Keeping tabs on your input gain, and avoiding hitting the red is even more essential than usual when you’re recording your vocal with a mind to using it as the raw material for software processing. Positioning your microphone at the right distance from your mouth for the general volume of the type of vocal track you’re laying down is also a top priority – if you’re going to be belting out a raucous rock track, you’ll want to keep some space between your mouth and the grill, while closer-mic’ed vocals are more malleable for softer-toned genres. The bedroom producer's guide to recording vocals (Image credit: Getty/Carol Herbert/EyeEm) While your tone, pitch and frequency can be shifted after the fact, it’s critical to make sure that the clarity of the vocal recording is as clean as possible. Wrangling the raw materialīefore we delve into how software can help, it’s worth stating from the outset that even the best vocalist on earth can sound utterly soulless recording with inadequate gear. As long as you’ve got a clean vocal take (from an audio POV at least), software from the likes of Celemony, Synchro Arts, Soundtoys and Waves can grant us the means to mould a sparkling vocal from even the most atonal of takes. Here in 2022, there’s no shame if you can’t quite reach the high notes, you’re struggling with intonation or just not able to flawlessly imitate the confident character of the stars. Simply check the “Snap to ” button, and the software will automatically adjust the most out-of-tune pitches for you! It’s also possible to adjust the Pitch Center to add some realness back into the performance.The controversial appearance of Antares Auto-Tune in 1997 not only salvaged time back from end-of-their-tether producers and panicking, self-doubting vocalists, but opened up a whole new window on how the human voice can be worked with, irrespective of natural ability.

One of the quickest ways to correct pitch is using Melodyne’s “ Correct Pitch Macro” function. Now you have individual control over each pitch in the vocal and can adjust it in cents around the note center. Melodyne Essential should detect your audio’s key right away. If you don’t see the individual pitches in Melodyne, simply move up to the Algorithm menu and select “Melodic.” This will reanalyze the audio and represent it as the actual melodic content of the performance. To open Melodyne Essential on a vocal track, simply right-click the audio and choose “Edit with Melodyne.” Studio One will automatically open the track in Melodyne Essential. Studio One comes with a basic version called Melodyne Essential which is integrated into the DAW’s workflow. There’s lots of different pitch correction software out there, but Melodyne is one of the industry leaders. Pitch correction is all over today’s pop music to create that “pitch perfect” modern sound.

In between production responsibilities he conducts online training seminars, collaborative production meetings, software demonstrations, and video tutorials.Ĭarlo is Pro Mix Academy’s resident Studio One expert, too! Here he demonstrates how to apply pitch correction to a vocal! He’s also an audio production engineer with twenty years’ experience, and performs trainings, demonstrations, and services for top studios and institutions across the country.

Carlo Libertini is a Melodyne audio editing specialist with Music Marketing Inc.

Logic pitch correction