KVR Audio

Kinh · Post by **Kinh** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 12:40 pm

Have a lot of trouble getting vocals to sound less sterile. ATM just using softube compressors and adding chains with generic fx like reverb etc. Does anyone actually preference these vocal plugins (JJP, Maserati VX1, Eddie Kramer...) over setting up your own bus chains and doing it the hard way?
Basically what Im asking is can you get a pro sound or are they just a novelty thing?

Aloysius · Post by **Aloysius** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 12:46 pm

You can get a pro sound. The AIO (all-in-one) CLA ones are best imho.

Toontrack EZ is really great as well.

At the very least you can quickly get an idea of what chain of FX might be suitable for your Track, simply by flicking through Presets and tweaking. You can then use your own 'pro' Plugins to make your own 'pro' chain later on if you feel you can do better.

Plugins like iZotope Nectar 2 can be very heavy on CPU. If your computer is awesome, maybe you don't care about that.

My 2c.

Mushy Mushy · Post by **Mushy Mushy** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 12:49 pm

Kinh wrote:Have a lot of trouble getting vocals to sound less sterile. ATM just using softube compressors and adding chains with generic fx like reverb etc. Does anyone actually preference these vocal plugins (JJP, Maserati VX1, Eddie Kramer...) over setting up your own bus chains and doing it the hard way?
Basically what Im asking is can you get a pro sound or are they just a novelty thing?

I've only used the CLA Drums so far and it was superb!
I did think these things were a novelty like you, but I managed to get it for $29 so thought I'd give it a shot. Amazing plugin that sounds superb at whatever setting I choose.

So how does this relate to vocals? Well I've been so impressed I'll definitely be grabbing CLA Vocals and if it's even half as good as Drums I'll be happy.

Sim.Sky · Post by **Sim.Sky** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 12:57 pm

Agree with the folks above that you can get a great sound pretty fast - although you can also easily overdo it if you're not careful. I got the whole JJP series and I use it quite a lot. People tend to say that it's the most complex one in the whole signature range because there are apparently so many controls. However I never understood this opinion - I mean with the CLA plugins you may have one control less or so, but you actually got three different basic settings for each one, which makes in quite more complex than the JJP imo... Anyways, good stuff, especially if you can snatch it at a discount

lfm · Post by **lfm** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 1:15 pm

For vocals I like Kramer HLS and sometimes Kramer Master Tape on top.
You can go wild on mids with HLS if you like and it just sound better whatever you do, almost.
Set mids center frequency to bring forward suiting that particular voice.

Since both these are part of a standard bundle Kramer TTT - at some time have room in budget when on sale. Useful for many things.

If you have a voucher, like when buying a wup, you can discount 50% of a bundle to get even better prices. Or plan according to buy 2,3,4 products discounts.

BERFAB · Post by **BERFAB** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 2:12 pm

I have a couple of the Waves 'signature' processing packages, and I agree that CLA is probably the best of them. You can get quite a bit done with these things, and they do sound very good.

That said, the problem I have with these plugs generally is that there really is no user control over what's under the hood. Yes, they're made to be easy to use, with only the very essential controls for tweaking. But if you don't like the 'secret sauce' sound that they start with, there's not a lot you can do.

In contrast, plugs like Izotope's Alloy 2 really let you get in there and muck about, if that's what you like to do. Much more variety and versatility, but that also requires a bit more expertise. Which is why the 'signature' plugs were invented. Good processing in a very easy to use interface.

-B

Nightpolymath · Post by **Nightpolymath** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 2:47 pm

Kinh wrote:Have a lot of trouble getting vocals to sound less sterile. ATM just using softube compressors and adding chains with generic fx like reverb etc. Does anyone actually preference these vocal plugins (JJP, Maserati VX1, Eddie Kramer...) over setting up your own bus chains and doing it the hard way?
Basically what Im asking is can you get a pro sound or are they just a novelty thing?

I think these tools have their place in the toolbox. They're useful to get some "packaged" sounds that may take one a while to tweak using a chain of different individual effects. I've been using Butch Vig Vocals for a while now and am quite happy with it. Of the other options, I prefer the Manny Marroquin set. Not a big fan of the JJP or Kramer series, though.

