Using Vocal Tuners

[scrnplyr]

I'm about to go head first into vocal tuning and I'm none to enthused about the process. 13 years ago our producer at the time used a tuner on one song (thanks Cher) and while the benefits were tangible, they weren't all that creative, at least from my (musician) pov. The lead singer was even less excited.

I've done some basic research, but I thought I'd ask you for your preferences and opinions. Is Antares still the most used plug in? What are other, better options if any.
How are you using the tuner PI - primarily for tuning up pitch problems or as a vocal "effect" a la Britney Spears et al?

What's a good resource for learning the ins and outs of using a tuner? I've checked youtube and other on line resources, but none were all that informative.

Thanks

[albee1952]

Opinions vary, but Melodyne Editor is my fave. With it, I can save stuff that had no business being saved. Its manual, so it takes longer than AutoTune, but the results(to my ears) sound the best. With a decent track, Melodyne can be invisible. AutoTune can often be heard doing its thing(depending on how far it needs to move something). AutoTune is handy for a gentle polish, and if all you need is help here and there, automate the bypass so it only works when it needs to. For me, the level of control in Melodyne is killer Watch some tutorials on Melodyne and trust your ears(IOW, what Melodyne might "think" is correct, might sound better being pushed a little sharp or flat).

Sometimes I will use AutoTune on an AUX(panned away from the original track) to create doubling.

[ondruspat]

I just have to chime in on Melodyne. I've used it on much more than vocals (lead guitar, bass, etc.), and used right it is very transparent. If you want a tuning program that no one will know you've used after you're done give it a whirl.

[ondruspat]

to further answer your question Scrnplyr, I mostly use it for touching up. I have done a couple of projects where the goal was to totally mangle the audio, but for the most part I've used it for subtle things, fixing an occasional bad note. Also very handy for creating harmony backgrounds, tightening up fretless bass, etc.

[Stig Eliassen]

Melodyne Editor is my go-to tuning plugin, and not only for vocals. Yesterday I tuned a recording from a bass player using a poorly tuned bass. The E-string was about 20 cents sharp - Editor to the rescue.

[albee1952]

Okay, since we're cheering for Melodyne, I'll give you the long story. Besides fixing bad notes on bass, guitar, fiddle and sax(including my awful fretless playing), I had a client bring in a session done at another studio where the engineer was a really great............................sax player. Anyway, he had the bad sing 4 part harmonies on a single mic(and the harmonies were NOT worked out). To make matters worse, there was a constant thumping on the track(seems someone was tapping their foot on the base.....). After giving a serious listen, the client looked at me and said, "I'm gonna have to re-sing all those parts, aren't I?". I said, "Let's try something". Loaded the track into Melodyne and used DNA, which split out the 4 parts(in all their "glory"). Within an hour, not only had I corrected the harmonies, I was also able to highlight the thumping and delete it. Client and engineer MOST impressed

If that's not enough, I also used Melodyne to create a midi track from an electric bass track, and use that to replace it with an upright bass sound for an authentic "classic" country song(I was asked to make it sound like Patsy Cline).

[Stig Eliassen]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Okay, since we're cheering for Melodyne, I'll give you the long story. Besides fixing bad notes on bass, guitar, fiddle and sax(including my awful fretless playing), I had a client bring in a session done at another studio where the engineer was a really great............................sax player. Anyway, he had the bad sing 4 part harmonies on a single mic(and the harmonies were NOT worked out). To make matters worse, there was a constant thumping on the track(seems someone was tapping their foot on the base.....). After giving a serious listen, the client looked at me and said, "I'm gonna have to re-sing all those parts, aren't I?". I said, "Let's try something". Loaded the track into Melodyne and used DNA, which split out the 4 parts(in all their "glory"). Within an hour, not only had I corrected the harmonies, I was also able to highlight the thumping and delete it. Client and engineer MOST impressed

If that's not enough, I also used Melodyne to create a midi track from an electric bass track, and use that to replace it with an upright bass sound for an authentic "classic" country song(I was asked to make it sound like Patsy Cline).

Great story - thanks! It truly is a great piece of software.

[scrnplyr]

Originally Posted by albee1952

Okay, since we're cheering for Melodyne, I'll give you the long story. Besides fixing bad notes on bass, guitar, fiddle and sax(including my awful fretless playing), I had a client bring in a session done at another studio where the engineer was a really great............................sax player. Anyway, he had the bad sing 4 part harmonies on a single mic(and the harmonies were NOT worked out). To make matters worse, there was a constant thumping on the track(seems someone was tapping their foot on the base.....). After giving a serious listen, the client looked at me and said, "I'm gonna have to re-sing all those parts, aren't I?". I said, "Let's try something". Loaded the track into Melodyne and used DNA, which split out the 4 parts(in all their "glory"). Within an hour, not only had I corrected the harmonies, I was also able to highlight the thumping and delete it. Client and engineer MOST impressed

If that's not enough, I also used Melodyne to create a midi track from an electric bass track, and use that to replace it with an upright bass sound for an authentic "classic" country song(I was asked to make it sound like Patsy Cline).

Gentleman, sincere thanks for the responses. Your input has consistently pushed me to improve my use of PT and increase the quality of my productions.

Albee,

Inspiring story. It's not often that I hear of PT related technology consistently being brought to heel and used in such a positive way. Your clients are lucky that you are able to access so many of these tools.

The last 3 weeks I've been knee deep in fine tuning 4 mixes and for those of you that have been in this place you know how frustrating it can be when you're so close to getting it right, but each new bounce exposes some minor (or major) flaw that has to be re-tweaked...

Enter the vocal tuner. As it turned out I had Waves Autotune lite and after a late night reading of the manual and a few youtube videos pieced together I was able to navigate thru a very basic use of it. It was eye opening as to how advanced "lite" tuning has become compared to 12 years ago. Basically after one "scanning" pass, the entire vocal was tuned (the green line).

The good news was that over 90% of the original vocal - the orange line - was matched with the green line. Creating a parallel track that was "tuned" next to the original track created a unique double vocal and basically solved the problem I was hearing.

I'm impressed with the power the tuner gives the engineer/producer, but aware that it can be used for evil if it falls in the wrong hands. As I've become more familiar with autotune, I'm anxious to get my hands on a Melodyne in the next few months.

Thanks again for the responses.

[albee1952]

Other than the current iLok debacle, its a great time to be in this biz

[scrnplyr]

re: iLok - I'm waiting for the dust to settle...I have too many pots on the PT10 fire to change horses mid stream...plus I'm trying to figure out how to get at least 4 cliches into each sentence!

re: the biz +1 digital has given us options and control that the analog forefathers could only hallucinate