Skinny Puppy Ohgr Too Dark Park era vocal effects chain emulation by AmbionicA using UAD plugins

I began working on emulating Ohgr vocal effects using primarily Universal Audio plugins. Manley VoxBox, Eventide H949, Distressor, Waves, Vocal Synth 2, SSL, LA2A, MXR, Lexicon, etc. I primarily focused on Skinny Puppy Too Dark Park and Last Rights era vocal sound. I am a huge SP fan and a vocalist. If you are as well then I hope u dig it. :)

[@mylivetubetv]

You annihilated this. 🦇 🖤 🦇 🖤

[@BlackMarketBaby]

Holy shit dude, I thought you were lip synching at first. This is incredible. Too Dark Park is my favorite album of all time. Those tracks are timeless, none of them sound dated to my ears even all these decades later. Most electronic music tends to have a sound that makes its release date easily estimated but not Too Dark Park.

[@ericlokishannonhouse2317]

right on! IF only we could all afford an Eventide h949! I would be soo happy just to have a more modern digital version (by Eventide, of course). I guess they have the H3-something ultra-harmonizer for about $399--, so it's a goal I can work up to :) BTW I am a huge SP fan and you picked 2 great examples of the kind of complex effects that ohGr used during that period...I think I listened to that (on Cassette) so many times the actual wheels got worn down and the tape would play at the wrong speed! Happy Memories!

[@waskerbasket9601]

Sounds great.

[@ThoughtExperiment]

Love this! Too Dark Park forever.

[@MrDogmanstarr]

Huge ol’ school SP fan here! 🧟 Thanks for taking the time to brake down Oher’s vocals. Very cool!

[@user-pe8tu3vk4b]

Awesome vid. Would love to see like thirty more of these...

[@BrianDressel]

Wow man. You nailed it.

[@stairsandflowers]

So glad this popped up in my feed this is real cool

[@erasenegatedelete]

This is amazing! I’m a huge Puppy fan too. Great job! Nailed the Too Dark Park sound!

[@jmsobe]

You slayed it, just saw SP on their last tour, incredible work

[@amplexormusic]

Excellent! You are absolutely correct that Skinny Puppy overall had a passion for experimenting with audio/sound tools without worrying too much about rules or obligations to follow what's worked well for others before them. (The way they used the 909 drum machine, for example.) Understanding the core principles and laws of physics in audio, recording, and sound design overall are beneficial. Definitely. But these days with software, especially if armed with at least some basic knowledge and experience, one is only limited by their imagination. Thanks for sharing your exploration of a rare vocal sound and band started decades ago that new generations are still discovering.

[@TheFilter311]

Been looking for a video like this for some time. Thanks for sharing!

[@kevingregoire2764]

Super cool. Way to go. Nice work.

[@crucifixed]

Omgoth! Thank you so much for this gift!!!! I’ve been scouring the internet for industrial production but it’s basically an empty field.

[@grimmwerks]

Ken Marshell's stuff is great - he usually shares Puppy original mixes he did too.

[@soundxplorer]

Excellent work, thanks for putting the tutorial together!

[@quantum_ocean]

Bravo! that's dedication!

[@politesociety]

If you haven't already found the instrumentals, cEvin Key's Patreon has heaps, including nature's revenge.

[@monsterbox6]

Awesome! Thanks for sharing!

[@brettfoxtrot1858]

Great vid featuring two of my fave SP tracks. I’m sure your mic contributes a bit too. You nailed it!

[@ambionica]

:) nothing over the top. i use miktek cv3.

[@Terrible_Peril]

fabulously done! just saying, a similar effects chain can be used to simulate "the voice" a la Dune 84 (shouts to all my BIFAR boys)

[@justingray4028]

Fantastic job.

[@radi0n]

Very, very nice!

[@lostdogogle]

Impressive! Very Nice! I Dig It! BRAP ON!

[@HE77ION]

awesome mate sounds really good thanks for this! 🖤

[@ambionica]

thank you so much for the kind words. :)

[@OthoDaFe]

Rash reflexion. Great job

[@valentinesway]

Awesome my friend 🖤

[@unholyaudiochannel]

Thats a very good likeness, interesting.

