"Autotune", if you translate the English term Auto Tune, means some kind of automatic tuning. In music, in most cases, this term is understood to mean the means of processing vocals in terms of correcting incorrectly sung notes. Roughly speaking, “Autotune” is exactly what most vocalists use to bring the sung part into a normal listening form. And then, after all, the majority of “pop-singers” singing to the soundtrack, as it turns out, are incapable of performing normally. Naturally, studios use equalizer programs to give vocals a commercial or professional sound.
"Autotune" - what is this plugin?
One of the most popular is the Antares AUTO-TUNE program, made in the form of plug-ins of the VST, RTAS and DX format, which can be used in any DAW studio that supports this format (FL Studio, Cubase, PreSonus Studio One, Cakewalk Sonar, etc. .).
The process of autotune itself is the alignment of vocals with notes in the selected key. Almost all programs of this type allow you to set the initial conditions in the recognition of voice and its timbre (male, female, childish, soprano, bass, etc.).
General principles of vocal alignment programs
"Autotune" in Russian in the form of plug-ins connected to the studios is unlikely to be found. Nevertheless, even with minimal knowledge of English, dealing with the Antares software module is not difficult.
Let’s take FL Studio as the basis and proceed from the actions performed in this software environment.
"Autotune" for FL Studio
We presume that the vocal track has already been recorded (either in the program itself or in another editor).
After installing the plug-in in the VST-directory of the program, you need to activate it by searching (quick update of the Fast Scan add-on list). Then, by dragging or right-clicking, you should add it as an effect to the corresponding track of the remote control, after which you can begin to resolve the issue of how to use autotune.
Basic settings and parameters Antares AUTO-TUNE
The first step is to determine what type of vocals corresponds to the recorded audio track. To do this, use the Input Type button. Then it’s worth listening to the vocals without processing with the default settings. If he does not pull on the “live” one, you will have to set the Key (Key) and the type of harmonic sequence (fret) used to more accurately determine the shift of notes in one direction or another. For example, C major with chromatic sequence.
In the editing process, you can use settings like Humanize, or, more simply, add some kind of realism to the performance (this is optional, but you should not overdo it, otherwise the chorus or even flanger effect will appear).
In principle, automatic tuning can be used, but the plugin itself also has a special graphical editor in which all the actions to align the vocals can be performed manually. This will sound better.
Alternative as Melodyne App
But the original Antares Autotune is only the simplest means of processing a voice part, which, although it is quite simple to use, nevertheless has a number of significant drawbacks. Well, how much can you pull with it? Well, a quarter tone, well, a half tone at maximum (adjacent notes), no more. The program, in fact, is not designed for wider ranges initially.
But when professional editing is required, perhaps the most powerful utility of our time called Melodyne comes to the rescue (it is installed both as a plug-in and as an independent Standalone program). It has more features than Antares.
You can easily move vocal pieces through notes without fear that the sound quality will change (within reasonable limits, of course). In addition to pulling up the vocals, you can use special functions for leveling notes (Quantize), several automatic processing algorithms to choose from, tempo adjustment, a music and sound editor, built-in effects and much more.
An alternative to all customization programs
To achieve high-quality sound in the same FL Studio editor even with the use of plug-ins like Antares or Melodyne will fail. At the very least, production and post-production should be done with completely different applications at a higher level.
Sound editing will have to be done using editors like Sound Forge or Audition. In programs of this type, editing is limited by the capabilities of the applications themselves only because they do not represent the track in a wave form, but this is also a plus.
Any producer will say that it is in the wave representation of the audio that you need to edit. If you don’t know how to do this, you can even use the simplest sound tuning programs. To get started, you should deal with the Audacity utility. It is quite easy to use. But when you master it, you can begin to study more serious things.
Again, you need to see the difference between the work of wave editors and rectifiers like the above-mentioned utilities. Even in reactors such as Adobe Audition in the form of a wave, you can open any track and any format. But in them, initially, pitch editing is built on slightly different principles, which, by the way, exceed the capabilities of standard plugins.
Instead of a total
It remains to add that the question of how to make autotune in the general understanding of the processes taking place, and, regardless of the software used, is not so complicated. That's why such automated utilities were created. Another thing is to sing so that minimal intervention is required (and it will be required in any case), which does not come down to leveling the vocals in terms of incorrectly sung notes, but only to editing the overall volume level or using superimposed effects. And the programs presented above, no matter how many would like this, do not work in real time, that is, they will not work for concert performances with an instant effect of “reaching out”.
For such concerts, you will have to use hybrid programs that can work in the mode of combining incoming, reproduced in a given period of time and output signal. This does not always work correctly, especially when you consider the delay between the input and output signal, for example, at a concert when there is a difference in the sound of the monitors on the stage and the output portal, which can give a sound reflection in the hall.