Processing Vocals in Logic Pro X

A few weeks ago, I started recording the vocals for Grace's song with Jin Wei but the song was just not in the right range for him. So I decided to contact Janet instead and thankfully the song suits her just fine. Before proceeding, here's how the raw vocals for the chorus sound like.

As you can tell, I'm definitely not going to settle on this as the final product. It's going to need some work. So I'm going to run through step by step on how I processed the vocals.

1) Noise Gate

First and foremost, I would like to get rid of some unnecessary background noises so I decided to insert a noise gate.

For the noise gate, I didn't need to make any adjustments as I thought it is just fine the way it is.

2) Deleting Remaining Background Noises

I noticed even after I placed the noise gate, there were still some noises that managed to get through. So I selected the regions with background noises and chose the Marquee Tool. I then highlighted the specific area with background noises and deleted it.

3) Pitch Correction

I then decided to slap in some autotune in there. I also made sure to adjust the response time.

Here's how it sounds like before and after pitch correction. There's a really subtle difference.

4) Channel EQ

I then decided to adjust the EQ and shape the sound a little bit. I first started off with the highpass filter.

I then moved on to the lowpass filter.

After that, I used the parametric bell filters and started to find any frequencies that I don't like.

Here's the end result.

5) Compressor

I started by doing some light compression first. I used the standard Platinum Digital compressor and set the ratio to 1.9:1, threshold to -37db. I made sure to turn auto gain off and adjusted the output gain to +5db. Here's the before and after.

6) Multipressor

I then decided to change the dynamics. I decided to squash all of the lows out, widen the second region to about 2.5k and increase the gain for regions 2, 3 and 4. The video will show the before and after effect.

7) Heavy Compression

I decided to use a different compressor for the heavy compression, the Vintage FET. This time, I increased the ratio to 5.2:1 and set the threshold to -30.5.

8) Slight EQ Adjustments

I adjusted the EQ even further. However this time I'm not just getting rid of certain frequencies but also bringing some of them up.

9) Exciter

I wanted to brighten up the vocals a bit so I placed an excited and made some adjustments to it. I set the frequency to 8400 Hz and reduce the harmonics to +5.78%.

10) DeEsser

I noticed that the DeEsser can really take away a lot from the vocals that's why many people would refrain from using it. I changed the Detector and Suppressor Frequency to 6300 Hz which I think works best for female vocals.

11) Reverb, Delay and Modulation Effects

I created three buses (B 15, B 16, B 17) and I noticed that three auxiliary channels popped up right after I created the buses.

For Bus 15, I placed a Space Designer Reverb and used the Vocal Plate Reverb as I absolutely love the sound of plate reverbs.

For Bus 16, I added an Ensemble and a Flanger effect to add more layers to the vocals and enrich it.

For Bus 17, I placed a stereo delay and made some adjustments to the high cut and low cut.

Here's how the vocals sound like after adding the effects.

Vocal Doubling and Harmonies:

For the choruses and the bridge, I duplicated the track and increased the reverb of the duplicated track as well as decrease its volume. I also added a pitch shifter and used the Vocal Doubler preset.

For the vocal harmonies in the Choruses, I had the same settings as the lead vocals with an added pitch shifter. I did not put in any delay but instead three duplicated tracks with one panning all the way to the left and one panning all the way to the right.

Here's how all the vocal tracks sound like altogether.

Post-Processed Vocals:

Here's the full song and as usual, I would gladly appreciate any feedback. PS: I know the outro is ridiculously long but I'm planning to fade the song away.