Most useful non-harmonizer vocal effects unit? - Page 2

slewis · #16 10-29-2014, 11:25 PM

I hear that, for sure, McS! I can sure appreciate a good vocal performance all by itself. My original question was not about effects to help the quality of the vocal performance. I don't think I'm in need of anything to help my singing, necessarily; I do fine there. This would be something to add some occasional, subtle differences to a few tunes throughout the night. But I think I get your point -- it's not like a good vocal performance would typically leave an audience wanting for some subtle effects here and there...

#17 10-30-2014, 11:44 AM

The TC Helicon Voicetone T1 is a great pedal. It is a kind of auto-eq and also offers compression etc. It works!

That said, I am currently experimenting myself with the TC Harmony singer and I must say even if you don't use the harmonies it is a very good reverb/eq/compress-de-ess/ pedal.

I have found that adding a touch of harmony (about 20 -30%) works on carefully selected songs and mainly song chorus. But I am very mindful about any effects - guitar or vocals.

Joe F · #18 10-30-2014, 12:28 PM

For barebones simplicity, I love my TC Helicon Mic Mechanic.

Multiple choice reverb types dialed in to taste, one touch compression/eq/de-essing with just the push of the "Tone" button, and the optional pitch correction which I really don't use much, maybe 10-15% on a bad day. Plug and play.

rockabilly69 · #19 10-30-2014, 01:38 PM

I like slapback delays for roots music, beat timed delays to match the delays I've got going on my guitar, and I like reverb on the tails of the delays to make them blend nice. I also like compression at 3 or 4:1, quick attack, and med release. What I did in the past was use an Art Dual levalor and a Lexicon MX300 in a channel insert, but I think you could get close with one of these TC Electronics voicelive units. And would be easy to dial in on the fly. At one of my house gigs I work with a guy named Ryan Innes (he was a contestant on the TV show THE VOICE), and I heard him use the Voice Live unit and he sounded pretty good. Just defeat the harmony portion of the box. My ethic is very similar to yours, I hate auto tune, and false generated harmonies, but I like professional sounding vocals like you would hear in a recording studio. For example I like being able to get John Lennon and David Bowie like vocal tones live when I cover their material! Let me know what you come up with so we can compare notes

http://www.proaudiostar.com/tc-helic...e-touch-2.html

guitom · #20 10-30-2014, 02:20 PM

I once watched a guy for about half an hour who used a harmonizer on every song. That was some bad business. I think a little delay might be fun, but that's it.

Joe F · #21 10-30-2014, 02:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by guitom

I.... once watched a guy for about half an hour who used a harmonizer on every song. That was some bad business.....

Ha! I saw a guy really overdo it like that once in a restaurant/bar gig setting.

I was thinking "Where are these background singers I keep hearing? They sing better than he does and he should just play his guitar and let them have at it."

slewis · #22 10-30-2014, 10:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by washy21

The TC Helicon Voicetone T1 is a great pedal. It is a kind of auto-eq and also offers compression etc. It works!

That said, I am currently experimenting myself with the TC Harmony singer and I must say even if you don't use the harmonies it is a very good reverb/eq/compress-de-ess/ pedal.

I have found that adding a touch of harmony (about 20 -30%) works on carefully selected songs and mainly song chorus. But I am very mindful about any effects - guitar or vocals.

Thanks for the VoiceTone recommendation; I'll take a look at that. But for the computer-harmonies -- of course they "work" -- they're replacing another human voice -- with a machine! Not anything I'll ever do. You also might as well play along with a synthesized string section 20-30% of the time, and use a synthesized drum track 20-30% of the time....

slewis · #23 10-30-2014, 10:03 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by rockabilly69

My ethic is very similar to yours, I hate auto tune, and false generated harmonies, but I like professional sounding vocals like you would hear in a recording studio. For example I like being able to get John Lennon and David Bowie like vocal tones live when I cover their material! Let me know what you come up with so we can compare notes

More good stuff; thanks!

joeguam · #24 10-31-2014, 11:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by RPK

For get the harmony feature. The Harmony Gxt makes my vocal sound great.

RPK

slew, what I think RPK meant here is that the GXT has great vocal processing and effects WITHOUT any of the harmonizing engaged. I have this pedal and can attest to it. I've had people ask me about what vocal processing I use, and tell them it's just the GXT preset, and they think I'm not telling the entire truth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe F

For barebones simplicity, I love my TC Helicon Mic Mechanic.

The special sauce behind the TC Helicon's GXT vocal processing mentioned above is their "magic tone button". This incorporates de-essing, compression and basic EQ to provide great vocal enhancement with effective transparency (no coloring). This "magic tone button" is also built into the Mic Mechanic, and you can add any single effect you like, and set the level of effect you want to add. This pedal also has pitch correction if that's something you want. However, my wife has perfect pitch (something I idolize) and we set this level to zero. I've showed her the "magic" of this pedal by A/B'ing it through our PA, and my wife won't sing without it. One of the best things about the MM pedal is that when we work with horrible sound FOH's, we can control all we need in one easy pedal. Just search around, it's very hard to buy this pedal on the used classifieds, believe me I've tried. No one sells them once they try it out.

So my recommendation because you don't need a harmonizer is to try the Mic Mechanic, zero out the pitch correction, engage the tone button, and dial in the effect you like. I learned from a real good sound man that just a LITTLE bit of echo (like set at 3/10) does wonders. That's what my wife uses, it's more effective than reverb in our opinion.

slewis · #25 11-01-2014, 09:35 AM

Thanks, Joe, that definitely does sound like what I'm looking for and I appreciate your info!

zhunter · #26 11-01-2014, 10:36 AM

I hesitated to mention it since it lacks verb and echo but the TC VoiceTone Correct XT is a great vocal tool, especially for live performance. It will do soft pitch correction and has a great set of automated and user adjustable vocal enhancing effects that work just right. I have used it with several very good vocalists and every one has preferred their sound with the box. The anti feed back works well and is very handy, but then all of the features work well. It won't fix a broken voice but a decent voice will sound better in the house and a good voice can really cook.

I would second the Harmony GXT but don't want to get scolded for mentioning it since it has harmony effects. It actually does some of the same things as the VoiceCorrect just not as powerfully. And it does include some basic and usable time based effects. I have and have used both. They both work fine.

hunter

Paully · #27 12-08-2014, 01:23 AM

When I used to perform I sang through a DigiTech electric guitar digital delay pedal set to ever so slightly thicken my voice

joeguam · #28 12-08-2014, 01:29 AM

So what did you end up purchasing slewis? Inquiring minds wanna know.

slewis · #29 10-27-2015, 02:21 PM

Well for the record, I did (finally -- see how old this thread is?) buy a Mic Mechanic today and am looking forward to getting it in a few days. I'm mostly hyped up for the delays and effects on some specific songs I do. Well, only for those, I guess, since I have no intention of using the pitch correction. When I can't sing well enough to need a machine to fix my issues, well, I'll stop singing! I think the biggest barrier for me in getting it was just not wanting to add another "thing" to pack and set up, and another cord to pack and connect (how lazy is that???). But that's really no big deal so I went for it. Anyway thanks to all for the input on this.

alnico5 · #30 10-29-2015, 10:27 AM

The only vocal effect I use is reverb and sometimes I can't depend on the PA or sound man for it. There aren't many stand alone vocal reverbs but it is entirely possible to use a guitar pedal reverb for vocals. I get a 1/4" adapter for my XLR mic input to the effect and another for the output. I'm not running a long mic cord so the signal loss is not a problem. It works great.