Andy Gone · Post by **Andy Gone** » Tue Nov 03, 2015 3:53 pm

There are lovers and haters for 'all in one' approach. Some more experienced engineers often dislike them and prefer using several inserts with different plugins to have 'more control'. This is very legit to me, but probably an 'all in one' plugin could save you time (and probably CPU) provided you generally like what this plugin does.

Meanwhile, Waves is going to release The Greg Wells VoiceCentric

Meaning, there is definitely a demand for this kind of plugins.

realmarco · Post by **realmarco** » Fri Nov 20, 2015 5:15 pm

i think they're pretty good and they're made by people with experience

most of (kvr) have no idea what they're doing (me included)

Fleer · Post by **Fleer** » Sat Nov 21, 2015 4:20 am

Agree that CLA series is best, but I'm moving up in this more intricate and complex world of plugins, so I'm unloading them (http://www.kvraudio.com/forum/viewtopic ... 3&t=447482)

hivkorn · Post by **hivkorn** » Sat Nov 21, 2015 8:12 am

Maserati VX1 is really good , just like the other , it depend how you use it.

morelia · Post by **morelia** » Sat Nov 21, 2015 8:35 am

Even when I use an all in one I still tend to add a compressor and eq, sometimes even some other spatial effect. If I had to go with my favourite I'd say I've had best results with CLA Vocal, then EXMix then Nectar. But with Nectar I've bought and sold it twice. Really hasn't worked for me.

DJbrimLo · Post by **DJbrimLo** » Wed Aug 31, 2016 2:21 pm

I have come to find a big part of getting good/great results from the all in one plugs is to clean up the audio a touch before it hits the AIO plugs. So with like Vocals I will manually tame Esses and make sure the breaths aren't too out front in the take. If there is melodic structure involved then I will clean that up as well. Usually once I look at those three things I will approach some basic EQ (Low End Roll Off, Boxiness/Room) and confirm the dynamic range of the recording isn't too extreme, unless the song calls for it (Ballads and such). THEN comes the All In One and at that point I'm usually very happy with what I have.

Kinda like baking a cake from the box. True you aren't making it from scratch, but you still have to prep everything with great care.

AudioBomb · Post by **AudioBomb** » Wed Aug 31, 2016 3:39 pm

Kinh wrote:Have a lot of trouble getting vocals to sound less sterile. ATM just using softube compressors and adding chains with generic fx like reverb etc. Does anyone actually preference these vocal plugins (JJP, Maserati VX1, Eddie Kramer...) over setting up your own bus chains and doing it the hard way?
Basically what Im asking is can you get a pro sound or are they just a novelty thing?

I used CLA and JJP and still do at times. They are great if you can afford them. But know this that they do use a lot of cpu, at least on my computer. So make sure you computer can handle them. I now own a vocal plugin from jhudstudio which I find amazing. I was using the free version until the new version came out which supports mac and windows both 32bit and 64bit. Its uses a lot less cpu than jjp. Plus personally I love how easy it is to get a good sounding thick vocal. It brings out presences with the pres knob and makes it thick with the final knob.

Of course it does not have reverb, delay or a dubbler built in but I am not complaining. I find at times using the jjp or cla that the built in reverb is not what I am looking for, so I would rather use a separate low cpu reverb or delay that I can custom set.

I hate to say this because I appreciate the vocal king, but the machine ID setup is annoying especially if I update to a new computer I need to get a new license file. And I had to get a license file for each computer that I own because the machine ID is different. Also the demo mode cuts audio to frequent. But hey, for only 10 bucks, I would be stupid not to buy. http://www.jhudstudio.com/paid-plugins

Now I do think that I read somewhere that jhudstudio is going to change the key system that eliminates the machine id per machine and just makes 1 license file that works on all computers that you own.

Now as far setting up your own bus chain, it's not a bad idea. When I want totally different character for vocals, I play with many diff types of compressors and so forth. If you put the work into fine detailing a track, it may take longer to mix, but the results in the end may come out much better. I run many clients through my setup and its good sound, using plugins like jjp cla vocal king and others saves me a lot of time.

DrReacto · Post by **DrReacto** » Thu Sep 01, 2016 3:20 am

I have JJP and Maserati and I think they sound good on vocals, or anything you want to control in the mid range actually. It's fast like others have noted. Can I do just well without it? Yes. But these plugs are fast and dont take up 6 insert slots.
Don't forget to consider the source itself.

What do you think of the Waves "all in one" vocal plugins like JJP?