# How to get Rob Thomas & Santana "Smooth" vocal FX?



## chillbot (Apr 14, 2017)

I want to get this effect on a track, roughly :25 - :55 seconds here:



I feel like it's 90% EQ and I'm getting really close but I can't get it all the way there. Wish I could hear what is going on PRE all that EQ. Any thing I should try?

Besides a mass of external EQs and compressors/limiters and reverbs and whatnot, I have the entire Sound Toys bundle to work with. Also Filterstation, Magma, Melodyne, Movement, Wow2. And all the crap that comes with Sonar.


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## chillbot (Apr 14, 2017)

chillbot said:


> I want to get this effect on a track, roughly :25 - :55 seconds here:


First off, you need to sound like Rob Thomas, dummy.


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## gsilbers (Apr 14, 2017)

im ganna go with small hand held megaphone or altiverb speakerphone


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## Nick Batzdorf (Apr 14, 2017)

I'd forgotten how great that song is.


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## synthpunk (Apr 14, 2017)

Speakerphone/lo fi effect, soundtoys, quality uad or tube smooth compression, LDC mic.

http://duc.avid.com/showthread.php?t=53882

*Classic Mix Santana featuring Rob Thomas ‘Smooth’ (1999)*
There are a lot of thought–provoking mix decisions in this track, first and foremost Carlos Santana’s lead guitar sound, which trades heavily on its 3 to 500 Hz region to anchor itself in the mix balance. This is a little unusual in my experience, because that spectral region is usually fought over tooth and nail in most mixes — the subjective warmth of many instruments resides in that zone, and mix clutter also normally builds up most quickly there. The nature of this guitar sound therefore means that the brass and piano have had to be pretty severely thinned out to prevent overall muddiness developing in the mix as whole, and the bass also relies on its fundamental and an equally strong first harmonic so as to leave space for the guitar above 300Hz.

The additional difficulty here, though, is that the lead guitar doesn’t play all the time, so how does the mix compensate for this loss of low mid-range? Well, the lead vocal helps in this respect during the choruses in particular, where its reasonably full tone also helps make it stand out nicely in the balance. In the verses, though, the telephone–style distortion effect thins out the singer’s timbre, and it seems to me that the piano is the main part to step into the breach — you can hear it being ridden up in the balance considerably at those points, as well as being ridden down again whenever the guitar makes an occasional interjection. The brass arrangement also seems to help a little too, by shifting to a lower register there.

The second verse has a rare treat for headphone listeners: a clearly distinguishable whispered-vocal double–track in the right channel only, something that’s much more dramatic when you hear it over cans. What makes it even better, though, is that it’s disconcertingly sporadic, only appearing on some lines, so it keeps taking you by surprise. And then, just when you’re beginning to get used to it, it suddenly swaps sides to emphasise the line “you hear my rhythm on your radio” — rather fitting really, given the filtered vocal timbre. And the next swap, this time a left–right–left sequence, is even more apt, appearing as it does for the lyric “turning you round and round”. Mike Senior


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## chillbot (Apr 14, 2017)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> I'd forgotten how great that song is.


I'd forgotten how helpful you are, Nick!


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## chillbot (Apr 14, 2017)

synthpunk said:


> Speakerphone/lo fi effect, soundtoys, quality uad or tube smooth compression, LDC mic.


Would you add some sort of distortion and/or chorus to this?


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## synthpunk (Apr 14, 2017)

Im away from the studio for another week, so just referencing my phone.
You could play around with Sie-q, Decapitator, Echoboy, some lo fi effect and see what happens. Perhaps vocal doubling as well.

Btw I remember buying this album in the summer of 1999 in London.



chillbot said:


> Would you add some sort of distortion and/or chorus to this?


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## Smikes77 (Apr 14, 2017)

I used to gig this with my band. Good times.


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## Nick Batzdorf (Apr 14, 2017)

chillbot said:


> I'd forgotten how helpful you are, Nick!



haha

I didn't have my real speakers turned on when I listened (just my little round plastic computer speakers). It does sound a little like it's band-limited and coming through a horn, or maybe sent through a guitar amp in parallel. But I didn't want to post something that's wrong and remove all doubt.


