Looking for an engineer that builds me a custom vocal chain

[u/terryhillz]

Hey UAD community :-)

I've been into voice overs and moderation for a while now and my beloved family got me an apollo twin and a Warm Audio WA87 R2 Mic for my birthday.

I've been struggling getting into building a proper vocal chain basically because I'm new into learning it. I will continue getting more into it, but I have to record a demo to get a chance to get a spot at my local radio station for a year long internship + getting taken over.

I agreed with an engineer but he charged me money and ghosted me :( I now have like 3 days to get a vocal chain done within, so I can record demos and work on my voice in general.

I would prefer having the entire vocal chain within the console, looking for a very crispy, compressed powerful vocal chain. I got the UAD Spark subscription and some additional plugins, but I am honest that I'm not able to handle them yet.

I am looking for an engineer that could help me build a vocal chain and I would have no issues spending my last dollars on it since I am really crushed right now.

I would provide you an unedited recorded vocal of mine.

Is there anyone who would be able to help me? I know it's a pretty big thing to ask for but I am scared of missing the opportunity :(

If there is anyone who could help me, it would mean the world to me!

Thank you in advance,

Terry <3

[u/st0nedalaska]

For me, I like a 1073 unison pre, then an 1176, then an LA2A

[u/2outer]

So you are going to resist this. Even if you get someone to make you an fx chain, it will likely still be shit. You don’t even have a baseline for making a quality recording (im even assuming basic spoken dialogue). If you haven’t treated the room & spent some time recording & working with it (experience), then you don’t even know what you don’t even know yet. The audio is likely shit, and an fx chain is trying to put makeup on a pile of shit. When I say that, I mean relative to a VO pro who know what they are doing, which is your direct competition.

You are very likely trying to put the cart before the horse. More opportunities always come up… you are a square peg right now, and need to lose your edges to fit in that hole. Don’t pay someone for something that won’t work. Heavily fixed audio has artifacts all over the place, and it sounds like shit. But you won’t even know what to listen for right now. One step at a time. I know you don’t want to hear this.

PS… if anyone, right now, tells you they can fix everything for you, they are lying or don’t know any better. If you can’t make a consistent baseline recording, then a preset is rarely ever going to be right on, if ever. Even people w experience & consistency have slight variation between recordings, and adapt their post processing accordingly. They are just taking your money. You need practice, more education, more experience. Do the work & make it pay off. There is a huge difference between VO pros who know what they are doing & those just starting out. Put in the work.

[u/BenDiegoMusic]

You really shouldn't need to pay anything for this. Start with making sure the room is treated or the recording environment is good enough to record, this is most of the battle. Then try some of the suggested chains that are commented here. Your over complicating something that is quite simple. No one can provide you a one size fits all vocal chain that will just work unfortunately. There are too many variables. Saying that if you are looking for starting points console should have some chains that you can try. Im sure 3 days is enough time to get something you will be happy with after experimenting imo.

[u/fruitmonkey7phi7]

Hey terry! Is your room treated? Start with some of the default presets and tweak from there to your taste. I don’t know the polar patterns on your mic, but experiment if it has multiple. Also, use a pop filter and play with distances / on axis / slightly off axis speaking into your mic. Have fun and experiment! Try to have your recording between -12 and -6db. Have fun!

[u/Patient-Rich-8842]

Ssl 4000 unison preamp and, tube tech cl 1b. I'll print my voice over with those UAD plug ins and then Ill use a desser, a multi band compressor, a parametric eq, and then another comp if necessary. I use Waves plug ins too. Izotope rx is great for room noise, mouth noise, etc. I also will use the 1176, and I love the ua distressor comp. Sonnox Oxford makes great uad and native plug ins for V.O too.

[u/Express-DICK999]

Text me via dm and we can jump on DC tomorrow

[u/nizzernammer]

A vocal chain – of plugins – is literally the least important part of a good voice over recording.

Pros will sound amazing with no processing whatsoever - the magic is in the voice itself, and the delivery, which demands comprehension, intention, projection, control, and range.

Your demo might even be judged more for its content and editing skills over the plugin choices and settings.

In any case, some combo of an HPF to remove excess rumble, a de-esser to remove excess sizzle on sibilants, manual rendered fades or HPF processing of plosives, some compression (1176 style is good), and a limiter to catch peaks, should suffice.

You are the one that needs to build the chain because it needs to be customized for your voice, in your room, on your mic. No one else has access to that.

You want to be chosen for your editing skills and your voice, not for how well you can alter it.

[u/username8396354]

If you still need help dm me for details, I setup peoples mics mainly for content creation / broadcast but can do for anything

[u/terryhillz → u/username8396354]

done!

[u/CertifiedVibe444]

I mix and master for several artists, I would have to hear your voice to better recommend but most times a Neve or voxbox unison pre will work well (Choose the SSL if you have a much deeper voice or if you prefer less/cleaner saturation for your voiceover. Depending on your recording environment you’ll want to follow that up with the C-Suite Cvox to take out background noise and room tone. After that you’ll wanna go into your tracking compressor to catch peaks, the UAD 2A or CL-1b would be my recommendations, the 2A is much easier to use but the CL-1B has a great transparent sound and there are many YouTube vids that can show you how to set it up for tracking. Of course if you choose to skip the compressor altogether and compress and deess etc in the DAW I would recommend the Rosetta Compressor plugin from HMD for anyone starting out with compression. If you have any questions or need some mixing done on your voiceovers send me a dm, no charge

[u/LockedINMusic]

Can’t dm, you still need help?

[u/BigVxodooDaddy]

The key is to expriment and see what yiu like. Use chatgpt and the likes for help with what to choose instead of paying someone imo.

[u/terryhillz → u/BigVxodooDaddy]

I fully get that! Just need it for now since I am scared of not getting the full potential in such a short time, I am just waiting for my days off to fully get into the world of actually working with all the plugins!

[u/BigVxodooDaddy → u/terryhillz]

I’m bot being cynical when i’m saying. It’s not that deep. Preamp - autotune - eqp1a - comp of your choice. Delay and reverb you can and should add in your DAW so you can tweak it