[shackman]

I'm with GB and Mind on this one.

My vocals rely on "natural" sound - using volume and expression to intone emotion etc.

I DO use compression (when necessary) and avoid it if I can. I am one of those who has favored compressors because because the color they add isn't bad enough to detract from the sound. I dismiss others because the color they add is intrusive to the sound I'm trying to achieve.

So far as automation on vocals in concerned, it is commonly a major part of the later work I do on every track. And I'm with MIND again, in that ultimately I need to zoom in on the waveforms and tweak the peaks and troughs.

And Mind, I still use my ears as the final arbiter. Once I've done to painstaking zoomed work, I relisten over and over, jumping back into the automation to further wteak what I'd done close up.

I'm no expert, and I find getting the vocals right THE toughest proposition on EVERY track I do. But I do manage to get there, and, since people seem prepared to pay to listen to it, I must be doing something ACCEPTABLE, if "NOT BY THE BOOK" or "RIGHT".