Vocal Chain Order Checker: Is Your Plugin Order Right?

← All tools
16 stages14 rulesYours vs recommendedFree, no sign-up

Vocal Chain Order Checker: Is Your Plugin Order Right?

Tap the stages on your vocal track in the order they sit, hit check, and get a verdict on your vocal chain order: what will fight you, why, and a recommended order built from the plugins you already use.

1 · Tap stages in your order
2 · Your chain (▲▼ to reorder)

The canonical vocal chain order and why

Stage Why here Common mistake
1 · Clip gain Before any plugin. Evens the take so every threshold downstream sees a consistent level. Skipping it and making the compressor do 10 dB of work.
2 · Gate / expander Removes bleed while the gap between voice and noise is biggest. After the compressor, where the noise floor is already lifted — it chatters.
3 · Pitch correction Trackers want the raw signal with its real onsets and harmonics. After compression or saturation: glitches and harsh esses.
4 · Subtractive EQ High-pass and cuts remove what you never want, so the compressor reacts to voice, not rumble. All EQ after the compressor, then wondering why it pumps.
5 · Compressor 1 Catches peaks, 2–4 dB. Sees a clean signal, so attack/release behave as expected. Heavy ratio, fast attack, 8–10 dB of reduction in one stage.
6 · De-esser After the compressor the vowel/ess balance is final, so it only ducks what needs it. Last, after the reverb — ducks the tail, misses the esses inside it.
7 · Tone EQ (boosts) Presence and air after compression stay where you put them. Boosting 3–5 kHz before the compressor, which compresses the boost away.
8 · Comp 2 / multiband Second light stage evens the phrase; multiband tames what moves with the note. Both compressors doing the same job with the same settings.
9 · Saturation / tape Adds harmonics to an even, de-essed signal — colour without fizz. Before the de-esser, so esses get distorted instead of tamed.
10 · Widener / doubler After dynamics so the compressor never reacts to left/right differences. Before the compressor — the image flickers with every note.
11 · Limiter / clipper Last insert: sets the ceiling nothing after it can break. Followed by EQ or saturation that raise the peaks again.
12 · Reverb / delay sends On an aux you can EQ, duck and compress the tail separately; it never touches your ceiling. As inserts, especially after the limiter or before the compressor.

A default, not a law. The 88 chains in the Vocal Chain Bible are real engineers' orders as reported in interviews, and some deliberately break rows 4, 6 and 12. Break them on purpose, not by accident.

Related tools

Vocal chain order: does EQ go before or after compression?

Both, but two different EQs doing two different jobs. A compressor does not hear a vocal the way you do; it hears whatever its detector is fed. Feed it a raw take with rumble under 80 Hz, plosive thumps and proximity boom and it clamps down every time the singer leans in, then lets go in the gaps. That is pumping, and no attack or release setting cures it, because the cause is upstream. So the subtractive EQ, the high-pass filter and your cuts, goes before compressor 1, so the detector reacts to the voice and not the junk around it. The additive EQ, presence, air and body, goes after, because a 3 kHz boost in front of a compressor just makes the compressor duck 3 kHz hardest. You boost it, the compressor takes it back.

Default order: Clip gain → Gate → Pitch → Subtractive EQ → Comp 1 → De-esser → Tone EQ → Comp 2 / Multiband → Saturation → Widener → Limiter → Sends (reverb, delay). Every flag the checker raises is a deviation from this that usually costs you something.

De-esser before or after compression?

After, as the default. A compressor turns down the loud vowels, but sibilants carry little energy at the frequencies most detectors weigh, so the esses pass through almost untouched. After compression the vowels are quieter and the esses relatively louder, which is why a vocal often sounds more sibilant after a compressor. A de-esser placed after it sees that final balance and only ducks where it has to. Put it before and it has to guess how much the compressor will shift the balance, so you set it harder to be safe, and that is what dulls the vocal. The exception worth knowing: a light de-esser before a fast, aggressive compressor stops esses triggering the detector, and a second light one after cleans up. Two gentle de-essers beat one hard one.

