How to level Vocals perfectly with Vocal Rider

For many producers in the electronic music scene, crafting clean mixing and exploring meticulous sound design are the main goals of the studio. While not a staple of every dance floor anthem, vocals do play a large part in many tracks, and Waves Vocal Rider is a great tool to help make sure they are perfectly leveled.

Depending on the vocalist and the quality of the recording, containing various dynamics and transients can be a troubling task for producers and engineers. While turning to compression to help overcome this is a clear solution, many pro engineers have relied on fader riding to carefully map out a trajectory to add and remove gain and create a more level audio. While this process can be tedious, the team at Waves has created Vocal Rider to help speed up the process and get more nuanced results.

Whether the vocally is highly dynamic throughout or features an open syllable that punches much harder than the rest, Vocal Rider quickly responds to the recording, following the peaks and valleys of the track. To further hone in on the performance, set the appropriate Target level via the slider at the top of the plug-in. With its visual yellow bar, it helps hone in on the right level, while the main fader uses the metric to focus its efforts. the plug-in comes equipped with several easy-to-use features to help produce the best-sounding audio.

Another key element to ensuring the best possible results within Vocal Rider involves the Range setting, which sits to the left of the fader. It can be adjusted to reset the peak and valley of the output and the fader will not move above or below the parameters helping to maintain a smooth audio level. After that, using the Attack lever, which offers a Fast and Slow setting will impact how quickly the plugin reacts. Finally, the Sensitivity knob can be used as a limiter, helping to create any final touches and nuances to smooth out the vocal.

As one of the easiest-to-use plug-ins in the Waves catalog, the Vocal Rider is an essential tool for mixing smooth-sounding vocals.