20 Essential VST Plugins For Modifying & Improving Your Vocals Recording vocals almost always requires the most attention to detail in regards to performance and sound. Perhaps no other part of the recording process requires quite the level of delicacy, tact, experience, and expertise as capturing lead vocals. 7 Best Free Autotune VST Plugins To Mix Perfect Vocals (2020) Autotune has become ubiquitous across many modern genres of music – it’s certainly not confined to just pop music anymore.
by Voclio
Luckily, there are several free vocal mastering VST plugins to assist in the process without breaking the bank. In this article, we’ll dive into a couple of compressors, exciters, equalizers, and noise gate VSTs that mimic many of the tools used by the pros to give mixes the extra polish they need. High-quality effects plugins don’t necessary need to come with a high price point. In the video tutorial above, we showcase 12 great effects plugins spanning EQs, reverbs, multi-band compressors, and more that you can use in your own productions for absolutely free. I recently wrote a guide on the best free vocal effects VST plugin, which is good if you are not planning to spend much on music production plugins, however, as soon as you want more customization or intuitive interface, you’ll find yourself contemplating on which good and affordable vocal effect plugin to buy, and that is why I created this guide.
Posted on December 2nd, 2019
Looking for the best free plugins for vocals? We’ll share with you 8 awesome plugins that will help make your vocal tracks stand out. From compressors, to imagers, to crazy pitch benders, we’ve got you covered.
8 Free VST Plugins for Vocals
1. Acon Digital Multiply Chorus
Acon Digital Multiply is a free chorus plugin that works great on vocals. It works particularly well on background vocals by helping to add depth and width to your vocal track. However, both the pitch and loudness of the voices can be modulated, allowing you lots of versatility. Add subtle harmony and width to your lead vocal, or go all out with a full chorus effect.
2. OTT Compressor
The OTT compressor by Xfer records is an absolute must own plug-in. It just makes everything sound better. It is a multi-band compressor, but better. It essentially brightens up the sound of whatever you put it on. Great for brightening dull sounding vocals or adding a touch of shine to your vocal track.
3. ADHD Leveling Tool
The AdHd Leveling Tool is a free compressor that effectively tames the peaks while also giving a bit of character to the overall sound. Perfect for adding a bit of warmth to your vocals.
4. Izotope Ozone Imager
Izotope’s mixing and mastering plugins are some of the most popular in the industry. So the fact that they offer this imager for free is awesome for producers. The Izotope Ozone Imager gives you full control over the width of your audio. Use this plugin to easily widen audio tracks.
5. Auburn Sounds Grallion
Grallion is a really cool plugin that can create a lot of unique sounds. It enables you to create a variety of pitch shifting effects that can create anything from unique choruses to distorted monstrous vocals. It also can be used simply as a pitch corrector. The free version does have a few limitations but still a great free plugin to pick up.
6. Wavearts Tube Saturator Vintage
The Wavearts Tube Saturator can be used to add a bit of analog warmth to recordings, or increase the drive for some distortion. You can also use it as a saturating peak limiter too.
7. EFEKTOR GQ3607 Graphic Equalizer
The Efektor GQ3607 is a relatively simple equalizer plugin. One of the reasons why this EQ is great because it forces you to use your ears rather than your eyes. With most EQ’s you get a frequency analyzer that you can view as you sculpt out your sound. With the Efektor GQ3607, you don’t get a visual frequency analyzer which forces you to rely solely on your ears to carve out your sound. This graphic equalizer allows meticulous equalization across seven carefully chosen points which is switchable into three ranges of frequencies.
8. Voxengo Beeper
Voxengo offers a ton of great free plugins. Check them out here. We are highlighting one of their more unique plugins called beeper. Beeper is an auxiliary audio processing AAX, AudioUnit and VST plugin which you can use to insert short beep, noise burst or silence signals to any sound material. This plugin may help you protect your work from unauthorized use. If you are a vocalist that does a lot of work-for-hire projects, than this may be a great plugin to pick up in order to keep your work protected before getting paid.
If you have any questions, comments, or additional thoughts feel free to message us on Instagram @VoclioOfficial. Or drop us an email at contact@voclio.com
Article Content
It’s the end of the month, and your bank account is empty…
…again.
Oops.
And as much as you might feel like buying that new Waves plugin…
(You’ve had your eye on it for months, right?)
It’s probably not a good idea.
But if you’re still looking to expand your plugin library, don’t worry.
Sometimes, the best things in life are free…
Here are 7 of my favorite free plugins. Each of them offers something new and unique (no boring EQs or compressors). Download them all to extend your sonic palette and ultimately, craft better-sounding tracks.
And if you’re looking to dive deeper, I also put together a list of five plugins I use on every mix. If you’re wondering which plugins I recommend, download the list below to make sure you’ve got my top tools for the job.
