Modern pop vocal processing is meticulously crafted to present the upfront and clean sound we’re used to hearing on the radio—oftentimes, even advanced engineers have trouble capturing the vocal clarity and presence that’s required to get on the charts. In this guide, we talk about some of the most popular gear and reveal the vocal chains of some famous recording artists, the meaning behind their choices, and how to get a similar sound at a fraction of the cost via clones.
What Is a Vocal Chain?
A vocal chain is a series of hardware used while recording a vocalist’s performance. Starting with the microphone, a captured performance is sent as a signal through a series of effects processors in a particular order until it reaches a DAW or tape machine, creating a “chain” of processing. These effects can consist of gear that affects the tone, dynamics, and character of the performance, as well as the microphone itself. While the term “vocal chain” typically refers to the recording stage, where a series of hardware is applied to the signal before it hits the tape or DAW, it may also refer to software plugins used to sculpt the sound in the mixing stage.
Starting the Chain: Microphones
Different types of microphones have their own unique characteristics and color, making it the starting point. Microphones should be the first and most significant decision any vocalist or engineer should make.
The microphone of choice for many of the super-star pop vocalists today is a tube microphone. Tube mics are extremely prestigious; their heritage dating back to the early days of recording, built with costly and fragile vacuum tubes and packed with their own external power supply, and often prohibitively expensive and at times incredibly rare. Nevertheless, artists turn to tube microphones due to their warm and colorful analog coloration, subtle and natural compression characteristics, and upfront presence with minimum harmonic distortion—tube mics define the sound of popular hip-hop and R&B.
The Sony C-800G Tube Condenser Microphone is perhaps the most popular and “readily available” microphone primarily used for pop, hip-hop, and R&B vocals, having captured the performances of artists such as Beyonce, Ariana Grande, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Post Malone, and countless others. The upfront and spacious presence delivered by the C-800G has delivered the sonic fingerprint of modern pop vocals, making it one of the most coveted microphones in the business—but by “available” we only mean that it’s commonly in stock … if you have the scratch to pay an eye-watering $17,000 for it.
Many of the most prestigious tube microphones will come in at a price point of high-four to five figures, such as the legendary and forever-out-of-stock Telefunken ELA M 251 or the Neumann M49 used by Adele—even the “relatively” affordable Manley Labs Reference Cardioid Tube Microphone is well above $3,000. Engineers whose budget is within the mortal realm will turn to “clones”—recreations of these superlatively sought-after mics.
Warm Audio has made a name for itself in the last decade recreating classic high-end recording equipment, offering near-identical performance for a fraction of the price. The Warm Audio WA-8000 and WA-251 are faithfully cloned versions of the Sony C-800G and Telefunken ELA M 251 respectively, both coming in at a price hovering around $1,000—expensive, but realistically attainable. While there are quite a few manufacturers of clones, Warm Audio has been the most popular among the producers and engineers I’ve come across.
Some manufacturers create modeling microphones—digitally enabled microphones that use software to emulate the sound and performance of classic and legendary mics. The Antelope Axino Synergy Core USB Microphone comes in at $420 and claims to emulate the sound of eighteen different legacy microphones, including the aforementioned holy grails of recording technology. We have not tested this microphone ourselves—and while it loses the true analog nature of a tube mic, it has had positive feedback from some vocal members of the audio community.
Outside of tube mics, most vocalists will use more traditional condenser mics such as the Neumann TLM 103 and Neumann U87 (Drake uses this $3,750 microphone to record scratch vocals) or the latter’s clone the Warm Audio WA-87. While this sort of mic doesn’t have the same kind of thickness and presence a tube mic will provide, condensers will capture the honesty and detail of any vocal performance while letting it sit more naturally in the mix. The U87 was used by Amy Winehouse on Back to Black and is often used in conjunction with or instead of tube mics for main and backup vocals.
Power and Color: Preamplifiers/EQs
A microphone preamplifier boosts a microphone’s naturally weak signal to line level allowing it to be processed by other equipment and/or to be sent to tape or a DAW—a necessary step in any chain. Two legendary and famous mic preamps are the solid-state Neve 1073 and the tube-based Avalon Design VT-737SP (which is also a full channel strip).
