Auto-tune Help

[mhoggard01]

Hi. This is my first post. This site is AWESOME!!!! Well, here goes. I am a recent transplant from ADATs to the DAW world using Sonar. My quest is to master Antares Auto Tune plugin. I have read some posts that discussed whether or not people like it, but not much was mentioned about parameter settings or technique. Question #1; which is the better way to use it, automatic or manual mode? Question #2; when using automatic mode, is the approach to set the key to the key of the song? If a vocal is flat or sharp, should the key be set flat or sharp? Any tips, tricks or comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Linwood]

Always use it in the graphic mode. Learn to trace only what you feel needs to be tuned and drag that to pitch. As with anything, a little goes a long way. It's an easy thing to abuse and I think we're all guilty of it when in a hurry. (At least I know I am.)

 

[Babyhead]

OK..This is what I do for tuning vox:

1: I set up an aux to a bus to record onto another track. Make sure evreything is at unity.

2: Take any plugin other than AT off the track.

3: Take a phrase and load it into AT. Manually correct it with the drawing tools, comparing it against the track and a keyboard. Make sure it doesn't sound like Cher.

4: Record the tuned vox onto another track.

Repeat steps 3 & 4 until there is no BS.

Just take your time. That is how the pros do it. Then you knock down the vox, compress it, fx it and voila...it now sounds natural...(?)

-BH

 

[mhoggard01]

Thanks Linwood and Babyhead. I will start noodling around with the voc tracks and see what I can do. Thanks again.

 

[JensenBohren]

This is a 'silly' use for the program... but I found it made a pretty good intro to a song that 'started' too soon...

The test tone was still on Track 1, and I kinda liked the tests before it(it was mostly studio noise like one of the group members saying 'ready!', the drummer doing some rapid kicks to get kick level, then about half a second of tone... DOooooot.

I took the Doooot and drew a line with Graphical... sounded like a digital slide wistle. Useless information in all probability, but kinda funny.

 

[Rip]

OK..This is what I do for tuning vox:

1: I set up an aux to a bus to record onto another track. Make sure evreything is at unity.

2: Take any plugin other than AT off the track.

3: Take a phrase and load it into AT. Manually correct it with the drawing tools, comparing it against the track and a keyboard. Make sure it doesn't sound like Cher.

4: Record the tuned vox onto another track.

Repeat steps 3 & 4 until there is no BS.

Just take your time. That is how the pros do it. Then you knock down the vox, compress it, fx it and voila...it now sounds natural...(?)

-BH

Hello! New member here and newbie with Pro Tools LE (ran across this post via google). I recently bought Antares Auto-tune 4 and am messing around with it. I really liked this particular suggestion, as I have tweaked one of my vocal tracks in graphical mode, but I am not sure how to do step number one (newbie, remember?).

I know how to setup an aux track but am not sure how to bus my tweaked track to it. How do I set this up? Your detailed response would be greatly appreciated, and I thank you for your patience.
Cheers!!!

 

[DKeenum]

I want to join in and say that I would love to any and all pointers, tricks, and advice on using auto-tune.

 

[jbexp]

In response to how you would actually do this with pro-tools LE:

Actually, you want to set up a standard track to record to, not an aux track. Set the input for that track to be bus 1 (mono). If it turns out you were are already using that bus for something else then you will need to pick a different one. If you *don't know* whether or not you are using bus 1, then you probably aren't.

Now, set up an Aux Send on your vocal track to Bus 1 (mono). The aux sends are the four (or five?) little boxes below the four (or five?) little insert boxes on your track view.

Before you do anything else, you will probably want to set the fader on your new track down to 0 volume so that you don't get double-loud vocals in your mix.

When you are ready to record the corrected vocal simply record-arm your newly created track and then record.

Explanation:
Aux sends simply allow you to send the audio to different places besides the main output. What you are doing here is sending the audio to Bus 1 besides the main output. Since you have set the input on your newly created track to Bus 1, it will receive it's audio input from Bus 1. This is how buses work.

Hope this helps answer your question!

 

[Rip]

In response to how you would actually do this with pro-tools LE:

Actually, you want to set up a standard track to record to, not an aux track. Set the input for that track to be bus 1 (mono). If it turns out you were are already using that bus for something else then you will need to pick a different one. If you *don't know* whether or not you are using bus 1, then you probably aren't.

Now, set up an Aux Send on your vocal track to Bus 1 (mono). The aux sends are the four (or five?) little boxes below the four (or five?) little insert boxes on your track view.

Before you do anything else, you will probably want to set the fader on your new track down to 0 volume so that you don't get double-loud vocals in your mix.

When you are ready to record the corrected vocal simply record-arm your newly created track and then record.

Explanation:
Aux sends simply allow you to send the audio to different places besides the main output. What you are doing here is sending the audio to Bus 1 besides the main output. Since you have set the input on your newly created track to Bus 1, it will receive it's audio input from Bus 1. This is how buses work.

Hope this helps answer your question!

YES!!! Thank you so much for your response. I really had not thought about just sending it to another track, so I appreciate the suggestion and walkthru. I also appreciate the explanation of sending and busing, as it cleared up some confusion.

 

[dustbro]

...and when you guys master this boring little plugin, you can move on to the next level with Melodyne. Let's just say that "everybody's using it", if you know what I mean.

 

[Kurt Foster]

I just want to pop in here and say welcome to RO to mhoggard01 and Rip ... glad you guys found the place and I hope you have a good time here..

 

[Rip]

I just want to pop in here and say welcome to RO to mhoggard01 and Rip ... glad you guys found the place and I hope you have a good time here..

Thanks, Kurt!

 

[Phil Blackbourn]

melodyne...

last time i used it 2.5, it tuned pretty well, but has lots of digital artifacts in it. ie... it sounds really bad...

manual auto-tune is the to go, takes time, but its worth it.

 

[pmolsonmus]

manual auto-tune is the to go, takes time, but its worth it.

Sorry to bust up your little party (By the way, welcome newcomers)
but neither auto-tune or melodyne is the way to go.

Learn to sing in tune IT takes time but is worth it. Check out the vocal booth for pointers. (sorry for the shameless plug - I hope I don't get the spam slam.)

"If God had wanted us to use auto-tune, he would have given us an interface"

 

[Joe Crawford]

One of the best discriptions I've seen on how to use AT can be found in the following thread: (look for Greg Thomson's post)

http://recforums.prosoundweb.com/index.php/t/301/0

Joe Crawford

 

[DKeenum]

Thanks! Good article.