Chino Moreno Vocal Analysis - My Own Summer - Deftones - Isolated Vocals - Singing & Production Tips 

Comment pinned. This is awesome. Had so much fun reading this. Thank you!!

Terry Date get it done!!! Wow!

you rock for this. thanks for the insight!

This is really cool and I don't understand half of it

This is the best comment on RU-vid. Period. Thanks for the sharing.

Hahahah

Yess he definetly has some asmr vibes in his vocals. I thought that before I even knew what asmr was haha

Bob ross also kinda did the asmr thing on tv

It most definitely is.

😂😂😂 Thought the same! Good call!

I always tell people getting into Deftones to not look too much into the lyrics. His voice is as you said more of an instrument and a vibe, at least to me. Half the time I don’t even know what he’s singing and the Deftones are in my Mt. Rushmore of artists.

There's always a balance to creating sound effects and noises vs. creating melodies and harmonies, vs. creating rhythm and groove with the voice and with the instruments as well. Some people tend more towards the other end but it's a preference, not a sign of being better or worse.

I don't know anyone with sense who would say he's not a "good" singer. He's clearly a genius singer and composer, technique wise he's just idiosyncratic. I wouldn't call it using vocals as an instrument either, he's literally just putting the same sort of effort into the vocal lines that you'd do writing for a lounge diva, which absolutely kills in the context of the music. Too many metal and hard rock people figure the riff is complicated enough, so they make the vocal line simple and repetitive and melodically uninteresting as a result. Chino will literally bend the pitch to do his vocal runs, and fit that into a single syllable, he'll sing in a different key if needbe. It's great.

I usually pay attention to lyrics the most but when it comes to deftones and nirvana that shit goes out the window and I just focus on the voice. Plus it’s hard to tell what tf Kurt and chino are saying 💀 even if I know the song for years I still be like “what did he say?” sometimes 😭

@@v.xien. REAL. Whenever that happens, I barely remember the lyrics but only the melody

I’ve always acutely been aware of that myself! Made me wonder VERY early on in the bands existence, if it was actually one of the most central concepts to their sound and approach to music generally...anyhow, this paradox approach toward chino’s vocal melodies was very successful in the results of course....and his “anti-melodic” approach lead to the writing of some very beautiful sounding vocal, ironically known for standing out in the heavy music of that time for being uniquely far more melodic then their counterparts in the scene and time! And anyhow, in my thoughts since this first occurred to me, I can’t help but wonder if that very concept might have been the motivation for them deciding to take on the moniker, “The Deftones”; both referring to the condition of being Tone-Deaf as the vocals rarely were in key in a traditional sense, as well is the use of double entendre...not only a subversion of musical norms by defying status quo, but it’s like, “f you established scene AND music in general! Call us tone deaf if you want but we are democratically proven to be “def” because of it! For anyone to old or young, “def” was one of the positive transient terms for “hip” in the late 80’s to mid 90’s (ie; the labels Def Jam, Def Jux, then Definitive Jux after lawsuit lol). So it’s kinda like what sounds like a simple and easily dated brag, was really a pretty clever original idea and I dunno, like 25 years or so later, Deftones are still a stand out band who has never really lost their cool factor, or their ability to bring in new and super dedicated fans because of the way the stand out and emotionally connect, even in ways music theory says, shouldn’t have any emotional merit among the common listener (meaning non-art music, pretentious snobby listener who listens to the most minimalist John Cage performance art in their car as if it were enjoyable). Everyone who gives probably White Pony more than the rest, the time and open mind for a full active listen almost always seems to “get it” rather quickly and fall in love with the way chino can connect on a kinda subconscious human level. Not to mention it seems to me like lots of teen girls (and other prob) dig his effeminate yet Masculine approach with all the whispering and what not lol TL;DR does the bands name, I’ve always wondered, come from his anti-academy approach to melodies and doing the very opposite of what’s considered “melodic” by western music theory in pop music to this day...therefore branding themselves as “tone deaf” and yet “def”, aka ill/hip/fucking cool whatever u prefer, because of it making them, Deftones!

@@TheDonLemonSnickety about their name: "Carpenter created the band's name by combining the hip hop slang term "def" (which was used by artists such as LL Cool J and Public Enemy) with the suffix "-tones," (which was popular among 1950s bands such as Dick Dale and the Del-Tones, The Quin-Tones, The Delltones, The Monotones, The Cleftones and The Harptones)"

Nice

he’ll literally go a 16th of a step up & down from a note in key it’s insane not even a guitar can replicate his vocal movements unless it’s like a slide guitar or somethin’

@@jesseg6890 guitars can bend strings, and pre bend

I agree!

