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Waves Vocal Rider Plug-in

Plug-in that Automates Track Volume without Affecting Dynamics and Writes Generated Volume Automation - Mac/PC AAX Native, AudioSuite, VST, AU, SoundGrid
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Compatible with:

Mac
Windows
AAX
AudioSuite
VST
AU
SoundGrid

Software Compatibility

Most software is compatible with both Mac and Windows computers, but check to make sure.

If you're using Pro Tools, AAX plug-ins (or RTAS for older versions) are what you need. Most other Mac DAWs support AU plug-ins. VST is compatible with a number of Mac and Windows programs. Be sure you choose plug-ins that work with your DAW!

To learn more about software compatibility, check out our buying guide.

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This article was Written By

Our Product Research Team

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Getting the Perfect Vocal Mix Has Never Been Easier!

Waves Vocal Rider plug-in makes vocal processing easier than ever before. The name says it all! Vocal Rider is designed to simply match your vocal tracks to the rest of the mix, maintaining a relative volume throughout the song. All you do is instantiate it on your vocal track, bus a summed instrumental mix to the side-chain, and hit play. Then kick back and watch as Vocal Rider's fader takes over, keeping the relative volume of the vocals consistent with the volume of the rest of the mix. When you mix with Vocal Rider, perfection is never far away.

Waves Vocal Rider Automatic Level-Riding Plug-in at a Glance:
  • Intelligent adjustment that preserves the dynamics of your music
  • Save time achieving the automation you would otherwise have to program manually
  • Writes automatic volume adjustments as track automation for future fine tuning
Intelligent adjustment that preserves the dynamics of you music

Every day, even the best engineers struggle to find the perfect balance between enough and too much compression. You need to use some compression, but how much? The textbook way to address this is to use just enough compression to smooth out the tone, but not so much that you crush the life out of your music. Then you take the mildly compressed audio and use automation to preserve the dynamic range. Waves knows that this takes a great deal of diligence, and sometimes even professional engineers end up cutting corners and smothering the dynamic range of their vocals. That's where Vocal Rider comes in. Unlike conventional compression, Vocal Rider doesn't reduce the dynamic range of your tracks or color them at all. This is extremely useful when you consider the further uses of Vocal Rider as a tool for leveling out ungainly instrument tracks - like bass - that become completely incoherent if compressed too much.

Save time achieving the automation you would otherwise have to program manually

Don't throw out your compressors just yet! Some compression is absolutely necessary to achieve the smooth, polished, and professional-quality vocals found in most modern music. That's why it's so important Waves made sure that Vocal Rider responds to audio, and doesn't just look at the recorded track's wave form. By "listening" to the incoming signal including those processors instantiated ahead of itself, Vocal Rider lets you add the right touch of compression before it takes control of the automation. That means you don't have to commit to the amount of compression by bouncing down the vocal track before using Vocal Rider to level out the volume. And since you would need to automate your compressed (but not crushed) vocals by hand normally, Vocal Rider acts as a sort of assistant by saving you time by getting the results you need quickly.

Writes automatic volume adjustments as track automation for future fine tuning

With Vocal Rider, you get the best of both worlds - a hands-off automation tool, and the ability to fine tune the results. Unlike most dynamics plug-ins that respond to track automation, Vocal Ride writes automation. Once you have made all of the basic adjustments to your mix and you've achieved the general balance you want, you can write Vocal Rider's automatic volume adjustments as track automation. That way you can make fine adjustments by hand, giving you all of the control of conventional automation, while still benefiting from Vocal Rider's time-saving ease of use.

Waves Vocal Rider Automatic Level-Riding Plug-in Features:
  • Automatically maintains the balance between your vocals and instruments
  • Saves you time by getting the results you need quickly
  • Preserves dynamics while controlling track volume
  • Writes automation for fine tuning
Save time, preserve dynamics, and get amazing results with the Vocal Rider plug-in from Waves!
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Tech Specs

  • Software Type: Vocal Processor
  • Platform: Mac, PC
  • Upgrade/Full: Full
  • Download/Boxed: Download
  • Bit Depth: 64-bit
  • Format: AAX Native, AudioSuite, VST, AU, SoundGrid
  • Hardware Requirements - Mac: Intel Core i7 or higher (M1 support), 8GB RAM minimum
  • Hardware Requirements - PC: Intel Core i5 / AMD Quad-core or higher (AVX required), 8GB RAM minimum
  • OS Requirements - Mac: macOS 10.15.7 or later
  • OS Requirements - PC: Windows 10 or later (21H2), 64-bit
  • Manufacturer Part Number: VCLRIDTDM

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Customer Reviews

Write your review
Rated 5/5

Easy to use, excellent results

I tried three different vocal rider style plugins and found this to be the better of them. Easy to setup and the automatic automation is excellent. Definitely greatly reduces the time leveling out the vox before adding compression.
Music background: Recording/performing artist, producer, audio engineer
Rated 5/5

Vocal Rider

Muy bueno,excelente funcionamiento
Rated 5/5

Not crazy about all the emails with ads, BUT,

This is a great product. Easy to use, and it works.
Does what it says it will do.
Music background: Music Production
Rated 5/5

Quite Pleased

This plugin has exceeded my expectations. Easy to use and play around with. Has vocals sitting beautifully in the mix. Having purchased at a nice discount didn't hurt either. Quite pleased with the purchase. Waves and Sweetwater do it again.
Music background: Songwriter
Rated 5/5

Don't judge me

This is going to sound both dumb and interesting. Ever had a guitar solo that consisted of octave jumping? I had that issue with a project of mine and using CLA Mixhub with this plugin as an insert, I was able to fully tame and even out the volume. I noticed prior to using that in the car the volumes were perfect, but when I went lower in frets, it also applied to the volume. I tested using this as an idea and was dumbfounded. If you are looking for the perfect plugin, it's really hard. But having this baby for vocals or anything that may be smart to put it on, def worth having inside your library!
Music background: Rock/Metal/80's influence

Hear from a Sales Engineer

What Do Our In-house Gear Experts Think?

Corey Konyshak

I use Waves VocalRider on every single vocal track I record to ensure that my voice doesn’t get lost below the instruments in a mix. This irreplaceable tool helps me streamline an otherwise tedious and time consuming fader automation task.

Since the early days of DAW software, Waves has been a dominating force in music and audio production. For those of us here at Sweetwater who've been recording since the industry switched over to computer-based studios, it's impossible to imagine sessions without L series Ultramaximizers, MaxxBass, and other staples. Since then, we've been impressed every time Waves has brought top producers such as Jack Joseph Puig and Chris Lord-Alge to Sweetwater to show off their next cutting-edge creations, and Waves is constantly adding new and innovative plug-ins to their catalog. And with cool new gear such as their SoundGrid series, Sweetwater engineers have discovered just how easy it is to use Waves plug-ins live.

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