How Can You Make A Rock Vocal Sound Better?

Admit it... you were expecting a magic answer to this one. You were going to get information on what plug-ins and effects can turn an ordinary vocal into that of a true rock god. Or goddess.

The essential truth about rock vocals is they're an established musical form. If someone invents a better way of doing vocals for stone... well they'll be another style of vocal, rather than true rock.

So you must check at the defining parameters of this style. Just as you would not record hip hop with no MPC60 or so on, and you would not record country music without a Fender Telecaster guitar, then you need ton't record rock vocals with no Shure SM58 microphone.

And that is all you require. You do not want a fancy preamp - simply plug it in your mixing console, set the amounts and record.

Now if you really want to get better rock vocals, what you need is a excellent rock singer. You could of course fire your current singer and find a better one. Might as well fix the drummer as you're at it.

Or you might get your singer some voice coaching. Rock vocals demand excellent control. They may seem out of control but there's a hell of a whole lot of precision work going on in there larynx. The artwork is to sound loud and aggressive when letting the mic do the majority of the work, and developing the tissues and muscles of the throat over a substantial time period. Even the wonderful rock singers took the time to develop. (And many over-developed too quickly resulting in surgery to correct significant problems).

1 technique that's used all of the time in stone is the'fry'. This is where the soft tissues surrounding the throat and larynx are made to vibrate coarsely and roughly. I'm positive you know the noise. I'm positive you understand too that you don't have to do so for long until you find yourself with a terrible sore throat. Look forward to a disease the following day and possibly a visit to the doctor for antibiotics.

Building up the method to generate the fry on the normal basis required by stone demands competent instruction. You can do it alone enjoy the early greats of rock, but it's going to be a hit and miss affair - and nobody understands about the rock singers who did not make it since they shot their voices to bits before they were prepared.

You know, excellent singing will sound great with any good mic and any capable preamplifier. We hear so much about gear that we forget the origin of so much music is actually human.