@@chrisliepe I heard smile for the first time recently and it's one of my favorite songs, but I was like damnit deftones, bout to make me tear up and shit over here

one of the most brilliant

And face lift is also a brilliant album.

@@samharvey3241 certainly!!!

I believe it is their best

Diamond eyes is amazing slso

Great song!

@@Kcdavis79 fax

yup, thats actually the song that brought me here tbh

That song makes me wanna drive fast

I’d say Needles & Pins is what takes the cake off the self titled. Second is WGTB and then Hexagram. That inhaling scream he does near the end of Needles and Pins always makes me levitate.

shove it

🙌

I concur!....please dissect h8s white pony vocals. There is so much going on there.

He is dearly missed.

YES! I love the exploration aspect of this kind of thing.

@@chrisliepe Yeah, and it feels even better when you succeed in it. I once tried to recreate a certain bass sound, I was very happy with the end result even though it was a little different. It's about trying new things and adding flexibility and new tools to your skill set. And I think you do a great job in describing the details in all these topics :)

Some CRAZY anecdotes on the real production/recording of these vocals: 1. Chino used an SM58, handheld, in the live room, without headphones. Instead of HP’s, The producer, Terry, set up NS10’s on floor stands in The room with Chino. That’s where you get the crazy and inconsistent bleed. He was always facing the monitors, so there was plenty of off axis rejection, but he would Pace around as he sang and even kneel. Terry said that, at that time, Chino was very shy with recording vocals, and would do his best to move into a corner somewhere where he couldn’t be seen easily through the divider window 😂 Anyhow...Not sure if it was one NS10 or two for Chino, But Terry used the SM58/NS10 combo trick with several vocalists, on several huge albums. Terry was just famous for allowing vocalists to do whatever they were comfortable with to get the best performance. That included cupping the microphone. He did have to intervene with Chino, however, and show him how to cup the mic more mildly, and how to change his grip up more effectively and consistently when he wanted to create different sounds, like the whispers and boxed sound effects. So many recording faux pas, but it totally worked. 2. It WAS recorded with Protools. “I’d walk into a studio and they were charging me huge amounts of money to rent a ProTools rig, I just went out and I bought one. It was actually when we were doing “Around The Fur”. I had my assistant, a guy named Ulrich Wild who has gone on to do pretty good stuff himself. I said, “Okay, Ulrich, your job for the next two weeks is to figure out how to fucking run this thing because I’m not going to. I’m too old for that shit.” -Terry Date 3. Terry preferred Neve 1081’s over 1073’s. 4. “I love my Neve modules, some API modules, an 1176 - I use those a lot for vocals. But that’s kind of my “comfort zone” compressor. The bus compressor used was an Alan Smart C2.” 5. Lastly, other than hitting the compressor hard, the only tape saturation/distortion effect used was hilariously LO-FI... “It was a Casio four-track cassette. And we plug the microphone into the preamp on that thing and just turned it up - and that was the distortion on that vocal. Problem is, that was like an MCI tape deck and I think an MCI 500 console. The tape deck was so old I’d have to clean the heads after every time I stopped tape because the tape was just shedding.” ***This is the most insane detail for me. He plugged the microphone into the shitty Casio😂🤣???!?! Come on, Terry! At least I have the common decency to plug the Casio in like an outboard piece of gear, and assign it to a send, so you can blend the effect later! Nevertheless, I admire his low-fi balls.

I think as long as you pick a sound you like and commit to it, that's all that matters.

Live was sung by Chi, but I think it's Chino on the record

Live was chi but on the record it's definitely Chino

As the other comments say I can say with 100 percent certainty chino did all the vocals on the record. And Chi did it live

​@@XViTNg But I'm pretty sure that's Chi we hear on the hidden track Damone.

Yeah, it caught up during White Pony touring years, recovered a little during self titled, then completely destroyed by Saturday Night Wrist. That’s when he could only do those like yelps. I watch live videos before 2000 - absolutely mind blowing. Sounding just like the record. I honestly think he shouldn’t bother screaming anymore, just have the music be heavy and he sing on top.

@@joetones86 yeah i saw him at download 2016 with the rest of the band and hes vocals killed the show for me and stopped me from looking deftones up for years

@@joetones86 Lately his vocals seem to be a little better, given he's relegating more of the vocal work to Sergio (who's not the greatest vocalist but helps Chino a lot) and just not overdoing it anymore. He definitely should work with a coach tho.

