Vocal effects

[pogoshoes]

How do I distort my vocals like The Strokes or NIN. Is there a specific effect box.My vocals are so white and bland and I just sound silly when I try to project emotion.I really want to sing my own songs! Is there a trade secret effect that is really helpful for vocals? Besides actually being blessed with a good voice?

[Cool Hand Luke]

Yes. DEVELOP a good voice :D

I know that doesn't help you much as I don't think there is a quick way to do it. I think learning proper vocal technique is the only way to get where you want. Some people ARE blessed with a great voice and don't really need to work as much to develop it. The rest of us have to work hard to get there. The good news is that I think anybody who is not physically handicapped on the voice is able to get a lot better voice by learning the proper techniques. You may not end up sounding like Freddy Mercury but you will be able to LEARN to sound better.

You will probably need to get a teacher. Beware, there are a few different schools on how you're supposed to sing and what is proper technique. One thing to keep in mind is that if it hurts - even just a tiny bit - you are hurting your voice and potentially damaging it.

[Bajazz]

Agreed.

I used to have the same problem. I wanted grit, distortion, crystal clear highs, rumbling bass, emotions, falsetto, air etc...

After working hard with vocal technique for years, much of these things just snapped in place by themselves.

So my advice is to learn variation and different styles and techniques. Even if you're a heavy metal singer, country style techniques will help you cause they've given you more control over your voice.

[Sonic Jedi]

How do I distort my vocals like The Strokes or NIN. Is there a specific effect box.My vocals are so white and bland and I just sound silly when I try to project emotion.I really want to sing my own songs! Is there a trade secret effect that is really helpful for vocals? Besides actually being blessed with a good voice?

I think the effect can sound cool, but in SMALL DOSES. I could not listen to that NIN style distorted vocals for an entire album or set, probably not even an entire song. it's just used to give some punctuation on a chorus or something. You need to get comfortable with your normal singing voice

Having said that, i've in the past have on the bridge of a song done this trick in a DAW where i ran the vocals through Amplitube (a guitar amp simulator) and mixed the distorted vocals in with the dry vocals. it sounded pretty good to me.