[@JansonHarris]

Amazing!great job man! :D

[@vertigopulse]

Nice!!! Absolutely nailed Ohgr's tone with your chain. Thanks for sharing!! Give that Howard Benson Vocal Multiplier a shot if you haven't already. On Vox & Keyboards it can get very ugly (in a good way) 😸😸😸

[@Black_Agent_Seattle]

Well done!

[@Mythos_Musik]

Yeah I Dig It man lol, subbed.

[@GambaSesh]

My bedroom-hobby-music-producing ass has just enough know-how to be really blown away by what you did here, on Spasmolytic too. Crazy impressive, both the result and I guess your expertise in achieving it with these tools. Much appreciated for sharing this, eye opening. Kinda wondering how you'd go about recreating Harsh Stone White. Anyway, cheers man.

[@ambionica]

Thank you so much... i've been a fan since the late 80s so i've always been intrigued by Ogre vocal. Of course i've tried to emulate it before but with the help of Ken Marshall and Phil I was able to dial it in a bit more. Harsh Stone White is pretty straight forward. Not much processing/fx on that one. It's whatever Dave Ogilvie was conjuring up for Ogre during Too Dark Park/Last Rights era that really stepped up the game, specifically for vocalists. So happy you dug it. Best wishes!!.

[@aopaul]

I read somewhere when touring, Oghr (and cEvin) use a Korg Kaoss Pad to warp them in real-time (chaining fx together much like your chain here). I'm looking forward to Korg releasing this summer an affordable 'mini' simple DIY version of the pad called the 'Korg NTS-3 Kaoss Pad' to go to town. It can only chain 4 fx at a time, but Overdrive/Compressor/Flanger/Reverb works. It also has a library function for users to create and upload infinite sounds. For now its cool just noodling with guitar fx pedals that do the same if not better!

[@pepuletrz]

nice.

[@AquaticDairyFarm]

An effect I have found useful to simplify the amount of plugins per track is a multi-channel pitch shifter for vocals with a slight bit of reverb and distortion. Although I use it for Aggrotech genre vocals which is different than the SP sound. I have been a fan of SP since I was in school in the 80s they have been a major influence for me as well as others of the genre. I remember the first single I heard from SP Gods Gift Maggots, I was blown away and have been a fan ever since.

[@ambionica]

nice... which multi-pitch are you using? waves or eventide? recently i've been toying with serial vocoders for a FLA bill leeb effect. lots of fun!!.

[@AquaticDairyFarm]

@@ambionica Funny enough, I use ReaPitch, a stock plugin in Reaper. Lol it seems too simple for most folks but the plugin does the job I need it to do and has never given me any problems Live or in the Studio.

[@aintitdeadyet]

Nice!

[@ambionica]

Thank you! Cheers!

[@WickedMTG]

Best I've heard. Wonder if there is a way to do this soundtoys plugins...I'm going to have to tinker around.

[@grimmwerks]

Ha! I'll be at St. Pete as well (was orig going to NYC since I'm from up there but... not going to work out). One thing I'd add that would be great - is once you go through the chain describing everything (or even as you do) - if you could slowly build the chain up so we can hear what each item is adding onto it? Might sound tedious but it would help dial in the sound with other plugins. Also (and I do the audio-in on ableton myself) are any of the secondary vox channels spread stereo in the mixer (ie I do a lot of bkg left / bkng right ) or is the spread purely from the plugins on those subs?

[@ambionica]

great questions & thank you for the kind words.. :) yes, i do have the first and 3rd track panned. also a few ms delay on track 2 (i think) typically no more than 12-14% pan.beyond that i'll use PanMan. I'm a technical guy but i often feel like i'm one of the few who truly appreciate every tedious aspect of mix process so i tend to skip quickly thru it. think i have to push as much as possible from now on into the first 3 min. then take my time for kats like us who appreciate going into detail. i'll def keep what you wrote in mind moving forward. if u see me @ the show do say "hi". :)

[@MrOuija-rr8kq]

Cool. I’m not a vocalist but it would be cool to get a Ministry Psalm 69 video. Love the vocal effects on that album

[@ambionica]

was working on posting another vox vid but blew my voice out werkin' on vocal fx for Ministry tracks. i do have an fx chain that sounds really good on Scarecrow. also totally different fx for older Twitch style vocal. i'll get back to it and have something posted in coming weeks. stay tuned. :)

[@user-ew1rs4il2e]

This is really, really great! It sounds really awesome. Thanks for sharing! I'm really new to all of this and I have a question: would this template work on a live setting? Or would all the noise create feedback or other kinds of problems?

