Last updated: October 26, 2026.
Part of Learn: see all Vocal Presets guides
Quick answer: A good Logic Pro vocal chain runs in this order: input level at -12 to -6 dB peaks, a gate only if the room is noisy, pitch correction, Channel EQ (high-pass and mud cut), Compressor, DeEsser 2, a presence lift, then ChromaVerb and Echo on sends. Every number below is a starting point. Adjust by ear against your own voice and your beat.
In this guide
- What a vocal chain is, and the order that works
- Step 1: Record a clean signal
- Step 2: Gate the noise (only if you need it)
- Step 3: Tune the vocal
- Step 4: Clean up with Channel EQ
- Step 5: Compress in two light stages
- Step 6: Tame harsh S sounds with DeEsser 2
- Step 7: Add tone and character
- Step 8: Add space with sends
- Starting points by style
- Doubles, ad-libs and harmonies
- Presets: save, install and reuse your chain
- Creative vocal effects
- Five mistakes that ruin a Logic Pro vocal
- Troubleshooting a vocal that does not work
- The Logic Pro vocal library: every guide in one place
- Frequently asked questions
This is the pillar guide for vocals in Logic Pro. It covers the whole path from microphone to finished mix, and it links to a focused page for every sub-topic. If you use GarageBand instead, read the complete GarageBand vocals guide. If you want a finished chain to load, start with the free Toronto Warmth vocal preset for Logic Pro X.
What a vocal chain is, and the order that works
A vocal chain is the set of plug-ins on one vocal track, in a fixed order. Each plug-in fixes one job. The order matters because each plug-in reacts to what comes before it. A compressor placed before an EQ squashes the low rumble you should have removed first, and a reverb placed before the compressor gets pumped up and down with every word.
Corrective plug-ins go first: they remove problems. Shaping plug-ins go next: they add tone. Space goes last, and it usually sits on a send so one reverb serves many tracks. The diagram shows the path used in the rest of this guide.
Our own diagram: the eight-step vocal chain used in this guide. Steps 2 and 3 are optional.
Step 1: Record a clean signal
No chain can rescue a distorted or noisy recording, so set the level before you add a single plug-in. Record dry. Add effects after, because a reverb you hear while recording cannot be removed later.
| Setting | Starting value | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Sample rate | 44.1 or 48 kHz | Both are standard. Pick one and keep it for the whole project. |
| Bit depth | 24-bit | More headroom, so you can record lower and avoid clipping. |
| I/O buffer size | 128 samples or lower while tracking, 512 or higher while mixing | A small buffer cuts the delay you hear in headphones. A large buffer lets heavy plug-ins run. |
| Peak level of the loudest line | -12 to -6 dB | Leaves room for a louder take and keeps the compressor out of the noise floor. |
| Mic distance | About a hand span (15 to 20 cm) with a pop filter | Close enough for a clean signal, far enough to avoid plosive bursts. |
Sing your loudest chorus line while you watch the track meter, and set the interface gain so that line peaks inside the green band shown below. Our recording-level guide:
Gear matters less than level and room, but it does matter. See our guides to the best microphone for recording vocals, the best audio interface for singers and Apollo Solo vs Twin. Choosing a program first? Read the best DAWs for vocal recording and mixing.
Step 2: Gate the noise (only if you need it)
Logic Pro's Noise Gate mutes the track when the voice stops, which removes room hiss and headphone bleed between lines. Skip it if your recording is already quiet between phrases. A gate set too high chops the ends of words.
- Open the Noise Gate on the first insert slot.
- Set the threshold just below the quietest sung word and above the room noise.
- Use a fast attack (a few milliseconds), a short hold (tens of milliseconds) and a release long enough that word endings stay natural.
- Play the whole song. If you hear breaths or word tails cut off, lower the threshold.
Cleaner alternative: select the silent gaps and cut or fade them in the editor, so no plug-in is needed.
