I have a vocal chain for my AT2020 that I use to basically sound like if not better than something like an SM7B. For gaming, streaming, discord, etc. It sounds excellent as is but I have kind of a lot on there and wondered if you guys had any suggestions or critiques where I could improve my signal chain. Curious if I might benefit from reorganizing them but I feel like my logic going down the path makes sense.

Starts with Clarity VX Pro to remove all the noise
Gullfoss Live to help clean up/smooth/digitally repair some of the quality lost with Clarity
SPL De-Esser for obvious reasons
SSL Native Channel Strip 2 to start shaping the sound and dynamics
EQ Eight to cut out the rumble and give a slight boost to the high end
Pro-Q3 to dynamically cut out a couple harsh frequencies
Radiator for that oomph (was gonna use decapitator but felt that was a little too aggressive)
Blyss to help glue the whole thing together and add some warmth
True Iron to subtely shape the sound a bit, gives my mid to high end an electric guitar-like clarity/air
Pro-MB to upwardly compress my highs and downwardly compress my mid/lows
UAD1176 to get my overall levels where I want them
TR5 Sunset Reverb for subtle presence
SSL Fusion Stereo Image for width knob; seems to expand and smoothen out my voice w/reverb
Gullfoss Live again because it sounds good but also to darken the sound a little bit with the brighten feature

Don't really need the secondary gullfoss but it does sound better so

Appreciate any suggestions/advice outside of "why the fuck do you care what you sound like in game". If you've ever owned a condenser mic, you'd understand lol

edit: I'm well aware I could achieve desirable results from just 3 of these plugins (clarity, pro q and 1176) but it's impossible for me to settle for that when I hear how great all this shit sounds on my voice.

 

Last edited: Jan 30, 2023

Not enough plugins, you should add more if you really want to be a professional.

 

if a result is desired it will be achieved, even if it means 50ms of latency...

edit: which is due to me having to do the processing on my laptop and VBAN it to my desktop, 8ms otherwise

 

for gaming and stuff just use Airwindows plugins for everything, KISS
when recording then go fancy

 

Need sample. I need to know how this sounds.

 

I guess that for live streaming you need something like this:
1- one good mic
2- corrective eq
3- fastcomp (peaks)
4- limiter (sausage it like radio)
5- colour eq
6- limiter again.

 

I would set it up like the average Fabfilter workflow channel, and then substitute in your other plugins into slots, if you want or need to. Replace one with another, don't just pile up unnecessary plugins.

1. DAW channel EQ
2. Saturn 2 - Saturation
3. Pro-Q3 - Subtractive EQ
4. Pro-C2 - Compression
5. Pro-Q3 - Additive EQ
6. Pro-DS - De-Esser (after compression).
7. Pro-MB - Multiband Limiting, if needed
8. Pro-L2 - Final Limiter

 

Here ya go

Sounds a lil more artifact-y than I'd like but I'm willing to compromise that for the quality of the noise removal.

 

Could you judge my recent painting? I used many different shades of blue, including ultramarine, cobalt blue, Carolina blue, Byzantine blue and Prussian blue. Apart from that, I used some umber, emerald green, and a few types of yellow: Indian yellow, zinc yellow and cadmium yellow. It's a very pretty painting, isn't it?

Edit:

Oh, damn you, I was too slow

 

Well it's better than what i've heard from other gamers, i'll give you that. That chain is completely bonkers, but honestly i expected it to sound much (MUCH) worse.

 

The day conversation can be approached without needless pretention is the day we reach a utopian society, but I get what you're saying and disagree to an extent. Painting is probably a terrible example, I mean really it's not the best point to make in relation to art in general considering the spectrum that is acceptable art as well as the gradients made when blending those tones you speak of (which carries over to the sound signature of music as well). It's all subjective, and in my context I'm turning a condenser mic into a higher end dynamic mic, which I've achieved to a large extent using only the tools I know. This is with 0 sound treatment and an open door.

Any advice you have to offer is appreciated.

edit:

Any advice you have to offer is appreciated.

 

In all seriousness, the 2020 is not an awful mic but if you are that serious about how it sounds, I'd really consider saving just a couple hundred bucks and buying a good mic and you won't need 100 plugins. An AT2020 does not sound like an SM7 unless the SM7 is broken. An RE20 is better but that is some bucks.

 

I'm already planning on doing so, primarily so I can actually plug into my interface instead of USB slots. But I think this is also useful info for when I eventually do upgrade to a quality mic because I'm sure I'll still want to change my voice from the standard signature as I'm doing now, if not just for fun. Really curious how I might be able to rethink my signal chain for better results and I think this is kind of a good way to exercise my mixing skills by trying to get the best results out of as little as possible from the worst source material possible.

Not saying the AT2020 is a shit mic at all, but it's nothing you should really be doing anything I'm doing with it.

 

I didn't want to be rude, maybe just a bit sassy and playful. I was trying to show you that you are asking the wrong questions.
It's good that you shared the clip, because no one could really judge your vocal chain based on just the description.

 

It's a gaming setup, i'd say don't overcomplicate it. I get that this might not be the best mic ever, but trying to fix it's problems too much you loose a lot of detail (I have a similar problem with an AKG P220 i have around for everyday whatevers). Of course, it might not make a difference now, but if you start mumbling or don't articulate just right that lack of detail mixed with whatever is going on in the game and transmission quality can make some words hard to understand, not to mention the result is very bassy which could also be a problem on some "gamer" headsets that have badly placed bass boosts.

I think the raw sound is very good for dealing with all of that as it is, could use some eq, quite a bit of compression and a limiter just to be safe, but never loosing the detail, it sucks, but i think getting the words across is more important than sounding like a radio guy at all costs. Noise reduction feels necessary but could be laid off a lot if it's just for gaming (if you're not recording anything to upload it somewhere).

 

Have you tried the Kirchhoff EQ yet? Pro-Q3 is great, but.....that would be the first recommendation I would make about switching anything. easily. I would get rid of Radiator, and go back to Decap like you mentioned. I would get rid of some of the other saturation processors you are using that way and maybe it will be less aggressive. The clip is fine, this is just thoughts about your chain. :D

I think you should consider putting your De-Esser instance after your compression processing. You will get the "obvious" vocal sibilance, but it will also handle sibilance/artifacts caused by compression.

 

Last edited: Jan 31, 2023

If 50ms (53ms in this case, to be exact) is acceptable for you https://gofile.io/d/0QPkfC
Acon Digital DeNoise 2 (causing the latency),
Waves Scheps Omni,
that's it.

EDIT: Maybe I should add that the first half is my version and the second by OP?

 

Last edited: Jan 31, 2023

God be the Judge of your vocal chain, mate.