pluginplug.io
Interview

Pro Engineer BeatsByA shares his Vocal Chain

Pro Engineer BeatsByA shares his Vocal Chain

Alex, professionally known as BeatsByA, is one of the most prominent Audio Engineers in the German rap music scene. He has worked for countless big artists from Germany, including RAF Camora, Ufo361, Yung Hurn, Bonez MC, Capital Bra and many others.

We sat down with Alex, asking a simple question: What's the default Vocal Chain you go to when working with new artists?

As usual with these types of posts, everything shown here should just be a reference! You should always consider your client's voice, the recording environment, the microphone used, etc. when deciding what plugins to use on a vocal. Also, don't forget to set your levels right before ever touching a single plugin!

1. RX Standard

iZotope's RX series has been a staple in audio restoration for years. Whenever there's something "wrong" with a vocal, RX is a great place to start. Alex explains that he likes using RX's De-Click and De-Plosive features to remove annoying mouth noises from dry recordings.

RX Standard product image
-27%
292.00 $
   399.00 $
RX Standard
10 stores

2. Ozone Advanced

"Sometimes it works great, sometimes it doesn't work at all" - that's what Alex has to say about Ozone's Clarity Module. Ozone is well-known as a Mastering tool, but this new module added in Ozone 11 can also be used as an Insert effect to balance out the frequency spectrum in a clean way. As usual with these tools, overdoing it can lead to your vocal sounding muddy and all kinds of artefacts appearing. When it does what it's supposed to, however, Clarity can be great to balance out vocals. In our interview, Alex specifically mentioned using the "Smooth Shine" preset often.

367.15 $
   399.00 $
Ozone Advanced
15 stores

3. Pro-Q

FabFilter Pro-Q is (almost) everybody's favorite EQ because of its very fine surgical bands, and Alex is no different. In this stage in the mixing process, he uses Pro-Q to shelf down the lower mids as well as narrowly turning down harsh frequencies in the highs.

138.00 $
   169.00 $
Pro-Q
13 stores

4. SSL Native Channel Strip

Being the first compression step in Alex's vocal chain, this SSL Channel Strip's compression module is used with a fast attack to catch peaks in the signal, usually while doing less than 3db of gain reduction.

329.00 $
   329.99 $
SSL Native Channel Strip
6 stores

5. Pro-DS

This one is pretty straightforward: FabFilter's signature de-esser is used to - you guessed it - tame sibilances.

158.00 $
   169.00 $
Pro-DS
13 stores

6. Ruby 2

This is where the vocal really gets its tone: Acustica's Ruby EQ is known for its faithful vacuum-tube sound. Depending on the vocal signal, Alex uses Ruby to boost high frequencies for improved clarity. He also does a high cut at ~28kHz so the sound won't get too harsh.

7. C6 Multiband Compressor

Waves' C6 is a classic: a powerful combination of dynamics processing and EQ with many different capabilities. In this case, Alex uses it to narrowly turn down some bands and clean up the signal.

C6 Multiband Compressor product image
-73%
39.99 $
   149.00 $
C6 Multiband Compressor
7 stores

8. Midnight

Like most professional audio engineers, Alex uses several compression steps in his vocal processing chain. This one gets intense, though: In Midnight, the signal really gets glued together, using slow attack and release settings.

9. Valhalla Space Modulator

Now that the heavy lifting has been done, it's time to put some creative effects on top of your FX chain! Valhalla's Space Modulator is a FREE flanger plugin that sounds great. Don't overdo it, though: Alex recommends setting the mix knob somewhere between 3 and 10 percent.

10. Taupe

No mix is complete without a little bit of tasteful tube saturation, and this is where Taupe comes in. Branded by Acustica as "the past, present, and future of tape plugins", Taupe is one of the most versatile tube plugins money can buy.

11. Sunset Sound Studio Reverb

Lastly, Alex creates a room for the vocals to sit in. IK Multimedia's emulation of the iconic Sunset Sound Studio adds a subtle amount of reverb to any signal.

Sunset Sound Studio Reverb product image
-39%

You can find Alex here:


March 30, 2024
#BEATSBYA #VOCAL #MIXING

Read More

News October Deals 2024

October Deals 2024

In a couple of weeks the infamous black season begins. All November long plugin developers dropping prices peaking in the best deals around Black Friday and Cyber Monday. This October early deals are flying in together with new product releases.  In this article we are summarizing some of the best deals this months for you. 

Tips & Tricks Cradle Orion - The Only Plugin on Jaycen Joshua's Drum Bus

Cradle Orion - The Only Plugin on Jaycen Joshua's Drum Bus

Ahead of Black Friday, 16x Grammy-winning engineer Jaycen Joshua has launched Orion, developed with The Cradle. Designed to simplify his complex drum processing, Orion combines saturation, compression, and parallel processing into one easy-to-use plugin, mimicking the punchy low-end Joshua is known for.

Tips & Tricks Platinum-Certified Producer ASIDE shares his go-to Vocal Plugins

Platinum-Certified Producer ASIDE shares his go-to Vocal Plugins

In this interview, we talked about Aside's favorite vocal plugins and he gave us 3 recommendations for each category. 

Tips & Tricks Platinum Producer Kalli reveals his vocal mixing secrets (Part 1)

Platinum Producer Kalli reveals his vocal mixing secrets (Part 1)

In this two-part interview, Pascal "Kalli" Reinhardt breaks down his vocal chain, starting with the inserts, for the song "Where you are " by Nico Santos feat. FAST BOY.

Interview Industry producer Palazzo reveals his drum sauce

Industry producer Palazzo reveals his drum sauce

Discover how Austrian music producer Palazzo rose to fame with hit collaborations alongside artists like Young Thug and Lil Skies. In our exclusive interview, Palazzo shares his drum processing secrets and essential plugins used in crafting chart-topping tracks like "Real G."

Interview Professional Bass and Drum Bus Processing with Odrizz

Professional Bass and Drum Bus Processing with Odrizz

In our interview with Odrizz, we talked about his bass and drum bus processing on the song "so k.o." by Levin Liam, Miksu/Macloud, and JEREMIAS.

Account

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

NO REGISTRATION NEEDED

You're new here? No problem, just log in with your email and we will automatically create a free account for you. We will send you a secure login link to your email.