DEVIN TOWNSEND, OPERA KING
Wednesday, October 7th, 2009 at 12:30pm by Vince NeilsteinWe all know Mr. Townsend as a top-notch writer, producer, guitarist and all around weird/awesome dude. But did you know the guy can fucking sing his balls off?? His vocal performances on all of the SYL records were always great, no disrespect meant there, but his vocals on the 4-album Devin Townsend Project suite show a whole new side of his musical abilities. Check out this self-recorded video, below, of Devin tracking his own vocals for the 2nd record, Addicted (out November 17th), which Devin posted on his MySpace page.
First thing you notice is how strong, steady and accurate his voice is. Then you notice that he’s holding the mic, as opposed to it being on a mic stand, and he’s getting perfect-sounding takes despite any potential variance in distance from his mouth and the lack of a popper stopper. This is obviously a man who records vocals this way quite often. Then you think… wait a minute… he’s not wearing headphones… isn’t he worried about bleed? To which the answer, I guess, would be “no, he doesn’t give a shit” which is quite curious to me. Maybe all the extra noise from the speakers makes the final product sound bigger, or maybe it’s insignificant. Then you realize the fluidity with which he records each take, and the attention to detail that he puts into every single word of his performance. Then you realize, once again, what a talented vocalist he is.
It’s quite impressive, really. I can see why bands seem to have a love/hate relationship with his production methods and why someone like Speed Strid of Soilwork insists on producing vocals with him. On one hand it’s got to be quite a grueling process, but on the other hand he’s quite obviously super-skilled and is definitely going to get the best result possible.
-VN
Yeah, but why does his satchel have to keep swaying into the camera?
The dude has pipes. He is basically good at every music oriented thing.
One of my favorite Devin Townsend vocal performances is the end of “Namaste” on Physicist. It’s the most powerful, controlled screaming I’ve ever heard.
Even with Ziltoid, he does so many different voices for a variety of characters…I bet he even shits vibrant sounds with rhythmic patterns lol
Dude is a legend.
pretty sure you can eq it or gate it to remove bleed for the most part, a mic with a muff on it works just as good as a pop filter. Oh also, Devin rules.
His first gig was singing for Steve Vai. If you’ve even listened to “the new black” this shouldn’t be surprising at all. It’s like saying; I knew Frost wore corpsepaint and leather jackets, but did anyone know he could play blast beats?…
That video was amazing, he looks like he’s in his comfort zone. And what a voice.
COMING TO FUCKING BLOODSTOCK! Oh yes!
To get all geeky audio engineer on you…
He’s using a Shure SM7 there (or so it looks like) which doesn’t really NEED a pop filter given its built-in windscreen (see Mastodon’s Making of Crack the Skye – same vocal mic Troy Sanders uses, also sans pop filter).
The bleed could either be killed by the mic’s pickup pattern, or it’s something Devin just doesn’t care about. I doubt it’s fixed through EQ or gating – it’s most likely just not a big deal at placement or volume. Given Devin’s studio knowledge, he probably just doesn’t stress over said mess anymore.
feh – audecide beat me to it.
looks like an SM7 to me, too. it’s an insanely versatile vocal mic used primarily for broadcasting/voiceover, but it’s gotten adopted by a large swath of metal producers over the years because it can handle the large range of tones generated by “extreme vocals.” engineering nerdery aside, a lot of metal vocalists like it because you can get right up on the windscreen as if it were a stage mic, making the sterile recording process a little more organic.
Umm…. Shure SM57s are a lot smaller than whatever he’s using.
Which is why everyone said SM7, not 57 you fucking dink.
Pre-order at cmdistro: http://www.hevydevy.com/news/
i’m pretty sure i said all this about this video in a reply about a week ago, with less dick sucking, when you guys were linking to his myspace for the new album sampler track.
This guy is weird, but fucking brilliant. Can’t wait for Addicted.
Great operatic stuff on Ki too, glad to see it’s still there.
cant wait for this, i even did the pre order for this!, i cant wait to hear. devin i know you read this please play nyc!!!!
I can’t wait for the freaking box set!
I think anyone who actually listened to Devin’s solo work is well aware the dude has amazing singing capability. But thanks for another obvious tip.
Next on MetalSucks: Did you know Devin Townsend shaved his head?
So this is your big news, that the guy who broke into the music business as the singer for Steve Vai, who called him “One of the best vocalist I ever heard” is in fact, a really good vocalist?
I’ll just sit back and await the ground breaking 3,000 word post telling everyone that besides being a dick, Yngwie Malmsteen plays arpeggios very fast on the guitar.
*sits back, taps fingers
My point exactly. Who the fuck didn’t know he could sing?
God dude. What the fuck is wrong with MS lately. You keep posting shit that’s either a) well known, or b) old. This video’s been out for at LEAST 3 months now. And he’s always been able to sing. He’s done like 6 solo albums besides DTP, and only a few of those have been as heavy as SYL.