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A Quick Tune Up
For better or worse, one of the most essential plug-ins in
one’s arsenal are those that enable us to manipulate
and correct intonation. Such plug-ins have not only saved
countless vocal and solo instrument takes, but used creatively,
provide inspiring ways of building harmonies and melodies,
and shaping performances that might not otherwise ever be
realized. Used judiciously and with some skill, results can
yield a pleasing subtle lift, or something altogether different
and interesting.
For quite some time, Auto-Tune,
now at version 4, was the only option, and a top-seller among
all plug-ins. When Melodyne arrived, now at version 3, it brought with it a unique and
flexible approach for editing audio as easily as MIDI. Recently
Waves has joined the lineup with Tune. Although achieving
the best results with any of these plug-ins requires spending
some quality time for getting to know the various intricacies
and nuances of each, this week we layout a quick overview
for getting Tune up-and-running in Pro Tools.
For this example, I’ll be using a personal project
that I have been working on and now have brought in Ed
Goldfarb for mixing. Because it
is best to correct any intonation problems in the mixing
phase, the
examples for this tutorial have not yet been mixed—consider
this a real-world example taken right out of my actual workflow.
Tune uses ReWire, but in a different way than Reason or even
Melodyne. It does not use ReWire to bring the audio track
into another application, as Tune is a bona-fide RTAS plug-in
living and breathing right inside of Pro Tools (something
I really appreciate). What it does do, is use ReWire as a “remote
control” so that as you navigate using the Tune plug-in
the Timeline in Pro Tools follows along, and vice versa...very
slick indeed.
- Create a mono Aux Input track and choose RTAS Plug-In > Instrument > Waves
ReWire so that the Pro Tools Timeline and Tune are able
to work together.
- On the Audio track you wish to work
with, choose RTAS Plug-In > Pitch Shift > Tune.
- The first thing you should establish
is the range (lowest and highest ptich/note) of the material
you are working
with. In this case, it is my lead vocal track, so I have
chosen
Tenor. It is very important to specify the range before
analyzing any audio, so that Tune is accurate in its recognition
of
octaves, otherwise it might identify the note as being
an octave higher than it actually is (which is a hassle
to deal
with, and best to avoid at the outset).
- You should also
specify the root and scale before analyzing any audio.
For most modern radio-music, you can simply
choose Chromatic.
- Before Tune can make any adjustments
to the audio, you must playback the audio in real-time
so that Tune can analyze
it. Start playback in Pro Tools, and Tune will indicate
it is “learning” new material by displaying “Scanning...” over
an orange background of the Waveform overview section of
the plug-in.
Although this may seem an egregious shortcoming,
especially when compared to Auto-Tune, if the trade-off
is higher
quality processing (which I believe it to be), then for
me it is
worth it. If you absolutely need real-time pitch-correction,
then this could be a deal-breaker.
Once Tune has analyzed the audio, it will display each
note/pitch segment laid out similar to working with MIDI
in Pro Tools
(a la Melodyne). The orange curve represents the detected
pitch of the audio analyzed (e.g. what you actually sang/played),
and the green curve represents the pitch correction to
be applied (e.g. how each pitch will be corrected during
playback)
based on the settings of the Correction Parameters section.
- To tweak the contour of the Pitch
Correction curve (drawn in green), click Select All, and
then use the three knobs
of the Correction Parameters section to adjust speed,
note transition and ratio. As you adjust each knob, check
out
how each effects the green curve, as this will help you
get a better understanding of how it will fine-tune the
correction.
In this example the Speed and Note Transition were altered,
and the Ratio was dialed down from 100% to 95% so that
it wouldn’t be too perfect.
- In addition to improving
the overall intonation, you can better correct notes/pitches
that are wrong, and
far enough
away that we can’t simply just call them “out
of tune.” In this example, I sang a D# instead
of D natural (the key of this song is G Major).
- To
correct this mistake, with the Note tool selected (which
is the default tool), click and drag the note
segment from
the detected note/pitch to the desired note/pitch, in
this case from D# down a half-step to D natural.
