The Song Fight Bulletin Board

Standard caveat - Forgive the self-link but I hope some folks here will find this helpful: Building a vocal effects chain with free VST plugins.

Assuming your software supports VST, everything you need to polish up your vocal tracks is available free on the Internet. In fact, the Kjaerhus Classic Compressor and JS Magneto tape sim are two of my "goto" plugins.

(Also, spend some time in Ken's "free plugin" thread: http://songfight.net/forums/viewtopic.php?t=164 ... I know it's not Ken's thread per se, but c'mon.)

Good stuff. It was very straightforward and helpful.

Cool, my Cubase uses VST. Thanks Des. I'll try to use his tips on my Pink ribbon entry.

Does anybody out there have any thoughts on how Spitfish compares to, say, the de-esser that comes with Cubase SX 3 (and probably other versions)?

I really hope people don't add de-essers and gates just because this article says so. All of those effects are to be used as needed.

If you are recording a syballant singer, back them off the mic.

You can always just cut out the space between vocals instead of using the gate as well. I always do a very minimal amount of this, mostly where there are large spaces. I tend to leave in breath noise as it makes the vocal sound more authentic to me.

Having said that, I think it hits the nail on the head for naming the top free plug ins.

Ken

Good point Ken. I think with all of the technology these days, a lot people just lay down a track with no regards to quality and think they'll fix it up on the mix down. Not that my past entries show it, but when I was learning how to record music, we wouldn't start recording until we had everything worked out with the sound and if we sucked on our part, we'd redo it until it was right.
Now with that said, I'm not apposed to making a studio cut maximized and listenable. With live, we have the energy and visual, but studio cuts, we have only the sound to interest the listener. I know you know this stuff already, I'm more or less just typing out loud to remind myself, lol.

I was just curious as to how the two plug-ins may compare. I've only ever used the one built in to Cubase. I'm basically wondering if it's worth downloading a different one, considering how infrequently I use it, and considering that, to my untrained ear, the one I have seems to work OK.

My comment wasn't directed at you Sam. It was my general reaction from reading the website. I think the best thing to do is install both and compare them on a track you used. Maybe they sound the same, but the interface works better for you. Also, you never know which is going to work better on a particular track until you try them out. I think I have use a de-esser once.

Ken

Lunkhead wrote:Does anybody out there have any thoughts on how Spitfish compares to, say, the de-esser that comes with Cubase SX 3 (and probably other versions)?

Spitfish seems more configurable than the SPL, which could be good or bad. But like most things in audio production, it's gonna come down to what your ears tell you. Or worded another way: What Ken said.

ken wrote: All of those effects are to be used as needed.

Ya, good call Ken. Adding too many effects "just because" is a sure-fire way to destroy a track.

BLT wrote:a lot people just lay down a track with no regards to quality and think they'll fix it up on the mix down.

That's the Zen of audio engineering right there.

Des, this site is fantastic! Great job!

(I wish I'd had it years ago!)

--Em

Thanks, Des. I'd also like to point out that a bunch of the Mac VSTs Des talks about—Ambience, the Digital Fish ones (Blockfish, Floorfish and Spitfish), and others—are also available in AU form, for those using Garageband or Logic, etc.