The Avalon 737 is found in many studios at all sorts of levels—even smaller scale production studios often budget for an Avalon because it’s an all-in-one preamp, opto-compressor, and EQ, and can deliver radio-ready high-fidelity sound with warmth and polished highs—as such, the Avalon synergizes well with condenser mics. Notably used by Michael Jackson on Bad, Young Guru (engineer for Jay-Z, Rihanna), The Strokes, and more, the Avalon is famous for its sound on many records. While there are no discrete clones of the Avalon, a similar and less expensive all-in-one tube preamp for sale at B&H is the dbx 676 Tube Mic Preamp.
The Neve 1073 is a classic preamp and EQ designed in 1970 whose transformer saturation has found itself sweetening and sculpting many famous vocal performances, including those by Freddie Mercury, Billie Eilish, Matthew Bellamy (Muse), and Michael Jackson. Its solid-state design adds harmonic saturation throughout the frequency spectrum, giving thickness and presence that synergizes well with the in-your-face vocal characteristics of a tube mic, resulting in the vocal-forward pop production style. Some popular clones of the 1073 are the Heritage Audio HA73 and the Warm Audio WA73. While not a clone, Doja Cat uses a preamp with similar characteristics for her vocals, the Chandler TG2.
For complete in-the-box engineers and producers, Post Malone and his engineer Louis Bell famously record vocals using a Sony C-800G mic pre-amped through an Universal Audio Apollo Twin—using the built-in preamp of an audio interface is an interesting and minimalist choice for his emphatic vocals. Make no mistake, the Apollo Twin is a high-end interface and is priced like it—but it offers no sonic coloration or character on its own. It can use UAD’s preamp modeling software, but Bell has stated that he appreciates the simplicity of workflow when using the Apollo and hasn’t revealed if he uses the modeling software.
Punch and Heat: Compressors
Compression is often the final step of the vocal chain before it gets sent to the master bus, and is used to level out dynamics, add presence and punch, and inject harmonic saturation and coloration to a vocal performance. Opto compressors are the most popular to get the job done, such as the legendary Tube-Tech CL1B or its clone, the Warm Audio WA-1B – as well as the UAD LA-2A and its clones, the Golden Age Project Comp-2A or Warm Audio WA-2A. As stated in our compressor guide, these compressors are often used in conjunction with a FET compressor such as the UA 1176 or its clones, the Lindell Audio LiN76 and Warm Audio WA76-D.
At this stage of the vocal chain, a more cost-effective and common practice is to compress the vocals in the mixing stage with compressor plug-ins, many of which are modeled after legacy models and offer greater control over dynamics processing. With this process, the compression won’t be “baked in” to the track, allowing for A/Bing of different compressors/compression chains, but perhaps losing some of the sonic shine of analog compression.
Putting Together the Chain
Modern Hip-hop and Pop vocalists would often go with a tube mic into a powerfully driven solid-state preamp and light to medium opto compression: Sony C-800G -> Neve 1073 -> Tube-Tech CL1B (-> UA 1176 if more aggressive compression and transient reduction is desired). This results in an upfront, in-your-face, huge and spacious sound with thick and dark lows/mids and crisp highs making the vocals sit in front and center in any mix. R&B vocalists and vocalists that want a more naturalistic blend in the mix with a cleaner finish should consider a condenser mic with a tube preamp, with or without compression: U87 -> Avalon 737 -> LA-2A. Of course, you can mix and match to your heart’s content.
While it’s an unconventional choice both back then and less-so now, Michael Jackson’s vocals on Thriller are an example of a unique case of using a unconventionally combined tape recording techniques along with a newly developed dynamic microphone, the grandfather of one of the most popular mics available today, the Shure SM7—now the Shure SM7B. Engineer Bruce Swedien chose the SM7 specifically for Michael Jackson’s voice as it captured his register with incredible clarity and allowed synergy with his recording technique, resulting in the huge vocal stacks captured from different recording distances, and defining the sound of the record. Other than the unconventional choice of microphone, the vocal chain was quite standard: Shure SM7 -> Neve 1084 (a 1073 with tighter high-end EQ)-> UREI 1176. When listening to that record, the vocals sound entirely unique compared to records of the same era.
While these chains are good guidelines to understanding the importance and power of a vocal chain, just getting the gear won’t make you sound like Drake or Rihanna or Michael Jackson—there are so many aspects of vocal performance and post-production that go into making a song sound radio-ready. It takes great gear to make great music, but great gear doesn’t have to be the most expensive or the stuff that the most famous super-stars use. Consider your music, your sound, and what you’re trying to accomplish—when you’re ready, check out what we have to offer at B&H and build the vocal chain that brings out the best in you!
