In Summary

Combining a number of powerful processes for vocals into one place, Waves’ freshly announced Silk Vocal promises much firepower for artists and producing engineers. Hear its adaptive chops for yourself in our first look video.

Going Deeper

Although engineers got by for a long time with more traditional static EQ (aka, just good old EQ), it must be said that with few exceptions, musical sources are a moving target. With complex spectra that change within each word, the human voice is an ideal candidate for processes that change dynamically with the signal. Combined with simpler wideband dynamics processing such as compression, engineers can deliver the contemporary vocal sounds that audiences are used to.

Using these processors might be second nature to seasoned pros, but newer producing engineers could be quickly overwhelmed when trying to string together the right things used in the ‘right’ way. Sometimes what is needed is something a bit more user-friendly that does it all.

Waves Silk Vocal

Newly announced from audio plugin giants Waves, Silk Vocal combines a number of processes into one window. Its design is based around 3 dynamic bands of EQ that steer the user straight towards the all-important mid band, flanked by intuitive controls for the top and bottom. Simple dynamics tools and delta monitoring also help creators to hear what they’re dialling in. Silk Vocal Live is also included, which offers a minimum phase filter version delivering low latency.

In the video we take a completely unprocessed vocal and turn it into something that is smoother and altogether more polished thanks to silk vocal’s simple controls. Concentrating on some spiky mids and distracting sizzle further up, we also iron out any remaining jumpiness using Silk Vocal’s super-simple adaptive compressor for the final polish.

For new producing creators, or even experienced pros who need to quickly turn around polished vocals without experimenting with chains of processors, Silk vocal works well. With a number of laptop warriors splitting their time between bedroom and stage, Silk Vocal gives them their studio vocal sound on the road for live shows pumped from their DAW. For everyone else, it gets a lot done with just a handful of simple controls that are really quick and intuitive to use.

Silk Vocal Features:

• Dynamic EQ, de-essing, vocal compression and gating tools.

• Global delta monitoring and per-band momentary delta solo available with mouse right-drag.

• Includes Silk Vocal Live For live events and broadcasts, delivering adaptive frequency processing with very low latency via minimum phase filtering.

• Works in real time, minimising the need for automation and simplifying vocal track preparation for creative mixing.