Recording - May 2011 - 38

BY SEBASTIAN AROCHA MORTON

Auto-Tune 7 and Melodyne Editor
A producer’s perspective

When I was asked to give my thoughts on these two leading pitch-correction plug-ins, I knew I’d have to take a somewhat subjective approach. I can tell you that I have both of the latest versions and use both constantly. Why use both? Because they each go beyond their immediate goal, which is to correct vocals. So for any given project I use the one that solves the problem at hand. Let’s see how each does what it does best. Antares Auto-Tune When Auto-Tune first came out, it was a bit controversial, because singers and artists felt like it was an insult to use it on them. It was to artists what photoshopping was to models. As a singer you couldn’t help but feel like you weren’t good enough if they had to tune you. Then the “Cher Moment” happened in her song “Believe”, and Auto-Tune became cool as an effect. Then of course it become uncool again after everybody used the same setting. Before Cher, however, Auto-Tune could actually be used properly, not by faking a good performance from a bad singer, but as a tool to avoid draining all the energy out of the singer by having them do 100-plus takes in one day. In other words, singers could focus on important emotion rather than perfect technique. For those of you saying, “Well if they can’t sing in perfect tune, they shouldn’t be artists,” I point you to The Police’s “Roxanne”—if Sting wasn’t sharp on that word, it wouldn’t have the same vibe, period. Auto-Tune specifics Auto-Tune’s main strength is its Automatic Mode. It can be set almost as a compressor
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RECORDING MAY 2011

would be, to either grab every pitch strictly, or to work loosely. That comes in handy when you have it as an insert while the singer is actually laying down the take. It can be subtle enough so that the singer can’t even detect he’s singing through it and it’s correcting him in real time! The result is a huge smile and a feeling that they nailed the take! This especially comes in handy while recording doubles and harmonies. If you’ve ever needed to stop the session to comp a vocal so you can harmonize to it, you know how draining and tiresome it can be for the artist. Not even considering its all-new time correction capabilities (which Giles Reaves reviews elsewhere in this issue and which I mention here just to be complete), AT7 is a vast improvement from earlier versions and now offers: • Improved L/R audio selection for stereo signals; it works well to tune stereo signals that differ timbrally. You can choose which side triggers detection. • Move Region; as Giles discusses, this includes the timing of notes as well as the pitch, which previously was a Melodyne-only feature. Then there has been an overall tune-up of the standard tools of previous versions, such as: • Input type selection; you can choose the gender or type of signal. • Exotic Scale detection; good for film scores or World music where you could be tracking exotic flutes or singers that don’t follow western scales. • Inclusion of a virtual keyboard at the bottom of the screen to see what notes you input via MIDI. AT7 also features a vast MIDI input section which can aid producers in guiding the program while they play on a keyboard. This can be used subtly for dynamic purposes or almost as a vocoder if desired. There are several very cool features which can be “abused” for cool effects. The Throat Length and Formant Shifter is one of them—used subtly it can enhance the tone balance of the singer or instrument, used as an effect it can create comical alien or computer-like voices. Overall, I believe AT7’s main strengths are its MIDI input capabilities and its automatic insert mode. As a graphical tuner, I feel it’s still too complex and tedious. It has many steps you need to click on before you can do what Melodyne can do in one right-click. Which brings us to...

Recording - May 2011

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