1. iZotope Neutrino
Neutrino is the baby brother of Neutron—iZotope’s newest channel-strip plugin. While Neutron has a number of innovative features, Neutrino spins off the best of them.
Neutrino tames undesirable resonances caused by poor room acoustics, cheap gear, and heavy-handed processing. iZotope calls the effect “spectral shaping,” and it can sound similar to gentle, low-ratio multiband compression. This can make tracks sound smoother and more polished—like sanding the rough edges off a freshly cut piece of wood. I find Neutrino particularly useful on electric guitar tracks, which often have lots of harsh resonances.
2. Voxengo SPAN
People say “don’t mix with your eyes.”
Meh.
The truth?
Tools that provide visual feedback, when used properly, can help you make better mixing decisions.
A spectrum analyzer is one of these tools. It plots the frequencies of sounds out on a graph, which allows you to “see” what tracks are comprised of.
SPAN is my favorite spectrum analyzer. You can control the ballistics and response of its graph, which makes it flexible enough for a wide variety of tasks. You can even route multiple tracks into SPAN and compare their frequency content.
(P.S. Voxengo has a few other free VST plugins. They’re worth checking out too, but SPAN is my favorite.)
3. Brainworx bx_solo
Bx_solo is a no-frills, stereo-imaging plugin. While it’s the least sexy of this bunch, it can still be pretty useful.
I like to add bx_solo to my mix bus. While I rarely push the stereo width past 100%, collapsing it to zero is an easy way to check for mono compatibility. The mid and side solo buttons are also useful. It’s great to have this one around—you never know when you might need it!
4. HOFA 4U Project Time
Mixing is a race against time.
The more time you spend on a mix, the more attached you become to what it sounds like. This makes it progressively harder to make good mixing decisions. Given enough time, even the worst mix will start to sound decent.
This is one reason I recommend mixing quickly and impulsively. You’ll get to the finish line faster, retain more objectivity, and ultimately, craft better mixes.
The first step towards more efficient mixing is to track how much time you spend doing it. Without this information, it’s easy to get lost in a black hole of endless tweaking.
Project Time makes this easy. Add it to a track, and it will start counting. The timer automatically stops when you close the session, and starts when you open it up again.
Keep an eye on Project Time, and you’ll train yourself to mix faster and more efficiently. It’s also an invaluable tool if you bill by the hour!
5. MeldaProduction MFreeFXBundle
MeldaProduction makes some great plugins. They’ve earned the praise of many notable engineers, including mastering guru Ian Shepard.
The MFreeFXBundle contains 30 free VST plugins. They range from workhorse tools like a compressor and EQ, to less common effects like a ring modulator, flanger, and oscilloscope.
If you’re looking to fill some holes in your plugin library, this is a great place to start.
6. Flux BitterSweet
BitterSweet is among the best transient shapers out there. It can produce results on par with studio mainstays like SPL’s Transient Designer and Waves’ Trans-X.
This simple plugin can achieve a wide variety of effects. Turn the knob to the right to add punch to drums, enhance the pluck of an acoustic guitar, or boost the consonants in a vocal performance. Turn the knob to the left to soften tracks and push them back in the soundstage.
Cubase Vocal Plugins Free
7. iZotope Vinyl
Sometimes a little crackle is a good thing.
Vinyl will make tracks sound like they’re being played on a turntable. You can vary the intensity of the effect by controlling the volume of different types of noise, the degree of wear and tear, and the decade your sound is from. The results range from subtle filtering to Edison phonograph.
This plugin is great for special effects, like filtering down a vocal or making an intro sound tiny.
Moving Beyond Free Plugins: My Favorite Plugins
Free Vst Plugins For Vocals Effects Plugin
I hope these 7 free plugins help you craft tracks that sound fresh and unique.
If you’re looking to dive deeper, I also put together a list of 5 plugins I use on every mix. If you’re wondering which plugins I recommend, download the list below to make sure you’ve got my top tools for the job.
Before you go—what’s your favorite free VST plugin? Share your pick in the comment section below.
Bonus: 3 More Free Plugins for Mixing
3 Free Plugins I Use in Every Mix
It’s the end of the month, and your bank account is empty… …again. Oops. And as much as you might feel like buying that new Waves plugin… (You’ve had your eye on it for months, right?) It’s probably not a good idea. But if you're still looking to expand your plugin library, don't worry. Sometimes,
FREE Masterclass: Low-End Mixing Secrets
Downloaded Over 19,455 times!
Free Vocal Plugins For Audacity
Discover how to make your kick and bass hit hard by cutting (NOT boosting) the right frequencies! Plus, more counterintuitive ways to get fuller yet controlled low-end in your mix. Download this 40-minute workshop by Matthew Weiss, now for FREE!