Members mannydingo Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Yeah, I mean like $100 to $200 even if used and older. I know another guy asked a similar question talking under $500 but he was also asking for more from the unit. Does it seem like I'm going to low in the dollar amount? Yeah, you're right but it's justified. I'm not looking for reverb, thickening, harmonies, etc, etc, etc. I am only interested in natural sounding pitch correction. Forget the get voice lessons comments, etc. I tried those earlier in my life with a classically trained teacher. There were pictures all over his home of professional performances in theater after theater. I still can barely sing but have managed to be the "other singer" in the band by keeping to songs within my range. Now that I'm in my mid 40's, I'm losing more and more higher notes. This is something that happens to the best of singers. Yeah, there are exceptions but they last maybe 10 years longer than anyone else. Now give me suggestions, please. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Jerry007 Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Antares made a hardware unit that was only a few hundred bucks brand new - You might be able to pick up one of those used in your price range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Shaster Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Start singing Bob Dylan tunes:) I'm only half joking, tunes by guys that never hit the notes in the first place might be an easier sell. Maybe a used FX unit that gives you a bit of chorus might help, if you can't find something that tracks properly in your price range. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mannydingo Posted December 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Start singing Bob Dylan tunes:) I'm only half joking, tunes by guys that never hit the notes in the first place might be an easier sell.Maybe a used FX unit that gives you a bit of chorus might help, if you can't find something that tracks properly in your price range. Ok, Ok, let's go out of my price range also but without going crazy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Pitch correction that works even reasonably well is quite difficult and expensive to do. Nothing worse that a cheap unit that does a poor job to show just how bad your vocals can really be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members BenBroChill Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 you could be like all the other "popstars" and use a auto tuner. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mannydingo Posted December 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 you could be like all the other "popstars" and use a auto tuner. Please explain an "auto tuner". You mean a pitch corrector is not what I'm looking for? I'm familiar with my guitar equipment but for vocals all I know is my microphone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members NUSound Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Please explain an "auto tuner". You mean a pitch corrector is not what I'm looking for? I'm familiar with my guitar equipment but for vocals all I know is my microphone. Forgive me if any details are fuzzy: Auto-Tune is a trademarked term owned by the company Antares. It is a software plugin (and also available in a hardware FX processor (AVP-1 IIRC))that rounds off a given pitch to the nearest musical 'step,' aka, Pitch Correction. Auto-Tuner I believe is trademarked by one of their competitors. Despite what T-Pain may have you believe, Auto-Tune, Auto-Tuner, and other Pitch Correction methods are far from transparent. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Dogoth Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Anteres also makes a hardware version of Auto-Tune but it's not cheap and in the end it will not fix gross intonation problems. Proper pitch is a matter of ear training, not so much vocal technique. If it's out of your range either change the key or don't sing that song. There is no cheap fix that will work well at all. As I said even the expensive fix can only do so much. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members scarecrowbob Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 It'd most likely be cheaper and more effective to purchase some custom backing tracks over which you might lip-sync. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members garageman Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 checkout tc helicon, voicetone correct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mshifflett Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Spend the money on a vocal coach. Oops, sorry I forgot to not comment on the voice lessons thing. It's just a knee jerk reaction. Craig you can delete this if you want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mannydingo Posted December 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 It'd most likely be cheaper and more effective to purchase some custom backing tracks over which you might lip-sync. Please tell me that's a joke. I am a joker so I would not be insulted and would take it as such. Just PLEASE tell me it's a joke. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Some backingtracks might be an ok solution. Better than having a pitch correction voice hunt during your part. Nothing screams "OMG that singer really can't sing" worse than an auto-tune device mistracking. That's totally embarrassing on stage BTW. Seriously, a good vocal coach should be able to help you work out compromise arrangements and approaches to make it more likely that yo will sound acceptable. If that still doesn't help, or if your voice is really that bad, maybe it's time to lay off the singing except easier parts that you can hit reliably. I think you are missing the big picture here. (The same thing applies to other musicians and their instruments... if they can't playthe part and lessons don't help, then arrange the piece with a part that they can play. Nothing is worse than watching a band playing with poor execution.