Here's the solution to all your worst vocalist nightmare's as an engineer... Antares Auto-Tune does exactly what it says on the tin... It discretely 'Auto-tunes' audio parts/streams, and as well as that it can be used for creative effects too like re-tuning melodies, or adding vibrato to vocals...
Auto-Tune is a Windoze 'Direct-X' plugin, working with any Direct-x compatible s/w like VST, Logic, Cakewalk, etc... and after installing on your hard drive and registering the Plug-in with the system, off you go...
Auto-tune is an INSERT effect, that is, it is designed to be primarily used 'In Series', with the signal passing throught the uto-Tune in it's entirety... You could i suppose send some signal via an aux-send to Auto-Tune, and use the Auto-tune version to create a harmony, then blend that into the original... but for corrective work, the out-of-tune/dodgy-pitch audio needs to be fed thought Auto-Tune... so if you're using it to 'Ride' vocals in the background, correcting odd pitch-flaws as you work, you'll need a later model sequencer with INSERT points for DX-Plugins....
Ok... Auto-Tune has 2 modes... Auto & Graphical...
AUTO-MODE
Auto mode does just as it says.... apply it to a channel, set the key (see your midi sequence), and set the SCALE... major key, Minor key etc.... (Auto-Tune has loads of key-types - more of that later).... once that is set... run the vocal, and then tweak the controls....
Check the image at the top... below the WAVE image, is 3 faders... These faders are:
SCALE DETUNE - This add's overall up/down tuning to the signal.
RETUNE - This fader sets how FAST Auto-Tune 're-tunes' the signal.
TRACKING - rather like a compressor, this fader sets sensitively the Auto-Tune 'Listens' to the signal when applying re-tuning.
So, auto-mode is simplicity itself... Open your mixer, add Auto-Tune as the INSERT-FX... then run your audio... adjust the faders, and listen... The central METER shows you when the Auto-Tune is correcting which also gives you a visual key as well as listening... and it's quite surprising how transparent this device is, cos sometimes you can visually see Auto-Tune doing a correction, but your ear's can't hear it at work.. Coool !!.... In practice, once youve set the Key, Scale & faders just work away, and all your vocals will be magically sorted even really bad pitch errors....
GRAPHICAL-MODE
[Above are pitch-change 'Anchor-points' re-tuning a sustained 'G' note to create 'That' CHER melody]
In graphical mode, things get more complicated.... In this mode, you set the S/w to 'TRACK-PICH'... it listens to the audio when you hit PLAY on your sequencer, and then draws an image of it in the box..... How accurate this image is to the cursor depends on your PC's power, but I found in practice, that even tho Auto-Tune's display was showing the cursor out of time with the music, when it came to drawing-in pitch-changes, it was all in time....
So... First you add Auto-Tune to the INSERT ... Then open it, and go into graphical-mode... Now set it to listen.... and hit sequencer-play... The s/w scans the incoming audio, and draws the waveform in the lower window of it's display... above it, it add's-in the pitches of the notes as RED track-lines.... This tells you the pitch of each individual audio-section/note.... next, rewind, select & zoom-in to the part of audio you wish to add an effect to.... Lets look at a few things Auto-Tune can do....
PITCH-BEND.... Auto-Tune can pitch-bend sustained notes ... Go to the sustained note... and above it you'll see it's original pitch in red, tracked.... ok.. lets say the sustained note is G2.... simply grab the drawing tool, and draw a pitch curve up to the next note, or a straight-line... good way to create a vocal-crescendo...
CHER's 'Do you believe in Life after Love' note-pitch thing... Yup... simply take a section with a sustained note, and add anchor points along it's length in the correct places... each anchor-point has a new pitch, and distances btween two similarly pitched anchor-points become sustained sections.... In effect this is identical to drawing in controllers for your normal sequencer programme, so if you can deal with that, then this is just the same....
VIBRATO ???..... has to be said... a touch of vibrato .. SOMETIMES... (cos i can't stick those vocalists that just add it to the end of every note).. it makes all the difference... and also, vibrato helps to smooth-out pitch problems in sustained notes.... The Vibrato-Section of Auto-Tune is visible in the 'AUTO-Mode' window/view, so select that window, then you'll see three faders on the right of the central 'CORRECT' meter, (see top-image)... Above the three faders, is a Drop-down selector where you choose from Sine Square or Sawtooth, (or none)... Select your wave, then set the 'Depth' & 'Rate' (that is how much effect is heard, & how deep the pitch-variation of the Vibrato is)... Finally, you have a DELAY control fader.... use that to offset the vibrato In-time.... this control lets you set the Vibrato to come in at a set time after the last pitch variation it seems.... so you can set it to add some nice vibrato to the tail-end of your vocal phrases....
Well, That in essence is Antares Auto-Tune... and if you do ANY vocal stuff like RnB etc.. this is an INVALUABLE tool... A mate of mine who does alot of RnB production and vocal sessions got Auto-Tune the other day... He said it saved him 4-5 hours work in the first session he used it on... It is now his first dream-ttol effect and is used at every sesssion.... The other day I tried it on a male vocalist's vocal tracks with Logic... Now this guy COULD sing ok, there were NO detectable pitch problems when listeing, but I sneaked Auto-Tune onto his vocal when he wasn't watching, and despite the fact that the vocal DID sound fine and in-tune, somehow the Auto-Tuner did make it sound smoother !!... so there ya go, from the Horses mouth... You can hear I made a CHER effect in the Real-Audio demo example below... Took about 5 minutes, and I've never done that Effect before, but it was pretty simple to achieve, you can hear I even was able from memory, to create the same melody as the Cher track, so it's pretty straightforward...
Incidently, the Auto-Tune is now also available as a TDM Pro-Tools plugin as well.. which I guess says something about this s/w's 'must-have' factor for vocals.
As mentioned above, the Auto-Tune s/w has many ready-to-go selectable SCALES each with accompanying KEY (A, B, C etc)... and the Auto-Tune gives you a FULL compliment of ready-to-select Scales as well.... everything from Major, Minor Chromatic & melodic scales to esoteric tunings like Indian, Arabic-1 & Arabic-2, Greek Chromatic & Greek Enharmonic, Greek Diatonic, Pythagorian etc etc... and if that large selection of preset Scales doesn't get it right for your needs, you can then further edit each Scale to create custom-built Scales !!... sorted !!....
Well, there ya have it... The Antares 'Auto-Tune', from Antares Audio Technologies... TOP s/w people... I'll definately be requesting it from now on for any vocal sessions.... a winner !!!
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