Cubase Pro 10 Music Seminar 5 Using Spacial Effects to Blend Vocals into Your Track

Using vocal delay to fill up empty space in the track

We have applied a delay effect to the vocal track to help fill in empty spaces in the song.

For this tutorial we will be using effect tracks to send the vocal sounds to.
Take a look at how to use sends/returns from the video below:

Send Return Tutorial Video Access

We will take a look at setting up the effects and applying them.

Create an FX track, and open up a delay.
We want a delay sound with character, so we will choose “Tape Delay” from “VST Amp Rack.”

Apply “Tape Delay” to the “Pre-Effects” area, and turn on the effect.

Use the vocal track’s “Sends” to send the sound to “VST Amp Rack.”
The delay time can be synced with the track tempo, but this Tape Delay can’t create a ping pong style stereo effect.

We will apply “Stereo Delay” after “VST Amp Rack” to create a stereo Tape Delay sound.

• DELAY TIME : Set different amounts for L&R to spread the sound
• FEEDBACK : We will set it to “0” to create only 1 delay repeat sound
• MIX : Set to 100％ Wet to let only the delay sound play

Lets make one more adjustment to create width to the sound.
After “Stereo Delay,” apply the reverb effect “REVerence.”

Cubase 10’s “REVerence” contains a variety of vintage reverb presets.
We will select the “Spring Orange Vocals” preset.

Check the sound while adjusting the MIX balance, and apply EQ to keep just the mid sounds (low/hi cut).
Adjusting the reverb’s tonality using EQ is an essential technique.

To make sure the delay sound is only activated during the empty spaces, we will write in the send levels for the vocal track.

Spacial effect techniques to blend the vocals into the track

We have looked at some arrangement style spacial techniques.
Next we will look at using reverb/delay sounds to blend your vocals into your track.

First apply a reverb.

Open “REVerence” on an FX track.

Select the hall reverb type preset “Large Viennese Hall 1a (SR)”.

Use Sends to send the vocal track sound to “REVerence”.
Check the sound while adjusting the send to find the optimum reverb amount.

Next we will apply a delay to create a L/R spread for the vocals.

Open another FX track and open “Ping Pong Delay”.

As earlier, send the vocal sounds to the Ping Pong Delay.

Because we want to create a natural sound, we will use a HI FILTER to cut the highs (above 5kHz).

To further blend the delay sound, we will send some of the Ping Pong Delay sound directly to REVerence’s hall reverb track.

Next we will add a wide stereo effect to the vocals.

We will open a new FX track and apply “Cloner”.

Cloner is a plugin that allows you to create a doubling effect.
You can layer up to 4 sounds, and make small adjustments to each sound’s pitch and timing.

Use the vocal track’s Sends to send the sound to Cloner.

We’ve select the preset 4Voice.

This sounds a bit too dramatic, so we have lowered the voice count to 2.

We will send the Cloner track sound to the REValation hall reverb as well.

Lastly, we will apply a room reverb to polish up the vocal sound.

Open a new FX track and open REVelation.

Select the natural sounding “Ambience Natural” preset.

As earlier, send the vocal track to REVelation.

We will send this REVelation sound to the REVerence hall reverb sound as well.
This completes our set up.

By layering these different sounds, you can create a complex depth to the vocal track.
If you are struggling with your vocal sounds, be sure to try out using multiple FX channels and sends!