I was wondering if anyone would be willing to share their vocal chain with me? I know there are many different ways of getting the right vocal sound and every song requires its particular vocal sound to fit the soung. But my question is, do you have a vocal chain that only uses plug ins within Sonar X2?
 
In what order do you place your plug ins in the FX bin? How do you route your sends and set up your buses? Do you put EQ before or after compression? Do you put reverb on the vocal bus directly or do you send it to a reverb bus and dial to taste?
 
Please share you techniques, thank yoU!

I can get a LOT of mileage from jut using Sonars Pro Channel for massaging vocals.

Many people swear by chaining 2 compressors, the 76 followed by the 2A

The Quad EQ is great fro tonal shaping, and I like to drop in a Sonitus EQ at the top of the chain to filter out unwanted LF

Follow this up with the Concrete Limiter and thats about it.

Reverb usually goes via a send/return buss

You might find the VX64 Vocal Strip will do everything within one plug - I like to use just the de-esser from this module


But play around with using different plugins, change the order, find what works for YOU

For me, the plugs in Sonar are ok (but, for the effects, i respect "less is more").
The chain is : comp (PC2A), eventually Quadcurve EQ (but very light) and/or VX64_Vocal Strip (first in the chain, for the deesser), and reverb (Sonitus ou Breverb).
Sometimes also TL64_Tube Leveler (or another Sonar Tube emulation).

Usually, Comp before Eq (but it can be Eq before Comp), and reverb on the vocal bus.

And this is a perfect example how different engineers approach the same problem.

I like top run the de-esser at the end of the chain, as I find its compression which can add unwanted sibilance

I'll try it, since it's true that comp can increase or add sibilance !

(not an engineer, just a little "amateur")

I know there are many different ways of getting the right vocal sound and every song requires its particular vocal sound to fit the song. But my question is, do you have a vocal chain that only uses plug ins within Sonar X2?

No, i use other plugins on a case by case basis

In what order do you place your plug ins in the FX bin? How do you route your sends and set up your buses? Do you put EQ before or after compression? Do you put reverb on the vocal bus directly or do you send it to a reverb bus and dial to taste?

These are all things that are determined on a case by case basis. Every Vocal track in every song will need different things done to it in order to fit that song. It also depends on the surrounding instruments and the sound you are going for. Your use what ever is needed.
 
You said you know every song requires different ways, so you already know the answer to that question above. I can type here for a month and give you 500 different vocal chains that where used in 50 songs and none of them are the same, but that doesn't help you and it will just make my fingers sore from typing all that.  Use your ears and do what ever it takes to get the sound you want. Thats the answer
 
Cj

Usually it's Prochannel for me with the following from top to bottom.

PC4K Gate
VX-64 for de-essing (In an FX chain)
PC2A
Quadcurve
Softube Knob
Concrete Limiter

Reverb, doubing and anything else via busses.

I agree that every vocal is different but if like me it's mainly your own vocals everytime, the same basic starting point is as good as any.

There's a whole bunch of ProChannel Presets in the Cakewalk ProChannel Preset Zone that you can download for free. 

http://www.cakewalk.com/P...SONAR/Preset-Zone.aspx

Unlike some (who just say "use your ears / there is no one right answer" - thanks for that...), I will try to actually be helpful. Here are some generic vocal tips that might help you: - Use your best mic for the singer at hand. Usually this is a large diaphragm condenser (but not always). If you have multiple mics, try them all for the particular singer / song. You might be surprised at what works best for a given situation. - Be sure to never overload the gain staging! Do now allow the singer to 'yell' to close to the capsule, or set the input trim on your preamp too loud so as to distort the preamp or converter. Over-load distortion (on the way 'in' to Sonar) is IMPOSSIBLE to remove later. - Best tip that I have: go nuts with clip-gain envelopes, and try to get the 'perceived volume' of the track to be EVEN. Do this pre-compression. Try to get the volume to be as even as possible before applying any limiters or compressers, JUST using clip envelopes. - OK, my usual chain? I will usually have multiple vocal tracks (usually 3), all pointed to a bus called "Vocal sum". Sometimes this bus has no FX. Sometimes, it needs a teeny bit of an EQ (bump at 250 htz if it lacks 'chest thump'), cut there if it has too much ... bump at 8000 htz if it lacks airiness / cut there if it has too much). - This gets sent to another bus: Voc Verb. Use your BEST reverb. Don't get too heavy handed with the send level. It can also be useful to cut the lows and highs (after the verb) - put a Sonitus EQ in the bin right after the verb, and cut anything below 350 and over 8000 htz). - RE-SING! Do not try to polish a turd. Sing again, and again, and again. Make a composite ("best-of") track. Do not bother with V-vocal. Just sing the darn thing again, if a note seems off. So even though there are no "one size fits all" answers, hopefully some of these tips WILL help you, and that is what this forum is really about. Best, Ed

Thanks to everyone for the responses... I feel I have a decent vocl chain but I just want to learn more optiond and techniques to better the craft. ED, thank you very much for the detailed info, great!

Not sure if any of you have heard of www.therecordingrevolution.com or not? But if not, go check it out... Lots of great tips on there and video tutorials.