Cubase 14: Using Modulators For Automatic Vocal Level Riding

In the first stage of our DIY vocal riding, the combination of the Envelope Follower Modulator and Volume plug‑in lets us reduce the dynamic range of the original vocal.

Cubase’s new Modulator has many superpowers —  it can even ride your vocal levels for you!

Waves Audio’s Vocal Rider plug‑in has proven enduringly popular (it was introduced some 15 years ago!) with good reason — it can automate, or semi‑automate, what was once a time‑consuming task: riding a channel fader to ensure the vocal isn’t ‘lost’ at different points in a busy and dynamic mix. In this article, I’ll take you through how you can use Cubase 14’s new Modulators to achieve similar results to Vocal Rider.

Rider Essentials

Under the hood, Vocal Rider does a number of things. First, like a combination of compression and expansion, it can be used to make the overall dynamic range of vocals, dialogue or solo instruments (despite the name, it works well on various sources) more consistent. Second, as it can accept a side‑chain signal (such as a vocal‑free backing track, or specific elements from the mix) and track that source’s dynamics, it can be used to adjust how the vocal level is balanced against that mix, so that the lyrics remain clearly audible even as the arrangement changes. Third, all of its automatic level adjustments can be written as automation data to your DAW. So you’re able to finesse the result with targeted manual edits — something that’s much harder to do with a compressor.

It’s possible in most DAWs to achieve similar ends using the built in tools, but generally speaking it can be more fiddly to set up. For instance, Mike Senior outlined one such approach in a Cubase workshop back in SOS June 2010 (https://sosm.ag/cubase-0610), shortly after Vocal Rider came out. With the introduction in Cubase 14 of the new Modulator facility, though, Cubase Pro users now have another option...

On The Level

First, we’ll use Cubase’s Envelope Follower Modulator and the new Volume plug‑in (shown in the opening screenshot) in combination to reign in the dynamic range of a spoken or sung vocal. A suitable configuration is shown in the first screenshot. Next to my main lead vocal channel is a mono Group Track set to receive a pre‑fader send from the main vocal. The processing (courtesy of the Envelope Shaper Modulator and an instance of the Volume plug‑in) is done to this Group Track, before both tracks are sent to and blended on a further Group Track.

As the name suggests, the Envelope Follower creates a control signal based on the...