Vocals are where a mix lives or dies, and a few effects can take a good vocal and make it feel finished. Here are the vocal effects I run on the Behringer Wing, the reverb, the delay, and the little plate that ties the delay together, with the actual settings so you can copy them.
The vocal reverb, and why you EQ into it
My effects live on buses 11 through 16, and bus 15 is my vocal reverb. To set it up, I go to bus 15, pick an insert point, choose the effects processor, and load the plate reverb. Here’s my starting point if you want to screenshot it:
- Pre-delay: 150 ms
- Size: 30.5
- Decay: 3.42
- Bass multiplier: 0.66
- Damping: 3.5 kHz
- Diffusion: 100
- Low cut: 220 Hz
- High cut: 3 kHz
- Attack: 50
- Spread: 40
- Spin: 10
- Echo left / right: 90 / 80
- Feed left / right: -50 / +50
The move most people miss is EQing the signal on its way into the reverb. I roll a high shelf down starting around 6 kHz with a notch at 2.5 kHz, and a low shelf down around 150 Hz. So the reverb isn’t getting the full-range vocal, it’s getting a cleaner, tamer version. That keeps the reverb from turning into a mess of harsh S’s and low rumble, and it sits behind the vocal much cleaner.
The vocal delay, kept dirty on purpose
For the delay I use the tape echo on the first insert, with the sustain around 10 or 11 o’clock, the drive up at about 75%, and just a touch of flutter, around 5%. That gives it a gnarly, dirty sound that I like. But I don’t let much of it through. It’s got a high shelf pulled down near 2 kHz, a low shelf up around 150, and a notch at 300, so it stays tucked under the vocal instead of poking out.
A plate to smooth the delay
Then on the second insert after the delay, I add a plate reverb at about 35% wet. That one’s close to the default, a low cut at 79 Hz, decay around 2 seconds, pre-delay 20 ms, color at 8. All it’s doing is smoothing out the delay repeats so they aren’t so stark and in your face. The reverb, the delay, and that little plate all working together are what give the vocal that finished, produced feel without any one of them standing out.
All the settings for every Wing scene you see on my channel, including these, are in my Wing Worship Preset Pack.
