This is something I've been messing with for a little while now with mixed results. The easiest and potentially more expensive way to get dirty lo-fi vocals is to buy a harmonica microphone like the Shure green bullet or similar and plug that into a guitar amp or PA. I know through watching their live videos that Thee Oh Sees use this method and I believe specifically this mic. The good thing about this method is that the mic's signal is already matched for amp use so you don't have to worry about volume or impedance issues. Another way is to use the effects loop on your mixer and plug in some guitar effects pedals into it. I've also done this without an effects loop by sending the headphone out to pedals and then putting that back into a separate channel but be careful about feedback. The last way I'll mention is to wire the speaker end of an old telephone handset either directly to a 1/4" cable or to a 1/4" jack and then plug that into an amp or PA. I've seen this used to great effect before, the wiring is super simple and usually requires little to no sodder and it's cheap! I just purchased a NOS speaker element from ebay for five bucks shipping included last week. Good luck!

Yo!
All you need is a cheap mic (SM58 copy or cheaper) plugged into a guitar amp.
Then you mic the amp with a regular mic, and there you go, dirty vocals.
Hope it helps.
Cheers!

ey yo. do some of you guys recomment some cool mics or tecniques to record a vocals than I would be grateful. Sound ala Black Lips, Ty segall Oh Sees, Pebbles, Back From the grave. I tried to put a drive on the vocals after in pro tools. did'nt sound so real.. any ideas?

take a look at us! :)

The Mummies
Thee Tee Pees
The Ka-Nives
Fe Fi Fo Fums
The Mothballs
The Statics
Thee Cormans

To name a few.

THE SWAMP RATS !!!!!  Grungier than The Sonics , even when they were covering The Sonics .

Bleached

The Beets

Woolen Kits

The Hex Dispensers covered a song I wrote called 'I'm a Ghost' and killed it. It's better than the original by miles. :)

/tootsownhorn

Detroit's is great!. Heard it on the Wax Museum couple weeks ago. Also have it on Michigan Rocks comp.

John Battles said:

 Mitch Ryder with Detroit "Rock'n'Roll" (Velvet Underground.).

Even Lou Reed "Copped" to liking this version , better .

 Mitch Ryder with Detroit "Rock'n'Roll" (Velvet Underground.).

Even Lou Reed "Copped" to liking this version , better .

DON'T THINK I'VE HEARD THIS SINCE MY BROTHER HAD IT ON 8 -TRACK.

EXCESS IS BEST.

I also like The Troggs , Blue Cheer , JERRY LEE LEWIS !! , Otis Redding (of course.), 13TH Floor Elevators , Eddie and The Hot Rods , and some others, but , I have'nt heard one that I thought beat the original....
Try to imagine what that sounded like when it came out.....  
Axel Björnsson said:

 

really digg this version with mountain

really digg this version with mountain

 I like the Isley Bros.' version of "Lay , Lady Lay". The spoken intro on their live album is priceless -   Ronnie Isley : This is a song written by Bob Dylan. Now , a lot of people thinks the cat knows something about a lot of things , but , me , I like anything that's got "LAY" in it.
 
Glenn Barton said:

I think we'll both stick with the one we heard first.

 
Mike Humsgreen said:

I was going to mention the Magnet cover. Although the steel guitar is really good on the original. But I heard the Magnet cover first and find the Dylan version doesn't really fit to the lyrics because of that. After hearing the cover it just has to be a soppy love song.

Glenn Barton said:

 I love "Lay Lady Lay" but a lot of that has to do with the killer pedal steel guitar and the reverb attached to it!
 

I RETRACT THAT NON - FACT....The Electric Prunes did a great version of "Smokestack Lightning".....on the "Live , Stockholm '67 album" , with a great turnaround , and would'nt you know , James Lowe's timely advice to an audience already, no doubt,  smoking their brains out , " IF YOU CAN'T DRINK.....THEN YOU OUGHT TO SMOKE.".....
 
John Battles said:

i THINK YOU'LL WIN THAT BET. I HEARD "SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING" BY THE YARDBIRDS , FIRST , THINKING THAT IT SOUNDED A LOT LIKE "PRIMITIVE" BY THE CRAMPS" , NOT YET AWARE OF HOWLIN' WOLF'S ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE FORMER , AND THE GROUPIES' ORIGINAL VERSION OF THE LATTER.....I CAN'T EVEN THINK OF ANY OTHER VERSIONS OF "SMOKESTACK LIGHTNING" , OFFHAND ........ IN THE STATES , THE CHESS RECORDS CATALOGUE WAS OUT OF PRINT UNTIL 1984 , AND , EVEN THEN , THE OBVIOUS STUFF LIKE CHUCK , BO , WOLF AND MUDDY WAS SLOW IN ARRIVING.
 
