From its early incarnations in Cher's 'Believe' to the Black Eyed Peas, right through to the complete overkill vocoder-esque usage championed by the likes of Kanye West and T-Pain, autotune has become the unlikely breakthrough iconic sound of 21st century hip hop, dance and pop.
The plug-ins used to achieve the effect vary, but the concept remains the same - a harshly tweaked autotune designed to pull the vocal line so rigidly that it creates an new synthesised vocal effect that stands as an recognisable effect in its own right. Although the industry standard is Antares - A similar effect is relatively easy to achieve in most modern DAWs. The following steps will help achieve it with Apple's Logic software:
Getting a Vocal Take
The first step in achieving autotune synth heaven is to simply record a vocal line. This can be absolutely anything - a chorus, a verse - even a whole song. And naturally, the tuning of it does not need to be 100% spot on - however - it is worth noting that if an artist has a specific tune in mind, then if the singer deviates from that tune by too much, the autotune effect may change it to the point of being unrecognisable - so it is worth working with singers who can sing at least vaguely in tune!
Preparing The Take
Once a vocal part is recorded, the next step is to apply the relevant plug-ins. It's important to remember at this point that it is still a vocal part that is being treated here, and apart from the autotune should be considered in the same way. Effects that are commonly used to enhance a vocal such as compression and limiting should be applied at this point and placed BEFORE the autotune in the plug-in chain (but ideally leave out any reverbs or delays and put these on a separate channel - this technique will allow a nice pure vocal sound for the autotune to work with). Once those effects are lined up, it's time to add the autotune plug-in itself.
Applying The Effect
The autotune effect in Logic is not actually known as 'autotune' but 'pitch correction'. It can be found in the list of standard plug-ins available in the software. Click and hold the left mouse button on your plug-in strip and scroll down to 'pitch / pitch correction / mono' and release the button. This will bring up a colourful set of options, and the adjustments needed to join the echelons of T-Pain and co are surprisingly simple.
Firstly, the 'response' time needs to be reduced to zero. This is the time the computer waits before pulling the vocal in tune - if a more subtle use of autotune was required, a happy medium would need to be found to prevent the vocal line sounding computerised - but in THIS case, that is entirely the intention, so drag the fader all the way down.
At this point, a quick playback should reveal the plug-in having a rather extreme effect on the vocals not dissimilar to the iconic effect we're trying to achieve - but if it's still not enough - one way to make the effect more extreme still is to 'take out' some of the notes that are being hit by clicking on them on the green and blue keyboard. Be careful which notes are 'turned off' though - as if it's an important note in the melody, it may cause the vocals to go out of tune.
The trick here is to listen to the part and identify which notes sound bad in the mix. If a note lights up and it sounds horrible - turn it off so only the 'good' notes are left - this should give a harsher autotune and leave you with an effect similar to that heard in the charts.
Other Points
It is worth experimenting with different scales and removing different notes from the plug-in window. Sometimes it will make the vocal sound horrid, but occasionally it will create just the right nuance to increase the impact of the autotune. Remember - the plug-in doesn't change the dry recorded vocal take, so feel free to experiment with the effect - safe in the knowledge that the original take will stay intact if the effect is not required after all.
Autotune
Pitch correction in Logic is a powerful plug-in that can be used to great effect. Stick to using it sparingly, and sensitively, and it can add a great synth dynamic to a vocal, especially when combined with Logic's amazng EVOC vocoder plug-in. As with all recording - experimentation and fun are the key words: Play around with the effect and the settings and find something that suits the music you're creating.
Join the Conversation