"Voice thickening" plugin effect?

It's distortion, plain and simple! Got SONAR X1 Expanded? Try setting the Softtube Saturation Knob to "Keep Low"! It will do the trick nicely! It might not sound "thicker" soloed, but within the context of a mix, it should make the fundamental tone of the voice stand out more. I use it tons!

vaultwit


 And yes I do have Expanded 

Sorry, I should have seen from your sig...

So do you want warming or thicking, if it's warming, then the softtube knob (I just love being able to say knob).

Another trick is use the VVocal, copy your vocal track and then stretch it ever so slightly, this will thicken the track and give it ADT or artificial double tracking effect, it can be ever so subtle that you don't actualy here the time difference but it can make the track feel thicker.

Neb

BenMMusTech


Another trick is use the VVocal, copy your vocal track and then stretch it ever so slightly, this will thicken the track and give it ADT or artificial double tracking effect, it can be ever so subtle that you don't actualy here the time difference but it can make the track feel thicker.

Neb

If you're too lazy to sing the part twice  


Doubling the vocals, even if the secondary track is way down like -10 to -12 dB will go a real long way towards thickening the vocal sound.

BenMMusTech


So do you want warming or thicking, if it's warming, then the softtube knob (I just love being able to say knob).

Another trick is use the VVocal, copy your vocal track and then stretch it ever so slightly, this will thicken the track and give it ADT or artificial double tracking effect, it can be ever so subtle that you don't actualy here the time difference but it can make the track feel thicker.

Neb

Stretch it ever so slightly, but stretch it in what way? You mean go to the time screen in V-Vocal and just drag the right-most portion of the clip over slightly?

Izotope Nectar is awesome for this.  Not cheap but wow.

I had to look up the Cranesong Phoenix, because it's a TDM plugin and I've never used it. Basically, it's a tape saturation emulator. They're a dime-a-dozen in the VST world. It's gentle compression and a little even-harmonic distortion. 

It's not the first thing that comes to my mind when I think "thickening", although I suppose it sort of does that because of the compression.
(That's the trouble with non-technical descriptions such as "thickening". Or "fattening", "sweetening", "warming", or (gag) "making it more musical". All are uncomfortably vague for me. Or the one that really gets my goat: "adding mojo" (sorry, IKM).)

Nowadays, thickening is usually accomplished by overdubbing the vocal 2 or 3 times, time-aligning and Cher-ifying all three and panning them slightly apart, and then shifting one overdub up by a few cents and the other down by the same amount. Smash the whole thing with über-compression. That's pretty much the stock signature pop vocal sound of the past decade.

mmarton


Izotope Nectar is awesome for this.  Not cheap but wow.

+1 I'm using it right now to get what I want.

On the hardware side, would the Thermionic Culture Vulture be helpful for "thickening" vocals?

The softube knob is my most used PC module by far. It's probably on just about every track I mix in vary degrees.

bitflipper


I had to look up the Cranesong Phoenix, because it's a TDM plugin and I've never used it. Basically, it's a tape saturation emulator. They're a dime-a-dozen in the VST world. It's gentle compression and a little even-harmonic distortion. 

It's not the first thing that comes to my mind when I think "thickening", although I suppose it sort of does that because of the compression.
(That's the trouble with non-technical descriptions such as "thickening". Or "fattening", "sweetening", "warming", or (gag) "making it more musical". All are uncomfortably vague for me. Or the one that really gets my goat: "adding mojo" (sorry, IKM).)

Nowadays, thickening is usually accomplished by overdubbing the vocal 2 or 3 times, time-aligning and Cher-ifying all three and panning them slightly apart, and then shifting one overdub up by a few cents and the other down by the same amount. Smash the whole thing with über-compression. That's pretty much the stock signature pop vocal sound of the past decade.

I'm sure you acknowledge the power of distortion in a mix? The way it makes bass tracks more audible? It works the same way with vocals, as I'm sure you're aware. I use the Softtube Saturation knob on all my vocal tracks and the effect of making the vox "louder" but not LOUDER is undeniable IMO. It's like you get carefully dialled in volume automation and sensible compression in a single (BIG) knob! [You'll still need carefully dialled in volume automation and sensible compression, though...)
"

mattplaysguitar

vaultwit

Baby by Justin Bieber

This just makes me shudder...




Layering. Valve/tape saturation. Parallel compression. Eq. Carefully selected reverb. Lots of things can do it.


I'd tend to stay away from pluggins called "voice thickening" unless it had an amazing rep (not that you specifically mentioned it). It just has a cheap sound to it and I'd get the feeling that people who know what they are doing don't make plugs called that... So unless it had an amazing rep, I'd just stick to the techniques above and wouldn't bother trying. The plug mentioned isn't an example of this, it's just a tape sim. I'm just talking about those generic plugs. Like the famous "make song sound good" type plugs. Targeting the less experienced audience, typically. And using cheap effects which never really sound very good. Just give me a nice saturation plug and I'll be happy.

Yup! The OP asked a simple question (what does the Cranesong Phoenix do?) and the answer is: DISTORTION. It's no doubt a very small part of all the things Jayzee Joshsd (or whatever his name) did to make this song a radio ready (albeit a sickening abomination of a) HIT!


And for all those who might still be in doubt: THE SOFTTUBE SATURATION KNOB TOTALLY ROCKS (if you listen carefully, you'll know that I actually held the 'shift' key down when I typed those letters. No CAPSLOCK cheating)

I have a TC helicon voice works, and it has a thickening setting, that double tracks the voice, I usually run that dry of other effects and then add later. I great way to is to sing the song into two mikes, to two separate tracks, and one directly in, and one thru the VW unit, and set it to thicken, but delete the lead vocal, you get two tracks one altered for thickening. add effects and bake until light brown on top.

Maybe relevant for this topic :

http://youtu.be/FM6uNvRzSjU

All the best
Jan

SvenArne
I'm sure you acknowledge the power of distortion in a mix? The way it makes bass tracks more audible?

Well, it's true it works great on bass, and the softube knob has replaced Izotope's Trash as my go-to for it on bass, but one of the reasons it works so well on bass is because it gives it more high-end. Vocals, already just fine in that department, require slightly different applications of it. But in the end, yupz it does help a vocal cut through a mix!