Tersicore said:

Well, since most of us grown up with R´n´R, Rock, Punk and so on, i guess is not too difficult to find more appealing versions of some old Jazz, Folk or old R´n´B songs. 
We may have heard in most cases the cover earlier than the original one,  
or maybe never heard the original at all. 

Personally i´d be more curious about comparing songs which were both, original and cover, quasi contemporary, or from not so extremely different musical genre.
What do you think?

BUT: I´ll spend a beer to anyone who comes with a better version of the original "Smokestack Lightning" by Howling´Wolf! ;)

Yeah, picked it up and I gotta say, there were a few issues with it out of the box: Firstly, those tuners are some kind of Korean garbage. I couldn't get em off fast enough. There was a TON of play in the machine head themselves and with anything more than light picking they'd come right out of tune. So I popped on eBay and picked up a set of Grovers and with a little finessing they dropped right in. Secondly, the nut is dogshit. It may in fact be made out of like Mexican action figure plastic. It was grabbing my strings on bends so I pulled em all off and tried to work on the grooves a little and before I knew it I could see little cracks. So I just said fuggit and swapped it out. THIRD AND LASTLY, that bridge is an embarrassment. It rattled so loud when I was strumming that it could be heard over my damn AC15. I took it off and looked for the little wire that is threaded through the screws on a tune-o-matic style bridge as that is usually the source of a bridge rattle and TYPICALLY you can just pinch it down tight and voila. No such luck. It's on the FRIGGIN INTERIOR of the bridge. Totally inaccessible. So back onto eBay I went to buy myself a sweet little roller style bridge.

And finally -- I have the guitar I paid for. Stays in tune. Has that dark semi-hollow sound. I'm happy with it. In my opinion, I really wish Eastwood had spent a little more on the hardware, especially if -- as they claim -- this is supposed to be the workingman's Country Classic. Kinda turned me off on EW guitars from here on out if I'm honest. I'll keep it, but mostly so I can tell the story of how I turned a hoopty into a solid player.

Show #411: "Bands & Artists Starting With R, Part 6" playlist:

Michael Rother - "Fontana Di Luna"
The Rouges - "Faces On The Wall"
The Roulettes - "Help Me To Help Myself"
Round Robin - "I'm The Wolfman"
The Roundtable - "Scarborough Fair"
The Roustabouts - "Just You And Me"
The Routers - "Let's Go (Pony)"
The Rovin' Flames - "Seven Million People"
The Rovin' Kind - "Right On Time"
Normie Rowe & The Playboys - "She Used To Be Mine"
Dave Rowland - "Besame Mucho"
Roxy - "You Got A Lot Of Style"
Roxy Music - "Psalm" - Stranded
Roy & The Bristols - "It's Your Fault"
The Royal Cavaliers - "I'll Try Again"
The Royal Coachmen - "Loophole"
The Royal Flairs - "Suicide"
The Royal Groove - "27 Hours In The Day"
The Royal Guardsmen - "Mother, Where's Your Daughter"
Royal Jesters - "Theme For A Lonely Girl"
The Royal Jokers - "Sweet Little Angel"
The Royal Knights - "Knight-Mare"
The Royal Premiers - "Who Am I Without Your Love"
The Royal Rhythms - "Lovey Dovey"
The Royal Teens - "Believe Me"
Billy Joe Royal - "Cherry Hill Park"
James Royal - "Work Song"
The Royale Coachmen - "Killer Of Men"
The Royalites - "Dance Time"
The Royaltones [MI] - "Flamingo Express"
The Royaltones [NY] - "Crazy Love"
Royalty - "Let's Ride"
The Rubber Band [AR] - "Below Up, Above Down"
The Rubber Band [IA] - "My Baby Left Me"
The Rubber Maze - "Mrs. Griffith"
The Rubettes - "Tonight"
Rubinho e Mauro Assumpcao - "Quero Companheira"
Ruby & The Romantics - "Your Baby Doesn't Love You Anymore"
David Ruffin - "My Whole World Ended (The Moment You Left Me)"
Jimmy Ruffin - "I've Passed This Way Before"
The Rulers - "Wrong Embryo"

Click here to stream this show now: http://eggmanrulez.com/m3u/411.m3u
or to download: http://eggmanrulez.com/streams/411.mp3

***To stream The Metaphysical Circus live via the web click this link: http://portsmouthcommunityradio.org/listen ... to listen to past shows, view playlists and more, fan the show on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/The-Metap ... 6748511750
Live every Friday night at 10pm to 1am EST on WSCA-LP 106.1 FM, Portsmouth Community Radio!

Egg

Wow. That is some Foot-in -Ass Rock'n'Roll. MY FRIEND FOUND TWO OF THEIR RECORDS IN THE LATE 70'S , and said , if you see any , Grab 'em !  Like , that'll happen.

