What effects/plugs do you folks use while recording vocals? (Not "printing". of course)

  I am using S8.5 PE and would like some advice on how to get better vocal tracks.



Thanks.

I put a little reverb in the headphone mix.

If it's just me, dry and I wear my headphones half off so I can hear my voice acoustically.
I found very few vocalists who need reverb while tracking. It comes down to what they are used to hearing. If they have done lots of studio work they will be fussy about the mix more then the reverb. Some singers like a sparse mix with  mostly  piano to keep pitch. To add reverb I always monitor though a mixer so both of mine have lots of presets I can use. My system has too much round trip latency to use Sonars plug ins anyhow, unless you like a 24ms slap echo.
There's a danger in sweetening up the singers voice to much while tracking as it can tend to gloss over minor mistakes. But sometimes the efx is part of the song so that is different. In that case I'd record 2 tracks simultaneously, one dry and one wet. 

I prefer to have nothing but a dry signal in my singer's cans. I find if I add verb, compression, etc., my singer gets a little lazy in their performance.

I will use what ever needs to be used to get the sound im looking for, for that particular song. I will use different things for each song, when it comes to vocals and all other instruments.

Some vocal recording tips
Cj

Another DRY guy here.  I get "better vocal tracks" by rehearsing and loosening up.

I put whatever the singer wants in their cans.

Usually this means aboslutely nothing apart from the dry signal along with some of the backing tracks.

I prefer it dry because I want to whip myself. If I can get it tolerable when dry, I know I'll have courage to let others hear it with some FX added.

CJaysMusic


I will use what ever needs to be used to get the sound im looking for, for that particular song. I will use different things for each song, when it comes to vocals and all other instruments.

Some vocal recording tips 

Cj

CJ - Your info in # 24 is exactly what I was looking for:

"Record in 24bit. this goes for vocals and everything else:

When recording in 24bit, there is no need to record hot. Recording hot could get you in trouble. One small clip can ruin your vocal take.

Record your vocals between -20dB and -6dB. Those levels are fine for 24bit

With 16bit, you have 65,536 possible levels

Withe 24bit, you have 16,777,216 levels

So in 24bit, your audio has more room in the digital realm

You do not have to record as hot in 24bit as you do in 16bit because of the noise floor. In 24bit you can record at a lower level while staying above the noise floor. Meaning you can record at lower levels because of the more headroom 24bit gives you.




  I just started recording at 24 bit, with a very present mic (Studio Projects T3), and my tracks are too darned hot. I was trying to tame them with compression, but obviously would rather not. I will cool them down to the -20 - -6 dB levels in your primer. Thanks a million!




p.s. I will probably be sending you a few tracks to master in the future. I don't want to send you any overs!






Everyone else - thanks for the input. Great source of information here.






Regards,




Bob

Dry; if it sounds good dry, it will sound good processed.  That's my philosophy!