What is it with famous vocalists and becoming lazy and fat? A few months of professional lessons, which a musician of his caliber can surely afford, and he could get his technique back. Listening to newer deftones live shows is just sad...

@@hounsdjentlow3074 just saw them like last week in seattle and he sounded great tbh

😅

hahahaha

😆🤣🤣😂

Palumbo is an amazing vocalist. Always thought his vocals remind me of Chino in some aspects as well.

Totally. Initial reason I bought Glassjaw's songs was because of Palumbo's Chino-esque vocal style. But on their newer tracks, I realized immediately how undeserved that is. No. He's actually catchy in his own way. He managed to sound as intense as Chino without that much mic effects, resulting to something more audibly primal as compared to Chino's more ethereal aura. Where Chino reaches straight to your subconscious like he's always singing some kind of chant meant for ayahuasca sessions, Dave gently assaults your actual senses as if his voice somehow materializes into a wild invisible entity born from the accumulated frustrations of you and all your ancestors, that could start throwing you around at any moment like it's some kind of a sadomasochistic Zen ritual or something required to help relieve you of all your negative thoughts and feelings. Chino's is more spiritual while Dave's is more well . . . physical, if that makes sense, is what I'm saying. Hahaha!

@@batangdugo8113 I feel exactly what you mean. Chino is quite subversive and i always pictured his voice to be kind of like smoke or something floaty even when he's screaming, Palumbo is a battering ram in both senses imo

I was just gonna suggest that

It definitely sounds like it!

In some songs, you can even hear him kind of tossing the mic around. There are some fun stories about how he used to destroy microphones. I hear a lot about his mic cupping, and how sometimes he even incorporates it as an instrument in the song. The song hexagram is a great example of that

@@chrisliepe -Some CRAZY anecdotes on the real production/recording of these vocals: 1. Chino used an SM58, handheld, in the live room, without headphones. Instead of HP’s, The producer, Terry, set up NS10’s on floor stands in The room with Chino. That’s where you get the crazy and inconsistent bleed. He was always facing the monitors, so there was plenty of off axis rejection, but he would Pace around as he sang and even kneel. Terry said that, at that time, Chino was very shy with recording vocals, and would do his best to move into a corner somewhere where he couldn’t be seen easily through the divider window 😂 Anyhow...Not sure if it was one NS10 or two for Chino, But Terry used the SM58/NS10 combo trick with several vocalists, on several huge albums. Terry was just famous for allowing vocalists to do whatever they were comfortable with to get the best performance. That included cupping the microphone. He did have to intervene with Chino, however, and show him how to cup the mic more mildly, and how to change his grip up more effectively and consistently when he wanted to create different sounds, like the whispers and boxed sound effects. So many recording faux pas, but it totally worked. 2. It WAS recorded with Protools. “I’d walk into a studio and they were charging me huge amounts of money to rent a ProTools rig, I just went out and I bought one. It was actually when we were doing “Around The Fur”. I had my assistant, a guy named Ulrich Wild who has gone on to do pretty good stuff himself. I said, “Okay, Ulrich, your job for the next two weeks is to figure out how to fucking run this thing because I’m not going to. I’m too old for that shit.” -Terry Date 3. Terry preferred Neve 1081’s over 1073’s. 4. “I love my Neve modules, some API modules, an 1176 - I use those a lot for vocals. But that’s kind of my “comfort zone” compressor. The bus compressor used was an Alan Smart C2.” 5. Lastly, other than hitting the compressor hard, the only tape saturation/distortion effect used was hilariously LO-FI... “It was a Casio four-track cassette. And we plug the microphone into the preamp on that thing and just turned it up - and that was the distortion on that vocal. Problem is, that was like an MCI tape deck and I think an MCI 500 console. The tape deck was so old I’d have to clean the heads after every time I stopped tape because the tape was just shedding.” ***This is the most insane detail for me. He plugged the microphone into the shitty Casio😂🤣???!?! Come on, Terry! At least I have the common decency to plug the Casio in like an outboard piece of gear, and assign it to a send, so you can blend the effect later! Nevertheless, I admire his low-fi balls.

yeah cupping is not uncommon in extreme music no matter how much it's not recommended by most producers.

