In Summary

Voca is a four-stage vocal processor. Automatic gain riding is followed by compression and saturation each employing XY control of parameters. At the end of the chain is a spectrally triggered Softener. Its Recording Mode trades resolution for low latency performance to fire inspiring sounds into artists’ cue mixes.

Going Deeper

Speak to any pro engineer and most would agree that their vocal chain needs to be two things: quick and good. The nature of hardware means that the first one often comes as standard; the second is just a matter of choice. The trade off is (you guessed it) cost.

Although that chain can be as little as a mic and preamp, some of the best sounds still come from a classic combo of these into compression and the colouration that listeners associate with quality. Different engineers have honed their own recipes over the years, but these flavours’ success also relies on good technique. The odd twist such as two-of-the-same for thinner coats of sheen is just one of these to add both personality and control in one swoop.

What Is Voca?

Sitting in the company’s Toolbox range is Sonnox’s recently announced Voca. No strangers to innovation, products such as Inflator, Drum Gate, and Claro have sought to do things differently, and for the better. Their latest creation is Voca, a suite of simple yet high quality vocal tools in one window. To think of Voca primarily as compression is only half the story. Approaching it as a dynamics and character audio plugin would do it more justice, because this thing delivers a virtual hand on the fader aswell, before hitting Compression, Saturation, and Soften (more of in a minute).

The compression is comprehensive, and implemented in a way that might please a number of pros. This is two stages, in series which sees two Sonnox custom compressors connected to provide faster (1176 style) and slower (LA-2A style) treatments in that order. This set up means that the Compression’s simple XY control of amount and character will be all that’s needed in most cases.

Downstream, a dedicated saturation stage then hits Sonnox’s Soften processor. This does what it says in the tin, however this is not a de-esser in the classical sense. Rather than relying on a Threshold, Soften is aware of waveshape, meaning its flavour remains regardless of level.

In a final flourish, Voca is set up to pump its infusions out to the talent while in record. Its Recording Mode trades some processing resolution for speed, to deliver low latency monitoring while tracking.

In the video we use Voca to place a vocal using its dynamic control, as well inject character that suits the style of music. Despite a good performance well-captured, without it the vocal remains jumpy in level with sonics that fail to inspire. In one window, Voca fixes the sound with remarkably few controls.

Voca Key Features:

• Four-stage vocal toolkit with XY control.

• Auto leveller Fader-ride style level control, with Optimise level compensation for better gain structure into Compression and Saturation.

• Compression Stabilise (vertical) controls Compression amount; Squish (lateral) controls compression time characteristics for smooth versus aggressive responses. Two Sonnox custom compressors connected in series provide faster (1176 style) and slower (LA-2A style) treatments in that order.

• Saturator with lateral Focus for continuously adjustable character to choose between extra warmth/reduced presence, or increased definition.

• Soften Unlike a de-esser with waveshape detection versus level detection. This delivers much more consistent processing that doesn’t change with level.

• Recording Mode Reduced latency mode for input monitoring. Trades processing resolution; Sonnox say this mode still sounds great.

Vocations

Voca is billed primarily as a compression tool. It is mainly about dynamic control, but just as significant is its character shaping where needed. Pros might know what all the buttons do, but that doesn’t mean they want to have to interact with all of them while getting a sound. Many of the most revered tools even now only have basic controls.

Cleary high quality, immediate sounds is what engineers want versus lots of cursory toys looking for a problem to solve. The one thing that few are interested in is any added ‘bonus’ effects to ignore. With the scramble by many tools to flash their AI credentials, at the other end of the scale it’s business as usual. That means getting a sound without any froth to distract or add cost.

Including just the things that the engineer needs to place the vocal with its own character, Voca will hit the target for hands-on veterans and ITB natives alike. Certainly its few controls suggest that it has nothing to prove in terms of its pro leanings. If getting a sound and running with it is the vocation of desirable hardware vocal chains, Voca is the answer to the question “Can I get that in a plugin?”.

A Word About This Article

As the Experts team considered how we could better help the community we thought that some of you are time poor and don’t have the time to read a long article or a watch a long video. In 2023 we are going to be trying out articles that have the fast takeaway right at the start and then an opportunity to go deeper if you wish. Let us know if you like this idea in the comments.