Drake-Style Vocals in FL Studio: From Rap to Melody in One Voice

A Drake-style vocal sounds like someone talking to you from across the couch, then sliding into a melody without changing seats. The voice keeps its body, the top end stays soft and the compression is gentle enough that it never feels squeezed. Critics have long pointed at that blend of rapping and singing as the core of his sound.

The challenge on your own track is making those two modes feel like one voice. Below you can hear the before and after, what to listen for in it and how to record the switch from rap to melody.

Rap and melody, same voice

Put on "God's Plan", then "Hotline Bling". The first rides a half-rapped, half-sung flow. The second is sung nearly all the way through over a sparse beat. Different songs, but the vocal sound comes from the same family:

  • Body in the low mids. The voice feels warm and full, never thin, even on the quiet lines.
  • A soft top. Clear, but not sparkly. No sharp S sounds jumping out at you.
  • Gentle control. The level gets evened out in stages, so it stays smooth without sounding pumped.
  • Close and conversational. The delivery is relaxed, almost off the cuff. It feels said to you, not performed at you.
  • Space that stays out of the way. The vocal sits in front and the beat breathes around it.
Drake Type · FL Studio
Drake Type · Logic Pro

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

What changes in the before and after

Each video plays a dry rap vocal first and then the same take through the preset, one in FL Studio and one in Logic Pro. Play them twice. The first time, just listen. The second time, check these three things:

  • Does the voice get fuller without getting boomy? That's the low mid doing its job.
  • Do the S and T sounds soften while the words stay clear? That's the soft top end.
  • Do loud and quiet words move closer together without sounding squashed? That's the gentle, staged compression.

Behind those changes is a familiar set of steps: cleanup, tone shaping, compression in two gentle stages, pitch correction on the melodic preset, a softened top and a bit of space. In FL Studio Signature that's all stock plugins. How hard each step works, and how they balance so one chain suits both rap and singing, is what's saved in the preset. Use the same three checks on your own mixes. If one fails, you know where to look.

Recording the switch

The hardest part of this style isn't the mix. It's making the rapped verse and the sung hook sound like the same person in the same room.

  • Same mic, same spot, same session. Record the verse and the hook back to back if you can. Your voice changes over a day, and so does the room.
  • Sing like you talk. Keep the melodic parts close to speaking volume. Belting changes your whole tone, and the switch stops feeling natural.
  • Two tracks, two presets. Put the verse on the rap lead preset and the sung parts on the melodic lead, which uses Pitcher. Set Pitcher to the key of your beat. The free Beat Lab key finder tells you what it is.
  • Double the hook, not the verse. A soft second take behind the sung hook makes it wider. On a verse, doubles tend to clutter the conversational feel. Use the backing vocal preset for that second layer.
  • Don't fight your mood. If a take sounds relaxed and a little tired, that might be the vibe. Off the cuff often beats perfect here.

Where warm goes wrong

Warm turns muffled

Body is good. A blanket over the speaker is not. If the words lose their edges, there's probably too much low-mid buildup from the room or from hugging the mic. Fix the recording before you reach for more highs.

Chasing air

Plenty of vocal tutorials push a bright, airy top. For this sound that's the wrong direction. Too much shine makes the vocal feel cold and edgy instead of close.

Squeezing for smoothness

One heavy compressor makes a vocal even, but also flat and tiring. The smoothness here comes from gentle control in steps, and that balance is the part that took the most tweaking to get right on both rap and melody.

Skip the guesswork: the Drake Type preset

The sound from the video is ready to load, built only with the stock plugins in FL Studio Signature. Record, load the preset and fine-tune it to your own voice. On Logic Pro? There is a version for that too.

  • 2 lead presets: one for rap, one for melodic vocals
  • 1 backing vocal preset
  • 1 adlibs preset with a phone effect
  • Input gain knob up front for quiet recordings

Get the Drake Type preset

The product page also has a melodic before and after.

Want a few general listening checks on top of this? Our older guide on warm rap vocals in FL Studio has them. Recording in Logic? Here's how to use autotune in Logic Pro, step by step.

More sounds in the same lane

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

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

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