Don Toliver-Style Vocals in FL Studio: Soft Hooks That Float

Don Toliver can sit on a hook and make it feel weightless. His voice slides up into a light falsetto, the melody does the heavy lifting and the whole thing seems to hover just above the beat instead of fighting it. That's why so many artists want this kind of vocal on their own songs. It's also why so many attempts end up thin, hissy or buried.

This guide is about that floating quality: where it comes from, how to sing for it at home and which mistakes pull a hook back down to earth.

Why his hooks seem to float

Play "No Idea" or "After Party" and focus on the voice alone. Reviewers keep pointing to his falsetto, his vibrato and his range, and you can hear all three in how the hooks are built. In mix terms, a few things stand out:

• A lot of air. The top of the voice is lifted, so breaths and soft edges become part of the sound.
• Gentle, even control. Soft and loud notes stay close in level, but nothing sounds clamped.
• A wide, open feel. The vocal isn't boxed into the middle of a small room. It opens up around the melody.
• Smooth tuning. Pitch correction keeps long notes polished. You hear it most on held words and slides.
• A relaxed delivery. He rarely sounds like he's pushing. The hook carries itself.

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

Sing softer than you think

Most home singers chase a big sound by singing louder. For this style that usually backfires. A pushed voice gets hard and nasal, and the air you're after simply isn't in the take. Floating hooks come from a light, controlled voice close to the mic.

• Get a little closer to the mic than you would for rap, and sing at a volume you could hold for a whole session.
• Try the high parts in a soft falsetto first. If your voice cracks, move the melody down instead of forcing it. A comfortable note beats a strained high one every time.
• Warm up on the hook itself. Hum it, then sing it quietly a few times before you hit record.
• Use a pop filter. Soft singing up close means plosives and breath bursts hit the capsule harder.
• Record the hook at least twice, plus a harmony or two if you hear one. Stacked soft takes sound bigger than one loud take.

Quiet takes sometimes come in low. That's fine. The preset has an input gain knob up front, so you can bring a soft recording up to the level the chain expects instead of singing harder.

What the processing does, roughly

The chain behind a vocal like this follows a familiar route: clear out low rumble, shape the tone, smooth the dynamics, tune it, add air on top and give it room on separate sends. In FL Studio Signature every one of those steps can be done with stock plugins. The tuning is Pitcher's job, and Pitcher needs the right key. Don't know the key of your beat? Run it through the free Beat Lab key finder first. New to Pitcher? Start with our Pitcher guide.

The tricky part is the air. Push the top end too far and every S and T turns sharp. Hold back and the hook never lifts off. Compression works the same way: enough to keep soft notes from slipping under the beat, not so much that the voice stops breathing. Getting those stages to agree with each other is where most of the hours go, and that balance is exactly what's saved in the preset.

What drags a floating hook down

Air that turns into hiss

A lot of budget condenser mics are bright already. Stack a big top-end lift on that and the vocal gets tiring fast. If your S sounds hurt on headphones, the air is too much for your recording, not too little.

Mud underneath

Room rumble, a laptop fan or a desk you keep tapping all make a soft vocal sound heavy. Get the recording clean first, then the airy part has room to shine.

Letting reverb do the floating

A huge reverb can fake width for a moment, but it also shoves the lead behind the beat. The float has to come from the vocal itself. Space is a layer behind it, not a blanket over it.

One lonely take

A single soft take of a hook can sound small against a full beat. A double and a quiet harmony do more for size than any effect.

Got a lower, heavier voice and wondering if an airy sound will work on it? Read which vocal preset fits your voice before you choose. Ready to try it? Here's how to load a vocal preset in FL Studio.

More sounds in the same lane

• Lil Uzi Vert-style vocals in FL Studio: light, bright and energetic
• Gunna-style vocals in FL Studio: smooth and melodic
• Future-style vocals in FL Studio: bright, punchy and heavily compressed

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

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