EQ Magazine - March 2009 - (Page 57)

8. Continue editing, and keep as much or as little harmonization as you like. That does it (Example 6). However, with standard DSPbased pitch shifting the harmonies seldom track formant changes, so the greater the amount of pitch shifting, the more unrealistic the sound. Therefore, you’ll probably want to mix the harmonies in the background, and apply some reverb (low diffusion settings work well, as that “thins out” the reverb a bit, Ex. 4. Like Melodyne, Samplitude’s “elastic” and keeps the vocals from window shows audio in a MIDI-type style. “stepping on” other parts). Also, you’ll need to cut the phrases make sure “Time Correction” is checked. with a fair amount of precision, as you 6. Solo the original track and major 3rd want to cut in the spaces between harmony. Note which parts sound right words. Zoom in as far as necessary; it together; cut away those pieces of the helps to turn off snap. harmony track that clash with the main Finally, because you’re shifting the vocal because they should have a minor vocals up in pitch, they’ll have more 3rd harmony. high frequency content. Trim back the 7. Solo the original track and minor highs slightly to “warm up” the vocals. 3rd harmony. Cut out any sections of Although this method will never the minor third harmony where there’s replace doing harmonies with “real” already a major third harmony. voices, for quick harmonies—or for those cases where the synthesized harmonies add a special effect—this is a very useful technique. HARDWARE OPTIONS While software is convenient if you’re working “in the box,” there are plenty of hardware vocal tools available. Two DigiTech vocal processors, the V300 and VX400, model a variety of vocal effects (and even include an expression pedal), but DigiTech’s Big Deal is the Vocalist Live line—VL2, VL4, and VL Pro. What makes them cool is that if you plug in a guitar (VL2/4) or use guitar or keyboard (VL Pro), the box analyzes the key and chord progression, and generates harmonies automatically—you don’t tell it what root and scale you’re using, because your instrument tells it. But are they really for live use only? I’ve run mic channels to the Vocalist and sent recorded tracks (including guitar, bass, or keyboard) into the Guitar input, and as long as I got the levels correct, everything worked properly. Of course, you have the additional www.eqmag.com MARCH 2009 EQ 57 http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/sos http://www.benchmarkmedia.com/sos http://www.eqmag.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of EQ Magazine - March 2009

EQ Magazine - March 2009 Contents Talk Box Sounding Board Mr. Scruff Apollo Sunshine Al Schmitt Toolbox Third Eye Blind Kind of Blue Guitar Trax Bass Management Key Issues Drum Heads Vocal Cords Mix Bus Cheat Sheet Ableton Live Vocal Tools Gadgets & Goodies Room with a Vu

EQ Magazine - March 2009

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