Gettinga goodvocalsoundobviously
startswiththesinger,themicrophoneand
themicpreamp.However,onceit’srecorded
and,ifnecessary,comped,there’salsoa
rangeofsignalprocessingthatyou’llneedto
applyinthemixinordertogetthevocal
soundingitsbest,includingcompression,EQ,
de-essing,addingreverbanddelayand,of
course,pitchcorrection.
ApplyingsuchprocessingwithinyourDAW
requiresmultipleplugins– unless,thatis,you’ve
gotiZotope’sdedicatedvocalplugin,Nectar3,in
yourlocker.Thisfeaturesallthesignal
processorsyouneedtomakea goodvocal
soundgreat.What’smore,thepluginwas
trainedusingmachinelearning,a formof
artificialintelligence,soit literally‘knows’the
sonicingredientsofa goodvocalsound.Asa result,it cananalyseyourvocalsand
suggestusefulsettings.It canalsolookatother
tracksinyourmixthatmaybemaskingthe
vocalsandcreateveryspecificEQcurveson
thosetrackstoletthesingershinethrough.
Nectar3’sGUIhasalsobeensignificantly
overhauledforversion3,makingit easytoopen
andcloseprocessors,reorderthem,andquickly
findthetoolsyouneed.Let’sdivein...iZotope’s advanced channel strip
is the ultimate vocal sweetener.
Master it once and for all with our
comprehensive tutorial guide
WhenyoulaunchNectar3,yougetthis
defaulteffectschain.Theboxeslabeled
Pitch,EQ 1 andCompressor 1 aremodules.
OthermodulesavailableincludeDe-esser,
Delay,Dimension(modulationeffects),
Gate,Harmony,Pitch,Reverband
Saturation. Youcanhaveupto 12 modules
ina chain.Clickinga moduleopensits
editinginterfaceintheareabelow.1
Clickingthe+signinthemodulechain
revealsthelistofavailablemodules,
andclickinga nameinthelistaddsit to
thechain.Disable/enablea moduleby
clickingthebutton-likeiconinitsupper
leftcornerinthemodulechain.2
Here,theHarmonymoduleisbeing
draggedfromthelefttotherightof
theCompressorinthemodulechain.
ExceptforPitch,everyModulehasaMix
sliderandaSolobutton(whichletsyou
hearonlythatmodule’sprocessing).
Clickinga module’sXbuttonclosesit and
movesthemodulestotherightofit leftto
fillthegap.3
Step by step
- Navigating Nectar 3
nectar 3 power guide / make music now <
July 2019 / COMPUTER MUSIC / 57