What Mutt Lange did with Def Leppard tracks is nothing less than lconically biblical! Words can't even describe it!

And it turned out that Baby did indeed, walk that way.

Riders On The Storm has the entire vocal doubled with a whisper.

additional tip, I try to avoid articulating hard consonants in my whisper tracks, like K's, T's, P's. I just focus mostly on the vowel sounds, and I find that it makes it cleaner, and prevents mouthy saliva clicks from creeping in.

This was revelatory. I always wonder how they got the Def Leppard vocals to sound like that.

This makes me realize why a lot of small time metal bands, with great producers, can't quite pull off their vocals live.

Here we are 36 years later still dissecting Hysteria, still asking questions about the production, still wondering how they got certain sounds and how they accomplished certain techniques, still discovering buried secrets. Keep in mind computers were in their infancy at the time, with Mutt and band literally having to invent the necessary technology and gear to get the sounds they heard in their heads. Hysteria has to be the greatest mainstream record ever made. Anyone less than Mutt driving the band to get the most out of them, and this would not have worked.

That's awesome. I've heard that in so many of Def Leppard's tracks and never knew how they were getting that effect. Makes perfect sense now. It blends so well. It truly sounds like a crowd singing along with the chorus. Who knew? Thank you!

Keep the Mutt Lange production tricks coming. Outstanding content!

Mutt Lange is one of the music industry celebs I admire most. It's not just his simply crazy discography list but also his lifestyle, diligence and wisdom. And, of course, the fact that he was married to Shania Twain.

Actually it's the whitenoize effect and you do not need to whisper into new channels.. what u already have is enough.. mix down every 8 track with the same voicing into 2 tracks and use a vocoder which can turn your vocal signal into whitenoize (it sounds exactly like a whisper) back in the day I was using an old plugin for this OpCode Fusion VOCODE.. now Izotope vocal synth does the job.. after that use a slight panner too.. panman soundtoys is good for that..

Mutt Lange had Phil Collen play single notes in a chord and layered them together instead of single chords in some sections. The clarity of the chord is insane.

I've noticed in addition to me it sounds like the low octave vocal was tracked with the tape running at slightly higher speed. The impacting result comes when the tape is played back at normal speed the low harmony has slower slurred(for lack of a better term) harmonic effect. Cool video

That’s a great technic. I feel like the whispers were mixed a little too hot in this example. Also back off the mic more when recording them to give it some natural space.idk about using reverse verb on the whispers. Those might sound better not swishing around. Whatever, I appreciate your studies of the awesome Mutt approaches. ✌🏼

And the crowd goes wild.... *whisper vocals intensifies!!!*

Wow. Mutt Lang is a Genius. You did a terrific job on this demo too. The whisper vocals give it that extra large crowd join sound, or how ever you want to call it. Awesome. Thanks for this revealing info. "Hey guys, I'm gonna get rich from KZfaq." Said no one ever. Oh, wait, Didn't Bobby Huff say that? I think he did. LOL

Great video. If you've never seen the scene in the movie "Hysteria - The Def Leppard Story" where Mutt (played spectacularly by Anthony Michael Hall) is riding Joe Elliot to stack vocals on "Bringin' on the Heartbreak" you really need to - it'll blow your mind! Pure cinematic platinum! It's around 26 minutes in. \m/

John Mayer used this technique a lot on his debut album. Listen to “83” for example.

This is awesome, totally trying this!!! Thanks man.

It took me a while to actually figure out where Mutt was using this trick in the DL catalogue, but the answer was right in front of me the entire time. The most widespread use of the whisper vocal is on Love and Affection from the Hysteria album. It even sounds like he’s using a low-note whisper too.

I discovered Mutt's little trick when I was mixing some Loverboy tracks back in the 1980s. But of course when he did it he had the whole group (3 or 4 voices) singing and then whispering in unison to get even more of a crowd sound.

That's amazing. Thank you! A friend told me to record whispers on top of the vox "like Prince used to do". Following that "sound" advice (pun intended) we recorded literal tiny teeny whispers and it sounded like poo together! But that's more like it! Sure enough, Trent Reznor has used that same trick too!

That intense whisper does give the multitracked vocal the raspy, menacing edge so distinctive of Pyromania, Hysteria, Waking Up The Neighbours. You've cracked Mutt's code! Brilliant lesson on texturing!

The biggest trick to background vocals in Mutts production was Mutt singing. He would also do a trick where they would not decode some of the tracks which were recorded with Dolby. The unencoded Dolby tracks sound very bright and whispery.

Dude! So good of you to share this! Great video!

The first "whisper vocal" I can remember hearing was "Riders on The Storm" by The Doors. It was quite mesmerizing to hear it in such an epic track. Thanks for the great video, I appreciate how you broke down how to create this effect!😀

Thanks for this tip. Looking forward to more from you/your channel.

Sounds awesome and adds so much. Great tip, Thanks Doc!

Awesome, just like always, Dr. Bob. Stoked to try this!

What an awesome channel this is. Thanks so much for doing these videos Dr Bob!

U Da Man Bobby! What a great tip. I've been a big Mutt fan for decades and you know how to explain all his magical tricks. Keep 'em coming! Thanks a bunch!

