Sach O is a founding member of the Barbershop Quartet/Wu-Tang affiliate group “Chopping Headz”.
Love it or loathe it, much of the debate surrounding Kanye West’s 808s and Heartbreak revolves around his use of the autotune pitch correction pluggin. Detractors paint it as a corny, overused gimmick that barely conceals the fact that Mr. West’s voice is subpar at best. Others defend it as just another tool in the producer’s eclectic musical arsenal and rightly point out that West uses the software’s cold alienating effects for artistic, rather than commercial purposes. Both camps are sort of right, but sadly much of the discussion surrounding the program ignores the following.
1. Vocal Effects are nothing new
Go check an old Phil Spector production: it’s drenched in reverb. Zapp? Wanton abuse of the vocoder. The Beach Boys, Queen, Boys II Men and all? Multitracked to death. Using the studio to modify vocals is nearly as old as the recording studio itself.
2. There’s a Reason Rappers Don’t Modify Their Voices Much
Hip-Hop vocals are (for the most part) tough, direct and supposedly representative of an emcee’s skill. Punch ins and ghostwriters, accepted notions in other genres, are still contested in the court of rap. Outside of a few adlibs and some double tracking for thickness, we expect our emcees to sound the same in the studio as they would in a cipher.
3. Autotune sounds pretty cheap nowadays
Even the staunchest Kanye apologists have to admit that the preset effect has been overused in the past few years. At least Mr. West added distortion and a few other flourishes to his vocals, but the main reason that people are so tired of autotune is that artists are so damn uncreative with it. Most listeners found Snoop’s Sensual Seduction to be a dope/funny song since duke actually had a good reason to use it. Puffy’s upcoming album? I doubt that’ll be quite as effective.
That said, there have been quite a few notable vocal effects in the history of rap, many of which are primed for a comeback now that the doors have been kicked open. Here are some favorites.
4. “Chipmunk vocals”
Users: Nucleus, The Pharcyde, Quasimoto, Nas, Prince
Probably the most popular/obvious vocal effect in rap history, speeding your voice up on record has been around forever, probably because it’s so much fun. In emcee circles it’s been used mostly to create hilarious alter egos and sidekick characters, from Nucleus’s bro Cosmo to Pharcyde’s Farmer Man to Madlib’s Quasimoto to Nas and Prince’s err…cross dressing fantasies.
5. “Dubbed out park jam echo”
Users: Rakim, Nas, anyone who’s ever rocked a shitty system
Dub vocals are a remnant from the early days of rocking the mic when an emcee had to cut through everything from crowd noise to cheap mics to muddy sound systems. Combined with homemade effects boxes provided by DJs inspired by Jamaican dub clashes, the results are wonderfully warm instant adlibs that gave a touch of authenticity to any song. My personal favorite example? The crazy vocals at the end of Nas’s “Represent”. What the fuck were they saying anyways?
6. “Chopped-n-screwed
7. “Rhyming over the phone”
Users: emcees on “up north trips”, The Firm, CNN, rappers with concepts.
A rapper “phoning in” his rhymes is rarely an aesthetic choice and is usually the result of an unfortunate incarceration but occasionally heads will resort to the tinny, lo-fi phone effect for artistic purposes…usually for songs about being incarcerated.
8. “The 2$ distorted mic”
Users: The Juice Crew, The Beastie Boys, other white people.
This one went out of style with P-Funk samples, Eddie Bauer and grunge. Early records by Big Daddy Kane, Biz Markie and other NY emcees were recorded on the cheap and the vocal takes bordered on demo quality, which actually worked quite well given the rough nature of the material. A few years later the Beasties bought cheap radioshack mics for Check Your Head in a punk inspired move that caused nearly every subsequent rap-rock group to record their lead singer using the latest in cheap-ass technology. This one can stay dead.
