Celemony has posted a bunch of well produced Melodyne tutorials. I do use Melodyne on a track here and there. I didn’t know I should split off consanants to help avoid artifacts. That alone was worth the view.

“In this video you will learn how to get the most out of your vocal tracks with a few editing tips and tricks in Melodyne.”

View more tutorials: youtube.com/user/celemonysoftware

I was watching a comedian on TV the other night. He was saying it’s going to be funny when old people listen to hip hop. Since there is a generation into now it it’s only natural eventually they will grow old, reminisce, play and “sing” the songs. That fact alone is worth a blog post. I mean it’s going to be rediculous no? My TC Powercore has been on it’s last legs lately. There are a few key effects in it I really don’t want to live without. I contacted TC Helicon and what I am looking for is also available in their Voiceworks Plus unit. Off to Youtube to see a few videos and I came across the video above in which the performer uses a Voiceworks. He’s also covering one of my all time favorite songs Only You by Yaz. Time is a strange thing don’t you think? Where’s my bucket list again…

“Only You” is a ballad written by musician Vince Clarke. He wrote it while with Depeche Mode, and offered it to them when he was leaving. They declined, and Clarke recorded it after forming the duo Yazoo with Alison Moyet. It was an instant success, hitting number two in the UK, and charting in the U.S. (number sixty-seven, Billboard Hot 100), a feat only attained by one other Yazoo single (coincidentally, that single was “Situation,” the original UK B-side of “Only You”). “Only You” also made the U.S. Adult Contemporary chart at number thirty-eight.” – Wikipedia

For more info: tc-helicon.com/products/voiceworksplus/

As I am a person who thinks my most valuable instrument is my voice I’m always keen of vocal processors. One area where for the most part have left my voice dry is during a live performance. I plan on changing this at least for some songs. I may want to keep the processing and button pushing out of the laptop. This TC Helicon VoiceLive Touch box is in the running. Are there any others I should be looking at?

“I’ma let you finish watching this demo, but the TC Helicon VoiceLive Touch is one of the greatest stand-mount vocal processors ever made. Yeah, I know, we’re not usually ones for hyperbole, but this harmony generator and vocal sweetened with built-in looper is really something else. And given the fact that it’s the only stand-mount vocal processor, it’s not such an outlandish statement.” – gearwire

For more info: tc-helicon.com/products/voicelive-touch

via gearwire.com

Izotope will be releasing a vocal plug-in this month called Nectar. The software will have Pitch Correction, Breath Control, Compressors, a DeEsser, Doubler, Saturation, EQ, Gate, Limiter, Delay and a Reverb. It will be $199 at launch then jump to $299 shortly after. I use Ozone and Trash quite often and considering every song I have is graced with my voice (subject to opinion I know) Nectar could end up in my AU folder. As with other Izotope plug-ins there will be an extensive preset browser too.

“Nectar offers dozens of professionally designed vocal production styles powered by eleven processing modules. Users will select an included style and then customize it with faders tailored to that style. For further customization of their vocal sound, users can switch to the Advanced View and access all of the controls of the underlying modules that power the plug-in… iZotope Nectar is ideal for audio engineers, voice over artists, singer/songwriters, recording enthusiasts, podcasters, and anyone else who records sung or spoken vocals. Its dozens of styles cover genres including: Alternative & Indie, Blues/R&B, Classical, Country, Dance & Electronica, Hip Hop & Rap, Jazz, Pop, Rock, and Spoken Word.” – izotope.com

For more info: izotope.com/products/audio/nectar/

If you forget the T-Pain/Cher effect Auto-Tune is a highly useful and good sounding plug-in. I’ve been using the previous version for a few months now and it does add a certain something to a vocal that I haven’t found in other plug-ins. I use Melodyne too but they are different enough tools if vocals are very important to your music. Besides correction there is added sheen that I think you would associate more with a good pre-amp and mic. You can also nicely lower a vocal’s pitch with some formant settings and it sounds very interesting.

“This video, produced by Groove 3 Inc., is an overview of Auto-Tune 7′s new features, focusing especially on Auto-Tune 7′s new time manipulation features.” – antaresaudio

For more info: antarestech.com

Pitch correction, harmony generation with presets, reverb, stutter effects, ring mod, and more for the iPad. This App called ImproVox makes me want a proper audio interface for the iPad. It would be fun manipulating my voice during a live show in real time via the touch screen. Of course it all depends if it sounds good… I’ll try this guy over the weekend and report back!

