Waves Audio has released Silk Vocal, a smart EQ and Dynamics plug-in for vocal processing.
‘Using innovating technology to intelligently process EQ and dynamics, the plug-in helps you achieve balanced, well-mixed vocals quickly and easily,’ the company says. ‘With this plug-in, you can seamlessly bypass the technicalities and guesswork of mixing vocals, leaving you less fatigued and better equipped to make creative mixing choices.’
Where overly resonant frequencies, boominess, harshness and sibilance prevent vocals from sitting naturally in the mix, requiring time, precision and an accurate monitoring environment to resolve, the Silk Vocal plug-in promises to simplify and accelerate the mixing process by automatically detecting resonances across 2,000 analysis bands. Solk Vocal zeroes in on problematic resonances, and balances vocal tracks using a smart engine to determine where and when processing should occur. User control then determines the extent of the processing applied.
To further fine-tune Silk Vocal’s automated processing, the plug-in includes a number of additional controls. Low tightens the boomy, muddy, inflated low end that vocal recordings often suffer from due to proximity effect and room issues. Mid addresses the most critical area in the vocal, with adjustable filters that determine which frequencies will be processed by the smart EQ. High toggles between Sibilance and High processing, to determine which gives the smoothest and most balanced top end. Dynamics offers the most musical single-dial compression possible with mild compression to keep the vocal tight, upfront and consistent. Auto Makeup Gain is applied by default, meaning smart EQ reduction is continuously compensated with a level increase.
Additionally, Silk Vocal advanced settings include a high-pass filter at 60Hz to remove sub frequencies from the vocal, while a Speed setting adjusts the envelope of the EQ processing using a fixed attack-release ratio that, depending on the vocal, can be set for faster or slower processing. Precision adjusts the sharpness of the Q in each of the processing bands.
Key features:
- Smart EQ and dynamics processor for vocals.
- Male voice and female voice modes.
- High-pass filter, gate, mix, band solo, band bypass.
- Delta (hear removed audio),
- Linear phase processing curves.
- Adjustable midrange tuning.
Purchasing Silk Vocal includes a licence for Silk Vocal Live, a separate SoundGrid compatible plug-in, which is a real-time version of Silk Vocal. This operates like the original but uses minimum phase curves rather than linear phase, resulting in significantly reduced latency. Silk Vocal Live can also be used for recording in the studio, monitoring exactly how the plug-in sounds on a voice in real time.
More: www.waves.com
