Are you looking for the best free VST plugins for vocals? Look no further. In this article, we’ve listed nine of the best free VST plugins for vocal mixing. These include reverbs for vocal space creation, compressors for mixing glue, vocal doublers, and autotune – ensuring all those sweet notes hit the spot.
1. Melda MAutoPitch AutoTune
Melda’s MAutoPitch is a great free AutoTune with advanced sound design features. The design is classic, with settings for the automatic tuning, additional effects, and scale selector.
To use, simply add the effect on your vocals, select your chosen scale, and hear the magic happen. When full depth and speed are selected, you’ve applied the classic radio hit autotune effect. But bring them back down a bit, and the vocals now sound natural and, most importantly – right on key.
Playing around with the dry and wet knob allows your original vocal to shine through behind your tuned vocal. And by adjusting the width – your autotuned vocals are transported to the edge of your monitors.
Together with the formant shift, these effects can make for some outstanding vocal doubling results.
2. Reverb: MCharmVerb & MConvolutionEZ
Nothing can brighten up a vocal, like a great-sounding reverb can. And for a reverb that fits that bill, we have a few completely free options that sound amazing.
The MCharmVerb is a great algorithmic reverb. It’s extremely versatile – it can emulate spaces from small rooms up to huge cathedrals. The plugin includes plenty of useful features like EQ dampening and a preset browser. It also sounds very lush, which makes it a great choice in any scenario.
Another plugin from the same developer, the MConvolutionEZ is another approach to reverberation – Convolution Reverb. It uses impulse responses, capturing the acoustic characteristics of a physical space. It’s a great free alternative to algorithmic reverbs.
Download for free: MCharmVerb / MConvolutionEZ
Tip: You can get MAutoPitch, MCharmVerb and MConvolutionEZ as part of the free MeldaProduction plugins bundle. Find out more in our article: Top 30 Free VST Effect Plugins
3. TAL-Reverb-4
Tal-Reverb 4 is the right reverb for you if you’re looking for a vintage reverb emulation.
Its reverb characteristics are diffused with a hint of the ‘80s. The echo sound is warm, organic, and analog – making your vocals shimmer deep in everything from small to large room reverbs.
The plugin’s design is clear and straightforward. With the central sliders, you adjust reverb size, diffusion, and amount of delay. Below you have additional knobs for modulation rate , tuning, and a low and high cut equalizer to shape your reverb sound. Use the finishing dry and wet sliders to adjust how much reverb is applied. The additional “lo-fi” section with bit and sample reduction is a really nice addition.
This free reverb plugin works wonders on vocals and is an absolute essential in every producer’s toolbox.
Don’t miss our article: 5 Steps To Create Depth In Your Mix
4. Acon Digital Multiply Chorus
A chorus effect on vocals adds richness, depth, and widening. And for your chorus needs, Acon Digital’s Multiply Chorus ticks the boxes.
With its clear interface, you can control and design your chorus effect in a heartbeat. You have rate and depth knobs to control frequency and amplitude modulation and sliders to manage dry and wet. A stereo spread knob to control width, and an equalizer to accurately choose in which frequency range you want to apply the chorus effect.
Furthermore, the voice count knob acts as a vocal doubling effect – controlling the number of voices in the ensemble. Increasing the number fattens up your vocals.
To make your vocals vibrant and put them in your mix’s front seat – this free chorus will take you there.
5. iZotope Vocal Doubler
Vocal doubling is a vital technique for any producer dealing with vocals. Luckily for us, iZotope, one of the most prolific plugin creators, has released its Vocal Doubler for free.
The technique stems from doing double (or sometimes more) takes of the same vocal in a recording session. By treating each vocal track differently, you can achieve vocal layers that add emotion and pack more of a punch with different panning and effects.
But doing multiple recording is time-consuming. It’s much easier to do it in post-processing – right in your DAW.
That’s where a free plugin like Vocal Doubler comes in.
With an intuitive, clean interface, doubling your vocals to perfection has never been easier. Simply drag the slider up and down for stereo separation or left and right for human variation.
This plugin is a must in any producer’s vocal toolbag.
See more in our article: Top 30 Free VST Effect Plugins
6. TDR Proximity
What happens when you record vocals and realize in the studio that the microphone placement was off? Well, you’re screwed, right? Not exactly. Vladg Sound and Tokyo Dawn have created a (free) solution to this problem, called Proximity.
How can you solve recording with the wrong microphone placement in the studio? Well, different microphone placements have specific sound characteristics. For example, a greater distance away from the mic gives a loss in low frequencies. Proximity understands all surrounding psychoacoustic and corrects the faults to restore your sound accurately.
Simply set the original distance of your microphone and tell Proximity what you want to achieve. And just like that, the sound is now bright, clear – as it should be.
This plugin also works to emulate the opposite. Your microphone placement might have been perfect, but now you’re looking to change things up. Proximity does that, too, with ease.
This plugin is audio engineering at its finest.
7. TDR Nova
A great, precise equalizer is a must for detailed mixing of a vocal track.
This free plugin is more than a visual equalizer – it can dynamically respond to your vocal track, which is something that not many effects can do!
TDR Nova is a parallel dynamic equalizer with a great visual layout for a wide range of applications.
Its user-friendly interface provides quick and smooth access to various parameters. With four dynamic EQ bands, high-pass and low-pass filter sections, and equal loudness functions is an incredibly capable equalizer.
8. Klanghelm DC1A & MJUC Jr
To make your vocals sit perfectly in your mix, you need compression. And for a straightforward, free compressor that works absolute wonders on vocals, there’s DC1A, by Klanghelm.
A compressor makes the quiet parts of a vocal louder and louder parts quieter. This process is needed to bring your vocals out in the mix and ensure that the volume remains steady throughout your track.
Achieving perfect sounding vocals is easy with DC1A’s two knobs; input and output, along with four buttons for compression characteristics.
When you increase the input volume, it feeds the vocals into the compressor, and you instantly start to see the gain reduction take place. You then choose your desired compression style with the buttons.
This compressor works from smooth leveling to excessive pumping – perfect for compressing all vocal styles.
A nice alternative you can try is the MJUC Jr effect, which is also available for free.
Check out Klanghelm DC1A / Klanghelm MJUC Jr
9. Slate Digital Fresh Air
For adding a bit of “air” on top of any vocal track, this plugin is an incredible solution.
Fresh Air is a dynamic high-frequency processor that effortlessly adds the smoothest high end to your mix, eliminating any hint of harshness.
The plugin combines vintage exciter circuits and advanced dynamics processing. With only two knobs it’s also incredibly simple to use.
There you have it. The 9 best free VST plugins for vocals in 2024!
Thanks for reading, and see you in the next article.
 About the authorPelle Sundin is a Swedish producer and copywriter, active with his chillout project PLMTRZ. He also produces psytrance. When he’s not producing music, he surfs, skates, and chugs coffee. |
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