An article on some great plugins for mixing vocals. Article Content. Getting the vocals right in a mix is kind of everything. Even if everything else isn’t perfect, if you nail the vocals, you’re still doing ok. VST Plugs – VST Crack – Free VST Plugins – Direct Download Vst Plugins – Direct Download Free Vst – Download Free Fl studio Plugins – Music source for AAX, VST, AU, Audio samples, Audio software, DXi, RTAS Vst Plugin. Download Plusdistortion By Distorque Audio Free Distortion VST, VST3 Plugin. Win 32Bit, Win 64Bit. Reduce muddiness and increase clarity. A multi-voice chorus. Available from both Plugin Alliance and UAD, the high end of the EQ4 is virtually unmatched. All of the individual bands (aside from the Air Band) are at fixed frequencies, so it’s not the best option for surgical applications, but for adding color and clarity. Download Plusdistortion by Distorque Audio Free Distortion VST, VST3 Plugin. Win 32Bit, Win 64Bit. Many distortions use controls like this to reduce muddiness and increase clarity. Azurite is a multi-voice. For widening/thickening, or making choir like voices, you can use: chorus, voice multiplier, voice doubler, stereo wideners. For radical changes or special FX, you can use harmonizer / pitch changing, genre changer, pitch correction / autotune. Here’s a top 5 of free VST effects for changing the voice: 1) Azurite multi voice chorus VST.
Top 10 FREE Mixing & Mastering Plugins 2019
The never-ending quest for the best mixing and mastering plugins is back again, only this time we’re searching through the freebies. We scouted through many polls and forums to look for what the audio engineering community has to say about freeware mixing and mastering plugins. So here is our top 10 list of the best and brightest freeware mixing and mastering plugins in no particular order.
1 Youlean Loudness Meter 2 by Youlean
One of the most important aspects of proper mixing and mastering is monitoring. Both audible and visual. This is where Loudness Meter 2 by Youlean comes in to play. This is a freeware loudness metering plugin featuring four metering modes (LUFS, LRA, DR and true peak). It is a must-have visual tool for every producer and mixing engineer on a budget as it will help determine the proper amount of loudness without sacrificing the sound quality and dynamic range of the track. Compared to V1, it has a better-looking GUI which is resizable with reduced CPU usage and is more stable than the previous one.
2 Bitter Sweet V3 by FLUX
FLUX is a very well-known company with amazing high-quality plugins respected by many audio professionals. Bitter Sweet is their freeware audio sweetening tool. Basically, this is a tone and transient shaper plugin which can make your individual tracks go from biting hard to silky smooth. The UI is very simple to use and it features a large knob for controlling the amount of the desired effect.
By going to the sweet side you get very smooth transients and a silky tonal character, while going over to the bitter side you’re getting much more pronounced tonal characteristics and more aggressive transients. A must have for anyone working with percussive and rhythmic materials.
3 Stereo Buss by Minimal System Group (MSI)
We already talked about this plugin in a previous post about the best free VST plugins overall but we’re going to give it some more attention here again.
This is a Windows only plugin but even so it’s very special. Yes we know that there are many other free “mastering” buss compressor plugins out there, and sure they all give you that kind of final touch and glue to you mixes, but in all honesty MSI Stereo Buss does it better than most others plain and simple. For what it does and the fact that you’re getting it for free, it really is the best one out there at the moment.
4 SPAN by Voxengo
Voxengo are very well-known among the freeware VST users out there and they’re highly praised. Everyone needs a good plain simple spectrum analyzer for metering and in all honesty you really can’t beat Voxengo here. It is our favourite spectrum analyzer overall and it beats many analyzers out there that are paid-for.
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. It is a great addition to YOULEAN Loudness Meter 2. Everyone needs to have Voxengo SPAN in their collection.
5 Freeware Plugins by Brainworx
This is not an official collection but mainly our own pick of various freeware plugins by the amazingly talented people at Brainworx.
bx_solo is a powerful tool for working with M/S because it features the legendary M/S technology from their bx_control V2.
bx_subfilter is a subharmonic content processor. Basically it shapes your sub content and adds more oomph to your signal with body and punch. Highly recommended if you’re into EDM and trailer music production.
bx_cleansweep is an extremely powerful Hi/Lo-Pass filter using advanced Brainworx technology.
