User Manual

80
5: The Auto-Tune Vocal Eect
In addition to its adoption as the worldwide standard in professional pitch
correction, Auto-Tune has also gained renown as the tool of choice for what has
become one of the signature vocal sounds of our time.
First heard on Cher’s 1998 mega-hit “Believe,” variations of the eect have gone
on to appear on songs from a huge variety of artists. Since there seems to be a lot of mythology
about how it’s accomplished, we thought we’d provide the ocial Antares version here.
What is it?
Quite simply, the Auto-Tune Vocal Eect
is what is technically known as “pitch
quantization.” That is, instead of allowing all
of the small variations in pitch and the gradual
transitions between notes that are a normal
part of singing (and speaking, for that matter),
the Auto-Tune Vocal Eect limits each note
to its exact target pitch, stripping out any
variation, as well as forcing instantaneous
transitions between notes.
How to do it.
There are basically three key elements to
producing the Auto-Tune Vocal Eect in Auto-
Tune 8:
1. Set Correction Style to “Classic”
2. Set Retune Speed = 
3. Pick the right scale
That’s pretty much it. Really.
There are, however, some possible variations
in approach, depending mainly on whether
you want to use Automatic Mode or Graphical
Mode. Here are the details:
Automatic Mode
1. As we already mentioned, start by setting
Correction Style to “Classic” and Retune
Speed to 0.
2. Set the Key and Scale to the key and scale
of your track.
3. Play your track. If you like the result, you’re
done.
4. If you’re not happy with the result, try one
or more of the following:
•
Edit the scale notes. Depending on the
specific vocal line, adding or removing
scale notes can give you distinctly
dierent eects.
•
Try a dierent key and/or scale.
•
Try the chromatic scale (although our
experience is that if you’re going for the
classic eect, chromatic rarely provides
it).
•
Try a Retune Speed of 1 or 2 or a bit
slower. This will allow slight pitch
variations and slightly less instant note
transitions, but may result in the right
eect for a particular performance.
5. Don’t forget your host’s Bypass function.
Limiting the Auto-Tune Vocal Eect just to
specific phrases can provide sonic contrast
in your song.