Autotune

Lee Douglas

Lee Douglas

Sophomore
Jan 15, 2011
183
0
16
Northwest
A quick question for you touring guys- What is the correct way to implement Auto-tune, as a vocal effect, in a live situation? Presuming it's not a track and being used as pitch quantization rather than correction. I've never been asked to use one other than the occasional vocal pedal. Does it happen from stage? Does the effect get fed into the monitoring system? I'm sure there are many right answers. Just curious how you guys do it. Thanks!
 
Re: Autotune

If you're referring to using it as an effect, such as T Pain or Cher then that's easy. Hideous, but easy. If you're on an Avid desk you could simply insert AT on a channel (just DON'T use 'graphic' mode) and route accordingly. Antares also makes a hardware unit but it's tricky to get it to work properly and consistently. Do not feed the effected signal to the monitors as it really screws up the singer's perception and pitch center. They just need to trust that you have it all tweaked out in the PA.
 
Re: Autotune

I've used the Antares Stand alone unit as an effect where I just bussed it out of an Aux post fader and brought it back in on a channel. At this point it could be either blended or I could unassign the vocal channel from the group or main out and have it fully wet. You can set the key on those units and the amount of mess you want based on a numeric scale. As you increase the effect the more robotic it becomes. You might also want to set to chromatic so it gives you the full range of notes in the key. All it knows is that it's supposed to hear a note and match it to the closest note in the key signature, the effect level will help you get to the Super Bowl.

Like Andy said, if the singer hears the effect in the monitors, they will go in a frenzy.
 
Re: Autotune

I have wondered this same thing, and so far it has been on CD for a few acts. Tomorrow I have a gig where the Autotune is an insert at FOH (the band is bringing it), so I'll see what they use.
 
Re: Autotune

They didn't have a FOH guy, so they made do without the Auto-Tune. The unit that they brought was a Tascam TA-1VP.
 
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