Vocal Compressor

Name: Vocal Compressor
Author: Bertom Audio

by Bertom Audio · Compressor · Vocal compressor

Not rated yet

Vocal Compressor is a simple compressor tuned for speech and singing, with about 1 ms of lookahead and a program-dependent soft knee.

An HF Sens control adjusts how much high frequencies drive the compression; it is free or pay-what-you-want.

Best for: Vocals. Genres: all genres.

Keywords: vocals, simple, dialogue, free, look-ahead, minimal controls, podcast, mastering, transparent, opto, beginner-friendly, clean, heavy, inspired by, built-in mix knob, parallel processing, sidechain input, single-band, single knob.

What it does

Vocal Compressor is a "simple compressor plugin optimized for speech and singing voice." The developer says it is heavily inspired by how mastering limiters work, using the same kind of lookahead and program dependency but in a soft-knee compressor.

Compress: a single amount control sets how hard the voice is compressed.
Lookahead: around 1 ms, so peaks are caught cleanly, as in a mastering limiter.
Program-dependent knee: a soft knee whose behaviour adapts to the material.
HF Sens: a sidechain filter that sets how sensitive the compressor is to high frequencies; the developer likens it to the control on the back of a famous optical compressor.
Trim and Mix: an output trim and a dry/wet mix for parallel compression, as listed by Bedroom Producers Blog.
Minimal layout: only a handful of controls, designed to get a voice even quickly.

The current version is 1.0.6. It is pay-what-you-want, including free; the developer asks users to consider paying.

Source: Bertom Audio product page

When to use it

Vocal Compressor is much simpler than Pro-C 3, a full-featured compressor with many styles, CLA-2A, a character opto model, or TDR Kotelnikov, a transparent mastering compressor, and it is tuned for voice only: you set one Compress amount, adjust HF Sens and trim the output, and it handles timing and knee for you. That makes it a quick, free option for evening out dialogue, podcasts and sung vocals without learning attack and release settings. The trade-off is control: there are no attack, release or ratio knobs and no colour options, so it will not replace a character compressor on a lead vocal that needs attitude.

Best for: podcast and dialogue levelling, voice-over, and quick, transparent control of sung vocals.
Genres: any, plus spoken-word and podcast work.
Look elsewhere if: you want compressor colour or detailed control; CLA-2A or Pro-C 3 fit better, and TDR Kotelnikov suits transparent bus work.
Tip: use HF Sens to stop bright, sibilant syllables from triggering too much gain reduction, so the voice does not turn dull in spots.

What producers say

The few reviews are very positive, praising its simplicity and sound.

KVR users rate it 5 out of 5 from 2 reviews, praising the clear GUI and the adjustable HF sensitivity; one wrote it "just sounds great".
Bedroom Producers Blog (James Nugent, 2023) liked the simple design and said HF Sens gives "fast, precise, and refined results" without dull or muffled spots.

Where to buy

Bertom Audio: Free

Tutorials and reviews

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