Vocal Volume Automation Plug-In

I know there's a plug-in(s) out there that automatically volume automates vocals to bring them into balance. Is there one that's better in Logic and does it do a good job?

I don't mind doing it manually, but sometimes it just takes too much time.

I hope some one that has experience with it can chime in.

Thanks!

You can try using the Compressor for this.

A workflow that I've used sometimes is to use a post-fader Compressor to get my vocals in the ballpark, then use track automation to adjust the volume of the signal feeding the compressor to make the compressor work less. So basically the gain reduction meter tells you how to automate your vocals for consistency. Then readjust and finesse your results by ear. If you do this thoroughly then you can end up removing the compressor which no longer serves any purpose.

Although most times I compress first and use volume automation after the compressor to help support the weaker moments and tame whatever needs taming.

stardustmedia, Thanks for recounting your experience. Now I feel all right about the thousands of hours I've spent manually volume automating vocals! hehe!

David, very cool, thanks for sharing. That makes sense. But could you please be more specific about where Gain Reduction is displayed in Compressor? There's input/output gain on each side and meter/graph in the middle. Which one should I be going off here?

Thanks!

Logic doesn't have such a plugin. The one I tried once, was Vocal Rider from Waves. And I didn't like it. It never ended up good enough, so I ended up doing it manually anyway.

On the contrary to what my respected colleague is saying here, I actually DO like what Vocal Rider does for the voice.

Our differences in opinion may come down to workflow or styles of music we end up working on, or maybe it’s a taste thing, Either way it’ll cost you nothing to download a trial and check it out for yourself if that’s the way you wanted to go.

https://www.waves.com/plugins/vocal-rider#image

But could you please be more specific about where Gain Reduction is displayed in Compressor? There's input/output gain on each side and meter/graph in the middle. Which one should I be going off here?

The meter/graph in the middle is the one showing you how much gain reduction is applied to your signal by the compressor.

The compression is a valid technique too, albeit less transparent. I like to do a bit of both if warranted.

Vocals, like bass, can be horribly unpredictable with its transients and levels often all over the place. A great singer can have really good control, but still require work at the end to have their vocals sitting where you need it, depending on it's context. Many people tackle this with "Clip Gain" or in Logic terms "Region Gain". They'll spend countless hours splicing and dicing and raising or lowering the levels of the regions until the end up with a smoother performance. They'll usually de-ess that way too.

It's a valid technique, but it takes time and you end up with LOTS of edits all over your vocal track, it kind of makes it a bit chaotic in my opinion.

So what I'll do is instead of setting region gain by hand is to I'll use Vocal Rider, or Bass Rider when it comes to basses. It does pretty much the same job of riding that gain, without the need for all that intense editing. It and only takes a few a min or two to set it up, too. Time saved!! However, if you did want to make changes to it, you could always write out the automation to Logic and tweak the levels by hand.

I'll personally set Vocal Rider to just tame the levels a bit, I'm not looking for perfection, just more consistency as I'll generally follow that up with other processing, which would initially be to be add some "soft clip" style compression.

This can be done with any compressor that meets the specifications or by passing the signal through a tape emulation, as they both seem to have a similar effect on the transients. Generally you will want a compressor that allows for a ratio of 1.5:1 or lower. You can get away with 2:1, but I tend to think its a bit too abusive on the transients, but could work for rock and metal. You'd then want a fast attack of around 1-3ms and release set to recover after the initial transient. This could be 20-30ms for something snappy, or around 30-50ms for other instruments. You can really pay on the length as the longer you set it, the rounder the fuller transients, within reason. You want a really low threshold here, because of the low ratios you can get away with 6dB or so in gain reduction before it starts being too noticeable.

By itself, this sounds okay, but there is another part of the process you really need to do before is sounds really effective. At this point I'd usually add a bit of eq, mostly subtractive, but then I'll follow it up with another compressor. Though this is your regular style of compression set to allow transients to pass through, usually with ratios between 2-4:1.

So with Vocal Rider you essentially set it to level the signal so that it wont be as chaotic when it hits the first compressor, allowing it to do a more reliable job. With the soft clip compression you set it to subtly reign this transients in, make them more consistent. Then with the second compressor you use it to add snap and body. This works to to be a much more preferable alternative, in my opinion, to slamming the vocal with one compressor, and using a limiter to catch the peaks. Although, that's a valid technique too.

Wi