Step 3: Tune the vocal
Tune before compression, because a compressor makes small pitch errors easier to hear and tuning after it can create odd artifacts. Logic Pro gives you two stock tools.
| Tool | Best for | How to start |
|---|---|---|
| Flex Pitch (track editor) | Fixing single notes by hand, a natural result | Open the audio region in the editor, turn on Flex and choose Flex Pitch. Drag a note toward the line, or use the pitch correction slider on the whole region. |
| Pitch Correction plug-in | Real-time, whole-track correction and the hard-tuned sound | Set the key and scale of the song. A slower response sounds natural. A very fast response gives the stepped, robotic effect. |
The full walk-through, including the hard-tuned sound, is in Auto-Tune in Logic Pro: Pitch Correction, Flex Pitch and presets. To use pitch correction while you record, see using Auto-Tune live while recording in Logic Pro. GarageBand has a lighter version of this, covered in Is there Auto-Tune in GarageBand?
Step 4: Clean up with Channel EQ
Put a Channel EQ right after the tuning stage. Its job here is subtraction. Remove what the voice does not need so the mix has room for the drums and bass.
Our own sketch of the starting EQ shape. The four labelled points are the four moves in the table.
| Move | Setting | What you hear |
|---|---|---|
| High-pass filter | About 80 Hz for most voices. Male voices can go as low as 70 Hz. Female voices can go to 100 to 120 Hz. | Removes rumble, desk bumps and plosive thumps. |
| Mud cut | Cut 2 to 3 dB between 250 and 400 Hz with a medium Q | Lifts the boxy, closed-in feel. |
| Presence lift | Boost 1.5 to 3 dB between 3 and 5 kHz | Brings consonants and lyrics forward. Too much sounds harsh. |
| Air shelf | High shelf, +1 to +2 dB above about 10 kHz | Adds openness. Skip it on a bright or noisy recording. |
Do the cuts first and the lifts last. Always toggle the plug-in off and on and match the loudness, so you judge tone and not volume. A more detailed frequency map is in the vocal EQ cheat sheet. Not sure what a term means? Look it up in the vocal mixing glossary.
Step 5: Compress in two light stages
A compressor evens out the loud and quiet words so the lyric stays audible. Two light stages sound smoother than one heavy stage. Logic's Compressor plug-in has several circuit models, such as Studio VCA, Studio FET and Vintage Opto, that react differently.
| Stage | Model to try | Ratio | Attack and release | Gain reduction |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Control the level | Studio VCA or Vintage Opto | 2:1 to 3:1 | Attack 10 to 30 ms, release 80 to 150 ms | 3 to 4 dB on the loudest words |
| 2. Add energy (rap, pop) | Studio FET | 4:1 | Fast attack, medium release | 2 to 3 dB |
Watch the gain reduction meter. If it sits at 8 to 10 dB on every line, you squash the voice. Lower the ratio or raise the threshold. For a deeper look at why compression behaves this way, read what is vocal compression. Channel strips combine several of these tools; see 5 reasons for channel strip settings.
Step 6: Tame harsh S sounds with DeEsser 2
Compression and a presence lift both make S and T sounds louder. DeEsser 2 turns down only the sibilant band. Put it after the compressor.
- Insert DeEsser 2 after the Compressor.
- Set the detection frequency in the 5 to 8 kHz range. Use the listen or monitor option to find where the harsh sound lives for your voice.
- Raise the suppression until the harshness drops by about 2 to 4 dB on the loudest S sounds.
- Check against the bypassed track. If the S now sounds like a lisp, back off.
Step 7: Add tone and character
This stage is optional. A little saturation adds warmth and helps a vocal cut through small speakers. Try Logic's Overdrive or Exciter at a low mix. A second Channel EQ lifts presence after the compressor if you prefer to boost after compressing rather than before. Keep each move small and re-check the loudness match.
