Help, Auto Tune Graphic Mode?

[BJohnston]

Hey all well I've found myself trying to use Auto Tune in the Graphic Mode to fix the majority of a lead vocal track. Is there anyway to track pieces of the the vocal that need to be fixed instead of laying the entire vocal track down in Auto Tune. When I lay the vocal down I have to start from the beginning of the track each time to listen to edit that I've made 1 or 2 minutes into the song. If I skip forward to listen it throws the Auto Tune off time. What am I doing wrong? I've tried using it in Audio Sweet to no avail. I've only had to use Auto Tune sparingly in the past. This performance is pretty off and no chance to recut it.

[drew]

make a new track, route the output of your vox track to the new track with a bus. select sections, fix them up and then print them onto the new track and move on. do it a few lines at a time.

[BJohnston]

Thanks, I apprecitate.

[toolskid]

don't be afraid to do it a syllable at a time if thats what it requires - just leave yourself overlap so you can do any fades you need to....

[zboy2854]

Assuming you're working in PT, using Audiosuite is the best way to do it IMO. Just tune the vocal in pieces.

I call up the audiosuite version of Autotune, then select the range of vocal I want to tune in the vocal track, usually a few bars or so at a time. Then in Autotune's graphical mode, I hit the Track button and then the Preview button, which will allow it to track the section of vocal. Then I hit Preview again to stop tracking (if you don't select preview again it will keep looping the section). Then just do your fixing as usual, and hit Process when you're done.

I prefer this method over creating a new track and bussing using the RTAS/TDM version, as it saves me time to do it on one track with Audiosuite. YMMV.

[toolskid]

a favoured method is to use the TDM/RTAS version to capture and fix the section I'm working on, then save the settings (including all the correction) and flip it onto the AS version. Duplicate playlist - POW... back to the grind

you have to check its tracking correctly tho - as it will be different almost every time

[JonCraig]

Originally Posted by zboy2854

Assuming you're working in PT, using Audiosuite is the best way to do it IMO.

i find it impossible to tune without a pitch reference. i always have a bass and acoustic (or something of that nature) going low in the background. just 'cause the vocalist is now right on the correct pitch doesn't mean he or she will fit right with the pitch of the other players.

--jon

[Billster]

I get better results using Melodyne. IMO it´s easier to achieve realistic-sounding vocaltracks with it and it´s a better UI, too. With Melodyne Uno released a couple of weeks ago it´s gotten a lot cheaper. Check out www.celemony.com.

Cheers,
Bill

[DAWgEAR]

Billster or anyone else,

Is Uno sufficient to do what can be done with Autotune in graphical mode? I've been interested in Melodyne, but am not sure which version is appropriate. I do not need multiple tracks and was hoping Uno would do. Any thoughts or suggestions?

Thanks in advance.

[toolskid]

I've been interested in melodyne for a while now, and would be interested in anyones experience running uno alongside tools with rewire

[zboy2854]

Originally Posted by JonCraig

i find it impossible to tune without a pitch reference. i always have a bass and acoustic (or something of that nature) going low in the background. just 'cause the vocalist is now right on the correct pitch doesn't mean he or she will fit right with the pitch of the other players.

--jon

I guess I take it for granted that I had a lot of extensive ear training. Once I know the key of a song, I can figure out which pitches the notes are supposed to be from hearing the melody without any accompaniment. I guess that's not necessarily the case with everyone. YMMV.

[wallace]

I usually highlight the sylable or phrase that I want to use, then call up the RTAS and go to graphical. I usually buss the new audio to a track labeled VOX_tuned or something, and process one phrase at a time. The only thing with autotune is that somtime's I'll listen back later and decide that I don't like it as much. I'm hesitant to use audiosweet in that case because unless you make all your edits beforehand, or unless you consolidate the track at the beginning, there is not an easy way to retreive the original audio.

