Ares-Style Vocals in FL Studio: Clear Enough for Every Story

With Ares, it's all about what he's telling you. His lyrics are about where he comes from, what's going on in his head and the music industry itself, and he both raps and sings. Put on a few tracks from his album "PRINS" and you'll notice the voice never gets in the way. You follow the story without effort.

That sounds simple, but a vocal that stays clear and easy to follow while still feeling alive is harder than one that's just loud. Here's where that comes from, how to record for storytelling and where it usually goes wrong.

Why you catch every word

• Clear, not sharp. The words are easy to follow, but the top never stings. You can listen for a long time without getting tired.
• Natural dynamics. Soft parts get to be soft and loud lines get to stand out. The voice breathes with the story.
• Gentle compression. It holds everything together without flattening it. You can still hear a person talking.
• Space that stays out of the way. Effects sit behind the voice, so they never land on top of a word.

The same dry rap vocal: first without a preset, then with the Ares Type preset. Turn your sound on.

You set the dynamics, not the compressor

Because the compression is gentle, you hear your performance back the way you gave it. That's the whole idea, but it also means a flat take stays flat. With hard, heavily compressed sounds the mix evens everything out. Here, that job is yours.

• Read your lyrics out loud as a story first, without the beat. Mark the words that need the emphasis.
• Drop your volume on purpose on the personal lines and come back up on the ones that need to hit. That contrast is your storytelling.
• Lean back a little on your loudest lines. Gentle compression doesn't catch everything, but your distance from the mic does.
• Pronounce your consonants clearly, especially at the end of a line. That's where clarity disappears first.
• Record long storytelling sections in one go if you can. Too many separate punch-ins come through as cuts in the emotion.

Rap and singing in the same story

Ares switches between rapping and singing, and this preset lets you do that too: there's a lead for rap and a melodic lead that uses Pitcher for the autotune effect. Set Pitcher to the key of your beat. You can find the key with the free Beat Lab, and our Pitcher guide shows how the plugin works.

Use the backing vocal preset sparingly. A double under a chorus makes it bigger, but a double under a storytelling verse makes it less personal. And the ad-lib preset with the phone effect works well for a line that should sound like a thought or a voice from the past.

How the preset handles it

The steps are the familiar ones: cleanup, making the tone clear, gentle compression, a bit of shine and space from separate effects. All stock plugins in FL Studio Signature. Want an overview of a chain like that? The free vocal chain cheat sheet lists the kinds of steps.

What makes it tricky is that you can't push as hard here. On a dry, aggressive sound, heavy compression hides a lot. On a natural vocal, every step has to do just enough: clear without turning shrill, control without losing the dynamics. That fine balance took a lot of testing, and it's what's saved in the preset.

Where storytelling gets lost

Compression as a safety net for a flat take

More compression won't make a dull take more exciting. You just lose the small differences that make a story believable. Record a new take with more intent instead.

Ad-libs talking over your story

On fast street rap, ad-libs keep the energy up. In storytelling, they pull attention away from the words that matter. Use them in the hook and keep your verses clean.

Reverb on the words that need to hit

A long reverb on your most important line feels dramatic, but it makes the word blurry. Let the space come after the line, not on top of it.

First time loading a preset? Here's how to load a vocal preset in FL Studio.

More sounds in the same lane

• Mocromaniac-style vocals in FL Studio: dry and aggressive
• Mula B-style vocals in FL Studio: raw and full
• JoeyAK-style vocals in Logic Pro: dark and hard

Want to hear them side by side? All Type vocal presets with before and after videos are on one page.

Ares Type presets are inspired by the vocal mixing style of Ares. This is not an official product and Ares is not involved. Results depend on your voice, mic and recording.