Karaoke Forums

I run a couple of shows a week at a place in town.  eQing singers is a challenge for me.  Some are easy, others ... nothing works.  I get requests sometimes from singers to add effects to their voice.  I'm curious, for singers out there - What are your favorite effects?  And for KJs - What is your default effect, and why?

I have a pretty rich tone to my voice, so I like a very basic reverb setting -- one that is on my effects unit called "Studio" or another called "Small Hall".

I hate it when the KJ loads tons of echo on songs all the time, but most seem to know what they are doing and back off it very quickly for me.

Even I know this.
Reverb
Reverb
Reverb
Reverb
Love Sarah

Usually run a delay (tap dependant to the song playing whether it be a short or long delay) with the delay trail running into a medium-large room reverb.  With a tad of the same reverb as well without the layered echo.

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Reverb is a definite must, IMO. Delay is also very helpful for certain songs.

Like to run those effects using two independent processers: one for reverb and one for delay, with each one connected to a different fader channel on my board. Prefer them separate of each other, especially for songs like Purple Rain or Comfortably Numb, where the delay only needs to be used in certain spots, and I can use it without affecting the reverb, or other settings, since they're on different channels. Just my personal preference, though.

As long as you can find one good basic reverb setting that works for most songs that need it, most customers aren't going to complain, unless they're THAT nit-picky . If you have some good reverb in there for certain, especially slower songs, without over-doing it... most people should be happy.

I generally use Delay 1 or Delay 2 on my Mackie board and Vocal Delay on my Yamaha board

I don't like excessive effects on the voice unless the song calls for it. Normally I adjust it a hair past where you would notice the effects present in the mix.

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

Light delay and reverb, set just enough to add richness to the voice.  I am also a very sneaky Karaoke Host.  I have a separate Ninja mini-board for vocals. If a singer is on tune but key up or down, and doesn't know to ask for music keychange, I'll keychange the mic to bring them on.  The thing is that if you TELL them you're doing this they'll try to compensate. By this I mean that if you tell them you're keying them down, they'll try singing lower, blowing the effect..  

   The result of my sneakiness is singers knowing they sound better at my show without knowing why.  After they sing, if they seem receptive, I advise that they ask that music keychange be made wherever thay go.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

I usually use a Studio Delay/Vocal Hall Setting From My LEXICON MX-200 In Combination With A Smattering Of LARGE PLATE From My Internal Effects From My MACKIE-CFX...SWEET!

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Man Must Know His Limitations -Clint Eastwood

I usually use a little small plate.....

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

Plate is a form of echo/reverb with a shorter delay. It is literally named after the echo that vocalists from back in the day ( late 40s through the 50s) used to create by singing with a metal plate behind the mic. The mic would not only pick up thier voice in the mic, but would pick up their voice bouncing off of the plate, creating an echo that could be controlled by how far the plate was from the mic. Instead of the echo having a longer delay period like it would in a concert hall, this created a shorter, and controlable, delay period for a new echo sound.

BTW, when it comes to music, reverb is just a generic term for artificially created echo that is sustained instead of decaying like a natural echo.

Anyway, I learned from a sound engineer a long time ago that the BEST way to use a vocal effect is to turn it on then slowly raise the parameter/level setting until you can actually hear the echo, then back off of it just slightly to where you can sometimes hear it and sometimes can not.

In karaoke, the primary purpose of vocal effects is to mask small mistakes in pitch that the singer might make, and in theory if you are using it correctly, the longer delay periods will mask more "macro" mistakes but alter the raw mix more noticably while shorter delay periods will cover only more "micro" mistakes but will will be a less noticible effect that will sound truer to the raw mix.

Some songs do call for a purposely altered vocal with a thick effect. Purple Rain by Prince and Only God Knows Why by Kid Rock immediately come to mind. In this case, the artist used the effect to create a particular mood to the voice and it is meant to be prominant, so it should be in your mix as well.

Anyway, point being, don't be one of those karaoke DJs that has the reverb jacked up all the time, as you are missing the point of having it at all (unless you just want everyone to hear the effect, that is), and it is actually making your overall vocals worse, not better!!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

I sing into a large glass, ceramic coffee mug, or plastic cup, depending on the effect I'm trying to achieve....

Shower. Nuff said.

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Seize the day and SING!!!

That is some pretty cool historical info TopherM, thanks!