Enhance Your Vocals with These 18 Free VST Plugin – 2023 Edition (2/2)
Continue to find out about the best free VST plugin. Mixing vocals is an essential part of music production, but it requires quality plugins that can be expensive. However, if you’re working on a tight budget, there are plenty of free vocal plugins available from generous developers. Using the right combination of plugins is crucial for achieving a polished sound. This guide will walk you through each type of plugin needed for vocal processing, explain their importance, and recommend the best free options to download. With this essential guide to free VST plugin, you can achieve perfect vocals without breaking the bank.
If you want your vocals to stand out in your mix, you need to use creative effects to make them more distinctive. These vocal effects are usually applied in parallel on an auxiliary return channel to create a subtle blend. Chorusing, detuning, or doubling is among the most satisfying send effects for vocals. These plugins thicken the vocal sound and make them appear wider in the stereo field. Here are some nice free options:
Acon Digital Multiply: This one is an excellent free chorus plugin that’s perfect for adding swirling stereo modulation to a vocal track. You can add up to six voices of chorus and shape the sound with the onboard EQ to get the ideal vocal modulation.
Izotope Vocal Doubler: Vocal doubling has a long history in music production. One way to thicken the vocal sound is to record additional takes on top of a lead vocal. The modulation comes from the natural imperfections in the singer’s overdubs, but plugins like Izotope Vocal Doubler can provide a similar effect in a quicker manner.
6. Vocal de-esser plugins
De-essers are a type of plugin that perform a very specific task in vocal mixing. They reduce the distracting effect of the ‘S’ syllable in a singer’s performance. Some vocalists and singing styles can create a sharp sibilance sound in combination with specific microphones. De-esser plugins are used to decrease this effect. Essentially, a de-esser is a compressor that only acts on a narrow range of the frequency spectrum where sibilance occurs. De-essers should be placed after any gain reduction or frequency boosting processors that exacerbate sibilance’s adverse effects.
Techivation’s T-De-Esser is a straightforward free de-esser plugin that does the job. Simply select a frequency range, set the sharpness and intensity, and dial in the amount of effect you need to smooth out your vocals.
7. Vocal reverb plugins
Next, reverb is a must-have in any vocal mix. This effect simulates the reflections from solid surfaces that help position a sound in its physical environment. The reverb quality provides your brain with clues about where the sound exists. For example, a lengthy, diffuse reverb might create the impression of a grand concert hall, whereas a short, ringing decay might resemble a tiled bathroom. That’s why producers put a lot of effort into selecting the ideal vocal reverb plugin for the mix. Here are a few free VST plugin that can help you achieve that:
Dragonfly Reverbs: The Dragonfly free reverb plugin bundle covers all the essential reverb styles for your mix. From rooms and early reflections to rich plates and halls, the Dragonfly suite has a smooth, sophisticated sound that’s very impressive for a free VST plugin.
OrilRiver: OrilRiver: Another favorite for free reverb effects, updated to function on both Mac and PC, delivering great sound with minimal CPU usage.
TAL Reverb-2 TAL: A classic reverb with a dreamy, enveloping sound. If you need a larger-than-life reverb with lush diffusion, this is a fantastic free option.
8. Vocal delay plugins
Moving on to ambience effects, these are the processors that impart a sense of space and depth to your vocal tracks in the mix. Echoes, a common type of spatial effect in most vocal mixes, are the fading repeats that trail off behind the lead vocal.
ValhallaDSP FreqEcho: This is a powerful yet simple delay plugin that can do more than expected from its basic UI. The frequency control enables you to go from pristine digital repeats to lo-fi filtered madness with a simple dial twist.
TAL Dub-II: A retro-style delay that models the stylish dirty delays from classic dub reggae. With saturation and modulation controls, you can create any analog-style delay you can imagine.
Freedom of choice
There are many different ways to mix vocals, but most require plugins from a few of these categories. Whether you want to build an entire vocal chain or experiment with new sounds, this list has all the free VST plugin to assist you in achieving the sound you want.
Now that you’ve downloaded some excellent free plugin, get back to your DAW and continue mixing.
