Autotune Demystified: How Pitch Correction Software Actually Works
- The US recording artist, T-Pain is well known for his distinctive “auto tune” sound. This technique makes it sound like the voice has been put through a synthesiser and rises and falls as though the sound is generated by a keyboard.
- But even though Auto-Tune has evolved to become this cultural phenomenon, very few artists or producers truly understand how to get it to sound like the way it sounds on major records.
How to Do the T-Pain Effect With Antares. Auto-Tune is a vocal effect used in music recording that was popularized by several artists, perhaps the most popular being T-Pain. The R&B singer T-Pain has now become so synonymous with Auto-Tuning, that the effect is sometimes casually referred to as 'the T-Pain effect.' Apr 25, 2014 In the same way that innovations like scratching records, making beats from samples, rhyming words, and 808 drum machines defined the sound of hip-hop in past generations, Auto-Tune has redefined. “People felt like I was using it to sound good,” says T-Pain, in an interview that will air on All Things Considered. “But I was just using it to sound different.” At this point, hearing T-Pain without auto-tune sounds way more different, but in a good way.
Ever since we included pitch correction into our mixing and mastering services I’ve noticed a few artists have some unrealistic expectations for what Auto-tune can do for them.
So to clear the air, I’m going to tell you what Auto-tune can’t do for you and explain why. This is mostly for rappers and people who can’t sing (or at least don’t know they can’t sing).
Straight Spittin’
If you’re straight rapping, Auto-tune isn’t going to make you sound like you’re singing.
I’m not sure how some rappers have this idea that if they’re rappin’ like “talk rappin” with zero melody that Auto-tune is going to make them sound like Drake.
I remember hearing a Meek Mill song where he had his audio engineer apply Auto-tune to his raps and as you can imagine it sounded terrible.
Meek justified it as saying something like he’s a fan of Future, which is a major face palm cause Future is actually singing (okay not really but enough to make the autotune do its thing).
Terrible Singin’
What Auto Tune Sounds Like A Girl
Which brings me to my next point: Auto-tune won’t work if you’re singing completely off key.
The way Auto-tuneworks is if you’re singing off key by one or two notes (on either side), it’ll bring you back in key. For example, if you’re supposed to hit a C note and instead hit C#, Auto-tune will bring you back down to C (or if you sing a B note, it’ll bring you up to C).
However, if you’re supposed to hit a C note, and you a sing a G note, it’ll sound like a painful warble from hell which is basically Auto-tune saying, “please take some singing lessons bruh”.
Major Key Alert: Future-esque Rappers
Now I’m not sure if this fully applies to Future, cause for some of his songs (his most recent) I can’t figure out what key the man is singing’ in (and doubt even his engineer knows as it sounds like it’s set at “Chromatic”).
But it applies to rappers like Rich Homie Quan who are some what singing (within a note of the correct note) and are singing within’ the correct scale for the song. Here really is the major key (in the Dj Khaled sense not the musical sense) to using Auto-tune: Figure out the key of the song and set the autotune to that key.
That’s it!
Even if you can’t sing and you do that you’ll realize how much you can’t sing because the Auto-tunewill at least be pushing you into the correct scale.
Autotune Download
Moreover, you can craft melodies within your vocal range and finesse the Auto-tune to sound decent (it’s pretty much what every successful autotune rapper has been doing since forever).
Also Meek Mill should never use Auto-tune.