Recording Vocals, Part 3: Tuning and Aligning

By David Franz

Groundwork. A great name for this column (thanks Dusty!). That's what I try to cover here: production techniques that provide a solid foundation for working with Pro Tools. Well, what's more fundamental and essential when producing a song than making the vocals sound great? In many genres of music, and to many listeners, the lead vocal is the song. Period.

Two months ago, in Part 2 of this column, I covered techniques for vocal comping — putting the best parts of a vocalist's performance together into one killer lead track. In this third installment, I'll cover techniques for tuning vocals and aligning lead and harmony vocal parts.

Tuning a Vocal Track: Tools of the Trade
After you've comped your lead vocal track, it's common to fix minor tuning problems using an auto-tuning program such as AutoTune by Antares, or PitchDoctor by SoundToys. These programs can automatically tune the track for you in real time, as the track plays back. However, using automatic settings on an entire track can often result in a noticeably artificial-sounding performance (unless you're going for the "Cher" effect). But if you take control of the tuning process and tune the vocal track manually, you can achieve excellent results. To perfect the tuning of your vocal track, you should analyze and tune each vocal phrase separately, bouncing each newly tuned vocal phrase onto a new track when completed, and eventually creating a completely tuned vocal track.

Note: Some artists make a point not to use auto-tuning. If the singer on your project can sing totally in tune (or in tune enough), don't bother with auto-tuning and leave the raw performances. Often, the "realness" of these raw performances creates a better overall feel on a recording than "perfect" processed vocals.

TIY — Tune It Yourself
Both AutoTune and PitchDoctor enable you to manually adjust the pitch of any note in a vocal performance. This does take some time to do, unless you become very proficient at it. Some of the most talented Pro Tools experts even pitch-correct on the fly during recording sessions. However, if you're working as producer and recording engineer in your own studio, I highly recommend concentrating on getting the best performance during the recording session, and waiting until the session is over to make your comp and tune your vocal track.

Let's talk about the tuning process using the AutoTune plug-in. Here's what to do: Instantiate AutoTune on your comped vocal track. Then create a new audio track, and bus the comped vocal track out to the new track, as in Figure 1 (click to enlarge).

Manual pitch correction in AutoTune starts with selecting the Input Type, Scale (I almost always use the Chromatic scale), and Graphical instead of Automatic as the Correction Mode. AutoTune then automatically switches to the Graphical mode window, as shown in Figure 2. After adjusting the Retune and Tracking rotary dials (I usually select single digit numbers for both), highlight a phrase on the comped vocal track that you'd like to tune. Press "Track Pitch" in AutoTune and play the phrase. A red line will appear in the AutoTune window that mimics the pitch.

	Figure 2. Now available – AutoTune 4! Here's the new and improved Graphical window. (Click to enlarge)

At this point you can use several tools to adjust the pitch of the phrase. I usually press the "Auto" button to start with. AutoTune creates what it thinks the pitch correction should be, based on the chosen Retune and Tracking parameters. This yellow correction line is what the plug-in would do if it were in Auto mode, and I find it's often a good foundation to start tweaking from. You can fix any discrepancies by altering the yellow line using a variety of drawing tools.

Click the "Correct Pitch" button and AutoTune will alter the pitch of the track when you press Play in Pro Tools. Listen for any continuing pitch problems and unwanted AutoTuning artifacts. In most cases, the idea is to make the track sound like it was not intentionally tuned. Now that some listeners know what AutoTune can do, they can pick out AutoTuned notes — so take your time and get it right. It's the lead vocal. It's got to sound great!

Follow the above procedure for each note or phrase in the track that needs pitch correction. Note: You may experience a slight delay between the comped vocal track and the tuned track, due to both the AutoTune plug-in delay and the internal bus routing delay. Nudge the tuned track back in time to compensate if you hear a delay.

Also consider this: If you tune the lead vocal before recording the backup vocals, the backing vocals will probably require much less tuning, since the backup singers will be harmonizing with the correct lead vocal pitch.

Special Effect Tuning
With PitchDoctor, you can use a guitar track (or any other monophonic instrument track) as a guide to correct the pitch of the lead vocal track using automation within Pro Tools. For example, you can record a lead guitar track, analyze its pitch to generate a pitch "score," and apply that to your lead vocal track. On top of that, you can manually automate the pitch "score" like you would any other automatable Pro Tools parameter for even more pitch control, as in Figure 3.

Figure 3. PitchDoctor enables you to easily draw automation to adjust the pitch of your lead vocal track.

Similarly, you can use a MIDI keyboard to trigger the pitch of a vocal track using the Target Note Via MIDI in AutoTune. This is a production technique that's becoming more common in popular music, specifically in the electronic genres. You can get really creative with your vocals using either of these plug-ins. Try 'em out!

Aligning Vocal Melodies and Harmonies: Cut It Up
After comping and tuning the lead vocal track, it's a good idea to tighten up the rhythms of the harmony vocal tracks to match the lead vocals. The point is to get the start and end point of each harmony note tightly aligned with the lead vocal, as well as any obvious hard consonant sounds (b, d, g, k, t, etc.) that might distract from the rhythm of the track if not aligned. This means if a harmony note is longer than the lead note, you need to shorten the harmony note. Cut some of the middle of the note out and create crossfades between the remaining regions, as in Figure 4. You may need to use equal power crossfades here, and the crossfades may have to be a little longer than usual to make this sound natural.

Figure 4. Cut down the size of a harmony note to match the length of the lead line.

If the harmony note is too short, then you should copy a section of the harmony note and paste it into the middle of the note to make it longer. Then apply crossfades to smooth it out, as in Figure 5. In this case too, you may need to use equal power crossfades, and the crossfades may have to be a little longer than usual to make this sound natural. Also, trim the starts and ends of the notes so they are rhythmically tight.

Figure 5. Insert a copied piece of the harmony note to match the length of the lead line.

	Figure 6. VocALign works well in all different musical genres, easily aligning everything from doubled rap tracks to multi-part country harmonies. (Click to enlarge)

Time Compression/Expansion
If all else fails, another technique you can use to align vocals is time compression and/or expansion. With Pro Tools, you can expand or compress an audio region without affecting its pitch using a variety of available tools, including Digidesign's own AudioSuite TC/E plug-in, Serato's Pitch 'n Time, Wave Mechanics' Speed, Synchro Arts' TimeMod, or Waves' Time Shifter. For example, instead of performing the somewhat complicated editing on the harmony vocal lines described earlier, you can apply time compression or expansion to the harmony notes and align them with the lead part in seconds. This editing technique has become even easier to do now that Pro Tools has a Time Trimmer tool. This tool automatically uses your default audio compression/expansion plug-in to shorten or lengthen any audio region. Check it out! (Click to enlarge)

Wrap-Up
After comping, tuning, and aligning the timing of all the vocal tracks in your session, consolidate each track on a new playlist so you have one "perfect" region for each vocal track. Join me next month for techniques on mixing vocal tracks in Pro Tools.
See you soon. Peace.

Like what you see in this column? Check out my book, Producing in the Home Studio with Pro Tools (2nd Edition). You can buy it online right here through Digidesign's web store, or visit www.protoolsbook.com. Interested in personal instruction on Pro Tools from yours truly? Visit www.berkleemusic.com and learn about several amazing Pro Tools learning experiences available online though Berklee College of Music. Wanna see my studio and hear some samples of my work? Visit www.undergroundsun.com.

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