What's the best vocal VST plugins around for cubase

tribal

New member
Can someone reccomend me what's the best vocal vst in Cubase. Just want to make it more live and warm. ta
 
Hi again would it help it If I use a mic preamp, to make it more more warm sound for the vocal. Thanks
 
Mic pre-amp

YES, get a mic pre amp. The rule of thumb is you can't polish a turd, so get a good vocal signal down on your PC, then you can think about treating it.

I've been using a cheap pre-amp for 5 years now, a Midiman Audio-Buddy

http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/AudioBuddy.html

It's worked great and still does. But now I'm thinking of upgrading. Prices start at £50 and can go up wards of £2000. That said there are a number of budget mic pre-amps on the market, designed specifically with this in mind and still coming in at under £100 ($210?)

Here are some:

Behringer Ultragain Pro Mic2200
Studiospares Mono Valve Mic Preamp
ART Tube Mp Studio V3
Samson C Valve
Presonus Tubepre
Behringer Tube Ultragain T1953 (OK, this one comes in a little over £100, but I think it's good
 
Compression and EQ are your best friends, for vocals and really everything else. Master the application of these two processes, and everything else will fall into place. The plugs that come with Cubase for dynamics, and the EQ will do just fine, no need to buy any plugins.

Peace!

~Shawn
 
thanks guy, I m thinking getting a new Behringer Tube Ultragain T1953 but I m watching FOCUSRITE TWINTRAK PRO on ebay at the moment.Have u guys came across to use both of these? I m going to use it for live & recording.

Ta, V
 
thanks guy, I m thinking getting a new Behringer Tube Ultragain T1953 but I m watching FOCUSRITE TWINTRAK PRO on ebay at the moment.Have u guys came across to use both of these?

No

I've not had the pleasure, bit limited on the gear I've been able to buy.

I want to back up what 'eye ma believer' says above about Cubase compression and EQ.

Elsewhere on this website, I've said how I use the on-board comp, pretty much without question on things like vocal, but quite often on lots of other things, too.

Before giving it back - it was on loan - I also used an outboard compressor in the line before going to tape. This isn't always called for, but depends on the ability, or not, of the vocal performer to deliver. I used it as a limiter to avoid transients which can sometimes ruin what was a wonderfull take, but just pushed the headroom a clip too far. It's especially good when close miking a vocal:rolleyes:
 
hmm, I don’t want to be very anal in this post, but my experience with Behringer has like a "lucky packet" you either get an “ok” piece of kit, or a real piece of S**T. Most of the time, you get the second option. Even though Behringer say that there gear is warm and analog sounding this is just a marketing strategy. It is impossible to give a user as many options as they do with their gear, without the price going through the roof. Unfortunately all their processing is done in the digital domain inside their units with real poor ADDA converters. They can however cleverly say that there gear is analog as it arrives and goes through one or 2 processes before destroyed by these poor converters.
If you want a cheap good sounding pre I would go for the ART Tube Mp Studio V3. I have done some really good vocal recordings with one of those. (V2 though)
Otherwise if you looking for a good plug-in to polish your turd get the PSP Vintage Warmer. This plug-in is a flippen beast. I use this on just about everything!! Its very easy to use and sounds great even slapping on the presets.
Also, have a the waves bundles if you know how to use compression properly then you are smiling. :P
Oh, btw… anything from focusrite is awesome… especially pre’s. If you can get your hands on one of those Twintrak Pro’s go have some fun!
 
The best part of your sound chain to do justice to a vocal is the right mic.IMHO It's always best to fix the source. If a singer needs to rely on electronics to sound good then he needs to learn how to sing. A good vocal coach is priceless.
 
Ha ha ha nice one TimOBrien!! lol, I m not that bad with my singing part but yeah I believe in perfection with a lots of practices. I was recording and the vocal just sounded pretty tasteless, all the timing etc.. is pretty good actually. My mixer doesnt have any much pre so I learned that I need to use mic preamp or plugins. Ta
 
re:

I use a Focusrite Voicemaster... (discontinued) which i love... the track master is very similar or the voice master pro is great if a tad more expensive.

for compression I use Waves RVOX. Its ultra simple and extremely effective.

Vintage warmer as recommended above is great for a bit of valvy distortion and warmth.
 
Gotta say that Voxengo's Voxformer is my go-to lead vocal plug-in of choice. Simply stunning.

For a vocal pre, I tend to run through a JoeMeek VC6Q, with a bit of light compression and maybe some EQ and then process the recorded track with Voxformer. Works for me!
 
Believe it or not, the best plug-in may already be on your system. Wierdly, a lot of people sing slightly flat (or sharp) when tracking via headphones. If you go to your pitch shifter and take your whole vocal up 10cents of one semitone, it adds life and 'air'. I discovered this from a book and it was like a veil being lifted from my eyes! I went back and did it to every vocal I'd recorded and it made a massive difference straight away.

Then it's down to eq'ing.

But I believe with the other guys that the top of your signal chain is massively important, and so a pre, and maybe a hardware compressor/limiter to make sure your signal is as hot and clean as possible will also really help.
 
Best Vocal Plugin for Cubase

I've been using Avox vocal kit for about a year and so far it seems to do pretty good.
 
hm...

I agree with the statement that EQ and Compressor are best friends for vocals. But if you use just software plug-ins then you didn't make any big progress in your sound. Try getting some cheap analog rack equipment, like Tapco or M-Audio, Behringer should fit too for the beggining.

Get yourself's Melodyne plug-in for correcting the vocals, even the pitch itself (if handled properly) can fix the sound of a vocal. For more filler sound of a vocal you can also duplicate the vocal track and delay it for a 1/10 or 1/8 of a second, or give just a little bit of a distortion on the duplicated track and play with the volume of this one.

Using Cubase's Magneto plug-in can deliver some punchy vocals, or just use Puncher. ;)

I also use PSP Vintager Warmer, nice one... probably the best plug-in of its kind.

And while mixing, it doesn't matter that the instrument at Solo sounds great, what matters is what is in the MIX, so use some frequency analizers to feel some frequencies with different instruments, and when you use EQ, use it radically! Write your frequencies on a piece of paper and with radical EQs you'll have enough space for mastering the project, use WaveLab ofcourse, but get yourself some mastering plug-ins and try them out.


Cheerz guys
 
Believe it or not, the best plug-in may already be on your system. Wierdly, a lot of people sing slightly flat (or sharp) when tracking via headphones. If you go to your pitch shifter and take your whole vocal up 10cents of one semitone, it adds life and 'air'. I discovered this from a book and it was like a veil being lifted from my eyes! I went back and did it to every vocal I'd recorded and it made a massive difference straight away.

Then it's down to eq'ing.

But I believe with the other guys that the top of your signal chain is massively important, and so a pre, and maybe a hardware compressor/limiter to make sure your signal is as hot and clean as possible will also really help.

This one small step has made a huge difference to my vocal just sitting comfortably into the track, this is one of the best bits of advice i have found,
impressive. thanks.
 
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