Born Of Osiris: Crafting Brutal Telephone Vocals with David Castillo

Ever heard those insane, mangled vocal effects in a Born Of Osiris track and wondered, “How the heck did they do that?” That squashed, distorted, almost telephone-like sound can add a unique, aggressive texture that cuts right through a dense metal mix. We got a peek into how producer David Castillo tackled exactly this for a brutal vocal section, and it’s a masterclass in layering, saturation, and smart EQ.

Forget just slapping a distortion plugin on and calling it a day. David’s approach is a carefully constructed chain designed to obliterate the vocal in a controlled, impactful way. Let’s break down how he gets that signature Born Of Osiris vocal character. Check out the full session here. Let’s dive in!

Laying the Groundwork: Initial Vocal Prep

Before you can creatively destroy a vocal, you need a solid foundation. David starts by ensuring the raw vocal is in good shape and ready for the heavy processing to come.

Starting Clean: The SSL Foundation

Even for a heavily distorted effect, the initial signal matters. David mentions starting with a clean channel input. His first port of call in the box is often an SSL E-Channel plugin.
He’s not doing anything drastic here; just some minor tweaks. If the vocal feels a bit “dull,” he’ll add some high-end to open it up. This is about making those final, subtle adjustments before hitting any major dynamics or distortion. Think of it as prepping the canvas.

Taming Sibilance Early: Pre-Compression De-essing

Next up, and crucial for aggressive vocals, is a de-esser. For these kinds of spoken or heavily effected parts, David hits the de-esser “a lot harder” than he would on a standard lead vocal. Why? Because the subsequent compression and distortion will exaggerate any harsh sibilance (“s,” “t,” “sh” sounds), making them painful to listen to. Getting this under control early is key.

Dialing in the Destruction: Core Distortion and Dynamics

With the vocal prepped, it’s time to bring in the heavy hitters. This is where the core tone of the effect starts to take shape.

Unleashing the Fury: Decapitator for Aggression

The main distortion character for this particular sound comes from Soundtoys Decapitator. This plugin is a beast for all kinds of saturation and distortion. David mentions that good starting points for this kind of vocal effect are often presets like “Angry Vox” or “Punk Walks.” He’ll then tweak from there to fit the specific track. Decapitator allows you to really drive the signal and get that aggressive, harmonically rich distortion that defines this vocal style.

Clamping Down: The 1176 for Vocal Control

After distortion, compression is vital for managing the now highly dynamic and aggressive signal. David’s go-to compressor for vocals is the UAD 1176. For this application, he uses a “very fast attack.” This helps to catch the aggressive transients and keep the vocal pinned in place, ensuring it doesn’t jump out too erratically. Spoken or screamed vocals, especially heavily processed ones, need more aggressive compression and limiting than melodic singing. You can learn more about these metal compression secrets beyond just making it loud.

The Pultec Polish: Adding High-End Sheen

Even with all the distortion, a touch of EQ can bring back some clarity or add specific character. David often reaches for a Pultec EQP-1A plugin on his vocals, particularly for adding high-end. The Pultec is legendary for its smooth, musical EQ curves, and a little boost in the highs can add air and intelligibility, even to a distorted signal.

Hardware vs. Plugins: A Practical Approach

David shares his general philosophy: for main lead vocals on a mix with fewer tracks, he might opt for his hardware 1176 and Pultec EQP-1A units. He has two Pultecs and one favorite revision of the 1176. However, for backing vocals, or in situations with many tracks (like this Born Of Osiris album, which features a lot of growls and saturated elements), plugins offer speed and recallability. For these BoO vocals, he mentions relying on plugins because the color was coming from other sources, and the growls didn’t need the same nuanced hardware touch.

Adding More Character and Grit

The chain doesn’t stop there. David layers on more processing to further refine the tone and add unique textures.

