Mixing Periphery Vocals: Nolly’s Vocal Rider Automation Hack

Getting a vocal to sit perfectly in a dense, modern metal mix is one of the biggest challenges producers face. You need it to be powerful, clear, and consistently “in your face,” but the moment you start stacking lead vocals with doubles and harmonies, the level can get out of control. Slapping a compressor on the vocal bus can quickly turn into a squashed, lifeless mess. So how did Adam “Nolly” Getgood get those massive, dynamic, and crystal-clear vocals on Periphery tracks?

In a deep dive into his vocal mixing process for Periphery, Nolly revealed a seriously clever technique. It involves using a tool that many pros love to hate—the Waves Vocal Rider—but not in the way you’d expect. This isn’t a “set and forget” crutch; it’s a powerful automation time-saver that keeps vocals perfectly leveled without the artifacts of heavy compression.

Taming the Vocal Stack

Let’s set the scene. You’ve got a killer lead vocal performance. You add a double. Then you bring in some harmony layers for the chorus. Suddenly, your vocal bus is spiking several dB higher than it was during the verse. The traditional fix is to either reach for a compressor or spend ages manually drawing in volume automation to smooth things out.

While essential, heavy-handed compression can introduce its own problems, especially on a vocal bus. As more tracks come in, the compressor works harder, potentially squashing the transients and changing the tone of the lead vocal you worked so hard to perfect. Nolly’s method bypasses this issue almost entirely.

The Unlikely Hero: Using Vocal Rider the Nolly Way

Vocal Rider often gets a bad rap because, when used poorly, it can create more problems than it solves. We’ve all heard mixes where a misconfigured Vocal Rider causes distracting volume pumps or awkwardly boosts breaths. But Nolly isn’t using it as a magic bullet; he’s using it as a sophisticated “vocal flattening device” to create a baseline of consistency.

Step 1: The Initial Setup for Clean Results

The key to Nolly’s technique is starting with a subtle, controlled setup. He’s not trying to get the plugin to mix the vocal for him; he’s just trying to get it to level the overall vocal group without dramatic or noticeable movements.

He ignores the sidechain input and instead focuses on the Sensitivity control. The goal is to adjust the sensitivity until the plugin’s fader is hovering around the 0 dB mark most of the time. You want it to make small, quick adjustments—maybe a dB or so—as harmonic layers enter, rather than making massive 6 dB swings. This prevents those weird artifacts and ensures the plugin is acting more like a diligent assistant than an over-caffeinated robot.

This initial step ensures that when a stack of harmonies comes in, the plugin just gently tucks the overall level down to maintain consistency, rather than letting it jump wildly in volume.

The Game-Changer: From Plugin to Printed Automation

Here’s where the real magic happens. Nolly doesn’t just let Vocal Rider run live on his vocal bus throughout the mix. Instead, he uses it to do the tedious work for him and then takes back full control.

Step 2: Write, Don’t Ride

Instead of leaving the plugin to react in real-time, Nolly “prints” its movements. The process is simple but brilliant:

1. Set the track’s automation mode to Write or Touch.
2. Set the Vocal Rider plugin’s automation setting to Write.
3. Play the song through.

As the track plays, Vocal Rider writes all of its fader moves directly onto the track’s volume automation lane. You’re left with an incredibly detailed automation curve that would have taken hours to draw by hand.

Step 3: Edit and Refine Your New Automation

Once the automation is written, Nolly sets the Vocal Rider plugin to Read mode. Now, the plugin is no longer “thinking”—it’s simply following the automation data that has been printed to the track. This is the crucial step that gives him back complete control.

Cleaning Up the Data

The first thing to do is a quick cleanup. The plugin might create some strange ramps or try to boost breaths between phrases. Nolly will simply go in and delete these unwanted automation points, especially at the very beginning of a phrase, ensuring only the intentional vocal parts are being affected.

Regaining Control for Creative Moves

With the micro-automation handled, Nolly can now make broad, creative mix decisions without fighting the plugin. Since Vocal Rider is just reading the printed data, he can go to the lead vocal track and boost it during the chorus without the vocal bus plugin trying to counteract his move.

For example, he noted that after writing the automation, the lead vocal felt a bit buried in the chorus. No problem. He just went in and added a +1.5 dB boost to the lead vocal for that section. The track now has the best of both worlds: the detailed, consistent leveling from the Vocal Rider data, plus the creative, impactful lift from his manual fader move.

This workflow is an incredibly efficient way to manage complex vocal arrangements and keep them pinned in the mix. It maintains the relative balance you want between parts while ensuring the entire vocal performance stays solid and present. It’s a technique that provides the transparent leveling of fader riding with the speed and precision of a plugin.

Want to see exactly how Nolly puts this technique into practice alongside his full EQ and compression chains? In the full Periphery Nail The Mix session, you can watch him mix the song from scratch, explaining every plugin choice and decision along the way.

At Nail The Mix, you get a front-row seat every month as the world’s best producers mix iconic tracks from artists like Gojira, Lamb of God, and Knocked Loose. If you’re ready to move beyond presets and learn the real-world techniques that create professional-sounding records, this is your chance.

Check out the full Periphery session with Nolly and start turning your mixes into something massive.