   1:32 - 'Well , stone cold baby likes to Rock and Roll. Twistin' cock , keep me rockin' and bonin'. Twist a little , baby , cos I'm burnin' your hands , ain't got no rollin' , got a roll in his pants. Come on , darling , cool , cool town (Or koo koo town ?). Ain't got no rollin' , ain't got New Orleans , COME ON ! GET ON , BABY , COME ON ! ROCK AND ROLL" ......"GIVE ME ALL YOUR ROCK!!!!" (See above .) GUITAR !!!! .......

"POOH POOH BROWN "(I/0 COOL , COOL TOWN) IS A POSSIBILITY , TOO . I DID'NT HEAR IT , MYSELF.
 
Lutz Vipinderwoman said:

Let's see....I hear with my little ear:

"Gotta be a skookie" (what's that?) ...."get my bong".. "Is your mother hi, call me in the road." "Fish can talk to me bony" and I distinctly hear.."pooh-pooh brown" and "Give me all your rock" ....and of course "get on baby, get on"

Yeah, I think that's what they said.

Axel said:

But what I really wanna know is...what is he singing? The mighty Hurriganes!!!

HAVE TO AGREE , THERE. I SAW ON TV , WHERE SOME WOMAN PUT HERSELF ON THE LINE BY ADMITTING SHE WAS STILL A LEIF GARRETT FAN
SOME 30 YEARS AFTER THEY STAMPED "HASBEEN" ON HIS FOREHEAD. SHE PRESENTED HIM WITH A CLAY BUST OF HIS HEAD THAT SHE'D MADE IN THE 70'S. HE REFUSED IT. 

EVEN SHAUN CASSIDY AND TIMOTHY VAN PATTEN STILL HAVE CAREERS IN SHOW BUSINESS. APART FROM EFFECTIVELY PARODYING GUYS JUST LIKE HIM IN "SPIRIT OF '76" , WHAT THE HELL HAS HE DONE SINCE JIMMY CARTER STEPPED DOWN FROM THE PRESIDENCY ?  I MET A GIRL BACK IN JUNIOR HIGH WHO TOLD ME SHE RAN INTO GARRETT BEFORE A SHOW. "DO YOU PUT YOUR PANTS ON..." , SHE ASKED HIM , "OR DO THEY PAINT THEM ON ?!!".
Andy Climax said:

Leif Garrett??? He's a cunt! Barry Gibb

I have nothing but unbridled admiration for you, sir.

Matt said:

I've never ever been on Facebook. I have a band that does fine without it. I also seem to know about shows, parties, and I am able to keep in contact with my friends all without the help of Facebook.

I've never ever been on Facebook. I have a band that does fine without it. I also seem to know about shows, parties, and I am able to keep in contact with my friends all without the help of Facebook.

I don't even take liking seriously on FB. I feel stupid asking for likes for our band. I should do more campaigning and after seeing some other posts on this topic, I will. We only have 66 likes but are doing well gig-wise. We would probably do better with more likes. Check out our videos on our website and youtube. If you like them, I mean truely like them, feel free to like us on Facebook. It will probably help the cause.  If you don't like us, well, obviosly, don't like us. If you think the whole like system is weird and you don't care for it, don't give it a second thought... Irwin Zucker- promotion in motion. You can click on my page and find our website. Don't think I should post it here, just in case guidelines...

I'm sure that's true in some cases but we have a lot of rabid 60s fans who seek out bands like us because of the music we play. Often repeated comment: I love you guys because you play different stuff from most 60s bands. I have to give them credit because a lot of them are their specifically for the music. If they like you, you know how to treat them, everyone has a good time, it all helps. I think a lot of our fans are more like the serious people on this list, just not as knowledgeable about the depth of great 60s music out there. We are turning them on to some here and there and so far, they like it just about as much as the hits they know. Total props to them for that. I think these types of fans may be an exception because of the die-hard love for 60s. I'm sure their are pockets of fans like that for many other genres, too. Seem to be prevalent with 60s. I am also a fan and will drive a long way to see fave local 60s act. I know exactly where they are comin' from. 
 
G. Wood said:

The main thing is still to play out a lot and be good. Social media helps in that it introduces you to people, if they like you, if you charm them, they become predisposed to liking your music. Because most people--present company excluded, I'm sure!--don't really care as much about the music itself as being part of something that's trendy, or feeling a sense of group membership. Hence the "likes." And it still helps to be sexy.  

Yep, it's rough out there.

B.B. Fultz said:

All of which is probably true. And pretty sad really.
 
G. Wood said:

The main thing is still to play out a lot and be good. Social media helps in that it introduces you to people, if they like you, if you charm them, they become predisposed to liking your music. Because most people--present company excluded, I'm sure!--don't really care as much about the music itself as being part of something that's trendy, or feeling a sense of group membership. Hence the "likes." And it still helps to be sexy.  

Hi, guys. I'm just posting this 'cause you may find it interesting.

*Grimes explains contemporary music production