Vocal Enhancer Vst Plugin Free Download EXCLUSIVE
Shoshana Whisenton
The Auto-Tune effect is probably the biggest decider when it comes to vocal processing. This is the slightly synthetic and quantised vocal sound that has been a chart staple in many dance and rap genres since Cher made the effect famous in the song Believe in 1998. As well-trodden and arguably worn out this effect is, you can't deny its continued popularity, and those predicting its demise have been many and all mistaken over the last couple of decades. With that in mind, then, an 'Auto-Tune' like plugin is a good tool to have in your armoury and at least four of our options will deliver it, from the simple AlterBoy right up to the one that started it all, Auto-Tune Pro.
If singing is important to your songs and recordings then there are plenty of software plugins available to assist your recording and editing endeavours. The best vocal plugins are many and varied and can be used to help make great vocal recordings, or turn bad takes into recordings that can be used in any mix.
Vocal processing plugins include general mix plugins for adding EQ solidity and sparkle to male or female vocals, or classic, colourful compression for a vintage vibe. For vocalists with tuning issues or for that contemporary 'Auto-tune' effect, there are automatic tuning plugins to help your vocalist hit the right notes or recreate the classic Cher-like jumping effect. Finally there are more esoteric and bespoke vocal processors that focus on specific tasks like de-essing or double-tracking.
If you have tuning issues or want that 'Auto-tune' effect then there are a couple of clear contenders, the most obvious being the daddy of them all, Auto-Tune Pro. It's managed to stay ahead of the rest by heaping in some wonderful and easy to implement features, over and above that classic vocal effect, and has almost become the 'Hoover' of plugins along the way. That said, if you want the quick, down and dirty version then Soundtoys' Little AlterBoy impresses us with its simplistic but beautiful approach to not only Auto-Tune style effects, but brilliant male to female and female to male formant editing and more.
Soothe is an automatic dynamic frequency editor, and designed to remove harshness from instrumental and vocal recordings. It uses spectral processing to detect unpleasant resonances, and dynamically attenuates them via numerous level-sensitive notch filters. You might think this sounds like an EQ, but the band nodes control the reduction sensitivity dynamically within their specific frequency ranges. If you raise a node on screen, it will notch out the resonances within that band more profoundly as the volume increases.
Soothe makes this a beautifully realised process and the plugin has been a big hit with producers around the world. The latest version 2 reduces CPU load and latency and has much faster rendering, plus a wider frequency range that covers the lower end down to 20Hz. It also comes with many more EQ options than the debut version.
VocAlign is a long-established market-leading tool that adjusts the timing of an audio file (Dub) so it matches that of a source (Guide). It works well with any audio and is used for many music and post-production tasks. However it is particularly in demand for vocals and speech, where accurate pitch and timing alignment can be crucial. VocAlign Ultra sits between the affordable but basic VocAlign Project and Synchro Arts' flagship processor, Revoice Pro 4.
If there's one plugin that comes up more often than any other in our producer interviews as an all-time favourite, it's Soundtoys' Little AlterBoy. This simple but cheap plugin only boasts a few controls but can deliver wide-ranging results on any audio, but is specifically aimed at vocals for both pitch and format editing.
The Formant option can, again very naturally, sweep a male vocal into a female, or vice versa. It's pretty incredible to hear it in operation because one of AlterBoy's main attractions is the fact that it does it with no nonsense, one dial with all the science bits hidden away. It just gets on with it, with brilliant results.
There are two knobs, Pitch and Formant, controlling the central tone of the human vocal and the resonant frequencies that shape the timbre of the vocal. A Flatten button allows you to force the input to snap to a predetermined note, a speedy tool for building up augmented choruses and harmonies.
Experiment with the modulation and automation options, and vast creative scope presents itself. Automation can be a superb way of introducing vocal effects (such as sudden pitch drops) that activate based on the volume of the input signal, so the intensity of your performance can be the triggering factor.
When it comes to buying a plugin specifically for vocals, you need to decide what your needs are from the many issues vocalists have. It might well be that a simple EQ is all you require, just to bolster certain frequencies to give your vocal more body, or remove mid and high frequencies to reduce overall harshness.
More likely you will have tuning issues. Even the best vocalists will have an off day in the studio and you might be left with the odd note to put in place, or you might simply need software to help 'guide' your vocalist as they sing. With all tuning issues, there are lots of options available, from software that gets right into a mix to edit tuning issues (Celemony Melodyne) to simple plugins like Little AlterBoy that nudge your pitch manually.
No matter what style of music you're mixing, the lead vocal track will almost always be the most critical element. You want it to cut through the mix and sound polished and professional. Sugar, which is an extremely powerful vocal enhancer plugin, is a perfect tool for the job.
Use it to process your vocals with four separate bands of frequency enhancement. Each band contains a unique combination of processors specifically designed for its frequency range but adjustable with a single fader.
For each band, you can also choose from two different sonic flavors. That gives you the flexibility to handle everything from the lowest male voice to the highest female one. But that's not all: Sugar's Saturation section lets you add warmth or grit and a little extra energy to a vocal track. Sugar's feature set makes it perfect as a vocal enhancer effect.
Using sugar as a vocal enhancer can help your vocals in many ways. One of the most important is by enhancing the high-frequency aspects of the signal. For that, the High Band is probably the most critical one to adjust. Try pushing it up until your vocal seems more present.
Try experimenting with both of its modes. Shine enhances the existing high end. The Excite mode adds high harmonics to the signal. Either way, the High Band helps your vocal track cut through the mix.
You may have heard engineers or producers talking about adding "air" to a vocal track. They're referring to that subtle ultra-high-end warmth that adds an almost ethereal topping on the singer's voice. Adding that effect is easy with Sugar as a vocal enhancer. Just turn up the Air Band until you reach the desired sound.
After you've found a setting you like, use the global true-bypass switch on the upper right to compare your vocal track with and without Sugar's enhancement. That will give you some perspective on how you've changed it and how it helps the mixing vocal track cut through the mix.
The Low and High Pass filters are useful for fine-tuning your settings on Sugar. The High Pass filter lets you roll off unneeded low-end frequencies such as those below the vocalist's frequency range or other lows that get generated when you add Saturation.
The Low Pass filter rolls off high frequencies, allowing you to compensate for any harshness that you create if you decide you want to push the High or Air bands up a little extra to get that vocal cut through the mix.
Because it's so versatile, you can use Sugar to improve any track in your session. But without question, its ability to improve the sound of your vocal tracks and allow them to cut through the mix makes it a must-have plug-in for your collection.
The Maserati VX1 plug-in is an interesting tool that features 3 contour settings, each with a unique saturation characteristic and ambience. This is a great plug-in for adding a grit to a vocal and focus but be warned... this plug-in can clip quite easily as you'll hear in this video. Waves recommend that the Input dial should be set so that the indicator level light shows yellow but I recommend the VX1 should be set to just touch green, especially if you are mixing a dynamic vocal similar to the performance in this video.
I'm not talking about the Adobe Enhance website or the in build Premiere Pro plugins. I need a plugin that automatically enhanced the voice/audio kind of like Adobe's enhance website. I'm really struggling to find something good, and I have a deadline today. (Adobe's enhancer is cutting parts during the audio that's why I need a more efficient preset/plugin).
You can never go wrong with the classic sound of an 1176 FET compressor. One of the most popular dynamics processors of all time, the 1176 is fast, punchy and perfect for controlling the aggressive transients in an active vocal performance.
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