Owner`s manual
44
I
Chapter 5: The Auto-Tune Vocal Eect
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.
Since there seems to be a lot of mythology about how it’s accomplished, we
thought we’d provide the ocial Antares version here.
What is it?
Quite simply, the Auto-Tune Vocal Eect 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 Eect 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 two key elements to producing the Auto-Tune Vocal
Eect:
1. Retune Speed = 0
2. Pick the right scale
That’s pretty much it. Really.
There are, however, some possible variations in approach. Here are the
details:
1. As we already mentioned, start by setting 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 dierent eects.
• Try a dierent key and/or scale.
• Try the chromatic scale (although our experience is that if you’re going
for the classic eect, 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 eect for a particular performance.