Computer Music

Keep the humanity

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Ever considered that maybe your imperfect vocals don’t really need to be that perfect? Depending what kind of track you want to make, you’ll need to consider where you want to sit on the gradient between tightly-locked Cher-esque Auto-tune, and your raggedy, untreated voice. Leaving your rougher takes uncoloured could possibly add that more human element that your track might have been missing, without you even realising. If your vocals definitely need work however, then it’s critical that you don’t go too far down a pitch-correcting rabbit hole, and end up with a track that sounds overtly robotic (unless that’s what you’re specifical­ly after). If you want to just smooth the harsh edges, yet maintain a raw edge, avoid doing anything globally. You’ll need to tackle those issues more surgically. Only adjust those notes that are absolutely screaming for it a few cents in the right chromatic direction. Once you’ve got a version of the vocal that works, bounce it down and use that as a benchmark on which to comp further takes – this can help you get to where you need to be, without losing your vocal personalit­y, and avoiding the sonic equivalent of the ‘uncanny valley’.

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