effects dynamics

[jack c.]

there are so many great recordings and musicians here i feel like in musicians heaven.thank you all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

so to all:::::::::what vocal vst plugins verbs,delays,eqs, comps,etc do ya use on your voice buss or tracks?thanks in advance,

jack c.

[martsave martin s]

for vocal im using

console-Emulation=FrontDaw

comp=modern Apophis

verb=plate-140

EQ=Modern EQ,Modern-Channel

delay=cakewalk tempo-delay

im also do parralel-comp

 

 

cheer

Edited January 29, 2021 by martsave martin s

[John Vere]

Good idea for a topic.

I'm always evolving.

Right now my go to stuff is

Pro channels on most tracks with the EQ very minor tweaks like Lo pass. Also the PC76 Compressor 

Guitar Acoustic and electric I always use TH3 with at least the stomp box compressor and sometimes the Chorus or Flanger. 

For global reverb I use Acon Digital Verberate Basic 2 

For delay I use something different every time but most used is the Sonitus Delay

On my master bus my chain right now is-LP 64 Multiband- BT Brickwall- Span and Youlean meters. 

I sometimes use BBE Sonic maximizer on live recordings of drums. 

 

I missed the question about your looking for vocals,

My secrete weapon is this

Find the right mike for your voice. Don't just go by what others are using and popularity. It took 20 years but I have settled on a plain old Shure Beta 58 with a good pop filter. I also use a Joe Meek 3Q pre amp so I can avoid using my interface pre's.  This set up nets me a solid vocal track that sounds the way I want it to song after song. 

So in the end I don't really need to process my vocals other than the very light touch of the PC 76 and then the standard bits of reverb and delay. 

In other word don't just record thinking you can fix this later. Only record thinking this is it, this is a good sounding track without processing. 

 

Edited January 29, 2021 by John Vere

[jack c.]

3 hours ago, martsave martin s said:

for vocal im using

Chanel-Emulation=FrontDaw

comp=modern Apophis

verb=plate-140

EQ=Modern EQ,Modern-Channel

delay=cakewalk tempo-delay

 

 

cheer

 

2 hours ago, John Vere said:

Good idea for a topic.

I'm always evolving.

Right now my go to stuff is

Pro channels on most tracks with the EQ very minor tweaks like Lo pass. Also the PC76 Compressor 

Guitar Acoustic and electric I always use TH3 with at least the stomp box compressor and sometimes the Chorus or Flanger. 

For global reverb I use Acon Digital Verberate Basic 2 

For delay I use something different every time but most used is the Sonitus Delay

On my master bus my chain right now is-LP 64 Multiband- BT Brickwall- Span and Youlean meters. 

I sometimes use BBE Sonic maximizer on live recordings of drums. 

 

I missed the question about your looking for vocals,

My secrete weapon is this

Find the right mike for your voice. Don't just go by what others are using and popularity. It took 20 years but I have settled on a plain old Shure Beta 58 with a good pop filter. I also use a Joe Meek 3Q pre amp so I can avoid using my interface pre's.  This set up nets me a solid vocal track that sounds the way I want it to song after song. 

So in the end I don't really need to process my vocals other than the very light touch of the PC 76 and then the standard bits of reverb and delay. 

In other word don't just record thinking you can fix this later. Only record thinking this is it, this is a good sounding track without processing. 

 

thanks for lists.jack c.

[Hatstand]

No one mentioned pitch correction yet?

On the tracks I use the Pro channel compressor for very light compression and gain matching using the input and output on the compressor followed by pro channel eq purely for high pass.

After that I have two paths I may go down dependent on whether there are any other pro channel modules I want to use such as saturation, console emulation or tape emulation modules. In this case I will put the pro channel fx chain module in after the eq and add other vst's in there. If not I will add vst's in the fx bin (post pro channel).

If I don't need to gate the signal, then the first one will often be pitch correction such as Autotune (unless I am processing it in Melodyne as a region effect). After this it could be doublers, wideners,  high end (air) enhancementmore compression/limiting such as Waves R-Vox, more eq (usually a multiband dynamic eq such as Ozone 9) and light saturation. Current favourites for widening is the free polyverse wider and adding air the free slate fresh air

For delays and reverbs I normally create busses and use sends (you can also use aux tracks rather than busses but I find this a bit hit and miss).

The vst's are in the buss fx bin. I usually have a short plate reverb buss and long reverb buss and a delay buss(which also has output fed to the reverbs via sends)  My current favourite for the plate is Exponential audio R4 and for the long reverb either Waves IR1 convolution reverb or Valhalla supermassive (the included pro channel reverbs aren't too bad). For the delay my personal choice is the Waves H delay but I have used the sonitus delay to great effect (the sonitus delay is my favourite for doubling and getting the Haas effect). The busses also have have high pass eq to stop adding low frequencies back in. All these buss outputs get routed to the All Vox buss (I use separate fx busses and sends for instruments)

My vocals go to a Lead Vox buss which I usually have something like R-Vox on again and I also use the pro channel buss compressor.

