Vocal Processing by Liam Riedmuller

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:08:09 UTC

The order of this vocal chain is:

noise gate

compressor

corrective eq 1

corrective eq 2

creative eq

glue compressor

I put the noise gate first to isolate the raw vocal before any processing, compressor next to tighten up the dynamics, and then the corrective EQs are there to comb out the unwanted frequencies that didn't sound great from the raw vocals, the creative EQ is to bring back up the 'life' that was lost from taking out so many frequencies, and then finally the glue compressor at the end makes up the volume that was lost from the first compressor, and to bring everything together.

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:08:50 UTC

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:09:09 UTC

return sends

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:12:35 UTC

these are how much of each return track I've sent the lead vocal to, 0 being fully sent and anything below being just that. I've explained what each return track is for later in this padlet :)

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:13:04 UTC

This was to try and get that sound that plays at the beginning and end of the song.

Again I started with a gate for the same reason as before, next I added a reverb, a saturater, a very harsh compressor, and finally the tremolo

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:13:14 UTC

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:13:21 UTC

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:16:13 UTC

this vocal chain is almost the same as the lead vocal chain, the only differences are there is only 1 corrective EQ, no glue compressor, and I've added an overdrive and a subtle auto-tune to make it sound more cohesive in relation to the track

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:16:25 UTC

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:16:36 UTC

doubles return sends

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:16:42 UTC

Here I've only sent these vocals to the guitar room reverb in order to glue it to the rest of the track, they're also panned hard left and right. These vocals only play during the choruses to thicken them up, they're quite distorted by themselves but their purpose is to add texture to the lead vocal and 'beef it up'

bv 'ooo' return sends

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:30:30 UTC

These vocals were actually sung by my friend Reilly Eden, he kindly allowed me to use his microphone, a shure SM7B, to record the final vocals for the project and I preferred how his voice sounded for this part so he offered to do it.

They're only being sent to the chorus reverb return track, which is explained later in this padlet.

bv 'ooo' chain

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:30:46 UTC

the plug-in at the end is a saturater and reverb that adds air and thickness to the vocal

prechorus 'ah' chain

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:31:33 UTC

a simple chain as there wasn't much that was needed to be done to this

prehcorus 'ah' return sends

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:31:49 UTC

These are the harmonies for the pre-chorus, so they're only being sent to the pre-chorus reverb return track.

chorus harmony chain pt1

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:34:12 UTC

again this is pretty much the same vocal chain as all the other ones, just a bit more simple as the vocals are very buried

chorus harmony chain pt2

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:34:26 UTC

chorus harmony return sends

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:34:42 UTC

this is a drone harmony that only plays during the chorus, it's quite buried in the song because it's purpose is only really to add that extra layer of texture, it's not being sent to any returns. Though it appears that they've not been panned, they were panned when I recorded them at Reilly's house so in the wav he sent me they were already on the side

A: guitar room verb

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:36:05 UTC

This return track is one I normally use for guitars, it's a reverb for a guitar room type simulation, and here I used it for the lead vocal slightly to help glue the tracks together sonically

B: chorus reverb

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:36:24 UTC

this is a reverb that I automated to only become active during the choruses of the song. It's sidechained to the lead vocal in a way that it ducks down during the vocal, but comes up at the end of each line to tail it off

C: prechorus reverb

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:36:39 UTC

this reverb has been automated so it only comes on during the pre-choruses of the song

D: vocal slapback delay

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:36:54 UTC

this is a delay that I've used to give the lead vocal a 'slapback' sort of effect, it's a very short delay that makes the vocal sound wider, I didn't send a lot to it

E: chorus vocal delay

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:37:13 UTC

This is a delay that I've automated to only come on during the choruses of the song, it's been sidechained the same way the chorus reverb has, to give a tail-off to fill the space between lines but not make the sung lines sound messy

F: verse reverb

liamriedmuller2 — 2025-08-27 12:37:31 UTC

this is a reverb that is active throughout the track, it's more subtle than the chorus reverb one, and doesn't have the same intention as the guitar room reverb; it's purely just for the verses to not sound dead