Vocal FX

Danny1969

I hate having to mix live vocals with no compression ...... you can have the best mic technique in the world but you still need a little compression to sit a vocal better. 

You can get units now that intelligently harmonize with your voice based on what note your singing and what chords your playing on the guitar. So the unit has an in for your mic, an out that goes to the PA and another in so it can listen to your guitar and harmonize properly. Until we got better at backing vox we used this :

http://images.gear4music.com/media/8942/317/preview.jpg

They do cheaper floor mounted ones as well

When people tend to get units like this they tend to be overused and soubnd a bit cheasy, but if you use it sparingly it's very nice

 

hubobulous

We use two units in our band. Our lead vocalist uses the Digitech Vocalist Live 4. Excellent piece of kit, easy to tweak, sits brilliantly in our mix and really makes songs come alive given that it uses my guitar input to harmonise. I then uses the TC Helicon H1. It has fewer options for harmonies, but I'm just a backing singer so don't need more than 2 harmonies. Again, a great pedal, basing harmonies on my guitar signal. We did a gig last Saturday and had many comments from bemused punters regarding the size of vocals during some songs. This sort of technology always makes me smile....it's just so damn easy, useful and impressive.

johnnyurq

I have seen a few /solosduos/trios using the TC stuff and it did sound very good to me and once tweaked to suit seems effortless to use live.

The Boss ones i have seen (VE range) are not quite as pristine FX wise but more than usable live if on a tight budget. The newest Boss VE one is supposed to be well worth a look.

Back in the day I got decent results (for the time in any case) from the Digitech VH 19" rack kit but suspect it would be lacking compared to the TC, and more modern ones. damned cheap though. IIRC they have a current model or two.

ThePrettyDamned

I saw a gig last week that had two pretty heavy metal types singing, lots of screaming and hetfield esque stuff in between.

One had one of these pedals, I had to ask because I'd never seen a vocalist with a pedal...

His set was miles better sounding. Vocally, anyway, from my audience perspective.

He said he wouldn't go anywhere without it, just for the compression.

PolarityMan

Our singer has a boss VE-20, he uses it mainly for FX though with msot of his vocals totally dry.

Monkeybone

I use a a Boss VE-20 for my acoustic sets, so far mainly only used it for the looper, ideal for Write It On Your Skin by Newton Faulkner.

menamestom

I looked at the Mic Mechanic a while ago, i think it could be a handy effect for singers who sing without the aid of a decent sound guy, which is most of us most of the time. I used to sing lead vocals in a band, I've a pretty average voice but felt so much better singing where the sound guy could give you a nice sheet and detail to the vocal sound which you never get direct into a PA, which can sound a little dry. If the Mic mechanic gets you half the way there, for the price it is well worth it. On the subject of whether singing lessons would be better, well that's a totally different subject. Most guitar players use effects to shape their sound so no reason you shouldn't do this with vocals. What guitar players play totally dry, guitar to amp and what singers sing with just a mic direct to PA, I would say almost none on both counts.