Anyway looks like the Waves is only really useable in VST 3 mode. It is the finest vocal compressor ever! But the next best thing is a fader vocal ride. The trick is to learn just how far to pull the mic back for the louder bits. This is harder and some singers may even want to get you arrested for doing this as it looks pretty strange but it is the ultimate vocal ride ever. BTW the ultimate way to do it is to keep the singer perfectly still and you put the vocal mike on a movable boom and you move the mic in and out towards the singer etc according to the vocal lines. You cannot beat a great manual vocal ride. The softer sections of the vocals end up being real clear and all the diction is present too. As a result it will just sound better and nicer. After doing that you will end up with a very nice even vocal track that requires very little dynamics processing in your mix. When you get a real nice manual vocal ride I then edit the vocals a bit more inside an editing program for just some final touches. The trick too is to use a fader (rather than a rotary Mic Pre knob) and not make wild changes either a few dB here and there.

The waveform height of the takes without any riding on them can give a clue as to what is coming up etc and you can easily pre-empt things about to happen like a loud section. In Studio One the whole takes and lanes thing is really excellent and it all works of course but you can also see previous takes under the one you are currently recording. Ive messed around with different compressor settings to tame it, Ive tried waves vocal rider at the end of the chain (as well as at the beginning) and nothing was really doing the job. Yes it is a bit dangerous for sure but the key is to really learn the vocal line all the way through before you even attempt it. And one thing has continually taken me back to the mixing session: the vocals being too loud on certain words which causes pumping when put in the mastering chain. I have been riding the gain on the way in to the DAW. She does have some phrasing that is a little louder and some bits that are a little quieter. I have been tracking vocals recently for a female pop singer. Firstly I do it manually and the reality is that a human doing it is way better than any VST doing it. I would not mind mentioning some techniques that I use for vocal riding.

Waves vocal rider on instruments