Hey Vocalists... Anyone have experience with live pitch correction?

I use a voicelive correct XT with the pitch correction set at the "sweet spot" which is a very slight correction. I still hit sour notes now and then, but no one notices for the most part. Recently I've just shut it off and used the auto eq/anti feedback and it's a great pedal even if I only used that function!
 
MikeyB59 said:
Whatever they're using, the vocals sound fantastic, particularly the harmony stuff.
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Them sounding has very little to do with autotune. Vocals are not like guitar where you can simply buy tone. These pitch correction pedals for live use are chromatic so it is very different than studio autotune where you can change notes to whatever and create harmonies out of a single vocal track etc.

Trust me... if these guys didn't have autotune they'd still sound good. :)

About using autotune live... I have to admit that I've tried it and my only advice is that you still have to hear the uncorrected vocals or else you don't hear what pitch you're singing. And when you hear the off-pitch note and corrected note together it sounds terrible to you so it will not be an enjoyment in that sense. What I suggest you do is that you only hear your real singing and the pitch correction goes to FOH and hope that it's working. :)
 
Clark Kent said:
Them sounding has very little to do with autotune. Vocals are not like guitar where you can simply buy tone. These pitch correction pedals for live use are chromatic so it is very different than studio autotune where you can change notes to whatever and create harmonies out of a single vocal track etc.

Trust me... if these guys didn't have autotune they'd still sound good. :)

About using autotune live... I have to admit that I've tried it and my only advice is that you still have to hear the uncorrected vocals or else you don't hear what pitch you're singing. And when you hear the off-pitch note and corrected note together it sounds terrible to you so it will not be an enjoyment in that sense. What I suggest you do is that you only hear your real singing and the pitch correction goes to FOH and hope that it's working. :)
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^This

Only put the pitch correct / harmony in FOH if possible. If not possible, blend the pitch corrected vocal / harmonies in the pedal lower than the str8 signal. The TC pedal lets you do that.

And yeah, these guys would sound great without it. The key is being a decent singer to begin with.

But on the weekend warrior circuit that I play, it is difficult to convince folks to not sing. I am a firm believer for keeping out of tune background vocals in the rehearsal room. If you can't sing the part, woodshed till you can. It sounds better to me to leave out the background vox vs. singing them poorly.

Richard
 
The talent is obvious and I doubt anyone posting disagrees. However, I've done enough live work over the years - both on-stage and mixed from FOH - to know that the audio on those vids in very-much post processed and not "live". It's debatable as to how much and where any auto-tune was applied.
That does not detract in any way from the obvious talent - which is very much wasted in that little pizzeria :)

The harmonies are a little more obvious here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1jriAJ1KXw
 
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i've used the Vocalist Live Pro for quite a while now - rackmounted unit and love it - i tend to sing in tune, so i mainly use it for harmonies. i have my vocal rack with my Shure digital Wireless Mic, Audio Technica in-ears, the Vocalist LIve Pro, and some mic pre-thingy that I needed to use to set the levels properly....

then, I set this rack on top of my Axe FX II rack, and with a few cables, i'm ready to go. the digitech vocalist is midi,and i've often thought if I had the time, i'd love to program it with the presets on the MFC/AxFXII so I could as I stepped through the scenes on my MFC, the vocalsit would change as well - to go from a big harmony for the chorus of a song to almost nothing for the verse.....
even though the Digitech has a few hundred presets, i keep a Tech21Midi Mouse beside my MFC and I can scroll through the 3 or 4 presets that I use regularly, and the odd time i have an expression pedal hooked up to it as well to control how much harmony i wish.......
The other nice thing with the Digitech, (like many of these) is that you plug your guitar into it and it does the harmonies based on your guitar notes being played.....works like a charm.

great unit.

Duke
 
Pitch correction in post can do wonderful things but ofcourse it will always sound a lot better if you can sing on pitch as well as possible. It's pretty normal to pitch correct backing vocals, that's what I do and people will never question them since they are not on top. F.ex. this is me singing everything here:

But like I said that is impossible live without backing tracks for those harmonies. :)
 
For me its all about how listening to the song / music makes you feel.

If you respond to it, enjoy it, if it evokes an emotional or physical response, then maybe the gear, DAW, plugs and processing, don't matter?
 
A note on or off pitch feels kind of different. Off pitch irritates where as on pitch it pleases... :) Just like guitar out of tune will simply not sound as pleasing as guitar in tune.
 
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Philip said:
So, I asked him. The pitch correction on Mike's videos is done in post with Melodyne. FWIW

-Phil
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Ouch.. well that is good to know... and Melodyne allows you to make it exact!
Vids/recordings are STILL GREAT tho'; :)
 
i have a voicelive rack on the way.... excited! gonna midi sync with my axe of course and my iPad app for lyrics and backing tracks. hit the preset on the MFC and axe, voicelive and iPad will all go to the correct song (and play the track if i want). or i can choose the song on the iPad and it sends a MIDI PC to all the other units too.

of course, all in theory. waiting for the voicelive to get here!

i'm interested in creating that "processed" sound live. interested in how the pitch correction works. i sing pretty much on pitch, so it'd be interesting to see what it'd do with my vocals. that "cher" or "kanye" sound is now being referred to as "hard-tuning" vs just auto-tuning.
 
View attachment 14349 I've got a Voicelive rack in this thing. I've barely dug into it but I like it so far. It will be Midi'd up with the Axe FX ll and the MFC 101 soon. I don't think that I will be using the 'Autotune' feature, but you never know. But the harmonies and FX are really good. Can't wait to get it all programmed and dialed in.

BTW Chris.....What I-Pad app are you using. was thinking about using a lap-top for backing tracks but that I-Pad app sounds interesting??
 
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It's called song book +. It's 50 bucks but does MIDI, PDF/charts, auto page turn and bouncing ball lyrics, setlists and a bit more.

There is a Lite version free to try out. Full function, just 15 song limit.

I'm also running USB out to a presonus 1818 VSL interface so my audio and MIDI is in the rack prewired.
 
Nice.....................Thanks Chris

Can you post a link??
 
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Love the Voicelive II. We dont use autotune but use the harmonys and the use is very subtle. I have 2 female singers that back me up pretty good. I use the Reverb/delay and "double" mostly. When I feel like it is becoming a crutch...I leave it at home. Nothing beats El Natural.
 
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