YoungBoy Never Broke Again has dropped more music in the last decade than most artists release in a lifetime. His output is relentless — and his vocal sound is just as distinctive as his work ethic. That raw, slightly rough melodic tone with heavy pitch correction running underneath? That's not an accident. It's a specific production approach that's become part of his brand.
Whether you're trying to recreate that sound for a tribute track, a hook that fits the same energy, or you're just studying how top producers mix melodic trap vocals — this breakdown covers the full NBA YoungBoy vocal chain, step by step.
What Makes NBA YoungBoy's Vocals Sound the Way They Do?
A lot of artists in YoungBoy's lane use heavy pitch correction, but the key is what's happening underneath it. His raw vocal tone has real warmth and weight — there's low-mid body in there that doesn't get stripped out in the mix. The Auto-Tune isn't polishing an already clean signal. It's running over a slightly gritty, present vocal that has texture.
Breaking it down to technical characteristics:
- Pitch correction runs fast to medium — not fully snapped, not subtle. You hear the note correction but it still has a human quality to it.
- Strong mid-range presence around 1–4kHz — his vocals cut through dense trap production without sounding thin.
- Low-mid warmth around 150–300Hz — adds the weight that separates his tone from higher, thinner-sounding melodic rappers.
- Subtle saturation on the vocal — a light harmonic distortion that adds the rough edge underneath the Auto-Tune.
- Controlled dynamics — even when his delivery gets aggressive, the vocal stays at a consistent level in the mix. Compression is doing work here.
- Reverb is subtle — room or short hall, not drenched. The vocals feel present and immediate, not distant.
The NBA YoungBoy Vocal Signal Chain
Here's the full chain from input to output. These settings are starting points — dial them in based on your specific voice and recording environment.
Step 1: Input Gain + High-Pass Filter
Before you do anything else, get your gain staging right. Your vocal should hit around -18 to -12dB RMS going into your chain. Too hot and every plugin downstream gets pushed into distortion. Too quiet and you're amplifying noise floor at every stage.
Drop a high-pass filter at 80Hz. YoungBoy's tone has low-end body, but that's in the 100–200Hz range — not the sub rumble below 80Hz. Cutting below 80Hz cleans up the mud without touching his actual vocal warmth.
Step 2: Subtractive EQ — Cut the Muddiness First
Load up your EQ (RysUpEQ works great here) and start by cutting before you boost. Most muddy-sounding vocal chains are adding mid-range on top of an already overcrowded signal.
- Cut 3–5dB at 250Hz — this is where muddiness lives. Most rooms and mics build up here. Removing it opens up the clarity without losing warmth.
- Dip 1–2dB around 1–1.5kHz — if the vocal sounds nasal or boxy, this frequency range is usually the culprit. Small cut, listen carefully.
- Narrow cut around 4kHz if harsh — some mics and vocal styles push hard here. If your recording sounds brittle or aggressive, tame it with a narrow 2–3dB dip.
Step 3: Compression — Lock Those Dynamics
YoungBoy's vocal stays at a consistent level even when his delivery gets intense. That's compression working correctly. Use a compressor with character — not just a transparent gain reducer.
Settings to start with:
- Ratio: 4:1 to 6:1
- Attack: 15–25ms (let the front of the syllable through before the compressor clamps)
- Release: 60–100ms
- Threshold: Aim for 5–8dB of gain reduction on loud phrases
- Makeup gain: Compensate so the compressed signal is roughly the same volume as the dry signal
RysUpComp has a character mode that adds slight harmonic saturation alongside the compression — this is exactly what you want on this style of vocal. It thickens the sound while taming the dynamics.
Step 4: Light De-Essing
YoungBoy's vocal delivery doesn't have aggressive sibilance issues, but any vocal recording benefits from a light de-esser pass. Set it to only trigger on the loudest sibilant peaks — you don't want it clamping down on every "s" sound, just the ones that poke through.
- Frequency: 6–8kHz (where most sibilance lives)
- Threshold: High — only catching the worst offenders
- Reduction: 3–4dB max
Step 5: Saturation — The Texture Layer
This is where you get that slightly rough, warm quality underneath the pitch correction. Tape or tube saturation adds harmonic overtones that make a vocal feel more present and three-dimensional. Without it, heavily pitch-corrected vocals can sound thin and artificial.
Keep it subtle. Drive the saturation unit until you just barely hear the character starting to appear, then back off 10–15%. You want the texture, not an obviously distorted signal. Set the wet/dry mix to 20–30% if you want to blend it naturally.
Step 6: Pitch Correction with RysUpTune
This is the signature element. Load RysUpTune and set it up for that melodic trap pitch correction style.
- Retune speed: 20–40ms. Fast enough to correct the pitch clearly, slow enough to keep some natural movement. This is the sweet spot for the YoungBoy sound — if you go too fast (below 10ms), you get a robotic snap; too slow (above 60ms) and it barely does anything audible.
- Formant correction: Keep this off or very subtle. Formant correction can make vocals sound processed and thin.
- Key/Scale: Set to the key of your track. RysUpTune will snap pitches to valid notes within the key, which helps the pitch correction effect sound musical rather than random.
- Input type: Solo vocal
The pitch correction should sound present and noticeable — not a ghost behind the vocal. That's on purpose. YoungBoy leans into the effect; it's part of the sound.
Step 7: Presence EQ — Boost After Pitch Correction
After pitch correction, add back some presence and air. This lifts the vocal out of the mix and gives it that professional clarity you hear on finished records.
- Boost 2–3dB at 3–5kHz (presence) — adds intelligibility and cut-through. This is different from the nasal buildup at 1–1.5kHz you cut earlier. Think "clarity and definition" vs "boxiness."
