Placement of Autotune

[MyBeautifulStar]

Ok, so here's a pretty simple question.

In a common plugin chain, where should autotune be placed to sound the most natural? For instance, should it be placed before or after the compression, and where should eq go?

I just want to reduce the clicky sound. I know how to use it correctly within itself, and I'm not entirely looking for perfect centered vocals on every note... just want a natural sound.

Oh, and for those who will say to me, "record it until you get the take you want," send me a package of extra time. PM me for my address, I'll pay you anything you want... especially if it's over 3 hours worth per day.

[Herman Munster]

I put it first before everything...

[steveschizoid]

If transparently fixing an out of tune vocal is your intent, you probably shouldn't have autotune as part of a chain; if you want to tune a vocal while minimizing the artifacts, you really have to do it a phrase at a time, and adapt the retuning speed to the material. In the new verson they've placed another important control - pitch tracking, or the amount of atonal noise it will allow before trying to tune - in the options menu. These days I find the graphical interface much more useful in getting really natural results. Have it analyze a phrase, then click "make a curve" and move parts of the curve around. you can use the scissors tool to split a curve as well (although it seems to take a few tries to get it to work - i've always meant to ask Antares about this problem) Of course you can draw a straight line for those long sustained notes that most singers have problems with. I don't think it matters to Autotune whether a track has been compressed or EQ'd. Theoretically EQ would be more likely than compression to change the way Autotune would react. If you want it to sound natural you have to use it surgically, and don't tune what doesn't need tuning! That said, recently I got lazy with the result of a poorly intonated bass guitar and just put Autotune at the top of the insert slots, and it worked perfectly - but it was a pretty simple bass line. Another thing you can do for fun is mult the track, pan them (or not) and use autotune as an insert on one, play with the tuning speed and see what you get.

[DivineMusic]

andy said it perfectly

[MyBeautifulStar]

I forgot to mention that it's melodyne that I'm using. And it has those features as well... the curve drawing and such.

[Herman Munster]

I do agree with the above, but have heard tracks that sound fine without artifact simply by placing it in the chain. Sometimes if I have a vocal track that sounds good except for a few spots of artifact, I'll duplicate the track and draw curves on those areas then paste that over the areas of artifact. There are several ways to skin the cat....