That said, does anybody have any tips for using graphical mode? What do you do in situations where the curve is a above or below the reference line? what about when there's a bit if vibrato? How straight are your correction lines?

[gsharp]

for Melodyne. Has cut my tuning time by about 80%. the key is to "edit the definition" of the melody (when you get it you'll know what I mean) to make sure that melodyne has picked everything up in the right octave and is putting cuts in the correct spots. Takes a little time to get the hang of it, but once you do it's great.

g

[zboy2854]

Originally Posted by wallace

I usually highlight the sylable or phrase that I want to use, then call up the RTAS and go to graphical. I usually buss the new audio to a track labeled VOX_tuned or something, and process one phrase at a time. The only thing with autotune is that somtime's I'll listen back later and decide that I don't like it as much. I'm hesitant to use audiosweet in that case because unless you make all your edits beforehand, or unless you consolidate the track at the beginning, there is not an easy way to retreive the original audio.

Actually, it's quite easy to retrieve the original audio using Audiosuite. Before you start doing any tuning, just create a duplicate playlist of the original track and that is the one you'll do the tuning to. Then if you need to go back to any original pieces, just flip back to the original playlist, copy the section you need and paste it into the new playlist.

That said, does anybody have any tips for using graphical mode? What do you do in situations where the curve is a above or below the reference line? what about when there's a bit if vibrato? How straight are your correction lines?

Personally, the first thing I do is have Autotune "make curve" for the entire section. Then for curves above or below the ref line, I use the arrow tool and hold down ALT (to keep the curve locked in time) and move the top part of the curve up or down so it is on the ref line.

For vibrato, I almost never try to straighten them out, I always just move the whole vibrato up or down vertically so that the pitch reference line lands in the middle of the "sine waves".

[Studiocat]

Originally Posted by wallace

That said, does anybody have any tips for using graphical mode? What do you do in situations where the curve is a above or below the reference line? what about when there's a bit if vibrato? How straight are your correction lines?

Never (or VERY rarely) should you use the curve or line tool, in my opinion. Here's what you do instead:

(I learned a method from a bigshot producer)

You can do this in audiosuite, or (very cool) you can do the entire track in RTAS, then COPY the corrections into audiosuite for processing.

Track the pitch. Use the cursor tool to select the part of the curve you need to correct, like you do in a word processor. After you make the selection, click "make curve." Now switch to the pointer tool, and grab the coloured correction curve that autotune just created for you. Move that section up or down entirely (try not to move it left or right), or grab the left or right ends of the curve to make angular adjustments. Repeat for all the notes you need to fix. For radical adjustments, you'll have to break up your corrections into small segments.
This method, with a bit of practice, preserves all the subtle pitch changes in your singers voice that make it sound human! Don't manually draw in your corrections. I promise it will sound totally obvious and terrible if you do! tutt

A

[wallace]

Those are the types of tips I'm looking looking for. I'm in the middle of autotuning a few vocals for a release. I'm not that familiar with the playlists, but I'll give it a try. Is that different than the audio bin on the right hand side?

[zboy2854]

Originally Posted by wallace

Those are the types of tips I'm looking looking for. I'm in the middle of autotuning a few vocals for a release. I'm not that familiar with the playlists, but I'll give it a try. Is that different than the audio bin on the right hand side?

Yes, it's different than that. You can access playlists in PT by clicking on the little arrow right next to a track's name in the Edit window. Once you start using playlists, you'll wonder how you ever worked without them.

[Studiocat]

Yes, playlists and the bin are different things.

In the edit window, click on the little dropdown menu next to the track name, and click duplicate playlist. That will allow you to A/B any changes you make with the original audio. You can switch back and forth between the playlists. Name the new playlists according to the changes you're making eg. lead vox, lead vox AT, etc.

Playlists are commonly used for organizing mulitiple takes of a track.


ABW

[Studiocat]

zboy, you type slightly faster than I do

[zboy2854]

Get them fingers moving pokey!

