® Vocal Express 5 Production Tools for Vocalists Five easy-to-use plug-ins give you everything you need for recording great vocal tracks. Optimized for GarageBand and other leading Mac and Windows recording software.
ii ©2012 Antares Audio Technologies. All rights reserved. Certified Isinglass-free.™ All trademarks are property of their respective owners. www.antarestech.
iii The Obligatory Legal Mumbo-Jumbo The Antares Vocal Express software and this User’s Manual are protected by copyright law. Making copies, adaptations, or derivative works without the prior written authorization of Antares Audio Technologies, is prohibited by law and constitutes a punishable violation of the law. Antares Audio Technologies retains all ownership rights to the Vocal Express software and its documentation. Use of Vocal Express is limited by the following license agreement.
iv Term of the Agreement This agreement is effective until terminated by you or Antares. You may terminate the agreement at any time by notifying Antares and destroying all copies of the manual, and erasing Vocal Express from all machine-readable media, whether on-line or on archival copies. In the event of breach of any of the terms of this agreement, you shall pay the attorney’s fees of Antares that are reasonably necessary to enforce the agreement plus resulting damages.
01 Contents Getting Started 03 Auto-Tune EFX 2 04 Chapter 2 PUNCH Evo 14 Chapter 3 DUO Evo 16 Chapter 4 WARM 20 Chapter 5 MUTATOR Evo 25 Chapter 1 Tutorials Auto-Motion Vocal Pattern Generation 11 13
02 Welcome! On behalf of everyone at Antares Audio Technologies, we’d like to offer both our thanks and congratulations on your decision to purchase Antares Vocal Express, a bundle of five powerful, but easy-to-use plug-ins for recording great vocal tracks. Before you proceed any farther, we’d like to strongly encourage you to register and authorize your copy of Vocal Express. (You can skip ahead to the Authorization and Installation instructions on page 03. We’ll wait.
03 Getting Started Installing Vocal Express Vocal Express is designed to work with a wide variety of digital audio applications. Please refer to your host application’s user manual for more information on installing and using plug-ins. (Although in most cases, simply double-clicking the Vocal Express installer and following the resulting directions will be all you need to do.) Authorizing Vocal Express Authorization is the process by which Vocal Express is allowed to permanently run on your computer.
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05 1 Auto-Tune EFX 2 Some background In 1997, Antares first introduced the ground-breaking Auto-Tune Pitch Correcting Plug-In and Recording Magazine called Auto-Tune a “holy grail of recording.” In the intervening years, Auto-Tune has established itself as the worldwide standard in professional pitch correction. Today, it’s used daily by tens of thousands of audio professionals to save studio and editing time, ease the frustration of endless retakes, or save that otherwise once-in-a-lifetime performance.
06 How to do it Auto-Tune EFX 2 has been designed to make almost everything automatic. Simply follow the steps below: Pitch Correction or Auto-Tune Vocal Effect 1. Select an effect type Auto-Tune EFX 2 provides two alternative versions of the Auto-Tune Vocal Effect as well as real-time pitch correction. 2. Set Tracking In most cases, simply leaving the Tracking switch at its default setting of “Normal” will ensure accurate pitch detection and tracking.
07 A TIP: If you don’t know the key of your track, trial-and-error works pretty well. Start by setting Major or Minor and then just trying one Key after another until one sounds good. 5. Play your track Auto-Tune EFX 2 will process your input vocal and, depending on your choice of Effect Type, will either correct or quantize it to the target scale notes. Mr. Hand will continuously indicate the current target note. If you like the result, you’re done. If not, continue with the next step. 6.
08 Soft EFX: Transitions between notes of the pattern will be slightly less instantaneous. Legato: The notes of the pattern will glide smoothly from one to the next. IMPORTANT NOTE: Despite the similarities, the Pattern Style selection is completely independent of the Effect Style selection.
09 4. Trigger the Pattern Some useful tips Pitch Correction and Auto-Tune Vocal Effect Play your track. At any point, click and hold the Trigger button to play the selected pattern. Continuing to hold down the Trigger button will cause the pattern to repeat for as long as you hold it down. Release the Trigger button to stop the pattern. Repeat as desired.