Step 8: Add space with sends
Create two aux sends on the vocal: one reverb, one delay. Sends keep the dry vocal clear and let you share the same space across all your vocal tracks.
| Effect | Plug-in | Starting settings |
|---|---|---|
| Reverb | ChromaVerb, plate or short hall type | Decay 1.0 to 1.8 seconds, pre-delay 20 to 40 ms so the word lands before the tail, return level low enough that you notice it only when you mute it |
| Delay | Echo | Synced to an eighth or quarter note, feedback 15 to 25%, roll off the lows and highs in the feedback so the repeats sit behind the voice |
Our reverb and delay settings cheat sheet lists more values by style, such as long ballad reverb and slapback.
Starting points by style
| Style | Compression | Space | Typical move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rap | Heavier, 4:1, 4 to 6 dB reduction | Short reverb, rhythmic delay on line ends | Stronger presence lift, sharper de-ess. See mixing rap vocals in Logic Pro. |
| R&B | Medium, 3:1, 3 to 5 dB | Longer plate, soft delay | Warm tone, air shelf, stacked doubles and harmonies |
| Pop | Medium to firm, 3:1 to 4:1, two stages | Bright, short to medium reverb | Tight tuning, strong de-ess, polished top end. See radio-ready pop vocals. |
| Singer-songwriter | Light, 2:1, 2 to 3 dB | Natural room or small hall | Keep the dynamics. Light tuning or none. |
Doubles, ad-libs and harmonies
A lead vocal alone can feel thin on a chorus. Layers fix that, but only if you treat them differently from the lead.
- Doubles: record the same line a second time, then pan the two takes slightly left and right, or keep one in the centre and tuck the other under it. Keep timing tight. A loose double sounds like a mistake.
- Ad-libs: give them a darker EQ (cut the presence lift by 1 to 2 dB), more reverb and a longer delay, so they sit behind the lead.
- Harmonies: group them into a Track Stack (a summing stack) so one set of EQ and compression glues them together, then add a little less de-essing than on the lead because stacked S sounds add up.
Put every layer on the same send reverb so they feel like one space. Mute the layers and check that the lead alone still works. If it does not, fix the lead first.
Presets: save, install and reuse your chain
Once the chain sounds right, save it. In Logic Pro, a saved vocal chain is a channel strip setting. Save it from the Library on the track, then load it on any later vocal in one click. This is how a preset works: it stores the plug-in order and every setting, so you start each song from a good place and not from an empty strip.
To load a preset someone else made, follow how to install Logic Pro vocal presets. To build your own from scratch, follow how to make a vocal preset in Logic Pro. New to the idea? What are vocal presets? explains it in plain words. Every preset needs small input-level changes for your voice: no preset is a one-click finish.
Options, from free to paid:
- Free: Toronto Warmth, our free Logic Pro X vocal chain preset, and the free Logic Pro vocal presets guide.
- Paid starter: the Starter Pack of 3 best-selling Logic Pro X vocal presets.
- Full range: the Logic Pro X vocal presets collection and the Vocal Preset Mega Bundle for Logic Pro X.
- Compared: the best vocal presets for Logic Pro X.
Creative vocal effects
Once the clean chain works, two popular effects are built on top of it. Each has its own step-by-step page.
- The telephone vocal effect: a band-pass filter, distortion and heavy compression.
- The chopped and screwed vocal effect: slowed speed with the pitch dropping, plus echo.
For artist-specific sounds, see vocal sounds by artist and style.
Five mistakes that ruin a Logic Pro vocal
- Recording too hot. A clipped take cannot be fixed. Peak at -12 to -6 dB.
- Boosting before cutting. Cut mud first. A boost on top of mud only makes the track louder and still muddy.
- Judging by loudness. A louder version always sounds better for a moment. Match the level when you bypass a plug-in.
- Heavy compression on one stage. Two light stages are smoother than one that squeezes 10 dB.
- Mixing the vocal alone. A vocal that sounds perfect solo often disappears in the full beat. Set it with the beat playing.
