{"id":5771,"date":"2019-01-07T11:16:10","date_gmt":"2019-01-07T16:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/?p=5771"},"modified":"2025-07-22T11:56:34","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T15:56:34","slug":"mix-vocals-izotope-nectar-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/splice.com\/blog\/mix-vocals-izotope-nectar-3\/","title":{"rendered":"How to mix your vocals with iZotope’s Nectar 3"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In music spanning all sorts of styles and genres, vocals reside at the center of the mix and serve as a focal point for listeners to latch onto.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

For this reason, it\u2019s crucial that your mix provides clarity and space to your vocals. However, this can be tricky at times since vocal definition lies primarily in the mids, competitive sonic real estate shared by common instruments such as synths, guitars, pianos, strings, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some producers will find a \u2018vocal chain\u2019 that was effective in a particular session and then proceed to save and reload the same chain of plugins on other tracks. While a preset could potentially be used as a starting point, the issue with replicating exact chains is that every song is different, and therefore requires vocal processing that\u2019s tailored to that specific production.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

iZotope\u2019s Nectar 3<\/a> not only takes a vocal processing chain and consolidates it into a single plugin, but also takes the need for track-to-track customization into account. In our previous article,<\/a> we learned how to create compelling harmonies with iZotope\u2019s VocalSynth 2. In this tutorial, let\u2019s use iZotope\u2019s Nectar 3 to mix our lead vocal within the same project:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Voice to verse\u2014anywhere. With the addition of Splice Mic, you can instantly test and record ideas, explore genres, and unlock new creative possibilities, all from <\/strong>the Splice mobile app.<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Get a solid starting point with Vocal Assistant<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"Nectar-3-assist\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Start by loading an instance of Nectar 3 on your lead vocal track. When you open up the plugin, you\u2019ll be greeted by a default setting that looks something like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nectar-3-default\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

By clicking the Vocal Assistant<\/strong> button on the top bar, you can access the Assist<\/strong> feature. After selecting one of three different Vibes<\/strong> (Vintage<\/strong>, Modern<\/strong>, or Dialogue<\/strong>) and an Intensity<\/strong> (Light<\/strong>, Moderate<\/strong>, or Aggressive<\/strong>), Nectar 3 will listen to your track and come up with a processing chain that\u2019s tailored to your specific session. For this track, I\u2019ve selected a Modern<\/strong> vibe and a Moderate<\/strong> intensity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nectar-3-working\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Vocal Assistant considers various factors such as input level, vocal register, and frequency content to craft a customized processing chain. For my lead vocals, it gave me a setting containing some adaptive EQs (EQ<\/strong> 1<\/strong> and EQ 2<\/strong>), a De-esser<\/strong>, a Compressor<\/strong>, and Reverb<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Nectar-3-Vocal-Assistant-setting\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

2. Enhance the sound with your own creative decisions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Now that we have an intelligent starting point that offers a lot of technical enhancements, we can take over and focus on making creative decisions as we see fit. For example, I was happy with the corrective EQ choices that Nectar 3 made, but didn\u2019t feel like the de-essing was necessary. Therefore, I bypassed that module to avoid over-processing my vocals. I also increased the output of the reverb to add a little more spaciousness, and I added my own band passed delay to fill out some empty moments in the production without undermining intelligibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let\u2019s compare how the vocal sounds before and after Nectar 3 in isolation, and then more importantly, how it sounds in the context of the entire track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dry lead vocal:<\/p>\n\n\n\n