If I have BV's they go to a BV buss. I also create an "All Vox" buss and route both the BV buss and the Lead Vox buss to this final vocal buss

The final vocal buss doesn't usually have anything on it as it is purely for volume mixing. This goes to a pre-master buss which will have the overall vsts on it. Currently this is usually pro channel CA-2A for compression and  pro channel tape saturation with Sonnox oxford inflator in the fx bin and a metering plugin.

The pre-master buss goes to the master buss which only has Sonarworks on it and occasionally Izotope Insight 2 for visuals.

It may sound like a lot of busses but it helps if you want to export dry stems or separate wet instrument and all vox  stems.

Edited January 29, 2021 by Hatstand

[brandon]

10 hours ago, John Vere said:

Good idea for a topic.

I'm always evolving.

Right now my go to stuff is

Pro channels on most tracks with the EQ very minor tweaks like Lo pass. Also the PC76 Compressor 

Guitar Acoustic and electric I always use TH3 with at least the stomp box compressor and sometimes the Chorus or Flanger. 

For global reverb I use Acon Digital Verberate Basic 2 

For delay I use something different every time but most used is the Sonitus Delay

On my master bus my chain right now is-LP 64 Multiband- BT Brickwall- Span and Youlean meters. 

I sometimes use BBE Sonic maximizer on live recordings of drums. 

 

I missed the question about your looking for vocals,

My secrete weapon is this

Find the right mike for your voice. Don't just go by what others are using and popularity. It took 20 years but I have settled on a plain old Shure Beta 58 with a good pop filter. I also use a Joe Meek 3Q pre amp so I can avoid using my interface pre's.  This set up nets me a solid vocal track that sounds the way I want it to song after song. 

So in the end I don't really need to process my vocals other than the very light touch of the PC 76 and then the standard bits of reverb and delay. 

In other word don't just record thinking you can fix this later. Only record thinking this is it, this is a good sounding track without processing. 

 

John - is the PC76 a free effect? 

[John Vere]

Pro Channel module so absolutely free 

 

[bitflipper]

It's funny - I take a minimalist approach to everything except vocals. If I have more than two plugins on an instrumental track I worry I'm doing more harm than good. In a typical project, half my instrument tracks will have no effects at all and most of the others only EQ. 

But when it comes to vocals, I exercise no such restraint. It's not unusual to have 5 or 6 effects on a vocal track or bus.

My first priority is always dynamics, trying to keep vocals level. So the first plugin on any vocal track is a gain control, specifically Blue Cat Audio's Gain plugin. This I automate to smooth out large volume changes, plosives, sibilance and excessive breath noises, lip smacks and background noise. This always precedes any compressor.

I'm a fan of EQ early in the chain, since more often than not I'm high-passing the vocal. Doing this before any compression makes the compressor's job easier. If the vocal was not recorded in a neutral space, I'll pull out Meldaproductions' MDynamicEQ to address things like room resonances and window reflections. Otherwise, it's almost always Pro-Q3 from FabFilter.

Next in the chain will be a FET-style compressor, usually PSP's FETPressor, often followed by an opto-style such as Cakewalk's CA-2A. Sometimes with a lot of scrunching, sometimes with very little, depending on whether the vocalist used proper mic technique or whether it was me singing.

After that, if it's a lead vocal an optional extra will be some kind of distortion. That'll usually be Noveltech's Vocal Enhancer or FabFilter's Saturn, but there are no hard and fast rules. If it's an aggressive rocker I might go with Redopter from D16. 

Next are modulators. For BGVs, I like to use a subtle chorus. Which chorus plugin almost doesn't matter, but Valhalla's UberMod often gets the nod. I love BGVs because you can have a lot of fun with them, effects-wise.

Last in the chain are delays and reverbs. I'm a fan of delays, especially on lead vocals, but delays are usually very subtle and tempo-synced to remain subliminal. Delays can often negate the need for any reverb at all.

Notably missing from my list is any kind of de-esser, which I use only in the most extreme cases.

 

P.S. My newest vocal effect is Melodyne. Oh, I've been using Melodyne for years and years, but this latest version introduced a new leveling feature that's quickly become a standard step in my vocal processing.

[Glenn Stanton]

similar here for defaults - very few effects on instruments - some Pultec EQ on Kick and Bass, side-chain compression on Bass, and some ambience (delays and reverbs) busses. then later if needed some saturation (in Pro Channel) or guitar effects, Leslie on Organ, etc. everything in Pro Channel (and Pro Channel FX chain) makes it one place to go for all track and buss effects. all instrument busses are PC EQ high-passed except Kick and Bass.  Vocals are the exception - compression, de-esser, compression, ADT. backing vox has none of the vox stuff to start and just the Vocal Doubler.

Melodyne for those times when, ahem, my vocals are pitchy or need other tweakings... 😉