FL Studio has changed the game regarding recording tracks and producing fire beats. It’s almost like having your sound engineer without the price tag! If you’re reading this article, you’re just getting funky with this nifty musical tool and its ace trick: vocal presets. The superpower of FL Studio and other DAWs like this one is that it allows you to virtually recreate all the uber-expensive effects plugins from the studio and chain them up in nice presets. It’s like you’re sitting right there in the huge mixing room!
Best of all, you have all these talented people creating bomb presets online for you. All you need to do is find the right one, and your track will start sounding like straight fire: no engineers needed, thank you very much! Today we’ll tell you how to add vocal presets in FL Studio and start working on your tracks.
Step 1: Download your Vocal Preset
The first step is the most important. You don’t want to be held back by a whack preset right from the get-go: that’ll just ruin the whole game for you. You want one of the dope vocals presets from our RhysUp Audio store. What’s so cool about them, you ask? We have gained entry into the studios of some of the hottest artists in town and consulted with their sound engineers to create effect chains that will make your tracks go fuego.
Step 2: Import the Preset to FL Studio
Next, bring the plugin into FL Studio so you can use them with any track you work with. The way to do that is to copy and paste it into the FL Studio’s database folders. That way, it can find your new preset whenever you fire up the app. So, check here if your mini-studio is a MacBook: Documents > Image-Line > FL Studio > Presets > Mixer Presets. You want to copy the .fst file you downloaded to the Mixer Presets folder. And if you downloaded an entire vocal pack like our top-selling Vocal Drip Pack, you can just copy the entire folder with the preset collection and paste it here without worries. It’ll help you keep track of things over on FL Studio.
Now, if your tool of choice is a Windows PC, then you can find this folder over here: PC > C: Drive > Program Files > Image-Line > FL Studio > Presets > Mixer Presets.
Once you’ve done this, you can check FL Studio, and the new preset will appear there. To find the preset on FL Studio, click on the big “+” sign in the left sidebar, scroll down to the “Mixer Presets” section, and find your new preset there.
Step 3: Apply it to the Correct Track
The next step is simply applying the preset to your vocal track. Once you’ve loaded up or recorded your vocals on FL Studio, select the vocal track first. Click on the effects chain for that track, and you can select your desired preset. Alternatively, you can drag and drop the preset from the sidebar to the track, which will also work. You will hear the difference immediately! However, it does help if you use a good, clean vocal recording: that way, you can hear the differences more clearly, and the preset will simply work better.
Step 4: Fine-Tune the Preset Settings
Now, here’s the big thing — the preset doesn’t automatically make your track sound perfect. It’s your brainchild, and you must be responsible for fine-tuning the preset settings to ensure it works perfectly for your use. For sure, the first time you hear an FL Studio preset in action is an unforgettable experience. Everything just immediately sounds better! But you need to tweak it before the plugin perfectly matches your track. Here are some things you need to keep in mind:
Reset the Pitcher ASAP
Yes, reset and recalibrate the pitcher ASAP after applying the preset. You can’t be slacking on this! Let us break it down: most vocal presets come with a pitcher or autotuned set to different correction levels. But here’s the catch: they must be manually set to a musical key to fix any pitch mistakes in your vocals correctly. And your song is very likely to be in a different key than to which the pitcher is set.
After applying the preset, your first move must be to reset the pitcher’s key to your song manually. Otherwise, you’ll be left with janky notes all over the place!
Experiment
Once you’ve done that, you can gradually experiment with the settings. Remember: if you want your track to sound fresh, you need to tweak the preset settings to get that ultimate blend. That means learning a bit about the basics.
Focus on the Blend
You don't have to be spooked when discussing fine-tuning the preset settings. Leave the cool plugins as they are: they’re why you’re using the preset in the first place. You want to focus on the basics. The things that will allow your vocal track to sound at home with these new effects. Think about what you can do to make the vocal track blend better in the mix.
Compression, Reverb, and Delay
If you can’t think of anything, here are the three things you can play around with. Compression, reverb, and delay are the three basic effects that have much to do with your mix. So, learn how to play around with them. Just be sure not to lose the essence of the preset!
Compare Multiple Options
You can get the best out of a vocal preset when fine-tuning it to your needs. It’s all about training your ears. Once you got that locked down, you can benefit from comparing options. Sometimes you know just what kind of sound you want. Other times, you’ll find a preset with a new sound that elevates your track to another level. That’s just how creativity flows.
Our value-for-money vocal preset pack for FL Studio can be the best start for you if you want to explore as many quality vocals preset at an affordable price. Check out our Vocal Drip Preset Pack for a collection of 25 curated vocal presets with a combined value of $600. Or, if you’re a rap artist, you can try our Iced Out Vocal Preset Pack.
Step 5: Save your Project!
Ok, so you got the basics down about using vocal presets in FL Studio. You’re flying high in all these new sounds and effects and can’t believe what you’re hearing is your voice. But in all that, just don’t forget to save your project! You don’t wanna be left with a bitter taste in the mouth after all the effort you put into it. Adding vocal presets in FL Studio is a quick and easy way to get that high-end sound without a sweat.
Knowing your way around the FL Studio joint can give you all the style and quality of a top-notch sound engineer at no cost. But getting there can be a tough job: as powerful as the tool is, it is equally as complex.
Conclusion
With predefined settings and well-researched effect chains, vocal presets are the way out of this bind. Many of them are designed to replicate the same effect chains used by the top dogs of the music industry today. Using it is as simple as pressing a button: but it is up to you to make the most of it. In the right hands, vocal presets are the most versatile tools imaginable. So, what are you waiting for? Go and get started with them yourself!