Deconstructing this vocal sound

[losthighway]

So I'm mixing a project I did with some guys, and in their notes they described "the radio sound" or the "radio fuzz" vocal sound. I figured they were thinking something kind of that Copperphone lo-fi, narrow mids, or telephone sound. To be sure I shared a reference.

They surprised me with this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOGmE7b ... e=youtu.be

Not nearly as lo-fi. It has a little roughness, but it's subtle. I'm not even sure if it's rough enough to sound as clearly 'effected' in their mixes which are full of a lot more overdriven guitar than this austere strings arrangement. Really nice sounding track, quite different style then what we're working with, but they're talking vocal presentation.

But at any rate, if anyone can play the game of "what do you hear on this track, and how would you get it"? The vocal sound doesn't change a ton so you can skip forward.

What it sounds like to me is a pretty loud cleanish track, maybe a pinch of something gainy and almost overdriven but not quite. Behind that it sounds like a quick slap echo, maybe just delay, maybe a short reverb with a fair amount of predelay, but that sound is rough, and narrow. Like they put that through an overdrive pedal, or a slightly overdriven amp, and that's making a slapback that is kind of fuzzy and all mids behind a cleaner focused sound.

Thoughts? Thanks!

[drumsound]

I sound like some sort of saturation in parallel, and that that one is being used on the delay/reverb send to me. The vocal also has a good bit of compression.

[vvv]

I can see/hear the "radio" analogy.

I like this, BTW; cool stuff.

I think the parallel process idear, mebbe thru a amp like ya bofe said, could get there. And yep, delays and verb, of course.

Plus, high-pass or band-pass.

Also, if ya look at the vid past 3:00, he's gotta Altec saltshaker mic or sompin' ...

[joninc]

to me it really sounds more like EQ than distortion - all the lows are gone - a large HPF (200 or higher) - and no air either - LPF (5-6k or lower).

a bit of edge in the tone could be from driving a pre or compressor a little harder but it also doesn't sound super squashed - just a bit saturated
.
I also don't really hear the clean tone blended in so I'd guess it's not a parallel thing either.

Either a really midrange mic was used to record it or some heavy eq to focus it in the upper mids (1k) with no body or air to make it feel more natural.

[drumsound]

to me it really sounds more like EQ than distortion - all the lows are gone - a large HPF (200 or higher) - and no air either - LPF (5-6k or lower).

a bit of edge in the tone could be from driving a pre or compressor a little harder but it also doesn't sound super squashed - just a bit saturated
.
I also don't really hear the clean tone blended in so I'd guess it's not a parallel thing either.

Either a really midrange mic was used to record it or some heavy eq to focus it in the upper mids (1k) with no body or air to make it feel more natural.

I think it could be parallel because its not hard to understand the words, and hear inflection.

[losthighway]

You guys are awesome. Some slightly different reads here but they confirm and extend some of my ideas.

New shorthand: telephone sound- LPF up to 500, HPF down to 1.5k, boost a narrow, quarter octave bell up 5-10 db somewhere between 600 and 1k.

Radio sound- less crazy version of telephone eq, not so much the big boost, not as extreme with the pass filters. Add some dirty delay and/or reverb.

[losthighway]

Also, for the record I am often resisting the urge to play "name this sound" or "analyze this mix" here just cause I know people are busy and I could seriously play the game every week. This one was a good excuse because it was a client's request, not just my own curiosity.

[drumsound]

Also, for the record I am often resisting the urge to play "name this sound" or "analyze this mix" here just cause I know people are busy and I could seriously play the game every week. This one was a good excuse because it was a client's request, not just my own curiosity.

I hope we helped.

Maybe we should start a Sticky series of things like this...

[vvv]

Mang, I don' know, I have enuff sticky threads, altho' I do plan on doing laundry soon ...

[drumsound]

Mang, I don' know, I have enuff sticky threads, altho' I do plan on doing laundry soon ...

A Wise Guy Huh?

[I'm Painting Again]

sounds to me like what a tube amplified mechanical reverb with ancient resistors and caps does mixed under the main track in some aspects

also sounds like some feedback or something causing a resonance - EQ? mic feeding back into a speaker? Delay feedback circuit ?

stuff like that

[Nick Sevilla]

To me it just sounds like a tube mic through a tube compressor, then EQ in the mix.

I don't really hear strange parallel anything. Just tube saturation.

Beautiful song and great arrangement, simple.

[losthighway]

To me it just sounds like a tube mic through a tube compressor, then EQ in the mix.

I don't really hear strange parallel anything. Just tube saturation.

Beautiful song and great arrangement, simple.

You're not getting that slap echo under there? It's got a pretty different character than the initial attack.

[Nick Sevilla]

I was just commenting on the tone of the vocal. The rest is somewhat obvious.