- Boost 1–2dB at 12–16kHz (air) — adds the ethereal high-end shimmer that separates professional-sounding vocals from bedroom recordings. A high shelf works great here.
Step 8: Short Reverb + Quarter-Note Delay
YoungBoy's vocal has space, but it's not drowning in reverb. The goal is to place the vocal in a room without pushing it back in the mix.
Reverb settings:
- Type: Small room or short hall
- Decay/RT60: 0.6–1.2 seconds
- Pre-delay: 20–40ms (separates the dry vocal from the reverb tail)
- Wet/dry: 15–25%
Delay settings:
- Time: Quarter-note synced to tempo (or 80–120ms if not tempo-syncing)
- Feedback: 20–30% (one or two distinct repeats, not a long wash)
- Filter: High-pass the delay return around 300Hz so the repeats don't pile up low-end
- Wet/dry: 10–20%
Run your reverb and delay on a send channel, not inserted directly on the vocal. This gives you more control over the balance and keeps the dry vocal clear.
Getting the NBA YoungBoy Sound in FL Studio
FL Studio producers have an easy path to this sound. Load your vocal onto an audio channel, then build the chain in the mixer:
- Parametric EQ 2 — your main EQ for the subtractive pass and presence boost
- Fruity Compressor or FPC — for dynamics control
- RysUpTune (VST3) — pitch correction, inserted directly in the mixer channel strip
- Reeverb 2 on a send channel — short room reverb
- Fruity Delay 3 on a send channel — synced quarter-note delay
The RysUp FL Studio vocal presets include a hip-hop chain that already has these stages dialed in. Load it up, adjust the threshold on the compressor to match your recording level, and you're most of the way there.
Getting the NBA YoungBoy Sound in Logic Pro
Logic Pro users have excellent stock options. The signal path is the same:
- Channel EQ — subtractive pass first, then the presence boost after pitch correction
- Logic Compressor — try the VCA or FET character modes. Both work well for this style.
- Pitch Correction or RysUpTune — Logic's built-in Pitch Correction plugin can achieve this sound, but RysUpTune gives you more precise control over the retune speed
- Space Designer (Reverb Bus) — use a small room preset and cut the decay to 0.8 seconds
- Tape Delay (Delay Bus) — Logic's Tape Delay synced to tempo
Getting the NBA YoungBoy Sound in Pro Tools
Pro Tools with Avid plugins handles this chain naturally:
- EQ3 7-Band — clean EQ with enough bands for both cuts and boosts
- Dyn3 Compressor — reliable, transparent compression (pair it with a subtle saturation plugin after)
- RysUpTune (AAX) — RysUp plugins ship as AAX for Pro Tools, so pitch correction integrates natively into your session
- D-Verb or RysUpVerb on an aux bus — reverb send
- Mod Delay III on an aux bus — quarter-note delay send
Grab a RysUp Vocal Preset and Skip the Build
If you want the NBA YoungBoy vocal sound without building the chain from scratch every session, the RysUp Hip-Hop Vocal Presets are the shortcut. These preset chains are built specifically for the melodic trap and hip-hop sound — aggressive compression, warm saturation, and pitch correction settings already dialed in.
Load the preset, adjust the threshold to match your recording level, and hit record. You'll hear the sound immediately — and you can use the settings from this guide to push it closer to YoungBoy's specific tone.
All RysUp vocal presets work across FL Studio, Ableton, Pro Tools, Logic Pro, Studio One, Cubase, and Reaper. Pick the version for your DAW when you download.
Pair Your Vocals With RysUp Plugins
If you want to upgrade your vocal chain, every plugin in the RysUp collection is built specifically for vocal production — modern codebase, weekly updates, no iLok, and a fraction of the cost of legacy software.
Frequently Asked Questions
What pitch correction does NBA YoungBoy use?
YoungBoy primarily uses Auto-Tune (Antares) with a fast to medium retune speed — typically 20–40ms. This creates the characteristic melodic pitch correction effect that's recognizable in his music without sounding fully robotic. You can replicate this with RysUpTune, setting the retune speed in the same range.
Does NBA YoungBoy use a lot of compression on his vocals?
Yes. His vocals have consistent dynamics even through intense delivery — that's compression working hard. A 4:1 to 6:1 ratio with a medium attack keeps the transients intact while locking down the overall dynamic range. The key is not over-compressing to the point of losing the aggression in his delivery.
What DAW does NBA YoungBoy use?
YoungBoy and his production team primarily work in Pro Tools and FL Studio. That said, the vocal chain described in this guide works in any DAW — the plugins and techniques are completely DAW-agnostic. What matters is the signal chain, not the specific software running it.
Can I get the NBA YoungBoy vocal sound without expensive plugins?
Yes. The core of his sound comes from pitch correction, compression, and EQ — all achievable with affordable plugins. RysUpTune, RysUpComp, and RysUpEQ cover the main stages of this chain at a reasonable price. Plus, RysUpAir is completely free and handles the air frequency boost that adds the final professional touch to the top end.
What reverb does NBA YoungBoy use on his vocals?
The reverb in YoungBoy's recordings is subtle — it places the vocal in a space without washing it out. A short room or small hall reverb with 0.6–1.2 second decay and 15–25% wet is the target. The key detail is pre-delay (20–40ms) to keep the dry vocal separated from the reverb tail, which is what makes professional-sounding vocals feel "in the room" rather than "buried in reverb."
Does NBA YoungBoy use sidechain compression on his vocals?
Not typically as a primary effect — sidechain compression is more common on other elements ducking to make room for the vocal, like a kick-to-vocal or sub-to-vocal duck. YoungBoy's vocal processing is more focused on direct compression of the vocal signal itself to maintain consistent dynamics throughout a take.