SYBIL Variable Frequency De-Esser: tames vocal sibilance with a flexible compressor and a variable highpass frequency to match any vocal performance.These plug-ins are currently available in VST and RTAS (for Pro Tools users) versions. (Hopefully Antares will add DirectX versions to the roster in the not too distant future.)
Putting AVOX To Work
When using software such as the AVOX plug-ins, it helps to do some advance planning, beginning with getting as isolated and clean a vocal as possible.
The AVOX Choir patch can take a single voice and make it sound like four, eight, 16 or 32 voices. The name is slightly deceptive, in that it doesn't harmonize the voice, but it will definitely make one voice sound like many. (I suspect that combined with a sampled chorus patch from a software synthesizer like Reason, it would be relatively easy to produce a huge vocal sound.
The Punch Vocal Impact Enhancer appears to be a cross between a compressor and exciter, adding a nice sheen to help make a lead vocal pop out of a mix without necessarily raising its volume level or dramatically lowering the instruments in the mix.
Deep "Throat"
Perhaps the most intriguing component is Throat, which can perform transformations both subtle and dramatic to a recorded human voice. So let's look at this one in detail.
As I found it when experimenting with the plug-in, it's important to set the size of the program's Source Throat Precision control to tell it the degree of virtual throat "surgery" you are intending. As Throat's Read Me file recommends:
If you are intending only very subtle changes, you would typically start with this control set to "subtle" while if you were intending major changes, "extreme" might be more appropriate.Not setting this can result in a disappointing, sort of gauzy sounding effect instead of a really effective transformation.
While the obvious use of Throat is to make someone with a high voice sound like James Earl Jones (and vice-versa), it has far more subtle uses as well. Many commercial recordings add a unique sheen to a lead vocal by having the vocalist record a whisper track, which is then mixed subliminally in the background. They also frequently rerecord the same vocalist, or have a backup vocalist double the part an octave lower, which is also then mixed low in the background. Combined, both tricks can do much to strengthen an otherwise thin-sounding voice. (Err, like mine...)
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