Another singer who use the same technique as Chino (but for his screams) is Aaron Lewis of Staind. If you listen to Staind first three albums, you can definitely hear Aaron Lewis cupping the Mic during the screaming parts of some heavier songs. Raw, Spleen, Crawl, Can't Believe as well Send In The Clowns with COLD all were recorded with Aaron cupping his Mic.

Glad you enjoyed it!

Whatchu talkin bout. Brann especially is a killer vocalist.

tee hehe

I 2nd that! Justin is crazy talented!

My guess is a low pass and then a rotary speaker type of effect.

It's a super fun experience to build a chain like that and just let loose. I had to cut out so much screaming in editing to keep the video moving cause I'd just get lost in it haha.

My mind's there too.

Some CRAZY anecdotes on the real production/recording of these vocals: 1. Chino used an SM58, handheld, in the live room, without headphones. Instead of HP’s, The producer, Terry, set up NS10’s on floor stands in The room with Chino. That’s where you get the crazy and inconsistent bleed. He was always facing the monitors, so there was plenty of off axis rejection, but he would Pace around as he sang and even kneel. Terry said that, at that time, Chino was very shy with recording vocals, and would do his best to move into a corner somewhere where he couldn’t be seen easily through the divider window 😂 Anyhow...Not sure if it was one NS10 or two for Chino, But Terry used the SM58/NS10 combo trick with several vocalists, on several huge albums. Terry was just famous for allowing vocalists to do whatever they were comfortable with to get the best performance. That included cupping the microphone. He did have to intervene with Chino, however, and show him how to cup the mic more mildly, and how to change his grip up more effectively and consistently when he wanted to create different sounds, like the whispers and boxed sound effects. So many recording faux pas, but it totally worked. 2. It WAS recorded with Protools. “I’d walk into a studio and they were charging me huge amounts of money to rent a ProTools rig, I just went out and I bought one. It was actually when we were doing “Around The Fur”. I had my assistant, a guy named Ulrich Wild who has gone on to do pretty good stuff himself. I said, “Okay, Ulrich, your job for the next two weeks is to figure out how to fucking run this thing because I’m not going to. I’m too old for that shit.” -Terry Date 3. Terry preferred Neve 1081’s over 1073’s. 4. “I love my Neve modules, some API modules, an 1176 - I use those a lot for vocals. But that’s kind of my “comfort zone” compressor. The bus compressor used was an Alan Smart C2.” 5. Lastly, other than hitting the compressor hard, the only tape saturation/distortion effect used was hilariously LO-FI... “It was a Casio four-track cassette. And we plug the microphone into the preamp on that thing and just turned it up - and that was the distortion on that vocal. Problem is, that was like an MCI tape deck and I think an MCI 500 console. The tape deck was so old I’d have to clean the heads after every time I stopped tape because the tape was just shedding.” ***This is the most insane detail for me. He plugged the microphone into the shitty Casio😂🤣???!?! Come on, Terry! At least I have the common decency to plug the Casio in like an outboard piece of gear, and assign it to a send, so you can blend the effect later! Nevertheless, I admire his low-fi balls.

I've heard others say that as well... Doesn't diminish the studio genius tho for me

🤣🤣🤣🤣

Glad you enjoyed it!

@@chrisliepe It's so cool, that this video came out right after my birthday. I've been listening to Deftones the whole day and was singing along to it :)

oooo thank you :) !!

Thanks 👍

Pro Tools

I agree with that to some extent, esp on the earlier releases. The blend of production and intensity though!!

If I remember correctly in 2003, there was an article where Chino said without him there would be no Linkin Park. Is he wrong though?

And it's not even a dig on Chester's talent or abilities, it's whether or not their style would even be *allowed* on air. You can make the same argument for Korn and Deftones too.

@@CFChristian I think considering the influence he had particularly on Mike, that’s an accurate statement. They all ended up being best friends though so I’m sure Chino regrets saying a lot of shit he said lol

@@CFChristian Jonathan Davis was a lot more angsty, his snarls and general weird shit he did did pave the way for a lot of stuff that to be played. I think part of why Deftones never enjoyed even half of the success as some of the other bands that came out was that Chino came off too feminine at times, I know a lot of my friends thought Deftones were a soft horny band lol

So glad you enjoyed! I have some stuff on Spotify and Apple Music... an older EP I did. You can also hear lots of other covers and various projects on Soundcloud. Just search my name on any of those platforms and you'll find some goodies :)

I'll see if I can find those!

@@chrislieperusty cage or even Jesus Christ pose by Soundgarden. Would be AWESOME too!