Auto-Tune

A Lack Of Passion In A Performance Can't Be Fixed By Effects, But…

December 5, 2012 by Ken 2 Comments

There’s something every recording engineer thinks about as they are tracking (recording) musicians doing their thing. That is “should I have them do it again or can I fix it in the mix?” In a perfect world, if we heard something not exactly perfect (a drummer bit off beat or a singer bit out of tune), we’d definitely have them do it again. But time and money, not to mention the attitude of the performer, are all issues that need to be considered. Luckily, there are tons of things that CAN be fixed in the mix, which is another way of saying corrected after-the-fact – usually by means of effects like compression, tempo correction and vocal tuning.
I read an article by Graham Cochrane this morning that basically says yes, you can fix a lot things in the mix, but passion in a performance isn’t one of them. His point is that effects plugins like a vocal tuning program can’t fix a passionless performance. You absolutely need to get that right BEFORE the mix stage. So the basic message is that effects are no help here. Graham does say that as the engineer, he can be made more comfortable knowing exactly what CAN be fixed in the mix by effects if he hears those things happen while he’s recording.
But I think there’s one thing Graham is not considering here. I believe that an understanding by the performer of what can and cannot be fixed in the mix can also free them up to be more relaxed and give a great performance. I’ve seen it over and over, especially among singers who made recordings before the prevalence of Auto-Tune. Back in the day, if a singer had a particularly challenging note, they would get very nervous before having to sing that part when recording. That tightness actually made it more difficult to get that note right. So after multiple takes, the singer would be extremely careful to hit the darned note, over-focusing on the pitch or tone and not really caring about the passion of the performance.

But then along came Auto-Tune. First, let me state that I think Auto-Tune (and other tuning programs) is way over-used in pop and country top 40 recordings. You shouldn’t just automatically snap every note to the grid the way so many producers do these days. But you can read about my thoughts on the proper use of Auto-Tune in my article – Auto-Tune – Any Tool Can Be Abused. The point is this – singers started to loosen up and worry a lot less about getting the pitch exactly right during the recording when they knew that it could be corrected in the mix! The existence of the effect plugin actually improved the quality of the performance, allowing a more relaxed and passionate delivery.
So though I agree with what Graham is saying in his article – you can’t add passion back into a flat performance with an effect plugin – I think it is worth noting that an effect plugin can make it more likely that you’ll get a passionate performance in the first place. We come full-circle:).
Here is Graham’s article: http://therecordingrevolution.com/2012/12/03/one-thing-plugins-cant-fix/

http://therecordingrevolution.com/2012/12/03/one-thing-plugins-cant-fix/http://therecordingrevolution.com/2012/12/03/one-thing-plugins-cant-fix/

Common Mixing Mistakes

October 31, 2012 by Ken Leave a Comment

I just finished reading an article that talks about the hallmarks of an amateur mixing job. Bobby Owsinski lists seven things that a lot of beginning or amateur mix engineers commonly do (or don’t do) in their mixes that prevents them from sounding truly professional.
I agree with most of the things on his list except maybe the last one, which he calls “Dull and Uninteresting Sounds.” His main beef here is the use of sounds that are either dated, or already used by a lot of other recording artists, like generic Roland synth sounds, the extreme Auto-Tune effect a la Cher and T-Pain. I don’t really think those are mixing issues. You can have a perfectly professional sounding mix using dated and/or common sounds. Obviously T-Pain and Cher had professional mixes using those sounds.
One additional mixing mistake I would add to the list of amateur mixing issues is the lack of proper use of the stereo field. I find that folks who make amateur mixes tend to put everything either too much in the center of of the sound stage, or too far apart, leaving sonic holes or bunching things up too much. I know that my first big “aha” moment was the discovery of all things stereo – what it was, and more importantly, what it wasn’t (panning two versions of the same audio, for instance).
Take a look at Bobby’s list and see if you aren’t making some or all of those same mistakes. Check it out here: http://www.prosoundweb.com/article/defining_characteristics_of_great_vs_amateur_mixes/

VST Plugins – Add Effects and Virtual Instruments to Your Home Studio

October 18, 2012 by Ken Leave a Comment

If you are not already with VST plugins, let me enlighten you at once. Your home studio software program probably came with at least some effects built-in, such as compression, EQ, or maybe a reverb effect. But sooner or later you’ll probably want to add to that initial collection of effects. Enter, VST, which stands for Virtual Studio Technology. It was invented by Steinberg, maker of excellent audio recording software and hardware, who hold the trademark for VST technology. But that’s not the stuff you want to know, is it?

VST Effect Plugins

The most common use of VST is to add effects to tracks in your DAW, or to add editing tools to your editor. 3rd-party developers sell these effect plugins for lots of different effects like chorus, flanger, delay, filters, EQ, compressors, limiters, noise reduction, tuning effects like Auto-Tune, just to name a very few. A search on B&H Pro Audio’s website for VST Effects brings up 73 different items! One reason to use these plugins rather than, or in addition to the built-in effects on your software is that a plugin developer has designed their product with nothing else in mind, so the quality of the resulting effect is likely to be much better than one of a collection in a bundle that was a bonus to your recording program. And as I already hinted at, the sheer variety and volume of selection is another reason to use VST plugins.

