Spice Up Your Vocals

Vocals have to be one of the hardest types of audio material for sound processing. In most cases, they should be dominant in the entire mix, but at the same time, they should not overpower other elements. Because of this, there is an entire world of vocal processing effects as well as techniques for vocal processing. So feel free to check out an excellent piece of plug-in that covers all you need to get your vocals to shine on the track.

Butch Vig Vocals by Waves Audio

Recently, Waves Audio has presented a plug-in called Butch Vig Vocals. It is a piece of software audio processor made in collaboration with Mister Butch Vig, one of today's leading rock producers. From Nirvana and Smashing Pumpkins to Foo Fighters, Green Day, and his band Garbage, Butch Vig has, without a doubt, contributed his signature sound to some of the most legendary albums of the modern rock era. Certainly, one of the defining elements of the “Butch Vig Sound” is Vig’s unique vocal stamp. In like manner, the celebrated producer ushered in the sound of distorted vocals in a beautifully musical way, and this feature is an integral part of the sound that the Butch Vig Vocals plugin faithfully recreates.

Get Creative

This plug-in is designed for those looking for a creative approach to shaping vocals, Therefore, Butch Vig Vocals features intuitive EQ controls, a compressor, a de-esser, and several tools for coloring your sound in numerous shades, including Tube and Solid State saturation, a unique Focus knob, and other inspiring features, all carefully crafted by Butch himself to help you realize your vocal vision. So, in the next tutorial, I will try to introduce you to its functions, followed by a couple of audio examples. So, let's start by adding an instance of Butch Vig Vocal to a newly made audio channel within SoundBridge and look at its interface.

The Interface

The interface looks appealing. Kind of old-fashioned steam engine I would say. In the upper part, we can see a stereo metering section. Below is an EQ section with input and output controls. Additionally, there are a bunch of small “wheels” presenting controls for the De-Esser, Compressor, and Focus (which is pretty useful if you are missing some focus in the 1K-2K area of the vocal). Last, but not the least, there is a drive/distortion section. In addition, it offers a Tube or Solid State distortion followed by a low and high cut. Now, let's move on to the practical audio examples. Surely, the plugin`s main purpose is vocal processing. However, it can be used on other audio materials/instruments, and with it, you can achieve great results. To conclude, check out some practical examples: