I have always found vocals quite difficult to process. When I hear vocals that I really like on tracks, they always seem to be relatively dry, yet fit in the mix really nicely. Over the years I have combined various techniques in order to improve my processing of vocals.
EQ
I always start with a simple EQ. I will always start with a low cut which will change depending on whether it’s a male, female, high or low part. I will cut all the lows beneath where the main frequencies come in. I will then boost a high shelf very gently to add a bit of sparkle before de-essing. I will then remove any mid-range mud. This is all done by ear and every vocal will have slightly different EQ depending on how it sounds, but this is the basic process. My favourite EQ is the FabFilter Pro-Q 2.
De-essing (optional)
I will then de-ess if I feel that it is necessary. If the song isn’t very sibilant, I usually find a de-esser isn’t needed, and I would just edit out any hard Ps.
Compression
I will then compress the vocals. I normally compress to around 2db of gain reduction at the loudest part, but again, the compression needs to serve the song. If the song requires heavier compression then I will compress heavier, but if it needs less, I will compress less. My favourite compressor for this stage of the chain is the Waves CLA-2A.
Saturation (optional)
At this stage I will saturate or add any grit that is needed. This has been a recent update to my vocal processing as a lot of my newer projects requires it. Normally I would send the vocal to a saturation bus to layer in the saturation, but for the projects I have been doing recently I prefer the sound of a compressed light saturation plug in like SoundToys Decapitator.
Delay
Normally I would send the vocals to a delay bus. This gives me full control of what delay I will use. I tend to use stereo ping pong delays more than say a slapback, just because I prefer the sound and it fills up more room in the stereo field. Very occasionally I will have a very light slap back delay on the main channel strip, but again, that depends on how it sounds. My favourite delay is the SoundToys Echoboy.
Reverb
The last effect I will use is a reverb. I do this through a bus, however if individual vocal parts need extra effects, I will do these directly on the channel and automate the bypass on and
off. I tend to use around a 2.5 second decay with a large room, I cut the lows, so it is more of a shimmer.
Pitch Shift
In order to thicken the vocals, I will add a vocal thickening trick. I will send the vocals to 4 separate pitch shift busses, and on each one will be a slightly different pitch setting. The first one has pitch microshifted +3 right and -3 left. The next one is microshifted +6 left and -6 right, the third +9 right and -9 left and the final one is +12 left and -12 right. This gives a balanced stereo spread of the lead vocals so when they are mixed in, they are really thick.
This is only an outline of my vocal chain; however, this changes dramatically depending on the project and the desired sound. If it is just a normal project like the ones I’ve been working on recently, then this is the starting point.
You should never have “preset” chains for every track, as every track is different and the processing needed is different.
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