[@ambionica]

hello, even the best of 'em have to scale down live fx. in this scenario it's prob best to bounce vocal fx to individual audio track then mix live with your semi-dry vocal = mission accomplished. watch Ken Marshall youtube channel. he lays it all out. :)

[@haujohn]

This is great! Did you have fx on the main vocal group as well?

[@ambionica]

great question.. :) go to 3:50. there you'll see my vocal group fx inserts. best wishes!!.

[@deep2one]

This sounds amazing. Do those UAD plugins need the hardware or are they native?

[@ambionica]

i'm using UAD hardware but now i believe most or all UADs no longer need dedicated hardware. = :)

[@zero3044]

How do I sound like that live?

[@silly8395]

great sound,...how could this kind of vocal be transported to live koncert without the bleed in the mic ? any hint how is this done ? thnx

[@ambionica]

check out Ken Marshall youtube channel. He has the answers. Very kool dude.

[@TravelerofThailand]

Great video....what are the specs on the computer you are using? I imagine running that many plug-ins live requires a lot of processor power?

[@ambionica]

I'm using a Dell XPS allinone i7 8th gen 16gb ram = :)

[@davidasher22]

Awesome job. You do a great Ohgr! Have you ever seen Ken Marshall on you tube. He’s a mix engineer who worked with SP for many years. He has some interesting insight into some of these things too. I bet he’d appreciate this video.

[@corticallarvae]

Audio rate lfo and ,karplus strong

[@RabbitintheMoon]

can you make that templet downloadable... would be great just to open the project and check it out...

[@ambionica]

Rabbit in the Moon is this DC? i appreciate you reaching out. we last chatted on FB. i can message u there. i would be happy to share my vocal processing session. Much respect to RitM and to you my friend.

[@RabbitintheMoon]

@@ambionica yes,., and sure,, hit me up there!

[@rammstein1985234]

Do you think you would be able to help me do wumpscut type vocals?

[@ambionica]

hi, i've never listened to Whumpscut but had friends who were fans. i just took a listen and believe the older stuff could be accomplished with an ART or Digitech rack multi-fx circa ealy-mid 90s with a distortion stomp box. after trying sooo many pedals on vocals back in the day, i found this to be best for industrial vocal = DOD Digitech FX56 American Metal. It's purple and i'd recommend putting on an aux with a gate inserted on the distortion so it kicks on only when u scream. On the newer track i heard i think it could be accomplished using Izotope Vocalsynth. i'm a big fan of Universal Audio plugins and now almost exclusively use them on vocals. best wishes!!!.

[@rammstein1985234]

@@ambionica awesome! Thank you so much for the reply. I have been trying for a while now, to try different vst's or ableton stock pligins. No luck. I am sort of close with Rob Papen distort. I also know my voice won't sound exactly like his because we all sound different. I just want to get close. Would you recommend doubling the track or just a single track then a series effects? Thanks so much again in advance.

[@rammstein1985234]

@@ambionica also what distortion plugins would you recommend?

[@quantum_ocean]

Ken Marshall might join as a guest and go through it with you

[@ambionica]

i wish!!!!! that'd be AMAZING!!!!!.

[@quantum_ocean]

have you reached out to him? You know his channel here right it's super big on educating @@ambionica

[@quantum_ocean]

I just wrote him about it. will let you know if he replies. @@ambionica But i guess Mark Walk is the guy you really want to talk to...

[@user-wi2dp3ol9m]

I'm assuming you don't know how they really did. That in the old was actually analog equipment the right way

[@ambionica]

I think you're asking if I know how the sound was originally conceived. Ken Marshall covers that extensively on his KZbin channel but as he says, it's harder to come by the original gear + it'd be more costly etc. but if u have the time & $ flow then def keep me posted on your progress. :) Best wishes!!!

[@ambionica]

Just read your comment again. your assumption is incorrect my mann. I don't own the original gear thus the 'emulation' but def chekc out Ken Marshalls youtube channel. :)

[@Slotermeyer]

Good job, thanks!

[@shane864]

Yeah that's a subscribe from me dawg