10 Auto-Motion Vocal Pattern Generation 1. Auto-Motion depends on the same Voice Type, Tracking, Key, and Scale settings as pitch correction and the Auto-Tune Vocal Effect. Even if you aren’t doing pitch correction or using the Auto-Tune Vocal Effect, be sure to correctly set those controls. 2. Try using different patterns in different parts of your track by using your host’s automation capability to switch patterns at the appropriate points in the track. 3.
11 Auto-Tune EFX 2 Tutorials This chapter introduces you to how Auto-Tune EFX 2 works by guiding you through three brief tutorials. The tutorials require a number of audio files. They can be found on the Auto-Tune EFX 2 DVD, or you can download them from: http://www.antarestech.com/download/update.shtml Then just follow these steps: Tutorial 1: Auto-Tune Vocal Effect 1. Create a new project in your host and import the tutorial files “hidin_vocal.wav” and “hidin_accomp.wav” onto two tracks of the project.
12 Tutorial 3: Auto-Motion Vocal Pattern Generation The best way to become familiar with AutoMotion is simply to play around with it. To get started: 1. Load the “hidin” files from Tutorial 1 and set the controls as instructed in that tutorial. 2. Set your host’s tempo to 132 BPM and set the Auto-Motion tempo to “Sync to Host” and “1/16.” 3. Set the Auto-Motion Pattern Style to Hard EFX. 4. Select the pattern “Half Steps.” 5. Start playing the project.
13 Creating, Editing and Updating Auto-Motion Patterns For the adventuresome among you, Auto-Tune EFX 2’s patterns are stored in a dedicated file in the standard MusicXML format.
14 2: PUNCH Evo Vocal Impact Enhancer PUNCH Evo is a processor that is designed to optimize the level of a vocal track to allow it to cut through a dense mix with power and clarity. It provides a combination of compression, gain, limiting, and overload protection with a user interface designed for speed and simplicity. Gain Controls Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control to reset it to its default value of 0.0. Input Level This meter displays the input level of the signal to be processed.
15 Ceiling This control allows you to attenuate the signal after all other processing. Although PUNCH Evo allows you to create a fulllevel signal without risk of ugly distortion, it will usually be wise to apply at least a little attenuation here to allow yourself some room for any further processing that might apply gain. The default setting of -3.0 dB is a good starting point, and you can always come back and add in more if necessary as you continue processing and the mix takes shape.
16 3: DUO Evo Vocal Modeling Auto-Doubler The DUO Evo Vocal Modeling Auto-Doubler automatically generates a doubled vocal part from any existing monophonic vocal. Unlike conventional doublers that simply apply pitch and delay variation to the original part, DUO Evo makes use of Antares’ unique vocal modeling and vibrato processing technologies to create a doubled part that actually sounds like another singer. There is no easier or quicker way to create a realistic doubled vocal part.
17 Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control to reset it to its default value of 0. Vibrato The Vibrato control allows you to select the amount of variation in vibrato depth applied to the doubled voice. Selecting a positive value increases the doubled voice’s vibrato depth relative to the original voice. Selecting a negative value decreases the doubled voice’s vibrato depth relative to the original voice.
18 DUO Evo’s timing variation is completely independent of pitch variation. To get a good idea of the effect of timing variation, use the level controls to listen only to the doubled voice. set Vibrato to 0 and Pitch Variation to 10. Set Timing Variation to maximum and process a rhythmic vocal performance. Pretty weird. Command (Mac)/Control (PC) click the control to reset it to its default value of 10. levels Original Level Sets the level of the original voice.
19 Usage Tips • • • • DUO Evo is available in mono and stereo versions and, depending on the capabilities of your host program, a mono -> stereo version (which in most cases is the preferred routing). In the case of the stereo version, DUO Evo processes only the left channel. DUO Evo is dramatically more effective with the original and doubled parts panned apart, so if at all possible, try always to use it with stereo output. For best performance, DUO Evo requires a clean, pitched monophonic signal.
20 4: WARM Tube Saturation Generator Based on Antares’ legendary (at least among those of us who work here and, based on the volume of emails we’ve gotten since we discontinued it, a fair number of others as well) Tube plug-in, WARM, warms up your vocals with Antares’ world-renown tube modeling technology, while being so processing-efficient, you can put an instance on pretty much every track in your project and still barely see your CPU meter twitch.