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## chillbot (Apr 15, 2017)

gsilbers said:


> altiverb speakerphone


I thought I'd pick this up.... $450??? Maybe not....


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## synthpunk (Apr 15, 2017)

MCDSP Futzbox
http://mcdsp.com/plug-ins/futzbox/

Or
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00FP19LAE/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1492267438&sr=8-1&pi=AC_SX236_SY340_FMwebp_QL65&keywords=megaphone&dpPl=1&dpID=41Rj07XgBxL&ref=plSrch&dpPl=1&dpID=41Rj07XgBxL&ref=plSrch




chillbot said:


> I thought I'd pick this up.... $450??? Maybe not....


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## chillbot (Apr 15, 2017)

Ha... can't use the bullhorn as the audio is already recorded... I mean yes I could probably figure out a way to play it back through a speaker but that seems like a lot of work. Plus I can't download the bullhorn. Futzbox looks perfect but still... $150 for the cheaper version? I'm pretty sure I already have all the plugins capable of doing the exact same thing if I was smart enough to figure out how to use them...


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## synthpunk (Apr 15, 2017)

If you have guitar amp try reamping the track out through the amp.



chillbot said:


> Ha... can't use the bullhorn as the audio is already recorded... I mean yes I could probably figure out a way to play it back through a speaker but that seems like a lot of work. Plus I can't download the bullhorn. Futzbox looks perfect but still... $150 for the cheaper version? I'm pretty sure I already have all the plugins capable of doing the exact same thing if I was smart enough to figure out how to use them...


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## evilantal (Apr 15, 2017)

What about plogue's chipcrusher as an alternative to Speakerphone? Love that plugin...

Or the just released (and free for previous customers) Megaphone by Audiothing?


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## neblix (Apr 16, 2017)

evilantal said:


> What about plogue's chipcrusher as an alternative to Speakerphone? Love that plugin...



A digital lo-fi plugin does nothing to simulate the effect of frequency limited analog equipment. It merely does sample rate reduction (which introduces aliasing, something that *does not happen *in analog signal processing) and bit depth reduction (which quantizes samples and kills dynamic range).

In order to simulate this effect you need to do it by analog-related means. So, tube sims, vinyl sims, EQ/filtering, etc.


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## asherpope (Apr 16, 2017)

Nick Batzdorf said:


> I'd forgotten how great that song is.


Ha! I never even realised I liked it until listening to it with headphones right now! Great to see more of us being very helpful in this thread


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## Joe_D (Apr 16, 2017)

I would use a speaker convolution. If you don't have software to load impulse responses, LePou's LeCab is easy to use, very flexible (allows you to load up to six impulses at once, with simple EQ and other controls), and I think free (iirc). There are tons of free user-made impulse response files on the web; I'd look for some small 4"-8" speaker convolutions; one of those ought to get you in the ballpark. 

Of course, those convolutions are made with a speaker in a space with a microphone, so all three elements come into play. So, if a low-fi microphone (something like an old carbon mic or crystal mic, or a very cheap dynamic) was used to make the impulse response, that will add character as well.


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## JBW (Apr 21, 2017)

Just happened to be reading a thread discussing multi-band compressors and had a thought... Could soloing one of the bands of the compressor could do the trick for this?


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## mdvirtual (Apr 21, 2017)

I have a pair of KMart walkie talkies for this sort of thing. Cup the transmitting walkie in a pair of headphones and mic up the receiver. A little awkward but sometimes nails it when I can't get the sound I'm after with lofi/disto plugins. Awesome for simulating police radio chatter too.


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## K. Johnston (Apr 22, 2017)

If you have Komplete just use Guitar Rig and load a Brittish Plexi amp model with a dynamic 57 mic model. You may want to roll back the gain or drive knob on the amp. That sound is a reamp through one of Carlos's amps. Sounds like a mic'd 12" speaker.

Rob Thomas also uses a fast single repeat delay with the dry panned left and 100% wet panned right.


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## synthpunk (Apr 30, 2017)

DIY Telephone Reciever Microphone
http://tapeop.com/tutorials/29/telephone-talkback-mics/

This is a technique Sylvia Massy uses.


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