VST versus Outboard Processor for Vocals in X1 Producer

There are some who swear by quality outboard gear and some who reckon that quality plugins are now every bit as good as there hardware counterparts.

I subscribe to the latter doing most things in the box. BUT good preamps for vocals and guitars are essential . Sometimes the singing talent isn't good enough to bring into the DAW raaw and you need alittle compression to keep down those wild dynamics a bit.

Once you've sorted out what you need in that range of things you'll have a better idea what to do.

It will also depend on what sort of monitor mix you're sending your vocalist/s. If you need plugins you're going to incur extra latency esp if using external insert feature as it will add the plugin delay compensation to the Round trip latency of the interface etc.

If you can monitor in hardware you can eliminate this but you'll need external hardware to send out some fx. So you've still gota few things to work out.

I'm sure that many will come along and tell you what you should do. I recommend that you try a few different things to work out what works for you with your gear as well as increase your knowledge. Essential there are some basic principles to follow but if it sounds good it is good. Your mastering engineer won't be able to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear if you get my drift. All the best.

generally if you have no plugins besides what come with X1 Producer you should be able to get a good enough mix but your tracking and mixing chops are what are most important.

I  use vocal strip, reverb and v-vocal for the vocals

Thanks, guys! The biggest challenge we have on this is really the vocal performance (I can say that, as the singer), but with voice lessons and practice taken as far as budget permits, the only thing left to blame is the engineering team (us) and the equipment.  Mike, I like your suggestion about staying in the box, because it makes automation so much easier.

The helicon is a nice unit. I've used the first version. I personally do everything in the sonar, for flexibility. The vocal strip is really nice. I'd go as far to say freakin fantastic when it comes to getting a vocal sittin right. 

I almost always throw the waves renn compressor on vox, because it sounds really nice, but I'm starting to appreciate the pro channel comp. I'm not completely sold yet, but it's gettin there for me. 

The main thing I like about doing vox through sonar are automating reverb and delays. For example, one nice technique I've used is to create a send off the vocal track / bus that goes into a cool (as in low to mids cut) reverb that has heavy saturation. it fattens up the vocal when there is singing, but it sounds way too saturated when the voice stops and the reverb takes forever to decay. So I automate the volume on the reverb bus (I usually automate the send as well depending on what I need) in order to manually chop cut off the reverb when the singer stops singing. You'll get a fat sound without getting a "I don't want to sound like an 80s singer" response from the singer. 

I do the same with delays, especially big slaps. You don't want them going all the time. 

The voice live is awesome for live shows and even pretty darn good for studio, but it doesn't give you that kind of flexibility. I do enjoy the thickener on the TC though, so maybe get a good base vocal sound with the helicon, but fine tune other FX in sonar.

Just some thoughts.

I vote for Celemony Melodyne over Antares Autotune. I think is sounds better, with fewer artifacts, and kind of forces you to study the way you are correcting intonation. Autotune lends to automatic settings instead of paying attention to what is really going on in the track. It might take more time with Melodyne, but the results will sound more natural. At least that is my experience, though I am such a spot on singer I rarely need it (not).
 
Paul

I downloaded the demos for Melodyne and Autotune 7 this afternoon. The Antares plug-in didn't seem to make much of a difference unless I cranked the speed all the way to T-Pain setting. I can't get the Melodyne demo version to run as a plug-in.  Did the install and set Sonar to scan the program folders, but it doesn't show up on the fx list when I try to add it to the bin. I'm not sure this is worth $300!

Hi all,+ 1 for V Vocal is awesome for pitch and time correction.I use it on bass and sax too.Many Sonar users don't waste their time to learn more on this fantastic tool.
The only caution is bounce to clips when the edit is done.
It' s only my experience...
 
Good luck!

Roby