What is your Vocal Chain?

[musicbykamt]

I've been racking my brain about vocal mixing for a long time. At first, I couldn't figure out whether to use an EQ or a compressor. After a while, I realized those questions were pointless and I'm now trying to create my own best vocal chain. What's your vocal chain like?

[Scoops]

Vocal Track Folder (EQ on this track)
----Vocal Track ( De-esser, EQ, maybe very mild comp)
---------Aux send to Reverb
---------Aux send to Compressor (Very heavy)
---------Aux send to Saturator (Usage optional)

[AGIGA]

Before I choose any plugin in my vocal chain there are many things to consider.
1. How dynamic is the vocal take? It might need automation before going into the Fx chain or it needs to be split in different tracks. Sometimes a lookahead limiter does the job.
2. Is the vocal take dark, shrill or does it already sound balanced? I try to make it sound
balanced before I go into the first stage of compression with a clean EQ and low cut filter (sometimes also with dynamic EQ or multiband compression).
3. This might be a good place for a first stage of deesing (sometimes in combination with automation on the ssses in the track).
4. Then often it's a 1176/Distressor into a LA2A.
5. Another deesser if necessary.
6. Set the Level and EQ the vocals with all of the the other (already mixed) tracks playing until it fits in nicely (many hardware emulations do a good job a this).
7. A bit of Saturation of your choice and/or a plugin like AudioThing Type A or Noveltech Vocal Enhancer can help the vocal to shine in the Mix.
(8.). Without going too deep into vocal FX like reverb and delay, a plugin like Soundtoys Microshift can really help a vocal to sit perfectly in the mix.
(9.) Also the processing might change throughout the song. Reaper has the feature to define "regions" like intro, chorus, verse etc... So after a first static mix every region gets its own
mix variations with automation, split tracks or Fx on the track items.
(10.) If you mix into a Stereobus (2Buss) compressor, check how much the vocals trigger the stereo bus compressor in comparison to the kick and snare. In other words, get your balance right.

The plugin order, plugin choice and strength of the processing is highly dependend on the source material and genre of the track.
If you want a "one stop shop" use "Scheps omni channel" it does allmost everything I mentioned and you can also load your own VST3s inside the plugin. Very convenient for large stacks of background vocals.

[Cuauhtli]

My godawful vocals > vocoder/evoke/AI or chipspeech.

[cryophonik]

I record a lot of different vocalists and use different chains, depending on the singer and the style I want. But, almost all vocals start at my recording chain and I use the following plugins on my Apollo interface:

UA 610-B (Unison channel preamp): set the gain and roll off a little low end as needed
C-Suite C-VOX: my secret weapon to eliminate background noise (e.g., from A/C or furnace, low-level ambience noises, etc.)
LA-2A to control peaks
Pultec EQP-1A to lightly sculpt the overall tone
1176 (blue) to lightly compress

I don't go heavy on any of these, but they give me a very clean and nicely controlled signal with low SNR to start with.

From there, almost anything goes to get the sound I want, but I typically include the following:
- channel EQ low-pass to eliminate any unwanted low frequencies
- de-esser or sometimes two (one at/near the beginning of the chain, the other at/near the end)
- another EQ for surgical work to fix harsh frequencies
- often a channel strip (e.g., Waves RenChan or an SSL-style) to sculpt the overall sound (or separate plugins)
- gate/expander, if necessary (but I typically use automation to eliminate noise between vocals and to reduce breaths)
- some type of gentle saturation (or heavy for effect)
- send to one or more reverbs
- send to a delay (which is sometimes sent to the vocal reverbs)

[fisherKing]

mine -

Screenshot 2026-01-24 at 6.24.12 PM.png

[fisherKing]

on another note...

i've completely simplified my vocal chain for the new year. i've gone from 6 plugins to 3:

fabfilter Q4>sonnox voca (compression/saturation/de-ess&)>FF Q4. getting the best vocal sound i've gotten (or, at least, with fewer steps)...

[Ah_Dziz]

Rvox and m dynamic eq. That's all for anything other than special effects.

[DCrown]

It depends on your recording environment and voice. My voice needs some attenuation at 180 Hz - 200 Hz (boominess) with Pultec MEQ-5. Low cut between 48 hz and 65 Hz. I prefer no reverb at all on voice, makes it cut trough better or ducking with a comp (ReaComp) whenever I use reverb. Panning of background vocals. I generally prefer delay over reverb.
If you like your voice with reverb, try to cut voice on reverb send track at 120 hz or higher and boost at 2,5 or 3 kHz or try boosting even higher frequencies
Lead voice I often sing and record twice to make it sound fuller and with natural short delay effect.
I don't like compressors a lot, I prefer manual volume corrections whenever needed.
Whenever I use a comp I prefer a LA3a emu on parallel track.
If you like adding lots of plugins to your vocals, Waves has a huge choice.
And the most important thing:
Find the right mic for your voice.

[billinder33]

IMO good outboard is important for tracking, especially compression. A FET comp into an OPTO comp before the interface is as good as it gets.

For mix, same chain for vox as for everything else: Pro-Q4 > TB Impress > Spectre > reverb/delay (if inserted) > Pro-Q4 > TBPAclip

Easy peasy.