joel_brown Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Our singer bought a TC-Helicon VoiceCorrect XT device which has pitch correction for vocals, among other things. It works really nice and I was very impressed with it. I was wondering what it would be like to use it on guitar for both rhythm and leads in a live situation. Has anyone tried this ? I know it's cheating and I'm old school, to a point. But it sure gave a nice polish to the vocals. It won't make a bad singer good but it makes a good singer sound really good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cruisinon2 Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 It might work great...right up until the point you bend your first note. Then the "correction" will kick in, dragging the note back to wherever this marvelous device thinks it should have been in the first place. Technology is great. It has given us some pretty convincing amp modelling, but this kinda stuff will be the death of music. I'll don't care if a "real" amp is producing my tone, but fudging a performance I just don't get. May as well play to a backing track...just my 2 cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
napynap Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 Hard pitch correction can also be used as an effect that we've all heard on vocals for several pop hits, just like we use effects for guitar. If you like it, use it. Just another brush to paint your musical canvas. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triryche Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I wonder how it would handle chords. It might work great...right up until the point you bend your first note. Then the "correction" will kick in, dragging the note back to wherever this marvelous device thinks it should have been in the first place. It would be interesting to try. From their demo video it does not seem to force the vocals to a chromatic note as the singer bends or "sildes" to different pitches. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toonsms Posted October 1, 2015 Share Posted October 1, 2015 I would think that this could help to keep the guitar sounding more in correct tune rather than mask bad playing. In that regard it really wouldn't be cheating as far as playing goes but more of an effect. As others have said could somehow be interesting. Would the effect be more pronounced with more sloppy playing? It's worth messing with for fun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rewolf48 Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Hard pitch correction can also be used as an effect that we've all heard on vocals for virtually every pop hit in the last 10 years, just like we use effects for guitar. If you like it, use it. Just another roller to paint your musical canvas. I just thought I would correct that for you - with young daughters I get to listen to a bit more of this stuff than I want to, and I have to tell you that if you listen to any Pop Hits album then there is nothing but pitch corrected vocals from start to finish - I really don't think any "Pop Star" has time to learn to sing any more ... too much time on the important things like Hair and Makeup. Even when the song starts off ok it doesn't take any time before I can hear the Pitch Correction artefacts and cringe. Maybe the next albums will be called "Now that what I call Pitch Correction" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joel_brown Posted October 2, 2015 Author Share Posted October 2, 2015 I'm hearing pitch correction in a number of country songs too. Just not the hard pitch correction used in Pop. I will say this device my singer bought when used in default mode, it's hard to tell it's pitch correcting the voice. But it sure does make him sound like a pro. Hmmmm, maybe more people than we think are using this. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianoguyy Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Yes, things like lip sync and backing tracks they are everywhere. And with all of this 'linking' that we do, it is only going to get worse. I don't blame artists, I blame the machine (my word for the labels, not the devices). You guys are correct, there are some people who would not exist if not for trickery. But there are some very talented people who, as things have gotten bigger and bigger, have allowed the machine to chip away little by little to the point that they are using the same trickery as the non talented ones. Taylor Swift is a good example. Her shows have gone from her singing and playing guitar, to these big huge productions. She is literally putting on a broadway play in a new location every night. With stage props, lasers, and videos. But less displays of talent, because it is 90% fake. ** I love when lawsuits happen because it pulls the curtain back on the fantasy. Robin Thicke was too stoned to write his music. 50 Cent rented all of his possessions for appearances and returned them afterwards. Ace Frehley didn't appear on 3 of the albums he was credited with. KISS Alive! was more studio than than live. MILLI VANILLI Then we find these little gizmos that fix our pitch, lol. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toonsms Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 I hear that it has been used at some level for nearly all artists whether they know it or not during mixing. It dwarfs the cost and time it would take to fix it with the performer. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Triryche Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Yeah, subtle pitch correction when mixing/mastering for a finely polished final product has it's utility, but using pitch correction in place of talent is a tragedy!! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
joel_brown Posted October 3, 2015 Author Share Posted October 3, 2015 Can't agree more about that. Using pitch correction in place of talent is a tragedy. I personally don't like the idea of pitch correction at all but with so many people using it you almost have to consider it. I think it was pianoguyy that said Steve Vai even went through one of his albums and tweaked all his guitar notes to be perfect. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toonsms Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Agreed. I thought the fact that it sounded bad when obvious would be self limiting. Go figure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pianoguyy Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Yes, that was me that said it. Steve not only pitch corrected, he time corrected. So that every note was right on beat. Even his bends were timed and pitched perfectly. Not just starting and ending, but a bend that took 996ms, and went up in pitch 996hz, was timed and pitched at 1hz per ms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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