Best recommendations for adjusting pitch on vocals

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Phil O
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Re: Best recommendations for adjusting pitch on vocals

Post by Phil O »

I use a combination of DP and Melodyne. Each has it's strengths and weaknesses. Both together cover a lot of ground. One thing I've found is that depending on the voice one may have a better sound than the other, and there's no telling ahead of time which is going to be the most transparent. I think it's worth the time to learn Melodyne. It will open possibilities for you that DP alone cannot. That's just my take on it.

Slightly off topic, but one thing I did a few years back-
I had this really horrible vocalist in the studio. I knew I had to polish a turd and he knew it too. He asked me to do anything I could to fix his pitch. So, I had his backup singer sing his (the bad guy's) part. I copied the pitch data with DP's pitch tool from the backup singer's track and pasted it on the lead track. It needed a little tweaking here and there but it worked much better than I expected. Of course, the back up singer's ability to match his phrasing exactly helped.

So my advise is try the Melodyne demo and give it a serious look. Combined with DP's pitch correction you'll have most of everything you need. The learning curve isn't as bad as you might think.

Phil
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stubbsonic
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Re: Best recommendations for adjusting pitch on vocals

Post by stubbsonic »

Phil O wrote:... I had his backup singer sing his (the bad guy's) part. I copied the pitch data with DP's pitch tool from the backup singer's track and pasted it on the lead track. It needed a little tweaking here and there but it worked much better than I expected. Of course, the back up singer's ability to match his phrasing exactly helped.
That is a DP TIP GEM!! Having a ringer sing the part and copying the pitch data over!!

That could be used in a bunch of creative ways.
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mikehalloran
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Re: Best recommendations for adjusting pitch on vocals

Post by mikehalloran »

stubbsonic wrote:
Phil O wrote:... I had his backup singer sing his (the bad guy's) part. I copied the pitch data with DP's pitch tool from the backup singer's track and pasted it on the lead track. It needed a little tweaking here and there but it worked much better than I expected. Of course, the back up singer's ability to match his phrasing exactly helped.
That is a DP TIP GEM!! Having a ringer sing the part and copying the pitch data over!!

That could be used in a bunch of creative ways.
Oh I like that!

So far, I have passed on the AutoTune 8 update. One of the reasons is that I have never really used AutoTune 7 and consider it money well wasted. The other is that the new features appear to be duplicated in other tools I own. AutoTune does have the ability to manipulate vocal tone within the app in a way the others can't... I've never used that function. There are good reasons why AT is so popular with pop music producers but, as Mr. Zimmerman wrote, "It ain't me, Babe. I said, 'No, no, no...'".
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rob fetters
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Re: Best recommendations for adjusting pitch on vocals

Post by rob fetters »

DP pitch correction has worked beautifully for me for years; saved me from misery a bunch of times, even changed melodies with no one the wiser—but I usually get the best results when I do the fixes, take a break, and revise. It's helped me learn a lot about the subjectivity of tuning; always a good idea to close my eyes and let my ears make the decision between "right" and "wrong", not the balanced placement of the little bars and squiggly lines. I recently recorded a great performance where 5 performers were a little—or not so little—off. It didn't bother anybody during tracking. Soloing them in the mix I heard the badness and tweaked everything individually, not overdoing it either—and it sucked the heart right out of the track.
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dpdan
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Re: Best recommendations for adjusting pitch on vocals

Post by dpdan »

another 1+ for Melodyne and DP's pitch.

I wish Melodyne would change the color of the blobs after a segment has been altered like DP's pitch turns red.
I have asked Melodyne for this for years and still nothing.
I wouldn't want to use any other pitch altering software though.
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guitardood
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Re: Best recommendations for adjusting pitch on vocals

Post by guitardood »

FWIW, just watched this quick tip video from MOTU about DP's pitch editing capabilities. I've not played around with this yet, but the vid makes it look pretty easy and quick to do some simple fixes. Next on my to-do list.
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monkey man
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Re: Best recommendations for adjusting pitch on vocals

Post by monkey man »

stubbsonic wrote:That is a DP TIP GEM!! Having a ringer sing the part and copying the pitch data over!!
That could be used in a bunch of creative ways.
Yeah, Stubbsy, like "vocoding" a drone, even if it were a sustained vox note.

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Radiogal
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Re: Best recommendations for adjusting pitch on vocals

Post by Radiogal »

GOOD NEWS!
DP Pitch all day long. I got and compared several others but hey, DP rules the PITCH correction competition in my studio... and you know what?
It´s included in DP and it´s right there, integrating your tracks waiting for you to use it.
Seriously. Don´t waste your time nor money. Look no further. The pitch is not greener over there. Just my 2 cents about professional DP pitch use.
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monkey man
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Re: Best recommendations for adjusting pitch on vocals

Post by monkey man »

Yo hey Trish! Long time no see, sis!

You sound just like me on this one - DP's pitch correction rocks. It's worked perfectly the few times I've used it; it made my brother's awfully-pitched vocals sound good on a Slash cover I recorded for him. He sang with plenty of attitood but strayed all over pitch-wise, DP taking top-notch care of it. You'd not suspect any kind of correction if you weren't told.

Can't ask for more than that. Hope you're well, RG,
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mhschmieder
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Re: Best recommendations for adjusting pitch on vocals

Post by mhschmieder »

I use Melodyne for anything major, and the results are always transparent. It's a bit of a pain to use, workflow-wise.

Not a big deal; just not the best tool if you're in a super-rush and don't want to have to bounce or real-time-record the results of applying it and would rather accomplish an in-place edit. This is where DP's Pitch Shift comes in.

I am really surprised at how good DP's pitch command has gotten in DP 8 (maybe this improvement happened in DP 7). I use it frequently now when I just want to do a quick fix on a backing vocal, and save Melodyne for the heavy lifting on the main vocals.
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kwiz
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Re: Best recommendations for adjusting pitch on vocals

Post by kwiz »

For minor pitch corrections I use DP's pitch function. When used properly, it's pretty much flawless. However, if I need to create harmonies and fix a lot of vocal tracks simultaneously, I use Melodyne. The pitch algo's are superior to just about any other dedicated pitch correction software on the market right now, and it allows you to be really creative if that's what you're after as well!
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