Rediscovering an Oldie but newly-appreciated Goodie

This will be very old news to many of you, but I've just discovered a new appreciation for an old tool that's been sitting here idle for years: Audio Damage's Rough Rider compressor. 
 
I have a tune-in-progress that grew out of a solo jam while evaluating the excellent Renaxxance nylon guitar library from Indiginus. This Kontakt instrument is a LOT of fun and invites live jamming - at a mere 45 bucks I don't hesitate to recommend it. This coming week there'll be a new version that makes it even better. But Renaxxance isn't the topic of this post. It's about vocal leveling through aggressive compression.
 
I've always been reluctant to let a compressor take care of leveling out a vocal track on its own. If the raw levels are too wildly varied, it's not possible to apply settings that are appropriate for both loud and quiet bits. Consequently, I do a lot of hand-leveling with gain automation to get the track into the ballpark and then let a compressor (usually Pro-C) do the rest.
 
This particular vocal track, though, was worse than usual. I'd sung it into a cheap Sennheiser stage mike while playing the guitar part on the keyboard, at times too close to the mike, sometimes off-axis or not even facing the microphone. I wasn't thinking in terms of a potential keeper track, so it was even sloppier than normal. Only later did I decide to try and salvage the vocal.
 
At first, I tried my usual method: hand-leveling with gain automation, then Pro-C in parallel mode. But this proved unacceptable. The volumes were just all over the place and it was going to take an enormous amount of editing, making me think I'd just have to re-take the vocal.
 
Enjoying a challenge, I then tried another trick that has worked for me under similar circumstances, Meldaproduction's MAutoVolume. That helped a lot. Here's a picture of a short phrase comparing the original vocal loudness (black line) with the result of applying MAutoVolume (red line): 
 

 
Then for grins, I started sticking in various compressors just to see if I could possibly do better. Eventually I came to Rough Rider. Here's what that plugin did for the same phrase, after some tweaking (fast attack, medium release):

 
This is the flattest volume I've ever gotten by plugins alone. Now, I know what you're thinking: this probably sounds like crap. Smashing a track like that must surely make it sound robotic and dull. But in this case, that didn't happen. Noticeable distortion was introduced, but it wasn't unpleasant. The only downside was that the vocal became more sibilant, requiring a de-esser after. Overall, I really liked the in-yer-face crispiness, even though this isn't a rocker, it's a ballad. 
 
I thought this was a pretty awesome result for a free plugin. If you've never tried Rough Rider, grab it here. Yes, there is a 64-bit version.
 
 
(BTW, the screenshots above are from the Loudness tab of the very useful MMultiAnalyzer analyzer plugin.)

I have had the Rough Rider for a while (v. 1.0.0.1 !) but have never used it on vocals, just guitar mostly.  I wasn't aware they had upgraded to 64-bit either.  So thanks again on both counts!

MachineClaw
I keep getting a 404 no link for free download of Rough Rider.
 
while Rough Rider Pro is $39.00 and probably worth it I am not shopping for a paid compressor at this time.
 
I was interested in the freebie to check out the compressor as well as Audio Damage, I don't have any of Chris's plugins.

I just downloaded the 64 bit version and got that a few times initially too.  Try again.  Might take a few times and maybe a page reload (F5)

MachineClaw
I keep getting a 404 no link for free download of Rough Rider.
 
while Rough Rider Pro is $39.00 and probably worth it I am not shopping for a paid compressor at this time.
 
I was interested in the freebie to check out the compressor as well as Audio Damage, I don't have any of Chris's plugins.

MC...you have to register first...then it will let you download....

Yes, no need to register, it downloads fine without registering

Thanks for the heads up Bit. I've downloaded (no registration required) and I will give it a go.

okie dokie, I will try again later tonight.  it's still not working for me, but will try later when the internet sleeps hahaha.

bitflipper
Crunchy, like you'd expect from a field-effect transistor. Or a Green Day lead vocal.

LOL!
Well, their name is AudioDAMAGE!
 
 
Also, it got a serious case of G.A.S. while on their website and came away with the PanStation auto-panner, as well as the x64 version of Rough Rider.

Thanks Bit!

jimusic

MachineClaw
...I keep getting a 404 no link for free download of Rough Rider...
 

Once you get the 404 Oops page, look left and at the bottom of 7 links you'll see 'free downloads' just above the blue robot.
Click and follow that.
 
Worked for me without having to register.

Yeah, I forget what actually triggered it working, but it was something similar.  I was looking for a different way to get to the download and then it just worked finally.
Don't give up is the basic message here.  Just keep trying things. 

There seems to be a REALLY strong aversion to registering...FWIW...

Quite strange...

I ended up registering, but I got the download to work before registering.  Just saying it's not necessary is all.

BTW, the PanStation is pretty sweet.  Check it out while you're there.

I use their Vapor chorus and Panstation all the time. I have passed by other comps I have to grab the Rough Rider freebie so often it has kind of irritated me.

Thanks Dave tried this one for over a week and never did get past the 404 error in IE. Finally got it the first try with Chrome.