Troubleshooting a vocal that does not work
| Problem | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Harsh, hissy S sounds | Presence lift plus compression | Lower the lift 1 dB, and use DeEsser 2 with a 5 to 8 kHz detection range. |
| Muddy or boxy | Build-up between 250 and 400 Hz | Cut 2 to 3 dB in that band. Check the room and mic distance. |
| Vocal sits behind the beat | Too little level, or the beat has the same frequencies | Cut the beat by 1 to 2 dB around 2 to 4 kHz. Raise the vocal presence. See how to get vocals to sit in your mix. |
| Vocal pumps or sounds squashed | Too much gain reduction | Lower the ratio or raise the threshold until reduction peaks at 3 to 5 dB. |
| Reverb washes out the words | Decay too long or pre-delay too short | Shorten the decay and add pre-delay. Lower the send level. |
| Noise between lines | Room or headphone bleed | Use a gentle gate or cut the gaps in the editor. |
A broader checklist is in how to make vocals sound better. To improve the recording itself, read 9 tips to record vocals professionally.
The Logic Pro vocal library: every guide in one place
Each link below goes to a page that covers one topic in depth.
- Logic Pro vocal chain, plug-in order and settings: the short, step-by-step version of Steps 2 to 8.
- How to mix rap, R&B and singing vocals in Logic Pro: genre-specific moves.
- Three vocal chains for Logic Pro X: alternative chains to compare.
- Auto-Tune in Logic Pro: Pitch Correction, Flex Pitch and presets.
- Install Logic Pro vocal presets: where the files go and how to load them.
- Vocal EQ cheat sheet: frequency ranges and what each does.
- Reverb and delay settings cheat sheet.
- What is vocal compression: the idea behind Step 5.
- Best Waves plug-ins for vocals: paid plug-ins that go beyond the stock set.
- Logic Pro template websites: save time with a ready project.
- Phone effect vocals and chopped and screwed vocals.
- How to mix rap vocals: a basic guide: a short starting guide
- Top channel strip setting for rap vocals in Logic Pro: a rap-focused chain
- Two effects every rapper should use on vocals: the short list
- How to get vocal distortion in Logic Pro: plug-ins for grit
- Can you make your vocals sound professional?: what to expect from a home setup
- How to make your mix sound wider and bigger: stereo width and layers
- How to send vocals for mixing: export and file prep for an engineer
- How to record vocals with an Apollo Twin in Logic: a hardware-and-plug-in workflow
- The best wireless microphones for singers: for live use
- Ideal DAWs for mastering and mixing: choosing software
- Vocal mixing glossary: 40 terms in plain language.
Frequently asked questions
What is the best order for a vocal chain in Logic Pro?
Gain, optional gate, pitch correction, EQ, compressor, de-esser, tone, then reverb and delay on sends. Fix problems first, shape tone next, add space last.
Do I need third-party plug-ins for a professional vocal in Logic Pro?
No. Logic's stock Channel EQ, Compressor, DeEsser 2, ChromaVerb and Echo cover a complete chain. Third-party plug-ins add different tones, not a missing ability.
What level should I record vocals at in Logic Pro?
Let your loudest line peak between -12 and -6 dB. That leaves headroom and keeps the noise floor low.
Should I tune before or after compression?
Before. Compression raises quiet detail, so pitch errors become more obvious, and tuning after compression can sound uneven.
How much compression should a vocal get?
Most vocals need 3 to 5 dB of gain reduction on the loudest words. Rap and pop can take more, and quiet singer-songwriter songs take less.
Where do I put reverb in the chain?
On an aux send, after the main chain. Sends keep the dry vocal clear and let several tracks share one space.
Do vocal presets work the same on every voice?
No. Every preset needs small changes to the input level and the compressor threshold for your voice and mic. Treat a preset as a start.
Can I use my Logic Pro presets in GarageBand?
No. The file types differ, so you need the version made for each program. See the Logic Pro vs GarageBand for vocals comparison.
Is there a free Logic Pro vocal preset?
Yes. Toronto Warmth is our free vocal chain for Logic Pro X. More free options are in our free vocal presets guide.
Keep going: GarageBand vocals complete guide | free vocal presets guide | vocal sounds by artist.