“Changing the sound of your voice is as easy as moving your fingers across the screen, and you don’t need to know any music theory. Because effect and harmony characteristics can be changed while you sing, the sonic possibilities are endless. Create reverberant rock hits and cavernous choral compositions, or just speak into the mic and transform your voice using abstract effects.” – museami.com

For more info: museami.com

via Synthtopia

I can tell that people in my own generation are employed as Industrial Designers. A lot of new products tug at my heart strings. Just look at the new Voicelive Touch from TC Helicon. 80′s membrane? Yes I want please. Getting past the simple hardware button gearlust it’s a vocal processor and looper. Considering I sing on almost all my songs, play live often and have become obsessed with the iPhone App Everyday Looper this should be my fortay. I also use the TC plug-ins daily so… The promo video… oh no…

Apple? I’m confused. I actually saw the Voicelive over at Peter’s Create Digital Music and noticed some comments about the promo video. Pretty hilarious. That’s not to say this could be an awesome little box. I’ll wait for a few homebrew YouTube videos before I decide to go try one out myself.

Combining best-selling vocal effects, VLOOP™ performance vocal looping and a uniquely addictive ‘touch’ interface, VoiceLive Touch is truly the first instrument for your voice. VoiceLive Touch is the perfect companion for any vocalist whether you sing live or record in the studio. It can easily be mounted on a mic stand or put next to your computer or keyboard. – tc-helicon.com

For more info: tc-helicon.com/voicelive-touch

Here’s an interesting plug-in announced at the recent AES show in New York from Waves. The Vocal Rider is like a virtual hand that rides a volume knob making sure a vocal is always level. It works differently than a compressor or limited. The killer feature of the plug-in is that it writes automation as it rides the track. For a more low-tech non-real time solution check out The Levelator from The Conversations Network.

Vocal Rider will be released early November and cost $800 (TDM), $400 (Native).

For more info: Waves.com

Here’s a guy who spent more time in front of a microphone than probably anyone you know. Don LaFontaine was “the movie guy”. He is the voice you hear in countless movie trailers saying, “In a world full of…”. Don passed away on Monday at the age of 68.

“Donald LaFontaine (August 26, 1940 – September 1, 2008) was an American voice actor famous for recording over 5,000 movie trailers and (according to his website) over 350,000 television commercials, network promotions, and video game trailers. His signature voice was perceived as being both ominous and sonorous. His nicknames included “Thunder Throat” and “The Voice of God”. He became identified with the phrase “in a world…”, which has been used in movie trailers so frequently that it has become a cliché. He also parodied this cliché several times, most recently in a commercial for GEICO insurance.” – Wikipedia.org

I remember seeing a documentary about his work and noticed he had his own home studio. Over the period of his life he was a recording engineer, film editor, producer, and writer. He was also known to take the time to send fans personalized voice recordings. I wonder if he had a favorite microphone.

For more info: www.donlafontaine.com

It’s 90F/30° in Berlin today (hot!) so instead of my normal routine of office work in the morning and then afternoon in the studio I had to reverse things. The only cool time on days like this is early so as soon as I got up I walked over. I’m recording vocals for an artist group from Milan, Italy called Biokip (www.biokip.com). They are a fashion label, a group of visual artists with a gallery and an electrohouse team.

I was wondering if other people who use Ableton Live record vocals in a similar way as I do. See the screenshot above? You can click it to view it full size. What I have here is a very basic drum beat and two simple melodies for the verse and chorus. I set up a scene for each and leave a bunch of empty clip slots in between them (vertically) so I can record a bunch of takes. I usually record 2-4 takes per verse. The blue arrows are pointing to the takes, white arrows are on the scenes. If I’m feeling crazy I will label them Verse 1-1, Verse 1-2, Verse 2-1, etc… More importantly I leave a blank clip slot between each verse.

After I have my takes I then switch over to Arrangement View, duplicate the Vocal channel three times, comp the vocals (take the best bits from each take) and then consolidate all the perfect bits by hitting Command-J.

So what else can I note here? Well, I usually record vocals right after I get the basic melody and drums. First off, your CPU is happy there isn’t much going on so you can knock down the CPU latency to 96ms while you monitor yourself singing. I also find it best to work out the melody and voice in a pure or simple state. If you get too far into a song and then try and add vocals there’s a chance they may just not work. Lastly, in case your wondering 90% of what I keep comes from the first verses I record. I guess I’m best when I’m not thinking too much.

I remember Cubase had some nice comping methods. I also know in Live you can record multiple takes in one shot and then slide the start flag in Clip View around but I still like seeing my takes separate.

What’s your method?