This left feels right is the best. . .

Autotune/melodyne/pitch correction won't change the tone of one's voice, though, will they?

Or is it really handled by Jon singing ultra-low (and thus not as nasally) in the studio and they pitch it all the way up? Otherwise I'm confused about the outright different sound of the voice, not the ability to hit notes, on the studio stuff.

It won't change the basic tone of the voice, but the tone will sound "funny" if it's changed too much. You usually can't change the pitch more than a tone - a tone and a half before it starts to sound funny. Screams are easier to move around since the harmonics are all over the place and a human can't place it as easily, but no, you couldn't really move a low sung part an octave up without it sounding funny.

The sound or the tone of the singer has much to do with the microphone used, the amplification used (ie. tube pre-amps give a warmer sound and smoother dynamics to the voice, valve amps are "crisper") and the effects used. All vocals are EQ'd (the frequencies are boosted and lowered), usually pitch-corrected, delayed, reverb is added, they double lines etc. There are so many things you can do to a human voice in the mix, so to say, that it's almost impossible to say what is the reason to a certain tone.

But the recent Howard Stern Birthday Bash stream sounded very dry to me, as in it didn't really have a whole lot of effects going on and the amplification was very crisp. I think that sound is pretty close to what Jon really sounds like now.

Ice

So it's basically a case of shitty acoustics vs. very good ones?

Not really, as acoustics is about the analog sound in a certain space. But about sound quality, its tone and other qualities, yes.

Ice

Yeah, I know, but the thing is, to me it sounds like a case of a great sounding room (actually adding depth and "natural reverb" to the music) versus a crappy one. So it's not cheating as much as perfectioning the process of capturing the sounds.

Iceman! When you said that about that D'Abo woman i laughed so hard! I said exactly the same thing when i heard LOAP, it sounds like she rang her lines in and they just dumped it on the track. When you hear Richie on Prayer 94 who gives the song so much of his blues/soul sound, it just fails in comparison.

Dude, you're a completely asshole. I never said anything about pitch correction.

Do you know the word SMOOTH? IDIOT.

And since you're now a sound engineer from Google/Wikipedia you should know that the level of compression it's up to the guy mixing the song to decide, not the producer. And, oh, you should know too that in Crush Jon uses a little bit, here and there a more compressed vocal and since Bounce he pretty much uses A LOT.

But hey! You're an asshole and you know it all.

Aloha !

I very much agree with that. There's so many theories thrown around here regarding how things are mixed, produced or why they're not releasing this or that. All with a "probably" remark added to it, just to make it sound like that sounds very reasonable when it's clear a lot of posters have no idea of what they're talking about and only form theories on their very limited knowledge. You can't however correct anyone on here anymore because they'll throw shit at you for doing so, and topics go off track very easily, which is why I don't post much anymore.

Edit:

Thanks for proving my point.

Instead of starting to call people names and getting your panties in a twist you might actually try to listen what Iceman is saying, because your "the level of compression is up to the guy mixing to the song" isn't true either, it's not that simple. But hey, if throwing a hissy fit and calling people names like this is your way of debating, good luck with that. It's sometimes laughable what's being posted as a very probable theory, and in case you're wondering, I'm not having a go at you, Matt.

Salaam Aleikum,
Sebastiaan

Dude, you're ****ing with the wrong guy here. I KNOW what I'm talking about.

Your words. Compression doesn't help you to hit the notes, no matter how much you use it. It will allow the singer to use less volume when singing, but still making the vocal track equally loud.

I do. But you don't seem to know what it means, because compressing a track doesn't make it "smooth" in any other way than visually in the software, the track LOOKS smoother, but it doesn't SOUND any smoother. It's just more even in regards to the volume and dynamics.

I'm not a sound engineer, but I've studied sound engineering, recorded a lot of things, taught sound design in schools and played in and recorded bands all my life, but I'm sure you know better.

And Jon has been "using" (meaning that his vocal tracks have been compressed) compression all his career, just like EVERY ****ING SINGER IN THE WORLD! It's the default that every vocal track is ran through a compressor, compressing it more or less. Just like every single track released on a commercial album is compressed as well. It's not a "secret", it's the standard procedure. The only ones NOT using compression are beginner bands who don't know better. Just like every track is EQ'd, every track is compressed, if by nothing else, then at the mastering stage.

And even though I never said anything about the producer, yes, it is THE PRODUCER who decides how an album shoudl soun, NOT the mixer. The mixer can suggest things, but it's the producer who calls the shots. That is, after all, why he IS the producer.

It pretty much looks like YOU are. I suggest you read up a little on studio techniques. There are a lot of free guides all around the web. Look them up. Even Wikipedia has a lot to offer you, I'm sure.

Ice

It would be, if bands would record in a room, but they hardly ever do anymore. Maybe drums, but the rest is usually either played straight into the cosole (like keyboards or bass) or he amps are either emulated or miked cabinets (guitars). Vocals are almost always recorded in a vocal booth as dry as possible and all the effects (also the room ambience) are added later in the process.

This is because this way you have more room to play with. If you record a vocal or a guitar part with room ambience and echo, you can't take it out even if you'd want to. Also, you'd need to do any overdubs or patching in the same exact room to have the same sound and good rooms are expensive to rent and hard to come by. So mostly it's not used any more, since the computerized effects can do the same with less hassle and more room to experiment with different things.

The only time the room ambience is recorded is when a band plays and records live, but very few rock bands do that anymore. They used to in the 70s, but not any more.

Ice