Universal Audio: Topline Vocal Suite Plug-In

Universal Audio’s Topline Vocal Suite offers an entire vocal chain’s worth of UAD analog effects in a single Native plug-in. Rather than overwhelm you with options, Topline divides its eight individual effects into three helpful sections: Tuner & Shift; Channel Strip; and Modulation, Delay, & Reverb. While this grouping is handy, holding shift (on your ASCII keyboard) when clicking on an individual effect will toggle it on or off, providing a greater degree of control. The signal flows left to right, and you can adjust the In (input) and Out (output) levels independently, which allows for saturating the effects or backing off a bit.

I instantiated Topline Vocal Suite on a recently completed mix to see how it compares to my typical vocal chain, which is comprised of a mix of plug-ins and outboard processing. First, I played through some of the presets, which gave me an overview of possibilities. While there are plenty of choices for achieving a professional sound quickly and easily, I also appreciated Topline’s creative options, especially when they worked in an unexpected genre. For example, the Blown Out Rap Adlib preset provided a cool, lo-fi sound on hushed singing from Reno, Nevada, band Fine Motor’s Casey Bell. While in most instances I could approximate the presets by repatching my outboard and swapping a handful of plug-ins, quickly flipping through options in a single plug-in spurred me to investigate creative choices that I might have otherwise overlooked. I will certainly pepper future mixes with Topline’s more colorful signal chains, and I can see the presets serving EDM mixes especially well.

During the review period, I was mixing an EP for Reno’s indie/emo band Faint Shape. I placed Topline Vocal Suite on the lead vocal bus and got a workable sound in a few minutes. Guitarist and singer J Vineyard’s reedy vocals were well served by a touch of Topline’s tube preamp model, some medium tape-style saturation, light compression, and a high-frequency shelf boost. The Air feature in the EQ section is magic; in moderation, it brings out the highs in the vocal without any harshness, increasing clarity while conjuring an aethereal sheen. I added a touch of Topline’s tape delay with a plate-style reverb after the EQ section to finish the sound. It was time to move on to the background vocals. Bassist Clint Philbin and drummer Daniel England’s lower register voices added weight during the last chorus, but I wanted to ensure their vocals didn’t distract from the lead. I ran Topline on a stereo bus and achieved a darker sound with a wide stereo spread thanks to a heavy dose of the plug-in’s plate reverb and charming (but not excessive) lo-fi cassette-style tape delay.

Topline Vocal Suite quickly found a place in my workflow, but it offers wider applicability. I don’t typically work in genres that require tuned vocals, but I understand that many of us do. As someone coming to this process with minimal experience and a dash of skepticism, Topline’s tuning tool struck me as helpfully flexible. You can achieve fairly transparent results by dialing back the Depth and Speed settings (and switching from low-latency Live mode to the more CPU-intensive Mixing mode), then reducing the Mix percentage down to taste. Or you could lean in and use Topline’s tuning as an effect by reducing the Speed to 0 ms, toggle the Shift feature to move the vocals up or down an octave while channeling your inner late-'90s Cher, and get the now ubiquitous T-Pain robotic effect if desired. Beginning songwriters (or folks mixing hastily) will appreciate the included Topline Key Finder. When engaged on your master bus, it determines the song’s key and sends that to all other instances of Topline within the session. In my case, Key Finder missed that the song was in the key of A harmonic minor. However, Topline itself offers harmonic minor in addition to major, minor, chromatic, and custom scales. Nonetheless, it was a reminder not to slip completely into autopilot mode and lose sight of the song’s demands.

The plug-in’s Channel Strip offers Analog (preamp), Dynamics, and EQ modules. The Analog (Color and Saturation) section provides a choice between tube or solid-state flavor, with controls for preamp Color and Saturation. I enjoyed playing with the Channel Strip by adding harmonics for more excitement and boosting the low frequencies while taming excessive high frequency buildup. The Dynamic module offers the fewest controls. Here, a compression style is selectable from Transparent to Aggressive (modeled on opto and FET compressors) with various settings; then the user may adjust the amount of compression to taste via the Compress knob. Also helpful are gate and de-esser sections. Compression is key to vocal production, and though Topline’s Dynamics section is handy for leveling out a performance, I imagine that most engineers will want more control than is offered here. Topline’s Modulation, Delay, & Reverb processor is perhaps the most fun, presenting options to add space around the vocals. All of the choices are useful in their own way, but the vibey tape delays shine here.

Unlike much of Universal Audio’s plug-in catalog to date, Topline Vocal Suite is not an emulation of a single prized piece of analog gear. Much like their Verve Analog Machines [Tape Op #162], Topline is a combination of processer emulations with simplified controls and parameters. While this plug-in isn’t the best option for detailed vocal tweaking (especially compression), it is a fantastic plug-in that can get the user “in the ballpark” quickly while presenting new, creative vocal treatments. Topline Vocal Suite will appeal to beginners seeking a professional sound and to seasoned engineers looking to move beyond their go-to vocal chain. Perhaps best of all, in Live mode you can send a polished vocal sound out to the singer’s headphones during tracking that can keep them in the moment and inspire a solid performance that will allow for a more uncomplicated, faster, and more enjoyable mix process.