I was ten years old when I bought Hysteria. It was not just my first Def Leppard album, it was the first album I ever got. I was amazed at the sound of the backing vocals, and I really did just think that the guys backing the lead singer just sounded like this when harmonising, I had no other explanation. I guess I was only ten and knew nothing of effects and such. It was years later before I heard 'Thought I'd Died and Gone To Heaven' by Bryan Adams and I immediately thought how cool it was that members of Def Leppard had done backing vocals for Brian! :) I found that this wasn't the case many years later again (birth of the internet actually made such research a possibility) but I could never ever find out why these vocals sounded so alike and what trickery was at work. So imagine the satisfaction here in me tonight, some 35 years after first hearing Hysteria, at finally learning the secret to those amazing vocals thanks to a random KZfaq recommendation finally coming my way and ending the mystery. Thank you so much for this video!

I remember hearing about this years ago so it's cool to hear it in action.

Great job. Thanks for showing.

Love it! Keep the recording tricks coming!

I have always been obsessed with Mutts sound especially in how he did Def Leppard’s vocals. He gave them their signature sound. Thx for sharing.

Very well executed! Thanks for making this.

Bloody brilliant. Love it!!! Can't wait to try it out. Thanks.

Finally, a sought after insight. Thank you.

Great tip. Adds so much to the vocals.

That was a great demo/explanation. This guy's channel can teach anyone a lot.

Wow. You took it apart quite well. The whisper vocals sound like a "multiplier", like the background vocals are being done by a crowd... sort of. Great vid.

Great tip just in time as I’m getting ready to record some vocals !! Thank you doc

I really love the Def Leppard style tips & tricks. Thank you for continuing to share these type of videos. Very very cool stuff!

This was really cool to watch. Thanks.

Your videos are an insta-like. Killer trick! I learn a ton from your videos. I appreciate the knowledge!

Mutt Lange is a musical GENIUS.

That's pretty amazing, great trick! Thanks for sharing this info..

Very cool! Comes right at a time when I was wondering how I could get good chorus vocals from just me. This is the sound I was looking for.

Just another great tip. Hysteria is just so amazing, thank you for deconstructing these techniques. And last tip was top notch as well.

You must be using a cloud lifter because that signal is hotttt

I especially like the advice at the end! Thanks.

Thanks Doc! You have answered some questions that I’ve had since Pyromania and Hysteria! Dude, this is just fantastic. Nice work, and great description.

man,this channel needs to blow up...awesomeness

Thank you, Bobby! Yesterday I've tried this technique and it actually works pretty well!

Great lesson here, and a clever effect that is still relevant today.

Maestro B does it again :) You slay me, dude! Yes sir, energy and urgency rock the house!

Dr.Bob excellent tutorial. Just found your site today. Very pleased with the way this came out.

Great stuff man!! Great video

As always Bobby, bloody brilliant

Great demo of the technique Doc! 👍

What a gem!!! thanks for sharing, Bobby!! Ill use it on my next production, for sure! :D

Wow. What a difference. I never heard this before. Thanks for sharing.

That's brilliant - I've got to try that! Thanks Doc 😆

Awesome tip. I’ve tried similar “breathy” things to get that Def Lep BGV sound, but never quite the way you demo here. Totally gonna try it 😁

So cool! Gives it an instant "crowd" vocal flavour!

Great tips Dr Bob

Awesome. I always noticed the BGV on Def Leopard and wondered how this was done. Thanks.

Very creative and clever Bobby. The Dr. Theme and ending are very well thought out ideas. I enjoyed the video and you really sound like Joe Elliott on those tracks. Keep up the good work and best wishes to you in your KZfaq journey!

I've done quite a few things with whispering, including taking the pitch down an octave, and/or overdubbing several tracks of it, etc. Adding effects to whispering is when it really gets fun. You can hear it on Riders on the Storm by The Doors.

With the whispers, it sounds like a Beelzebub- inspired fist-pump party. Very cool trick.

C'mon baby, walk this way

UN-FRIGGING believable!!! Thanks for putting it out there!!

This is a great vid. Most people don’t know how much layering, mixing and mastering affects the final product.

Brilliant as always! I love how the British accent comes out in the lower octave 😂 So good! 👍 🤘

Another great video, I was just getting ready to do something similar and this will help, thanks and God Bless!

Try putting the whisper vocal through a highpass filter to cut some of the lows out of it. You can use the filter to tune it a bit to better suit the tonality of your mix.

Awesome video. Love that you performed it on camera

This is amazing, thank you!

Glad you are bringing this back. I was doing this on my tascam in the 80s. Didn't know it was a secret. Next thing, you will be slowing down the recording to half speed and recording vocals....

Man that’s sick Bobby. Love it!

Awesome video! Once again, I learned a lot in a nice bite-sized lesson.

Great video ! I can’t wait to try this.

Great advice, great demonstration, and a good laugh with the "wrong script" joke near the end.

I came across this technique in the most unlikely place: Billy Ocean’s When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going. It’s near the end during the call and answer section near the end of the song. For a second I thought I spotted Joe Elliot’s voice, but I’m guessing it’s actually Mutt Lange. He’s credited as one of the composers of the song.

Dude thats CRAZY how much that sounds like Def Leppard backing vox. Mutt is the man! Nice going!

Big thumbs up, man. This was great. Thanks.

Awesome technique and very well done video. Thank you!

Thanks. I'll be using this.

DUDE. That is crazy! Thanks for this :D

Excellent video and content

Interesting. Thank you very much. Best Regards and Best Wishes!

Genius stuff once again! Thanks Doc

That was really cool man, thanks for sharing

Thanks, Bobby! Heaven has a spot for you.

Never thought of this, but I really dig it!

Daniel Lanois used this technique on So for Peter Gabriel. You can hear clear as day on Mercy Street. Pierre Marchand used it as well.

Always cool to find new vocal recording tricks. 👽

Really enjoyed this one!!!

thank you Bob ... Absolutley fantastic 👌✌💯