The signal below the threshold is compressed upwards adding more gain to low-level audio. Low-Level Compression:В Performs in an opposite way. Attack and release times are fixed and taken care of behind the scenes but what makes this control very useful is that it automatically compensates the level difference when compression is applied. High-Level Compression:В Performs how you expect a traditional compressor to work when the signal passes a threshold. The MV2 plug-in is a very simple plug-in to use featuring two compressor fader controls and one output level control. In this video, we show you an alternative way to double dip the dynamics on your vocals using Waves MV2. In the previous two videos, we showed you a way of mixing your lead vocal tracks with two compressor plug-ins,В Waves CLA-2A & CLA-76. There are some compressor plug-ins out there that provide dual compression within the same UI such as Waves MV2. Watch our tutorial below to see how Waves Vocal Rider works and to hear it in action. This is a quick plug-in to set up and sports a handful of simple controls for setting the aggressiveness of the fader riding. It is designed to work hard at preserving the natural dynamics of audio while performing some degree of dynamic processing true to real fader riding. Waves Vocal Rider is a clever solution as it brings together both the methodology behind the physical art of fader riding and the power of DAW automation within one plug-in. This approach is fairly similar but drawing in automation into a track using a mouse is very much guesswork at best whereas fader riding feels more natural and instinctive but what if you donвЂ™t have a control surface to hand to be able to ride a fader?

With the advent of DAWs, the real interaction of fader riding has moved from manipulating a physical fader to drawing in lines in volume automation lanes. Fader riding was used frequently in the early days of music production as it helped engineers to prevent signals from overloading their equipment and remains to this day a useful technique to help us sit tracks in a mix. This interaction can be used to mimic the effects of compression. The term riding the faders describes a technique used by mix engineers who constantly adjust a channelвЂ™s gain on a physical fader in a mix.

Each of these approaches can be used individually on a lead vocal track, you could also blend several of these together to produce great sounding vocals in your next mix. In this article, we explore four different ways you can use to process the dynamics of your lead vocals. How then can we process the dynamics of lead vocals outside of traditional approaches that can help us sit vocals purposefully in a mix? Too much compression and a vocal can sound strangled and lifeless, too little compression and a vocal can sound dynamically intermittent or disconnected from a mix. Setting a tasteful amount of compression is more often why many struggles mixing vocals. Those points together illustrate how pressure can start to build up when we mix lead vocal tracks but what can we do to make our lives easier when all we want is to get a great sounding vocal sound? Mixing a lead vocal track is generally one of the last processes that most producers and engineers address in a mix as itвЂ™s the cherry on the cake, the feature, the main element that our listening audienceвЂ™s ear will latch onto, sing along with and most importantly connect with emotionally. Mixing lead vocal tracks can be a challenge as we often put ourselves under immense pressure to get them balanced tastefully within a mix.

Cla 2a on vocals