The Proliferation Of Pitch Correction
Did you know that 82% of people who quote data to support their point are making it up? That’s not true, I made that up.
My point is, 84% of music made in 2023 used some form of pitch correction… again, I made that up.
What I’m really trying to say is, pitch correction gets used in modern music production a lot. There are people who get a lot of work just tuning vocals so we can assume it’s a prolific practice.
Some people don’t really worry too much about tuning their vocals and just see it as part of the production process. Others want to nail those takes without leaning on post processing to tidy up their mistakes. I see the merit in both sides, so I submit to you a trick I like to use to get more in tune vocals without leaning on pitch correction.
A Trick For More In Tune Vocals
As a singer who tries to work on their craft, in particular singing on pitch, I started using a little trick to help get my vocals more in tune when I recorded them. It means even if I do tune them, the tuning doesn’t have to do much work and so the result sounds more natural.
Those Car Rides Are The Key
When you’re in the car and you’re alone singing along with a favourite song, you’re on fire. When that car stops and you have to sing by yourself, not so much. Singing along versus singing alone feel very different. Piggy-backing on this concept as well as the process of doubling vocals I had an ah-ha moment.
What if I sang the vocals as well as I could, comp’d together the best takes, corrected the pitch and then sang along with that vocal as a guide?
Using Your Double Tracked Vocal As Your Lead Vocal
What you’re trying to do is use your “lead vocal” as a guide for your doubled vocal BUT then you’re going to use the double as the actual lead vocal. Simple.
If you’re missing a specific phrase or note, go back and retake it until you feel it measures up against your tuned vocal. Essentially you’re trying to get it as tight as possible without tuning. The only thing you need to be mindful of is performance.
To solve this potential issue, I suggest getting your lead vocal that you’ve comp’d together and tuned, add it to a rough mix and then spend a week or two in the car or wherever, singing along with that take.
Practicing Pitch & Performance
What you’re doing is practising not only getting things on pitch but getting comfortable with the nuances of that great performance you pieced together. You’re training muscles to remember how to get ready and set up for phrases and notes to execute them well. You’re learning the lead vocal part the way you want it to be sung.
It’s like a cross country runner who’s practising on the trail where they’re going to have a race in a couple of weeks time. They’re getting their cadence right, learning where to push and where to pace, getting a feel for every stretch of the course. By the time they get to the race they have a strategy mapped out, they know how they should be feeling at certain points and their muscles are conditioned for this particular run.
The Takeaway
Practising your vocal parts like this isn’t just good for getting an in tune vocal, you’re really doing some solid work on your vocals in general. Using tuning is fine but if you’re serious about becoming a more proficient vocalist, using this technique as well as regular vocal training will benefit your recordings immensely.
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