Voca

Voca is a vocal production plugin that replaces technical compressor and saturation controls with outcome-based control, letting producers think musically rather than technically.

As Product Lead I took it from an early hypothesis about how people think about vocals to a shipped product, defining both the interaction model and the signal-processing architecture through working prototypes.

The core insight was that most producers don’t think in terms of technical algorithm controls, they think in outcomes: smoother, more forward, softer. Most tools expose the algorithm. We wanted to expose the intent. But that’s only honest if the sound engine actually delivers on it, so the interface and the DSP had to be developed together.

I built and iterated on five independent signal-processing modules in parallel with the UX, using play-testing sessions with producers to find out which approaches mapped cleanly to how people described what they wanted, and which just sounded impressive but didn’t track intent.

The result is a duo of XY controls which coordinate multiple DSP behaviours behind single gestures, with visual feedback designed to support what users were hearing rather than leading to second-guessing whether the controls were set to “sensible” values.

“When I first used Voca, I genuinely started grinning. It’s so beautifully smooth and fun to use. Voca has been on every mix since, and I can’t see that changing.”

Dan Weller – Caskets, Holding Absence, Bury Tomorrow

“Very few plugins have my jaw on the floor, especially compressor and saturation plugins, but Voca is simply incredible.”

Craig Bauer – Kanye West, Ed Sheeran, Kurt Elling

Role • Product Lead – strategy, user research, interaction design, algorithm design, visual design, cross-functional delivery