6 Wider by Polyverse Music
We’re re-visiting Wider for this list also as we have nothing but high praise for it. This is a simple freeware VST plugin that widens your stereo signal with a very unique ability to broaden the stereo width of the signal without causing phasing issues when played back in mono.
You can’t make it simpler than this because Wider features only one control parameter and that’s it. The slider affects the amount of stereo processing, but be careful when pushing it too far though because too much stereo widening can make your track sound as if it doesn’t exist in the same space with others in your mix. Treated carefully, this plugin is one of the best stereo wideners while keeping your mix compatible with any type of playback system.
7 Neutrino by iZotope
iZotope’s Neutron plugin bundle features a very unique technology and they scaled it down in order to present us with Neutrino, which is a freeware version with limited options. Even though it is limited compared to the full-blown Neutron, you can still achieve amazing results with it. Neutrino tames undesirable resonances caused by poor room acoustics, cheap gear, and heavy-handed processing. iZotope calls this effect “spectral shaping” and it can sound similar to gentle, low-ratio multiband compression.
The GUI is very simple to understand and use because it features only two knobs for controlling the effect and 4 buttons for selecting the sound source you are working with.
8 Limiter No.6 by VLADG/Sound
This is a rather cool and useful mastering plugin packed with features. Combined with the previously mentioned YOULEAN Metering and Voxengo SPAN, you get a free mastering power tool. Limiter No.6 features 5 separate modules mostly known as gain stages. A compressor followed by a peak limiter, high frequency limiter, clipper and the protection module.
The Protection module ensures that your output of the signal doesn’t go into clipping. Each module is controlled individually and you can turn it on and off separately. The plugin has a certain character when pushed hard but it produces a warm pleasing output. It’s a no brainer if you want to own one.
9 MFreeFX Bundle by MeldaProduction
MeldaProduction are well-known for some great plugins and they have earned their keep in many pro audio engineers’ plugin collections. This bundle contains 30 completely free plugins which span from bread and butter tools like compressors and EQs to some not so common effects like ring modulator and oscilloscope. If you’re starting out your path to becoming an audio engineer, or if you’re a student with no budget this is a must-have for you.
10 NOVA EQ by TDR
This is a rare sight to see when it comes to freeware plugins. NOVA EQ is a real Swiss army knife when it comes to fixing those problematic frequencies. It is very easy on the eye with its rather sleek looking GUI.
Each EQ band features a dedicated dynamics section which allows the EQ to cover a wide range of frequencies. The sound is very transparent.
What are your favourite free mixing and mastering plugins?
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Article Content
Each and every voice is uniquely different, and therefore each voice presents unique challenges when recording and mixing. EQ is arguably the most effective tool in shaping the timbre and tone of a vocal so that it works correctly within the context of a mix.
Here are the five equalizer plugins that I find myself using most frequently when mixing vocals.
1. FabFilter Pro-Q 2
In preparation of this series of articles on mixing vocals, I looked through dozens of sessions to see which plugins get the most amount of use in my mixes, and perhaps no single plugin gets more play than the Pro-Q 2. It’s the perfect surgical and subtle tone-shaper. It’s got a clean, transparent sound and a visually stunning user interface, which provides so much great useful information when mixing.
I generally like fixing problems via subtractive equalization before anything else, so the Pro-Q 2 is found as the first insert on many of my vocal tracks. In my sub-aux approach, all vocals are routed to their own aux before reaching the 2-buss, and I often have an instance of this plugin on this aux, as well.
Mix Tip:
Use the frequency analyzer to determine where to de-ess. The stock Pro Tools EQIII used to be my go-to for surgical attenuation, but since I got the Pro-Q 2, it’s now collecting metaphoric dust in the EQ plugins folder. This is mostly because the Pro-Q 2 has a simply stunning frequency analyzer, which I use to gain information about my program material. As I mentioned, each singer is unique, and sibilance will occur at different ranges in different voices. I use the analyzer to determine where it occurs in singers, do some subtle attenuation there, and apply what I’ve learned about the singer when I’m de-essing.
