

The CL 1B has become almost an industry standard because of its tone and the very special way it reacts to high and mid frequencies. This is probably the most used compressor for both hardware and plugin use across the music industry for vocals. Waves CLA76/Waves CLA 2A – CLA Compressor PackĬompatibility: Win10+, macOS 10.15.7+, VST, AU, AAX, 64-bit.Here's the complete list of the best vocal compression plugins & compression tips: What Are The Best Vocal Compression Plugins? Upward compression algorithms are also really good to enhance harmonics helping to achieve a nicer, fuller tone for your vocal. Upward compression – Great to bring forward details of the vocal performance.Limiting – great as a transparent compressor for extremely quick compression and transient suppression.These type of compressor tend to add tube-like harmonic distortion, which can be very helpful with thin vocal recordings. Variable Mu (Tube) – Good to equal the dynamics rather than controlling transients.Since an optical compressor is usually a lot smoother for being program-dependent, they're a really good choice to combine with other compressors and pretty much round up overall dynamics in a more natural way.

Optical – Great to average out vocal dynamics.The UAD 1176 is the best and most famous example. This type of compressor is universally used for tonal and dynamic shaping. FET – Good to make your vocals sound punchy and warm.VCA – Good for an extremely dynamic vocal track due to its fast attack and release settings, although it's not a good choice to average out the levels, but rather to control and tame intense peaks.

Here is a list of the best compressor types for vocals and when to use them: Typically, the best thing to do is to use multiple compressors to address different problems and get the desired compression without destroying the vocal performance. There is not a single best vocal compressor, the best choice is the one that solves the problem. Use visual meters and look at your waveforms while setting compression settings Only add back the gain that you have reduced from the signal Combine different compression types such as parallel and sidechain
