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  • Is this true? Brian Johnson (ACDC) sings at whisper volumes.

This is from the awesome recording thread:
The fact is that we can, within limits, create a whole lot of sonic illusions. Where these are most useful in the studio is in creating the right sense volume, space, and size that will fool the ear on playback. In other words, we can make gunshots *sound* deafening, even at perfectly safe listening levels, within limits.

Facts about the rock band AC/DC that you might not have known:

-The singer from AC/DC usually sings whisper-quiet.
-The guitar players from AC/DC usually use quite low gain settings for heavy rock guitar, older Marshall amps with the knobs turned up about halfway (no distortion pedals).

Both of these fly in the face of impressions that most casual listeners would have about AC/DC, which is a band that has been releasing some of the loudest-sounding records in rock for decades. The reality is that the moderate amp gain settings actually sound louder and bigger than super high-gain settings, which are prone to sound nasal and shrill at low volumes.

The singer, like TV gunshots, is creating the impression of loudness without straining his voice by only pushing and exerting the upper harmonics that are strained while screaming. IOW, he's singing not from the diaphragm, as most vocal coaches teach, but from the throat and sinuses. Instead of screaming, he's skipping the vocal chord damage, and only exercising the parts of the voice that are *unique* to the scream. He's using parts of the voice that normally never get used except when we're screaming our head off, and the result is that it sounds like someone screaming his head off, even though he's barely whispering. Because nobody walks around talking like that, the effect is of a "super-scream," something that sounds louder than any mortal human could ever scream, because the normal sound of a human voice is completely overwhelmed by the effects that are usually only heard during screaming.

My point is not to endorse AC/DC, nor to say that you should try to emulate them, only to cite a commonly-heard example as a way to illustrate how perceived loudness, size, and impact can be crafted as a studio or performance illusion.
Thread page: http://forum.cockos.com/showthread.php?s=38c30a59024c1f8842a97ff489bbb05b&t=29283&page=3


    I was watching a bit of a concert and trying to work this out. I think "whisper" might be taking it a bit far. But it certainly seems possible that his voice is doing very little work. Moderate speaking volume. As the thread points out, it's not that hard to pitch like that at low volumes. What makes someone like Robert Plant amazing is that he was able to be heard across a stadium without a microphone. That's really freakin' hard.

    I do think it's quite likely that Brian Johnson is not belting it out.
      To an extent, I could think that this is possible in the studio. However, how can this be possible during a live gig? I'm not aware of any method that could make this possible outside of the noise-free environment of the studio. Or am I wrong?
        in heavier types of metal, most vocalists don't really go above speaking volume. if you can't sound like you're screaming at whisper volume, your technique is wrong and you'll ruin your voice...

        I think Dez Fafara of devildriver makes this quite apparent. Listen to the intro of this song: http://grooveshark.com/s/Just+Run/2zvn1r?src=5 - if you listen carefully it's not that hard to tell that his screams are being done at about speaking volume.
          I would belive it. He moves very little and holds his mic very close to his mouth. Some hardcore vocalists inhale, as does Danny Filth at times, so the levels are pretty low, they use heavy compression and microphon cupping to get the levels. Jens Kidman of Messughha on the other hand screams so loud he overdrives the mic. My vocal hero is Devin Townsend, who can go from high pitch sing to paint peal scream in the same line. Its technique and breath controll.
            VellaJ wrote: To an extent, I could think that this is possible in the studio. However, how can this be possible during a live gig? I'm not aware of any method that could make this possible outside of the noise-free environment of the studio. Or am I wrong?
            Surely it's a question of signal V noise.

            I recall years ago (80s some time) reading an interview with Frank Zappa. Zappa was famous for taking tracks that had been recorded live and using them as a basis for something new in the studio. The interviewer said something like "but those tracks don't SOUND live, you don't hear the drums bleeding through onto the guitars, you don't hear the audience." FZ said "well do you understand signal to noise? What I do is mike the amps very, very close and then the signal, the bit that I want, is so much louder than the noise, the sounds that I don't want."

            Mics are not all unidirectional and some have a small zone in which they are efficient. I've noticed singing at TJs that there's a sort of "hot zone" around the mics (I think they use SM57s) , and if you pull an inch away from that zone then the vocal volume drops off very noticably. So mics have a range, and may only react to what's quite close to them.

            It seems to me that this is a desirable way to operate actually, because you have lots of headroom to get louder if you want to and so that gives you scope for dynamics. I've noticed this with Steve Newman, who, as Alan recently pointed out, is a real master of volume and dynamics. He tends to play quite softly but amplified, but that means that when he wants the extra oomph he just digs in a bit harder.

            Ha! I say "just".... I'm not trying to imply that there's no skill involved here, but if you're playing or singing flat out all the time then you don't have a lot of room left for using volume for emphasis or to dynamic effect.
              Yup. S/N ratio applies. Fortunately the inverse square rule also applies to mics - every time you double the distance, you get quarter the volume. It makes them quite sensitive to proximity variation when used close up, but the usual method is for the singer to sing right up against the grille unless they are belting it out - all part of learning mic technique. Mics like the SM 58 are designed to be used close up.

              @Bob - Zappa also used to DI wherever possible - for instance, he had a separate Barcus Berry piezo transducer installed in every key of Ruth Underwood's marimba.
                10 days later
                if you can't sound like you're screaming at whisper volume, your technique is wrong and you'll ruin your voice...
                1+

                Sitting with a great vocalist about 15 years ago, I learnt just that.
                let the gear do the work and never go much above speaking volume unless
                you are eager to mess up your voice.

                it is way better to try achieve the same results without screaming your heart out.

                I gig around 4/5 days a week and God help me should I not have taken that advise.
                  Well I've never seen anyone whisper with bulging carotid veins ?
                    I don't think Brian Johnson can whisper with that voice.
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