Introduction to FabFilter Pro-Q 2
Each and every voice is uniquely different, and therefore each voice presents unique challenges when recording and mixing. EQ is arguably the most effective tool in shaping the timbre and tone of a vocal so that it works correctly within the context of a mix. Here are the five equalizer plugins that
2. Maag EQ4
Available from both Plugin Alliance and UAD, the high end of the EQ4 is virtually unmatched. All of the individual bands (aside from the Air Band) are at fixed frequencies, so it’s not the best option for surgical applications, but for adding color and clarity, and really bringing vocals into focus, I love using the Maag.
Mix Tip:
The Air Band. No other EQ on the market does quite what the EQ4 can do in the high-frequency range. You’ve got five selectable frequency options (up to 40 kHz) and you can really crank the Air Band without your material sounding harsh and unpleasant. If I’ve got a vocal that seems a bit buried and dull, chances are this is what I’m using to fix it.
Plugin Comparison: Maag EQ2 vs. EQ4 – The Musical EQ Duo
Each and every voice is uniquely different, and therefore each voice presents unique challenges when recording and mixing. EQ is arguably the most effective tool in shaping the timbre and tone of a vocal so that it works correctly within the context of a mix. Here are the five equalizer plugins that
3. Pultec EQP-1A Emulations
One of the most widely used hardware EQs out there, we are fortunate that so many plugin companies have emulated the classic Pultec EQP-1A. We’ve got options from UAD, Waves, IK Multimedia, Avid and others. I’m partial to the UAD version, but there are many serviceable recreations of this Pultec on the plugin market. This is not for surgical applications, but for broad brush strokes, and adding clarity and proximity to vocals, I often use the EQP-1A.
Mix Tip:
On a recent mix, I popped the UAD EQP-1A on the vocal buss and automated the plugin so that it would add an extra 3 dB at 10 kHz during the chorus only. This did a great job of adding excitement and really helped the vocals cut through a dense chorus arrangement.
UAD Pultec Passive EQ Plug-In Collection Trailer
Each and every voice is uniquely different, and therefore each voice presents unique challenges when recording and mixing. EQ is arguably the most effective tool in shaping the timbre and tone of a vocal so that it works correctly within the context of a mix. Here are the five equalizer plugins that
4. UAD Harrison 32C
There are so many great analog-style plugin options for general tone sculpting duties, but I keep coming back to the UAD Harrison 32C. Modeled after the preferred desk of legendary engineer Bruce Swedien, the 32C has tone for days, but can also handle more precise tasks if asked to. The filters are some of the best you’ll find in a plugin, and the midrange can be pushed pretty hard without becoming unpleasant (depending on the source material, of course.) All of these qualities make the 32C one of the most musical plugin equalizers on the market, in my opinion.
Mix Tip:
On a recent mix, I used an instance of the 32C on my Vocal Buss. Summed together, all of the vocals became a little bit harsh, yet still needed some additional clarity. A gentle cut at 2 kHz and a slight bump at 10 kHz using the Harrison did just the trick. I also like using the 32C after my reverbs. Some verbs seem to need some tone, warmth, or other fixes, and the vibrant-sounding 32C does a great job at these applications.
Harrison 32C EQ Plug-In for UAD
Each and every voice is uniquely different, and therefore each voice presents unique challenges when recording and mixing. EQ is arguably the most effective tool in shaping the timbre and tone of a vocal so that it works correctly within the context of a mix. Here are the five equalizer plugins that
5. Softube Trident A-Range
Rounding out my favorite EQ plugins for mixing vocals is yet another analog emulation. I find myself wanting to add color, character, and vibe to vocals especially, and the A-Range is a much-used tool in my arsenal. Available from Softube native and for UAD platforms, the A-Range is a meticulously recreated plugin version of the equalizer section found on the famed British console.
Hundreds of rock hits were recorded using the Trident desk, and chances are if I’m working on in-your-face rock vocals, this is the plugin I’m using. Additionally, from a user interface perspective, the sliders offer a nice alternative way of working as compared to the many knob-based equalizers out there.
Mix Tip:
Push this thing. Mangle your vocals with it. Combine the filters with the ability to boost or attenuate 15 dB of gain at each band, and you have a lot of bold sonic possibilities. The Softube Native version has a saturation knob. I love abusing my signals with this thing.
Trident A-Range plug-in by Softube
Each and every voice is uniquely different, and therefore each voice presents unique challenges when recording and mixing. EQ is arguably the most effective tool in shaping the timbre and tone of a vocal so that it works correctly within the context of a mix. Here are the five equalizer plugins that
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