Songwriter Forum > Recording

Lead Vocal Compressors CLA2A and CLA3A

(1/4) > >>

cowparsleyman:
Many of you will know this anyway, but I never needed it before.

Currently working on a new song, and the Lead vocals have posed quite a problem for me, first it's a genre I've not done before (indie rock - part of the genre jumping suite), second the vocals are laid back but the instruments are quite rocky in parts, and held back in others.

I tried all sorts of compressors to get the sound right in all parts (Elysia, Klanghelm, Waves, brainworx, Magix, ACME, Izotope - love the Nectar elements - solves most vocal issues), I ended up using the CLA2A AND the CLA3A, did a great job, part of the issue was also that I had more than my normal smattering of Soundtoys EchoBoy applied, which affected the upper mids and highs, (talk about a slippery eel..) the CLA2A was just too smooth on it's own...(btw...an 1176 was not how I wanted it to sound).

The EQ of the tracked stem was fine.

Anyway just wanted to share this.... using more than one compressor on LVox (incidentally, I used an ACME opto XLA3 AND the Magix AM munition on the drum buss - was just perfect for what I wanted - controlled smashed drums, with NO added saturation)

Anyone else have any really cool tips for LVox

Hope this helps,

cowparsleyman:
....also I did try the old 'one compressor per aux buss' ploy...putting a different comp on a number of aux busses and whizzing a bit to each for the LVox track, but that's not how I wanted to approach it...too much processing on a pristine Vocal track.

Boydie:
For lead vocals I tend to start with volume automation to get exactly the dynamics I want for the track

I can then use much less aggressive compression and focus on getting the tone/character of the compressor rather than pushing anything too hard

cowparsleyman:
@Boydie - makes a lot of sense...I’ll try it...

I normally leave automation till the end, but that’s made me think of trying it, thanks man.

Boydie:
@cowparsleyman

I would recommend the WAVES Vocal Rider

I usually do a pass with this (after setting it up how I want it for the track) to get an automation envelope. However, I always go through the envelope and make fine adjustments

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page