21 tube “warmth.” Additionally, WARM has been designed to be extremely DSP efficient, so that even a relatively modest native system will be capable of running WARM on an almost unlimited number of tracks simultaneously. What’s the big deal with tubes anyway? For most of us in audio recording, distortion is a bad word. We typically want the cleanest possible recordings, free of any audible distortion.
22 Tube Selector WARM includes two different tube models. The Velvet (blue) tube models the subtle effects of a classic high-quality tube preamp. While this model is perfect for adding warmth to vocals, it’s just as useful for acoustic guitar, horns, strings, synth pads, in fact pretty much anything. The Crunch (red) tube models the deep, warm distortion of an overdriven tube amplifier. Use it in moderation to impart a subtle (or not-sosubtle) effect to almost any track.
23 To adjust the Drive amount, click on the fader handle and move it left or right to the desired setting. The numerical display will indicate the amplification factor in dB and the tube graphic’s will “glow” will change to provide an additional visual indication (i.e., “eye candy”). Command (Mac)/Alt (PC) clicking anywhere in the scale will reset the Drive value to 0dB OmniTube Without OmniTube engaged, WARM functions exactly like a tube preamp, i.e.
24 Usage Tips At its most basic level, WARM is designed to add an extremely accurate model of a tube preamp’s sound to warm your digital tracks. But we have purposely designed WARM to have a range of controls that allow you to push well beyond that model. Here are a few other things to try: • • • • Pass your entire final mix through WARM. Instantiate a stereo version of WARM (or more if you are mixing for surround) on your mix bus. Start with a little Velvet tube with OmniTube off.
25 5 : MUTATOR Evo Extreme Voice Designer MUTATOR Evo provides a combination of tools for creating unusual, weird, or downright wacky voices. With high-quality pitch shifting, throat modeling, a pitch-tracking ring modulator for “mutation,” and a mind-bending Alienization function, MUTATOR Evo is the perfect tool for unique vocal effects and post-production sound design.
26 Controls Vocal Range Use this control to select the range of the track you will be processing. Choices include soprano voice, alto/tenor voice, baritone/bass voice and instrument (a general setting for anything that isn’t actually a vocal). Matching the appropriate algorithm to the input results in faster and more accurate pitch detection and more accurate pitch shifting and modeling. To select vocal range, click on the Vocal Range pop-up and then select the desired range from the pop-up list.
27 varying the length of the voice’s model vocal tract. It can be used in combination with the Shift Pitch control to modify gender and/or vocal quality. Values above 1.00 represent a lengthening of the throat while values below 1.00 represent a shortening of the throat. The actual values represent the percentage change in the throat length. For example, a value of 1.20 represents a 20% increase in throat length, while a value of 0.80 represents a 20% decrease in throat length.
28 Note: For the technically curious, what’s going on here is a unique variation of the technique called ring modulation, a staple of early analog synthesizers. What makes MUTATOR Evo’s mutation process special is that MUTATOR Evo is constantly detecting the pitch of the input voice and shifting the relative pitch of the modulating signal to match, thereby preserving the basic mutation quality regardless of pitch changes in the input.
29 light to indicate that MUTATOR Evo is in fact receiving the clock signal from your host. In Tempo Sync Mode, the Dialect control lets you select what division or multiplier of the beat will define the length and position of each speech segment. The choices are: 4/4 (4 beats) 3/4 (3 beats) 2/4 (2 beats) 1/4. (dotted quarter note) 1/4 (quarter note) 1/4T (quarter note triplet) 1/8. (dotted 8th note) 1/8 (8th note) 1/8T (8th note triplet) 1/16.
30 Bypas The Bypass control lets you completely bypass the plug-in. When the Bypass button is blue, the plug-in is processing normally. When it is red, it is bypassed. Click the button to toggle its state. Usage Tips The effects of the various MUTATOR Evo functions are so dependent on the nature of each individual voice, it’s hard to give useful general guidelines. If there was ever a plug-in that rewarded just messing around, this is it.