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 I actually saw a band last week that used Auto Tune for a singer that only sang a couple of songs. Honestly, he would have been much better off just singing a little off key then allowing a software program try to figure out what he was trying to sing. It actually drew attention to the vocals instead of helping them. I was considering doing something similar until I heard them. I actually had pitch correction on my Christmas list until I heard that band. I use Auto Tune in the studio for other band's projects but never on mine. I decided that my own voice, good or bad, is what people are going to hear when they go and see us. It's worked for over 30 years so I guess I will stick with it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mannydingo Posted December 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 AgedHorse, that's a very sane post. I may have to do what I've been planning. First, continue to sing only on songs within my range where I don't sing them great either but good enough for a cover band. Second, on some songs that I LOVE singing, I will split the vocals with the lead singer where I will sing the lower section of the song and he will sing the sections with the higher notes. This will, of course, be done well and not just him coming in for two words or anything crazy like that. This will also be minimally used. I love singing better than playing guitar so it's really frustrating that it's getting hard and harder to do lead vocals. I'm still there, though, but it's getting worse. Getting older really sucks. No, I'm not just going to stop singing while I can find a workaround. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mannydingo Posted December 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 I decided that my own voice, good or bad, is what people are going to hear when they go and see us. It's worked for over 30 years so I guess I will stick with it. Yeah, that will keep working until age finally catches up with you. Some guys drop drastically at 40, other at 50 while others at 60. It all depends on your genes and/or how you treated your voice on how long you will have a decent range and quality. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Yeah, that will keep working until age finally catches up with you. Some guys drop drastically at 40, other at 50 while others at 60. It all depends on your genes and/or how you treated your voice on how long you will have a decent range and quality. That is true. I'm 48 and my vocal chords have aged a bit faster then my body. I haven't treated my voice (or ears) very well over the years. Switching from wedges to in ears really helped a lot. I guess the audience will just have to hear what I give them. Fortunately a great majority of my singing is harmonies, which still sound pretty good. My range is higher then the regular singer so I do get stuck with the higher range stuff, which is where I'm losing my vocal quality. Most of the people that come out to see us have been there since the beginning anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mannydingo Posted December 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 I'm mostly harmonies too but wish I could sing lead and had a great range. I never did and now it's worse. Hey, thanks for so many replies on the subject, guys. Anyone else can still chime in. I will still probably give one of these units a try some time in the future but this thread pretty much says that these units are not going to help live and may only make things worse. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Bobby1Note Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Mannydingo, You said the voice-lessons you took, occured "early in my life". Maybe the time has come to have a vocal-coach look at your voice from this new perspective. Bob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members mannydingo Posted December 20, 2009 Author Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Mannydingo,You said the voice-lessons you took, occured "early in my life". Maybe the time has come to have a vocal-coach look at your voice from this new perspective.Bob Bob, that's a very good point. Unfortunately, now that I lose half my salary to child support, it looks like I will never be able to afford anything. I need God's intervention there big time! There's no money left for almost anything. I thought a voice processor would be a cheap way out. Notice my thread title:confused: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members jwlussow Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 You can take a few voice lessons for the money you wanted to spend on the appliance. Might not be a bad investment to meet with a vocal coach once or twice. I learned to squeeze my butt cheeks together when I start to go flat. It works. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members agedhorse Posted December 20, 2009 Members Share Posted December 20, 2009 Mannydingo,You said the voice-lessons you took, occured "early in my life". Maybe the time has come to have a vocal-coach look at your voice from this new perspective.Bob I think this is an excellent idea, and would probably benefit more in the big picture than a pitch correction device. A better singer is a better singer regardless. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Moderators MarkGifford-1 Posted December 21, 2009 Moderators Share Posted December 21, 2009 I still can barely sing but have managed to be the "other singer" in the band by keeping to songs within my range. Now that I'm in my mid 40's, I'm losing more and more higher notes. Pitch correction isn't going to increase your range. If you have a problem singing in tune, it may help a little, but if you're expecting it to sing the high notes for you, no box on earth exists to do that. MG Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members The Real MC Posted December 21, 2009 Members Share Posted December 21, 2009 Coaches are like doctors... you can get a second opinion. Find a better singing coach. Go to your local grade school, look up the music teacher, and ask for a vocal coach. Those people have a network of teachers outside the school and they know the top notch people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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