Pitch Correction

[separatist]

Hi all! i was just wondering for the sake of interest, what is the best way to pitch correct vocal tracks in protools? I just figure as a budding engineer pitch correction may well be something i need to know hey!

Cheers

[pauloz]

Well, there are pretty good pitch correction plug-ins out there like Antares Autotune,Celemony Melodyne, Waves Tune,etc..., though these 3 would be for me the most popular! you could check out their websites and weigh your options!
Paulo Z

[lwilliam]

Doesn't Melodyne Uno ship with PT now?

[Stiff]

Doesn't Melodyne Uno ship with PT now?

Yeah. If you bought you system recently then you should have Melodyne Uno. If you don't, try the demo of Melodyne and Antares Auto-Tune. Good luck.

[jimbojimbo]

oooooor,

you could just get singers that can actually sing

hehe...
I'm very anal about this...although, I do sometimes appreciate the 'sheen' and fines it can add - when used with respect...

[planetkyle]

Pitch correction is a double edged sword- its the biggest falsification that the music recording industry has been plagued with...but some of the effects you can get are unique if u tweak it.

I would support the previous post by endorsing the statement "get singers who can really sing"

The music biz should be less concerned with the artists' image. This is why we see bimbos lip syncing at concert events.

[lwilliam]

Melodyne is arguably the best option out there now. I have both Autotune and Melodyne and rarely use Autotune now.

Pitch correction is a double edged sword- its the biggest falsification that the music recording industry has been plagued with...

You must be pretty young if you think TUNING is the biggest falsification.

Vocals have been tuned since there were samplers - long before autotune: You recorded the "off" vocal snippet into a sampler and used the pitch wheel on the sampler to correct the pitch while flying it back to tape. Autotune just makes it quicker and easier.

There are many "falsifications" in the music production area if you want to call it that. Why pick on vocal tuning?

1. Making it appear that the musicians actually all played at the same time. Talk about a BIG LIE! - (C'mon hire a REAL band and make them rehearse)
2. Punching in a bad note (any instrument or vocal) - (C'mon, just practice, dude)
3. Falsifying the acoustical environment by using reverb and/or echo. (This may have started around Elvis' time with slapback echo). No ballad was ever sung in the actual space being falsely emulated by the "big" reverb sound de jour.
4. EQing an instrument AFTER it's already recorded. (C'mon, you should of gotten the sound right to start with)
5. Using a sampled sound of the instrument instead of the real thing (everything from string sections to drums here). There was actually a big stink raised by the Musician's Union when sampled strings began to appear on records. They wanted to force everyone to use ONLY real players. Well, we know where that ended up...
6. Do you want to include quantization of midi and now quantized audio?
7. Name a recent singer who actually sang part of their lead vocal through a real telephone for that sound.

These and many others are all simply ways to improve or enhance the sound, production-wise. Vocal tuning is just another production tool.

Most of this "falsification" began around the time multi-track recording began in the early 60's or so. The often glorified Sgt Pepper album of the Beatles kick-started a whole era of "unnatural" production techniques that would fit this definition of "falsification". Aren't you glad?

Just like a movie is not the same art form as a play, a recording is not the same art form as a live show. If you simply equate recording technology to a movie, you will see that movies take the "falsification" WAY further than music production. Some movie characters exist ONLY in the computer, for instance. They use everything from multiple takes, to editing, to lighting and makeup, to digitally enhancing many actions, etc, etc.

I will agree that the use of autotune at a live gig (or lip synching so you can "dance") push the envelope a bit for me, but bands lip synced on TV clear back to Dick Clark's American Bandstand back in the 60's. 99% of all MTV/VH1 videos have lip syncing, right? The audio wasn't taped at the same time as the video.

Sorry for the rant. It's just that every time someone asks a simple question about tuning vocals (at least once or twice a month here), someone else complains "just get a good singer, man". That is SO naive.

To me it's kind of like when someone asks "How do I punch in?". No one responds with "that's so fake, just get a better player".

[jimbojimbo]

all valid points, my friend...

[The Dougfather]

Hi all, while i agree with the get a decent singer reply it's not always that simple and sometimes it would be nice to just tidy up those minor imperfections.

I was actually tinkering around with melodyne this weekend, the bundled digi version is nigh on useless, it does not allow pitch correction only pitch shifting which sux. It does give you some cheaper upgrade paths to the next version up for only 99 euros or dollars which is quite impressive. The lower end of melodyne works via rewire and you kind of have to go round the tiles, importing and exporting to get there but it is a cheap and excellent choice. If you can drop the cash then the melodyne plugin looks like the best and quickest way to go. I recommend viewing the demo videos on there website, very impressive.

Cheers

[lastminute]

Here is what I do (Im a songwriter/producer/engineer):

(I do Pop...Pop/Rock... RnB.... Rock music) Modern Top 40 stuff

Record IN through an AUX with Antares Auto Tune 5 on there, bussed to an audio track where I record... set it to the right key (VERY IMPORTANT!!!) So the singer is recording through Auto-Tune... You have to use your ear for the speed... it may take a little while to develop... some songs are going to need a faster tuning speed (uptempo songs).

Then to correct 1 note thats pitchy use Autotune 5 graphic mode... If you have a note that is off a half step then use melodyne... or if you dont care for their vibrato... I have the cre-8 and plugin version... the plug-in version is great for on the fly tuning... cre8 is better if the song is completed and you want to go through and tune the full song... recording through autotune makes the melodyne process a lot fast too

I know what recording through auto tune does... i never used to do it... i thought i may miss a great take that wasnt in tune... then the autotune would mess the take up... but when I heard that the Underdogs (Big songwriters/Producers) i gave it a shot... I havent turned back since... my work flow has been sped up soooo much you don't understand... especially with vocal harmonies... also how many times have you heard the singer disgusted with how they sound and it kills their vibe... when singing through auto tune it gives them the confidence to give a killer performance...

I dont really wanna read replies saying I'm doing things wrong.... it works very well for the style of music i do... and for the sound I'm going for

Have a great week everyone.... God bless!!!