Post-Processing De-essing: Keeping it Smooth

After the distortion, compression, and Pultec high-end boost, guess what? Another de-esser! This might seem like overkill, but adding high frequencies (like with the Pultec) can reintroduce or emphasize sibilance that the first de-esser didn’t catch, or that was generated by the distortion. This second de-esser ensures the final sound remains aggressive but not painfully harsh.

Saturating for Intensity: The “Secret Weapon” Plugin

Next, David uses a plugin (likely Soundtoys Little Radiator or Devil-Loc Deluxe based on his description) to add even more saturation. He mentions using the “alternate tube” mode and dialing in a “fair amount of air.” This stage isn’t about overt distortion like the Decapitator; it’s about adding density, harmonic richness, and that “cooked” vibe that makes the vocal feel even more intense and present.

Leveling Up: The L1 Limiter for Presence

The vocal was recorded at a relatively low level, so David uses the Waves L1 Limiter to bring the overall level up significantly. This also adds another layer of aggressive peak control, ensuring the vocal consistently cuts through.

Crafting the “Telephone” Effect: The Aux Send Trick

Now for the real magic: transforming the heavily distorted vocal into that distinct “telephone” or “radio” sound. Instead of just piling more plugins onto the main track, David uses an auxiliary send.

Why an Aux Send?

He mentions two reasons for this: sometimes you run out of plugin slots on a single track, or more strategically, you want to create a distinct layer of processing that you can blend in. Sending the main distorted vocal to an aux allows for parallel processing dedicated to the telephone effect.

Sculpting the Radio Vibe with SSL

On this aux track, David once again turns to an SSL E-Channel plugin. This is where he carves out the telephone EQ. He describes it as:

• Boosting “a lot of mids.”
• Cutting “all the low end and high end.”
  This drastic EQ strategy is what creates that narrow, band-passed sound characteristic of a telephone or old radio. He also notes that he loves driving the input of the SSL channel plugin (or a real console) to get even more console-style distortion, further enhancing the effect.

Final Squeeze: More Limiting on the Aux

After the SSL on the aux, there’s even more limiting. This is to make that telephone effect really sit tightly in the mix and maintain its aggressive, focused energy.

Fine-Tuning with EQ: The Last Polish

Finally, a bit more EQ on the aux. David explains that sometimes, after all the processing, you might feel a specific frequency range is a bit too much. Instead of going back and tweaking earlier EQs (which could unravel the sound), he’ll use a final EQ with a narrow Q to make small, precise adjustments. This allows for easier fine-tuning of the overall telephone effect.

Key Takeaways for Your Own Brutal Vocals

Creating this kind of “brutal telephone vocal” isn’t about one magic plugin. It’s a systematic process of layering distortion, compression, EQ, and saturation:

1. Start Clean & Control Sibilance: Prep your vocal with basic EQ and aggressive de-essing.
2. Core Distortion: Use something like Decapitator for the main aggressive tone.
3. Aggressive Dynamics: Clamp it down with a fast 1176-style compressor.
4. Character EQ & Saturation: Add high-end sheen (Pultec) and further saturation (Little Radiator/Devil-Loc style).
5. Level & Limit: Bring up the perceived loudness with a limiter like the L1.
6. Telephone Effect via Aux: Send to an aux and use an SSL-style EQ to drastically cut lows/highs and boost mids.
7. More Limiting & Final EQ: Control the aux signal and fine-tune.

These techniques from David Castillo’s Born Of Osiris session are powerful tools you can adapt for your own productions. Experiment with different distortion flavors, compressor settings, and EQ curves to find what works for your track.

Want to dive deeper and see exactly how producers like David Castillo sculpt these insane tones from scratch, using the actual multitracks from massive bands like Born Of Osiris? At Nail The Mix, you get to be a fly on the wall as world-class producers mix real songs, explaining every decision. You can even get your hands on the multitracks from sessions like this and try these techniques yourself. If you’re serious about taking your metal mixes to the next level and unlocking your sound beyond presets, seeing pros in action is invaluable. Check out how they transform raw tracks into release-ready monsters – you can get access to the full Born Of Osiris session and many more right here.