Why reverb belongs on a send

Three reasons, in order of how often they bite. First, a reverb insert before the compressor means the compressor pumps on the tail and lifts it between words, smearing the vocal. Second, a reverb or delay insert after the limiter adds signal on top of your ceiling, so the peak control is gone. Third, on a send you can high-pass, compress, duck and automate the tail independently, and several vocals can share one space. The one common insert exception is a very short slap delay used as a thickener, which behaves more like a doubler than a space.

Order matters less than gain staging

A perfect order with the compressor fed 12 dB too hot sounds worse than a slightly odd order with every threshold set correctly. Compressors, de-essers, saturators and limiters are all level-dependent: the same preset does something completely different at −6 dBFS than at −18 dBFS. That is why clip gain is a stage in this tool even though it is not a plugin. Ride it so phrases sit within a few dB of each other, feed the first plugin a sensible level, and the chain behaves. Skip that and you will blame the order when the real problem is the input.

When to break the rules

Every rule above is a default, not a law; the checker flags what usually causes problems, not what is forbidden. Compressing a reverb insert for a washed-out ballad, distortion first for a lo-fi hook, EQ after compression because the tone of that compressor is the point, a de-esser in front of a fast 1176-style compressor: all legitimate when chosen. The 88 chains in the Vocal Chain Bible are real engineers' orders as reported in public interviews, and several of them break these rules, with EQ after compression, two de-essers, or reverb as an insert. If you break a rule on purpose and it sounds right, it is right. The checker is for the other case: when it sounds wrong and you cannot tell why.

FAQ

Should EQ go before or after compression on vocals?

Subtractive EQ (high-pass filter and cuts) before the compressor so the detector reacts to the voice rather than rumble and plosives. Additive EQ (presence, air, body) after, so the compressor does not duck the boost away. Most pro vocal chains use both.

Does the de-esser go before or after the compressor?

After, by default. Compression quietens vowels and leaves esses relatively louder, so a de-esser after the compressor sees the real balance and ducks less overall, which keeps the vocal brighter. A light de-esser before a fast, heavy compressor is a useful second option.

Where does Autotune go in the vocal chain?

First, or right after the gate and clip gain, and always before any compressor. Pitch trackers want the raw signal; compression and saturation in front of them cause glitches and exaggerated sibilance.

Can I put reverb as an insert on the vocal track?

You can, but a send is better: the compressor will not pump on the tail, the limiter ceiling stays intact, and you can EQ and duck the reverb separately. If you keep an insert, place it after the de-esser and before the limiter, never after it.

Is it OK to use two compressors on a vocal?

Yes, that is serial compression and it is standard practice. Keep both ratios light (2:1–4:1) with a few dB of reduction each; the first catches peaks, the second evens the phrase.

Where does saturation go in the vocal chain?

After the de-esser and compressors, before the widener and limiter. Saturation creates new harmonics from whatever hits it, so untamed esses turn into fizz a de-esser can only partly remove.

Does vocal plugin order really matter?

Only for non-linear stages. Two EQs in a row sound the same in either order; a compressor and an EQ do not. Order matters less than the level you feed each plugin, which is why clip gain comes first in every recommended order here.

Streams follow sound

Know the order. Now copy the chain that uses it.

The Vocal Chain Bible is a 187-page PDF with 88 real vocal chains from hit records as reported by the engineers who mixed them: exact mic, preamp, plugins and settings, plus a free-plugin version of every chain. Once your order is right, it is the fastest way to find the settings that go with it.

88 pro vocal chains · instant download · Try one free chain first
Copied

Free download

Get the free Grammy Sauce PDF

The plugins and settings 100+ Grammy-winning engineers actually use — collected from 5 years of interviews, in one free PDF.

Want the full pro setup? Get the Vocal Chain Bible — 88 real chains →