Vocal Editing in Electronic Music

For many decades the human voice has been used in music as the stand out feature for a song, and artists who feature their voice on a track are usually the ones who are in the spotlight and get praised for that song being theirs, regardless of the producer. Although in recent years, producers - in particular - Electronic music producers, have come into the shine due to the FX processing they apply to vocals to create more unnatural and melodic sounds from the sample, which as an end result makes the song much more engaging for the listener. Producers like Kanye West, Mr. Carmack and Skrillex use the human voice in a style where it is pushed way past the boundaries of normal and in doing that makes them stand out as being the main artist for that creative piece of work. (https://youtu.be/dls67HpyuCk?t=33s)

As you heard in that clip from Mr. Carmack's song Solutions, in the break before the drop, it seems like the vocal sample has no added FX other then maybe some preverb/reverb and some echo. That might be the case, but there also may already be multiple layers in a chain of effects that have been used to create that sound. Once the chorus drops, its clear that echo and heavy transposition is applied and in return creates a multitude of different frequencies of the voice, adding more movement in that section of the song.

"Singing, the vocal production of musical tones, is so basic to man its origins are long lost in antiquity and predate the development of spoken language. The voice is presumed to be the original musical instrument, and there is no human culture, no matter how remote or isolated, that does not sing." (A Brief History of Singing, 2018)

Although we have been singing since before any records were recorded, it's only since the era of digital music where the use of Transposition and EQ'ing has become such a crucial part of vocal editing. Transposing is a technique used to either increase or decrease the tone/frequency at which something is played at. An EQ is used to manipulate or eliminate specific frequencies of a sound to better fit the mix of a song. So by transposing a sample down 7 semi tones and adding a low pass EQ with a minor peak boost at the point of which the cut-off happens,

(Pitched Vocal Effect, 2018)

it creates the infamous 'deep voice' effect that is iconically used in many different genres of music. A perfect example of this is used in A$AP Rocky's song, Goldie. (https://youtu.be/fLCf-URqIf0?t=2s)

As you may have noticed, Rocky's voice wasn't only transposed down but it also had a bit of extra grunt in the lower end, I believe this is due to Quantization and Vocoding which was used for the mix. Quantizing is a software sequencer which uses a metronome tempo to find and fix any notes or samples which are played slightly off beat and auto-adjusts them to fit perfectly in time with the tempo. (Corfield, 2014) A Vocoder is a tool which has been used by producers for more than 40 years, it takes a Modulator signal (Human Voice) and generates multiple different band signals from it, it then uses an audio signal, usually from a synthesiser, and combines both together simultaneously. This chain of FX is able to generate a Multitimbral Instrument which maintains aspects of a human voice whilst adding a subtle robot sound to it (Vargo, 2018) Daft Punk are famously know for their robotic voices with which they represent themselves, this is done through the use of Vocoding, EQ'ing, Transposition and many more FX process' .(https://youtu.be/yca6UsllwYs?t=3m2s) Other big artists such as Chris Brown, Travis Scott and Drake use this type of processing for their songs because by adding these process' in smaller amounts it gives a lot of body and width to the song and adds harmonics which (through correct mixing) will either make the voice lighter or heavier depending on the rest of the post production FX. (How To Synthesize Your Voice, 2018)

Another critical part of vocals in electronic music is the use of vocal samples or 'Vox Chops'. They can be used as ad-libs for main vocals, to create melodies and if the producer is smart with their editing, they can also be used as drum samples. A Vox Chop can be applied by cutting a short and specific part of a vocal recording, multiplying it in a melodic or repetitive form and applying FX as described in this article.

I know many producers choose this type of editing for vocals when they are unable to record an artist themselves and don't want to copyright from an Acapella that has previously been released, but there are many ways around copyright. For example, In the song "Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites" by Skrillex, he manages to use an unknown basic sample of a female vocalist who only says the words "oh yeah" and turns it into a 4 bar melody which is repeated once creating an 8 bar loop for the build of his song. (https://youtu.be/WSeNSzJ2-Jw?t=27s)

Using active listening skills, you may be able to pick up all the techniques which I have spoken about (i.e. Transposition, Vocoding, EQ'ing and Quantization) in that section of the song. Electronic music is always progressing and changing, and I think that through the use of the programs and tools in this article it will continue to move forward with the ever evolving music industry of todays age.

Jordan Bayne.

ATOM

Bibliography:

A Brief History of Singing. (2018). Www2.lawrence.edu. Retrieved 3 August 2018, from https://www2.lawrence.edu/fast/KOOPMAJO/antiquity.html

Mr. Carmack - Solutions (feat. Donnis). (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 3 August 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dls67HpyuCk

Pitched Vocal Effect (Trap, Rap, Future Bass). (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 3 August 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQfdRM39J0A

A$AP Rocky - Goldie. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 3 August 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fLCf-URqIf0

How To Synthesize Your Voice – Travis Scott Vocal Effect Tutorial. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 3 August 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmd2Ma5WXJ4

Corfield, C. (2014). What Is Quantization? - A Mini Guide To This Powerful Timing Tool. Dawsons Music. Retrieved 3 August 2018, from https://www.dawsons.co.uk/blog/what-is-quantization

Vargo, I. (2018). A Brief History of the Vocoder. Pro Audio Files. Retrieved 3 August 2018, from https://theproaudiofiles.com/history-of-the-vocoder/

Daft Punk - Around The World. (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 3 August 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yca6UsllwYs

Skrillex - Scary Monsters And Nice Sprites (Official Audio). (2018). YouTube. Retrieved 3 August 2018, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WSeNSzJ2-Jw