Virtual Instruments

I’ve discussed virtual instruments here many times. They give us the ability to add realistic sounding drums, horns, pianos, harps, violins (do I need to go on?), etc. to our recordings without having to actually have the physical instrument. Neither do we need to have a person to play said instrument. All we need is a MIDI keyboard. Heck, if our recording software has a MIDI editor (Reaper does;)), all we need to do is draw in MIDI notes and when we hit the “play” button, the MIDI data will play the instrument. A search on the B&H site for VSTi returned 31 different results. And several of these were not just single instruments but collections or packages of instruments. For example, the Garritan Virtual Marching Band VSTi contains dozens of instruments including individual and grouped trumpets, trombones, tubas, cornets, piccolos, oboes, clarinets, and the full range of drums and other percussion instruments you’d find in a drum line. This is just one package from one developer.

How To Use VST/VSTi

Installing a VST or VSTi will place a dll file on your computer (usually into a folder called “Steinberg/VST” even if you don’t have any Steinberg programs). Most recording programs search your directories for VST or VSTi files (dll type) when they open, so you probably won’t have to do anything. The effect or instrument will just be available to you once inside your DAW.
Most DAWs work the same way. For effects, you simply click on the “FX” (in Reaper) or similar button on a track control, and choose your VST effect. Then that effect will be applied to your audio.
For instruments, it’s pretty much the same except that the track will need to be a MIDI track. Then whatever notes the MIDI data play will be heard as played on the instrument you loaded up.
So that’s it in a nutshell. Adding professional effects or virtual instruments is fast and easy and can really raise the beam on the quality of your recordings.
Cheers!

T-Pain Vocal Recording Software

October 14, 2012 by Ken Leave a Comment

No doubt you have heard the use of tuning software (usually Auto-Tune) used not as a tool for correcting the pitch of a singer’s recording, but as an effect in and of itself to make a voice sound unnatural and “computery.” There is a hip-hop artist out there whose name is becoming synonymous with this kind of thing, and he is known as T-Pain.
Now there is a tool you can buy (instant download) called The T-Pain Effect, by iZotope, that will allow you to not only apply the extreme tuning effect to your voice, but also to do beat-making using the virtual drum machine that comes with it.
There are 3 music-making tools designed for beginners (you don’t need to know much, if anything, about audio recording) that allow you to arrange beats, record your voice, and in just a matter of minutes, post your tracks on-line.
Click here or on the picture to buy it and download it right now.

Auto-Tune – Any Tool Can Be Abused

February 10, 2012 by Ken Leave a Comment

Has anyone else gotten a little tired of singers on the radio sounding so pitch-perfect that it sounds more like a machine than a human? Me too. It has to do with the over-use and abuse (in my mind) of pith corrections tools, such as Melodyne and Auto-Tune.
Now let me go on record right now as a fan of Auto-Tune. It’s a tool. When a singer puts out a recording, I believe they have a responsibility to ensure the performance is good.
For a singer, that means in tune, on-key, on pitch, however you want to describe it. When you sing live, if you’re good enough to be a pro, you should be good, yes. But humans will inevitably be imperfect and may even hit one or two downright off-key notes here and there. But when it’s live, it’s fleeting.
As an audience member you may or may not even notice. If you do, you’ll probably forget it 5 seconds later. Not true for recordings! When fans are listening to the same performance over and over again, those one or two wonky notes will grate on them.
Before there was Auto-Tune, it was common practice to have a singer sing a track 3 or more times so the engineer could “comp” (short for composite) one vocal track made up of the best pieces from all three tracks. Is this any more genuine than fixing it after the fact with tuning software? My answer is that if the singer can bring it live, then no, it is no more genuine to use Auto-Tune than it is to comp a track.
In fact, I have found that if a singer knows things can be tightened up after the fact, they are more likely to sing without worry or stress. Studio singing often makes singers too careful and they don’t give their best performance. So the very idea of Auto-Tune can actually help the singer sing better before a single note has been “fixed!”
However, what seems to be happening is that engineers and producers are over-doing the Auto-Tune thing. They wash every note through a program that snaps all the notes to a pitch grid. It results in an unnatural sounding vocal. I think that is wrong. It may take longer, but I firmly believe that tuning should only be applied to specific (and infrequent if the singer is decent) notes that missed the mark. That way it sounds like an actual human sang the note, not a machine.

It may take longer, but I firmly believe that tuning should only be applied to specific (and infrequent if the singer is decent) notes that missed the mark. That way it sounds like an actual human sang the note, not a machine.

The other use of Auto-Tune lately is as an effect, a la T-Pain or the Songify-type applications made popular by things like Auto-Tune The News. This is a totally different thing. It isn’t trying to make you think someone can sing better than they can. It’s just trying to create a funky sound to add creativity or something different, although as common as it has become, I don’t think “different” is the right word. I say go for it when it comes to that. It allows people to get funky and be creative.
So there you have it. Auto-Tune is a tool like any other. I love what it can do for singers. But as with any other tool, in the wrong hands it can be ugly.