[paterno]

One thing I've run into with Autotune is that it does not track consistently. You really have to pay attention to what it is doing -- because sometimes it is not quite on. I always use graphic mode, and I always listen as I print the segment I am tuning to another track. I can do the same segment 5 times, and at least two of them will be noticeably different than the others. If I don't like the way it goes down, I just re-print until it sounds right. I also listen against the music to see if the feels good with the existing music track.

Track the pitch. Use the cursor tool to select the part of the curve you need to correct, like you do in a word processor. After you make the selection, click "make curve." Now switch to the pointer tool, and grab the coloured correction curve that autotune just created for you. Move that section up or down entirely (try not to move it left or right), or grab the left or right ends of the curve to make angular adjustments. Repeat for all the notes you need to fix. For radical adjustments, you'll have to break up your corrections into small segments.
This method, with a bit of practice, preserves all the subtle pitch changes in your singers voice that make it sound human! Don't manually draw in your corrections. I promise it will sound totally obvious and terrible if you do!

While this works sometimes, there are no absolutes when it comes to this. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, sometimes you have to manually draw things to get them back to a more natural sound, especially when the vocalist is falling or rising across several notes. Autotune tries to force it to a pitch instead of letting the note just glide through. In these cases, i have to draw the slope manually.

... Melodyne. Has cut my tuning time by about 80%. the key is to "edit the definition" of the melody (when you get it you'll know what I mean) to make sure that melodyne has picked everything up in the right octave and is putting cuts in the correct spots. Takes a little time to get the hang of it, but once you do it's great.

I like Melodyne a lot as well. Especially for creating harmony tracks. It does take some time to get it to detect the melody properly. I can see myself using it more and more in the future.


-John

[gsharp]

Originally Posted by paterno

I like Melodyne a lot as well. Especially for creating harmony tracks.

I really really dig it for this. Makes tuning piles of backgrounds a breeze. Just stack 'em up and move the notes around til its right. This is where I really feel the multitrack version of Melodyne is worth the extra $$.

g

[Curtis Franklin]

i just got melodyne based on info from these forums (and so my sluttiness starts).

it rules. i tried to use antares plugins at a friend's studio, and had a diffecult time. melodyne's interface is beautiful, and while there are artifacts there is none to the degree of the cher sounding garbage in most commericially produced albums.


go get it

[Dickens]

Originally Posted by gsharp

I really really dig it for this. Makes tuning piles of backgrounds a breeze. Just stack 'em up and move the notes around til its right. This is where I really feel the multitrack version of Melodyne is worth the extra $$.

g

In what way(s) does it differ from Autotune?
What is the price difference?

[~Zenshin Suru~]

it differs from autotune, in that there is no "automatic mode". You have to "transfer" audio into melodyne. If you are using "melodyne plugin" then all you have to do is instantiate "melodyne plugin", push the big "transfer" button and playback the track. After the track is played back, there is no funny business mucking about with red and yellow lines and what you see on the interface is usually what you're hearing. The notes are on a piano roll and look like orange blobs. You can just extend the blobs, cut the blobs, move the blobs up and down in pitch as well as in time. You can select and "correct pitch" to a percentage 0 to 100. You can even quantize audio to the beat. (I know that you can do this in Protools now, but Melodyne had it down first.

The downside is the artifacts that can creep in. It can take time to edit the blobs into sonic submission. hint..if you click and hold on the pitch edit button, you also get the tools "pitch modulation" and "pitch drift" which are really crucial sometimes. Anyway, I use it on all kinds of sources from native american flute, to sitar. Sometimes if melodyne straight away isn't sounding right I'll try Auto tune, but I usually always go back to melodyne anyway.

It's the only way to turn audio into something that resembles midi for editing. To be honest, I just had a round with autotune, and now I'm actuallly transfer into Melodyne. Even though it takes time editing to get what you want, it's so much nicer than autotune, for me.

get melodyne plugin.