At this point we have improved the overall intonation
of the vocal, and even changed a bum note. Of course
the proof
is in the pudding...so how does all of this sound?
| Sound Clip |
Comments |
| No_TUNE_Music.mp3 |
Listening to the vocal against the doubled vocal will
help you hear any issues of questionable intonation,
because the doubled vocal has already been corrected.
Anytime you hear the vocal line “spread,” it
is out of tune. |
| No_TUNE_No_Music.mp3 |
Listening to the vocal without the doubled vocal and
music will give you a reference for the overall quality
of the original, as well as noting any minor blemishes
that Tune had nothing to do with. |
| TUNE_Music.mp3 |
Listening to the corrected vocal against the corrected
doubled vocal and music, you should notice less “spreading.” They
are not 100% unison, because of how the Correction Parameters
were adjusted, leaving just enough difference to sound
natural. |
| TUNE_No_Music.mp3 |
Listening to the processed sound alone, you can inspect
for any unwanted artifacts or coloration. |
Although there are many more parameters and tools to work
with, even using these basic operations, I find Tune to be
a formidable contender in the intonation game. It is fairly
transparent, and what coloration it did impart can be removed
with a bit more elbow grease. Perhaps the more advanced techniques
can be covered in an upcoming installment as I spend more
time working with Tune.
As a point of interest, Waves owners should know that Tune
LT, the light version of Tune, is also included as an
additional product in Waves Gold, Renaissance Maxx, Broadcast & Production,
Platinum and Diamond Bundles.
Pro Tools Tidbits for the Week
As the dust settles from NAMM, here are some remaining
goodies from the show:
- Electronic Musician magazine and Thompson Course
Technology PTR have published Mastering
Pro Tools LE and Pro Tools M-Powered,
which is designed to help you get up and running quickly
with Pro Tools LE or Pro Tools M-Powered.
- URS has released Everything EQ Bundle v5.0 and Classic Console
EQ Bundle v2.0. Everything EQ Bundle v5.0 features two new seven
band fully parametric equalizer plug-ins, the A-MIX and
the N-MIX. URS Classic Console EQ Bundle v2.0 now includes four
plug-ins: URS A series EQ, URS N series EQ, and the new
URS A MIX EQ and URS N MIX EQ (TDM and RTAS).
- FXpansion has
updated their entire product line for Pro Tools 7 compatibility (RTAS/ReWire).
- Native
Instruments has announced KORE,
a universal sound platform bringing together all of your
software instruments and effects into a single user interface.
- Waves was
demonstrating a preview of their upcoming SSL plug-ins
(SSL G Buss Compressor and SSL E Channel Strip and EQ)
at the
NAMM Show.
- CEDAR Audio has
released CEDAR
Tools,
which contains Retouch v3 processes, and now Auto Dehiss
and Declip processes from CEDAR’s dedicated “Cambridge” audio
restoration platform (TDM).
- Unitonic has
released Aurora
2.0 with expansive preset voice library. Now that
this unique Accel-only synthesizer plug-in is shipping
with a substantial
factory presets, it sounds unbelievable (HD Accel).
- Serato
Audio Research has announced Pitch ‘n
Time LE (RTAS).
- Korg has
introduced the Legacy
Collection -- Digital Edition,
a plug-in suite containing two virtual Korg digital synthesis
masterpieces: The M1 and WAVESTATION 1.5, plus the MDE-X
multi-effects found in Korg’s original Legacy Collection
(RTAS).
- Ableton has
announced their support for the Intel-based Macintosh computers
with Live 5.2
(ReWire).
- IK
Multimedia has announced StealthPlug,
a virtual guitar amp which connects your guitar to your
computer via USB, and includes Amplitude LE (RTAS).
If you have a Pro Tools related question that you would
like me to take a shot at answering or have any feedback,
please send it to scott@audioMIDI.com. I will do my best
to select the questions that seem to stump the most people.
As always, stay tuned to the audioMIDI.com eNews for the latest reviews and new product info.
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