Vocal Editing VSTs

[Coldfuzion]

Thanks for your suggestions guys! Looking into them now , going down the list haha!

There are lots. Just about every single VST out there, in fact, can be use to do something with vocals.

What do you want to accomplish?

To be honest I just started working with vocals (for singers, I say this because I do little bit of rap here and there and can do the basic editing)properly so I just wanted to see what VST's you guys suggested and then I planned on looking in and seeing what all they do and what all I could do with the vocals to add cool effects or warm them up and what not. Basically just wanted to see what's out there!

[mostapha]

You're probably not going to want to hear this, and take it with a grain of salt…I've only done (or been around for) vocals in big-budget recording studios and really nice (HD3 system with a mic closet) project studios, but………

If you need to "fix" vocals that were sung badly, I'd honestly suggest just finding a better singer. But Melodyne and/or AutoTune can make a big difference.

As for "warming" them, a good preamp and a good, vintage compressor (or an emulation) can help a lot. But the preamps on audio gear now are actually pretty decent. And the room, Mic, and recording technique matter more (see below).

Reverbs & Delays are kind of classic. But apart from being "good enough", I haven't really looked into the differences between them.

Really, it's mostly recording & mixing techniques that make a difference, from what I've seen.

But, honestly, I'd worry about your recording space and microphone before anything else, in that order. A good singer in a good room with good recording technique does 90% of your work for you…a good mic gets it most of the rest of the way. Unfortunately, those are also the expensive parts.

Good singers don't usually come cheap. Good recording rooms/spaces take planning and investment. Good Mics sure aren't cheap……"decent" starts at a few hundred, but the "normal" vocal mics in real studios can easily cost thousands by themselves. And since they're nearest (in time & space) to the original sound, they make the most difference. And, sadly, there is no single mic that works well on all voices.

I did some experiments with my voice at some point. I don't feel like sharing the recordings because I wasn't singing well at the time, but the difference between a R-121, a U87, and a C414 were all significantly bigger differences than the preamps I chose (limited to an SSL SuperAnalog and UA 4-710d) or anything I've heard from different compressors (mostly 1176s, 33609s, emulations of them, and several other plugins).

And the biggest difference–easily–was recording in a vocal booth as opposed to the control room.

If you don't have a good initial recording–which might be prohibitively expensive–you're mostly going to be fighting your bad recordings.

[Coldfuzion]

Ahh, thanks a lot for your response Mostapha! I actually have a fully built vocal booth (we literally built a room in my friends garage / our other studio) and the mic that i've been using is the Rode NT2A. I was actually askin cause I was working on a remix with female vocals on it, but i'm definitely going to take some time and read into the different points you & others mentioned above.

Definitely appreciate all the responses guys!

[mostapha]

Sweet. Good luck.

I commented what I did mostly because a lot of the posts I've seen asking for "vocal VSTs" or things like them were people using SM58s (or knockoffs) in a bedroom with no treatments, and they were wondering why they didn't sound like $200/hr studio recordings.

[Coldfuzion]

Sweet. Good luck.

I commented what I did mostly because a lot of the posts I've seen asking for "vocal VSTs" or things like them were people using SM58s (or knockoffs) in a bedroom with no treatments, and they were wondering why they didn't sound like $200/hr studio recordings.

Hahaha yeah I feel you.