Daath’s Disgusting Slime Growls: Dave Otero’s Vocal FX Chain

When Daath decided to unleash new music, one thing was certain: those vocals needed to hit hard. And if you’ve heard their track “Disgusting Slime,” you know Sean Zatorsky’s guttural growls are a defining feature. But a huge part of their impact, especially in the verses, comes from a distinct, warbly, almost “underwater” vocal effect. Mixer Dave Otero (Flatline Audio) was tasked with paying homage to the original vibe while crafting something fresh and powerful. Let’s dive into how he cooked up that signature vocal sauce.

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The Core Idea: Crafting Daath’s Signature “Underwater” Vocal

The original track had a very prominent warbly, watery vocal effect across all the vocals, and Dave knew he had to capture that essence. The goal wasn’t just to copy it, but to take inspiration and build something unique that served the new recording.

Inspiration and Initial Approach

Listening to the original, the vocal effect was the first thing that jumped out. The challenge? To recreate that feel without it sounding dated, and to find a unique spin. This meant experimentation was key, blending familiar techniques with some out-of-the-box thinking.

Setting the Stage: Prepping the Dry Vocal

Before diving into complex effect chains, Dave emphasizes getting the core vocal sound right for the song. Once he’s happy with the main processed vocal (think EQ, compression, etc., but without time-based effects for this specific purpose), he’ll bounce out the sections that need the heavy special effects.

For “Disgusting Slime,” he created a track specifically for this “underwater” effect. He took the lead vocal, processed it to a clean, solid state (muting the main reverbs and delays), and then rendered that section down. This gives a clean, consistent palette to build upon, without the main effects chain influencing the special FX creation too much. This also means he’s not running a million plugins live, keeping the DAW performance smooth.

Building the “Underwater” Vocal Effect Chain (Verse 1)

With the prepped vocal ready, it was time to stack plugins. Dave’s approach here is often about finding the vibe quickly and not getting bogged down in ultra-precise moves. It’s about layering until it sounds right – “dumping sauce until it gets to just the right level of sauce,” as he puts it.

Step 1: Adding Grit with Saturn

First up, FabFilter’s Saturn was brought in to add some grit and distortion.

• Key Setting: Dave split the bands in Saturn, focusing the distortion more heavily on frequencies above around 500 Hz. This adds an aggressive edge, almost like a broken speaker, without making the low-mids too muddy.

Step 2: Filtering for a Subdued Vibe

Next, some filtering was applied. This wasn’t an extreme telephone effect, but more of a subdued, “radio-like” character that didn’t make the vocal sound too small. This helps create that feeling of distance or being slightly submerged. For more on how to use EQ strategically in metal mixes, check out these EQ strategies. And for more on moving beyond presets and truly unlocking your sound, check out our comprehensive guide here.

Step 3: Introducing Width and Warble (Micro Shift & Rotary)

This is where the “watery” character really starts to form.

• Soundtoys Micro Shift: This was used to widen the vocal and introduce a bit of subtle chorusing and warble.
• Rotary Speaker Emulation: The main heavy lifter for the warble was a rotary speaker plugin (the specific one wasn’t named, but think Leslie speaker emulations). Dave admitted to not knowing exactly what half the knobs did but found it through experimentation. He dialed in the mix and played with its built-in drive to get that swirling, modulating effect. This is the kind of plugin you might typically use on an organ or guitar, but it worked wonders here.

Step 4: Taming the Beast with EQ

The drive from the rotary plugin added some cool character, but also some potentially annoying upper-mid frequencies.

• Corrective EQ: A subsequent EQ was used to sculpt the tone further and control those harsher mids. Since this is an effect, the EQ moves can be a bit faster and less surgical than on a main vocal. It’s about shaping the overall vibe.

Step 5: Strategic Reverb and Delay

Once the core distorted and modulated sound was established, it was time to add back some space.

• Dedicated Effects: Dave used reverb and delay sends specifically for this effected vocal track. He mentioned that he bypassed the main vocal’s reverb and delay before bouncing the audio for the effect chain. This is crucial because he didn’t want to send a heavily reverberated signal into the Saturn distortion, for example. By adding them after the distortion and modulation, the time-based effects remain clearer and more defined.

Evolving the Sound: The “Talking Bits” Variation

Later in the song, there are some spoken word sections that needed a similar, yet distinct, vibe. Dave didn’t want them to sound identical to the main “underwater” growls.

Similar, But Different: Modifying the Chain

His approach was efficient:

1. Duplicate the “underwater” vocal effect track.
2. Bounce the dry talking vocal parts.
3. Pop them onto this new duplicated track.
4. Tweak the existing plugin chain.

He added some de-essing before the chain on these talking parts because the ‘S’ sounds were more prominent.

Key Tweaks: Wider Chorus, Softer Rotary, Added Flange

The core plugins remained largely the same (Saturn, initial filter, rotary, EQ), but with important adjustments:

• Micro Shift: The mix was turned up, and some detuning was added for an even wider, more chorus-y feel. This helped create a spatial contrast between the screamed lines and the spoken lines.
• Rotary Speaker: The mix of the rotary effect was dialed back significantly on the talking bits, resulting in less intense warble and less drive.
• Flanger: A flanger was tacked on at the end of the chain, set nice and wide, to give these sections their own unique movement and differentiate them further.

This call-and-response between the main screamed effect and the slightly different talking effect adds a cool dynamic to the track.

Bridging Worlds: From Filtered Effects to Full-Range Vocals

The song doesn’t only feature heavily effected vocals. Sean Zatorsky is a beast, and you need to hear his natural (or more natural-sounding) aggressive tone as well. This means transitioning between the heavily filtered “underwater” sound and a more full-range vocal.

The Transition Challenge

This can be tricky. Going from a very narrow, filtered sound to a wide, full-range sound can feel abrupt or disconnected if not handled carefully. Dave mentioned a lot of back-and-forth, tweaking how much to filter the effected sound so the jump to the full-range vocal wasn’t too jarring. He even noted that he probably low-passed the “normal” vocal bus a bit more than usual to help it blend with the predominantly affected vocals elsewhere in the song.

Creative Cohesion: Affected Delay Throws

Here’s a killer trick Dave used to tie everything together:
On the full-range vocal sections, some of the delay throws were processed with a simplified version of the verse’s “underwater” effect.

• He set up a dedicated mono half-note delay send with a stripped-down version of that verse effect chain.
• So, while the main full-range vocal is clear and present, the echoes and repeats that trail off carry some of that warbly, filtered character.

This subtle touch is brilliant. It helps blend the different vocal sounds across song sections, making the whole vocal performance feel more cohesive, even with such distinct effects in play.

The “More Sauce” Philosophy: Fast, Creative Effect Building

Dave’s approach to building these kinds of standout effect chains, especially towards the end of a mix, is often about speed and creative flow. It’s not always about the cleanest, most precise plugin settings. Instead, it’s about “throwing shit at it” and “dumping sauce” until the vibe is perfect. This allows for happy accidents and keeps the creative juices flowing without getting bogged down in technical minutiae.

These insights into Daath’s vocal production showcase how a combination of foundational techniques, creative plugin stacking, and thoughtful transitions can lead to truly memorable and impactful vocal effects.

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