Distorting live vocals...

[calaverasgrandes]

I used to mix PA for a living as well and would get those kind of bands sometimes too.
Putting the whole topic of blown drivers aside, it just makes monitor feedback management terribly annoying. Automatic feedback suppressors were very expensive when I was running my PA biz, so we were all on graphics (and I still like those better). Unfortunately what sounds cool about fuzzed vocals are all the extra harmonics, which are in just the right freqs to line up with the presence peak on a SM58. Now if you cut those freqs enough to make it foolproof feedback resistant it sounds like mud. So you end up nudging the sliders around 2-4k all during the set.
Of course you could use board eq, but you are already gonna want to use that to pull down the sqwawk a bit. If the board only has a 3 band eq you are kinda up the creek. Though I did have some success with one of those red box thingy-ma-bob DI's in this application. I would still rather see a 58 plugged into a small combo amp that I mic. Or better, a splitter that sends me clean vocals as well so I can get the intelligibility up.

[AnalogousGumdropDecoder]

Bullhorn.

[fossiltooth]

Bullhorn.

I like it.

Mess with the source, not the signal.

[braincellbattle]

A DS-1 is way to high gain for vocals... I've tried. Even with a noise gate any kind of guitar pedal just compresses way too much to get anything usable. In my experience the only time I've got that ripped up driven vocal sound live is just shit PA speakers pushed too hard.

[kayagum]

Maybe I'm getting old, but isn't this effect a little passe?

[AnalogousGumdropDecoder]

Maybe I'm getting old, but isn't this effect a little passe?

Fads are so sub-compartmentalized and shift so quickly these days that nothing's passe for more than six months. I'm of the mindset though that nothing's ever passe if it's used creatively and in the best interest of the music rather than to sound "current." "Current" doesn't always age well - look at 70's cocaine-mirror L.A. rock and post-Gabriel III/Drums & Wires gated drums.

[calaverasgrandes]

korg kaos pads=passe.

[AnalogousGumdropDecoder]

That being said, I'm all about personal idiosyncrasy even if it's not rational justified - as long it comes off "personal stamp" and not just a contrivance or affectation. Ah hell, I'll take affectation over blandness any day.

::Then the author departs to mic up a trash can lid and dial in the perfect tape echo and fuzz for his fretless Rickenbacker bass, in order to record the perfect sad reggae-country ballad::

[The above is a completely fictitious scenario based upon the author's production fantasies and in no way reflects his actual technological capabilities]

[calaverasgrandes]

Micokorg=passe

[thunderboy]

I mix for a living. If you plug a distortion pedal into my PA I will hurt you.

No, you won't.

So will any engineer with any sense of pride in thier work.

No, we won't.

Plug that mic into a guitar amp and get it howling and moaning real nice... Then I can mic it up AND give you a good level in your monitor too.

If that's the sound they want, absolutely.

Also, don't fuck with vocal floor processors unless you bring your own engineer and/or PA. Those things shit all over the audio and make monitor mixing an impossible nightmare. I've seen them come through dozens of times and it Never ever fucking works.

Quit your bitching and do your job like the rest of us.

jt

[Bro Shark]

Now, our singer wants me to figure out how he can get a similar sound at our shows. The most obvious solution, to me, is to get some sort of dist/OD/fuzz pedal to use.

My question is, are any of you singers out there doing this? If so, what are you liking?

Is this going to be like an "occasional effect" situation, or on-all-the-time? Cuz I've got pretty strong unsolicited opinions I'd like to share on the latter.

[jgimbel]

Just a second opinion on the DS-1, I think for live vocals I'd much rather use my Boss Super Overdrive (SD-1). Despite the name, it's a lot more tame and unscooped sounding than the DS-1. They both have their uses, and I have both, but one thing the DS-1 is good for is that really trebly distortion, which just seems like it'd be really prone to feedback. The Super Overdrive is a lot warmer, thicker sounding, I always feel like it "wraps around the sound" more than the DS-1, which seems to "sit on top of the sound", if that makes any sense. But a miked amp would be nice, one of the good reasons to have a kind of shitty little amp around. I've got a Danelectro Dirty 30 that would work really nicely. It's kind of like a solid state version of the Fender Champ 600, and since some folks like it for harmonica, I'd bet distorted vocals would be a real win with it. I got mine for $50.

[AnalogousGumdropDecoder]

Micokorg=passe

I'd like to say I agree about the Kaoss pad and Microkorg, but as soon as I do somebody's gonna come along with a Microkorg plugged into a Kaoss pad and reinvent the way we think about music.

[Recycled_Brains]

Now, our singer wants me to figure out how he can get a similar sound at our shows. The most obvious solution, to me, is to get some sort of dist/OD/fuzz pedal to use.

My question is, are any of you singers out there doing this? If so, what are you liking?

Is this going to be like an "occasional effect" situation, or on-all-the-time? Cuz I've got pretty strong unsolicited opinions I'd like to share on the latter.

Not all the time, no. Just for certain parts.

[inasilentway]

Also, don't fuck with vocal floor processors unless you bring your own engineer and/or PA. Those things shit all over the audio and make monitor mixing an impossible nightmare. I've seen them come through dozens of times and it Never ever fucking works.

Quit your bitching and do your job like the rest of us.

jt

REAL TALK. don't be "that" guy, there's enough of them out there in the world. be the sympathetic engineer who will Make It Work.

to the OP: you've probably already found a solution, but if not, this TC pedal is the vocal processor that I've seen work the best, I've never heard the distortion algorithm so you should definitely try it out but I've had nothing but success with people using it for reverb.

BUT the bottom line: if you're using it only sometimes, running a 58 into anything will make your "normal" sound worse. I've A/B'd a straight 58 with a 58 -> transfo -> bypassed Boss pedal (usually the DD-5 or RV-5) -> DI a bunch of times, and more than once the singer has opted to give me a set list with delay/reverb cues and ditched their pedal. The TC pedal is not nearly as bad but it still takes a pretty big chunk out of your tone (again, in A/B tests the singers have immediately heard the difference and preferred the straight sound). It makes a lot of sense if there's song-to-song cues, like different reverbs and delays that are crucial to the song, in which case it's worth the tone trade-off.

If I were in your shoes I would set up a dedicated distortion mic or use a megaphone. Those are the two options that let you have a good clear sound most of the time and the distorted sound when you need it. The former has the added benefit of being able to gain-stage and EQ the two sounds separately, the latter is nice because it requires no extra plugging stuff in (and in fact, is the option with the least amount for the house guy to complain about). Singing through an amp is ok but only if it's a good amp, sometimes people sing through Fender Frontman 15 or Vox Pathfinder 15 amps and it makes them sound tinny and midrangey.

I fantasize about someday building a box for exactly these situations with a THAT-based mic pre, lo-z to hi-z transfo, send-return jacks and a true bypass switch, and a high-quality active DI, with all the impedances worked out nicely. I could call it The Enabler. Bet I'd make a killing.