounds I wanted at the time, though both my needs and hopefully understanding has changed since then. I also owned the VoiceSolo personal monitor which had some nice reverb and so on as part of the package. Single pedals for each effect are appealing in terms of simplicity when playing and singing live, but once you get to three pedals it starts to look expensive. However it would mean I could buy and learn to use one effect at a time and start the learning curve without having to commit huge funds up-front. Thanks @Mykesbass and @naxos10 food for thought certainly. Which TC units were they? They make a lot of different options.

[naxos10]

It was the Mic Mechanic Phil simple to use and a wide range off effects on offer with each parameter having it's own control knob. Another two to look at would be The Duplicator and Harmony singer. These are still available and reasonably cheap on the secod hand market. They have a Voicetone range which is a newer line with similar features i.e. the D1 has doubling and detune as it's features.

[Lozz196]

Whatever you get be sparing with the amount of effects used. We had a mate of ours sing at one of our rehearsals and he had some kind of vocal effects pedal. It made him sound like he was underwater. I’m sure good sounds could have been coaxed from it but we just ended up with Captain Nemos Underwater Show.

[Mykesbass]

The one that the guitar plugged into must have been the Vocal Harmony - I know it wouldn't have been a £600 model!!

 

Looks like the Mic Mechanic (groan) may be what you need.

[Greg Edwards69]

Have a look at the TC Helicon Critical Mass pedal. It's a "crowd simulator". 

 

It has several algorithms, unison (i.e. double-tracked), octave up, octave down, and octave up+down together - each can be mixed with the "lead" vocal.  Then all of those in either melodic (tight - think "we will rock you") or gang (loose - think Lumineers "Ho Hey") styles.

 

Because it generates octave harmonies, you don't have to set it to any key or use a guitar for the pedal to detect the key, like you do with other harmony units.

 

There's also several  reverb algorithms that are independent of the harmony generator - so reverb works event when the harmony is switched off. And there's TC's "Adaptive Tone  - automatic and intelligent eq, compression and de-esser

[Rosie C]

I use a Boss VE-8, though I'm not sure I'd recommend it. It works really well for acoustic guitar-type instruments with chorus and acoustic enhancement. The looper is useful and it provides phantom power for my condenser mic. The vocal enhance (apparently a compressor and EQ) works well with my voice. 

But the vocal accompaniment are all a bit robotic - although the doubling and octave are better than the others. It draws a fair amount of power - I use it with a 4Ah lithium drill battery which lasts about 24 hours.

 

Edit: this matches with a couple of reviews I read - that the TC Helicon is better for vocal, the VE-8 better for guitar.

 

Edited April 16 by Rosie C

[police squad]

1 hour ago, Mykesbass said:

TC Helicon is a cracking piece of kit. It works stand alone as a vocal effect, but can also add harmonies which it will work out if you plug a guitar into it. Worked with two very good singers who use them to very good effect.

I used one of these with great success. Took a bit of time to work it out but it was very good

It also has effects on it too

[Suburban Man]

3 hours ago, Mykesbass said:

TC Helicon is a cracking piece of kit. It works stand alone as a vocal effect, but can also add harmonies which it will work out if you plug a guitar into it. Worked with two very good singers who use them to very good effect.

+1 for anything made by TC Helicon. Its good gear and it just works.

[uk_lefty]

@Happy Jack gave me good advice on this type of thing before and has some nifty videos of himself doing what you describe...

[tauzero]

Mrs Zero and I used to use the Digitech Vocalist Live 4. Haven't used it for years now though. Run the guitar through it and it can detect key, put effects (separately) on vocals and guitar, and add up to 4 harmonies. Someone's done a demo video:

 

 

[Happy Jack]

 

[Dad3353]

An interesting topic, and fine demonstrations, but I'm not sure that any would be of use to someone like me, with a voice more in the range of a sick crow than much else. Flowers die when I try, so I desist, despite wanting to sing stuff sometimes. Not opera; just a few lines from bands I played with, decades ago, that I'd love to be able to record. A Lost Cause, I fear. 

[Woodinblack]

I used to use the Voice Live play, which is the cheap one, and it can do quite a lot, but after a while I realised I just needed the gang vocal thing, so I have a TC Critical Mass pedal which does what I need.

[Phil Starr]

8 hours ago, naxos10 said:

It was the Mic Mechanic Phil simple to use and a wide range off effects on offer with each parameter having it's own control knob. Another two to look at would be The Duplicator and Harmony singer. These are still available and reasonably cheap on the secod hand market. They have a Voicetone range which is a newer line with similar features i.e. the D1 has doubling and detune as it's features.

Thanks, I've been aware of the Mic Mechanic for a while, it's one I've actually seen people using. The D1 looks interesting too in doing the delay +de-tuning (though de-tuning my singing seeems an unecessary step ) I've promised to record some basslines for my mates solo act tonight but I'll trawl You Tube for informative videos of the TC stuff tomorrow, Thanks again. Used would be good too

[mike257]

Sound engineer here, have seen many people turn up with various flavours of these things over the years. 

 

In my experience, the Boss ones are best avoided, and the TC kit, as with the general consensus in this thread, is far and away the best. 

 

I'd also advise moderation, and much like dialling in a multi-effects pedal, often what sounds great in your house/in the shop is probably overkill at gig volume through a proper rig. 

[Greg Edwards69]

1 hour ago, mike257 said:

I'd also advise moderation, and much like dialling in a multi-effects pedal, often what sounds great in your house/in the shop is probably overkill at gig volume through a proper rig. 

I once read a sage piece of advice regarding dialling in reverb. Once you've got it sounding great, dial it back by half.