The Wow & Flutter control is also a lot of fun when you need to achieve that specific effect. For adding subtle warmth and analog color to vocals, this plugin is one of the quickest fixes available. I love the very-few-frills approach to the Kramer Master Tape from Waves. To combat this, I find myself using a variety of saturati Play Video 5. Most low-budget digital rigs leave vocals sounding cold, thin and lifeless. One of the downsides of virtually anyone being able to afford a DAW and recording interface is that the sound quality of such affordable setups is undeniably lacking. The Studer A800 is of the most versatile plugins on the market, regardless of what you’re using it on.įabFilter Saturn distortion / saturation tutorial Sometimes I simply turn down the IPS to give my vocals a vintage vibe. Sometimes I tweak the bias setting to achieve a crackly, special-effect, broken vocal sound. Sometimes I drive the input super hard for a fat, crunchy distortion. Mix Tip:Īs I said, there are so many controls and therefore tonal options on this plugin, it’s hard to pick one technique that stands out more than the others. It definitely imparts a pleasing tonal color onto vocals, but also does a great job of taming harsh, out of control passages. The A800 has a “multiple-plugins-in-one” vibe happening, and sort of behaves like an equalizer and a compressor when used a certain way. In the cold, brittle world of low-budget digital audio, I am very thankful to have tools like this. It’s still so much deeper, more flexible and more vibey than most saturator plugins that have been released since. The Studer was such a game-changer plugin when it come out. For howling rock vocals meant to sound like they’re being sung through a megaphone into a crowd of mosh-pitters, this is the plugin I reach for, especially if you pair it with a short, slap delay.
The SansAmp is a solid “megaphone” substitute.
When I need that thin, brash, distorted vocal sound, I look no further than the SansAmp, which actually comes loaded as a stock Pro Tools plugin. Avid SansAmp PSA-1Īlthough the Decapitator does a great job at adding juicy analog goodness to your material, sometimes I need my vocals to sound like they’ve been re-amped, and the Decapitator isn’t quite built for that purpose. If this technique still doesn’t work, it’s not uncommon for me to bring all of the esses to their own audio track and process them separately from the rest of the vocals. Part of my ever-evolving vocal mixing method now involves using clip gain to bring down each and every “s” before I touch the vocals with processing. I do find that the Decapitator (and many other saturators) can make esses sound harsh and noisy. To combat this, I find myself using a variety of saturati Play Video Mix Tip: Soundtoys Decapitator vocal mix tip from PureMix