Auto Tune!

This week, I used the AutoTune 8.1 plug-in for the first time. This track consisted of a lead vocal in the verse and six harmony background vocals in the chorus. For the verse lead vocal, I used the Auto mode. This mode reads the audio and automatically tunes the pitch to the closest in s 12-tone equal temperament system. The speed of this can be adjusted to make it less robotic. Additionally, the “flex-tone” setting can be adjusted. This setting is similar to a soft-knee on a compressor. It eases the auto-tuning rather than being either on or off. I removed some notes that were out of the key that the vocalist consistently wavered towards.

For the vocal harmonies I used the graph mode of Auto-Tune. This mode has much more fine-tuning capabilities, but also takes much more time. I used mainly that point tool and the note drawing tool for these tracks. The point tool allows you draw a straight line from point A to B which it will then use to approximate a good starting point for the tuning. This can be adjusted using the tuning speed knob. Generally, a faster tuning speed will make it sound more robotic. This can work for vocal takes with less vibrato on them. The note tool allows you to draw the exact notes on the track almost like MIDI. This works well for sustained notes, but makes the vocals sound very jerky when in the middle of of a passage.

Here’s what I came up with in the end!