The 7 Best Plugins To Mix Pop and R&B Vocals
Vocals are often what make a song a classic… or a dud. There’s nothing worse than listening to a good beat and having a bad singer come in and ruin the vibe. As crazy as it sounds, the way a vocal take is mixed can totally change how we hear it. An unmixed voice can sound a bit flat, but add the right amount of studio trickery on there and you have a classic my friend! If you feel like your vocals could be better, maybe you just don’t have the right tools at your disposal. Luckily, I’m sharing my favorite vocal mix VST plugins with you today. Give them a try, you won’t regret it!
The 7 Best Plugins To Mix Pop and R&B Vocals
Pro-Q 3 | FabFilter
These days, any DAW or console comes with an EQ… So why would you want to buy a fancy plugin to do a job anyone can do for free? Good question…
Pro-Q 3 does what an EQ does - aka raising and lowering the volume on certain parts of the frequency spectrum - but FabFilter’s feature-packed version of this studio staple just does… SO MUCH MORE!
From its dynamic EQ function to its peak spotter, this might just be your best friend when trying to tame annoying parts of your vocals and let the good stuff shine through. Even though an EQ can be a basic VST, it doesn’t mean it has to be.
Pro-Q 3 is nothing but basic.
Nectar 4 | iZotope
In an ideal world, when you’re recording vocals you’d have a closet full of mics, a perfectly sound-proofed studio and a mix engineer available for you 24/7. (In my dreams, there’d also be a chef on deck to make me my chicken nuggies from scratch anytime I want, but maybe that’s just me…)
Unfortunately, cool producers often have to record their vocals on a USB mic while holding a dirty sock in front of their mouth to deflect the air puffs. And then we spend hours trying to remove all the imperfections from that first demo take that just sounds better than the other ones.
Lucky for you, there’s Nectar 4. This iZotope powerhouse harnesses the dark arts of AI to help you correct your vocals and achieve a pro sound in a few clicks of a mouse. Nectar includes essential modules, from auto leveling to compression, and, of course, de-essing.
Once the AI does a pass on your vocals, you can then tweak the settings and achieve the results you want with its user-friendly interface.
This new version of Nectar also lets you work from a reference, or create back vocals in a few more clicks of the mouse. Look, if you got a mouse and it clicks, you’re good!
Auto-Tune | Antares
Antares’ Auto-Tune is my favorite plugin for adjusting the pitch of vocals and getting that edgy modern sound we all know and love. I like the creativity it allows, and the character it provides to vocals. The way it can transform a voice continues to amaze me. It has shape pop and R&B, and it still feels a little bit like magic every time I use it.
While Auto-Tune is a must-have, it’s not necessarily the best tool for all scenarios, though. If you’re trying to obtain pitched vocals that sound a bit more natural, I’d recommend Melodyne 5.
Melodyne may not be the coolest of the pitch correction tools - or the most inspiring - but its simple workflow makes it easier to get tight vocals and dope harmonies on the go.
If you can’t choose between the 2, get both Auto-Tune and Melodyne, they will probably serve 2 completely different purposes in your workflow.
Little AlterBoy | Soundtoys
If you want a well-kept secret in the music industry, Little AlterBoy might be it. Once you start using it, you can’t help but hear this Soundtoys VST on pretty much every hit and pop banger out there.
Deceptively simple, Little AlterBoy allows you to add some dimensions to your vocals with a few controls such as pitch, drive and - my favorite - formant. This allows you to get those deep, soulful vocal tones, or a “chipmunk” high-pitch voice that’s been associated with Kanye West’s early productions.
This can be used on lead vocals, but it’s also very useful to create sample-like stabs and hooks.
A special pro tip for you is to blend the effect with your natural voice so it doesn’t become unrecognizable. It will just sound super wavy.
Little AlterBoy’s simplicity is one of its strengths, but if that’s not enough controls for you, you might want to check TrapTune, a similar tool with way more parameters.
RC-20 Retro Color | XLN Audio
Whether you’re starting your journey in vocal production, or you’re an old grizzled pro, we all have one thing in common: We don’t like to waste time loading a million plugins and cycling through parameters and presets.
Multi-fx VSTs aren’t only a way to get all the effects you need in a single place, they’re also a way to get creative and try tricks you wouldn’t have thought of otherwise.
The GOAT of multi-fx plugins is - of course - RC-20 Retro Color by XLN Audio. If nothing else, this is a great tool for vocals because it contains a reverb that sounds modern, and it’s super easy to tweak.
I’ve also become addicted to downloading third-party presets for RC-20, and you can find some pretty cool packs out there if you know how to google stuff.
Type A | AudioThing
While a lot of plugins on this list have millions of functions and capabilities, Type A is incredibly simple. It’s not a plugin that will completely change the world of music production, but I guarantee you’ll want it on every song nonetheless.
Type A is an emulation of an old tape trick that was often misused as a way to make vocals more airy and present. It was an ace up the sleeve of studio rats for decades, and now it’s an AudioThing plugin anyone can buy for a few bucks.
If you want your vocals to have that sparkling top that cuts through the mix, put this bad boy at the end of your chain and call it a day. You can’t lose.
Manley Tube Preamp | Universal Audio
A good preamp is something you put at the beginning of your vocal chain to make sure your voice has character. It used to be essential when people recorded with hardware, and it’s still important in the world of digital music-making.
If you’d like to experiment with preamps, start with Manley Tube Preamp, a Universal Audio plugin inspired by a legendary piece of studio gear. It might give your recordings that vibe your audio interface is lacking.
You’re in good hands with UAD plugins, they know what they’re doing over there.
If you like the sound of the tube preamp, but you’d like a bit more flexibility, check out the Manley VOXBOX Channel Strip, which has more functions, including a vintage-style compressor and a de-esser.