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If you switched on the radio in the summer of 1998, chances are you got a taste of Cher's 'Believe,' an up-tempo ode to bouncing back after a rough breakup. More than a quarter century after first rising to prominence as a 1960s folk artist, the 52-year-old Cher was once again climbing the charts. In malls, dance clubs and laser bowling alleys across the country, 'Believe' played frequently. By the time the dust had settled, the song had become Cher's bestselling recording ever -- and one of the bestselling singles of all time.
At the time, the most notable feature of the song was an electronic modification on the vocals. The effect first appears 35 seconds into the song, while Cher sings 'I can't break through.' On each of the last three words, Cher's voice undergoes a bizarre electronic glitch.
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The reason behind that glitch was Auto-Tune, a pitch-correcting software designed to smooth out any off-key notes in a singer's vocal track. Released only the year before 'Believe,' it was the recording industry's favorite dirty secret: With only a few clicks of a mouse, Auto-Tune could turn even the most cringe-worthy singer into a pop virtuoso. But most music studios kept it around simply to fix with the occasional wrong note.
During the recording sessions for 'Believe,' however, Cher's British producers had put the software into overdrive. Instead of lightly tuning the pitch of Cher's voice, they had adjusted the levels so sharply that it became an unmistakable part of the song. The effect was weird and robotic, but against a background of synthesizers and high-energy percussion, it worked like a charm. Opera singers have long been using vibrato, a technique of delivering a note in a constantly wavering pitch. As far as Cher and her producers were concerned, though, Auto-Tune was simply a computerized twist on the technique.
As 'Believe' hit the airwaves, the producers aimed to keep the lid on their new toy. So much so, that when interviewed about the technique by a sound engineering magazine, they lied and said it was due to a vocoder, a well-known voice modulation device used since the 1970s [source: Sillitoe].
But the truth eventually trickled out, and when it did, Auto-Tune's inventor, Harold 'Andy' Hildebrand, was shocked. Auto-Tune was supposed to be a behind-the-scenes trick for the recording studio. The New Yorker had compared it to blotting out the red-eye in a photograph, and Hildebrand himself compared it to wearing makeup [source: Frere-Jones, NOVA].
But now, Hildebrand's brainchild was making Cher sound like a robot. 'I never figured anyone in their right mind would want to do that,' Hildebrand told Time magazine [source: Tyrangiel] Whether he realized it at the time or not, Hildebrand's electronic creation was about to become one of the largest technological influences on popular music since Les Paul invented the modern electric guitar.
Have you tried recording your song in Audacity, but it is off-tune? Don’t worry! We’ll give you a solution to that, and that is the Aucaity autotune, which is a device that corrects an out-of-tune or off-key vocal presentation. It is created by Antares Audio Technologies in 1997. Usually, music producers use this in a digital audio workstation like Audacity software for live performances.
The official plugin for auto-tuning comes at a very expensive price. However, there are many available programs that can be an alternative to the Autotune for Audacity. One of them is a plugin called GSnap.
You can download it for free, install in your Audacity and fine-tune your live vocal performance. It helps expand the Audacity’s functionality through vocal pitch correction. There are also many plugins available for Audacity that you can download for free. Autotune runs in Audacity for Windows, Audacity for Mac, and Audacity for Linux.
Contents
- 3 Try the Auto-tune Effect
How Does Auto-tune Works?
Singers are prone to negative feedback coming from their listeners. They need to give their best and perfect production numbers to satisfy their audience. But there are instances that they need the help of devices to hide their mistakes or to avoid making mistakes. That’s why they lip-sync the song and auto-tune their prerecorded music.
Actually, it is not only the singers and the music producers who use auto-tune. More often, ordinary people who made music as part of their lives are using it. But how do auto-tune works?
When a person sings and the key is off (out-of-tune), auto-tune shifts the pitch to the nearest correct tone. It can also distort the human voice so that the out-of-tune part (especially the highest and lowest pitches) is not obvious in the whole performance.
Free Autotune Online
GSnap: Getting Autotune for Audacity
GSnap (from GVST) is a plugin that enables the auto-tune effect. It is free to download and install in your Audacity. It can be used to correct your pitch and create a robotic voice effect.
Here are the steps to follow if you want to get a free autotune for Audacity. Make sure you do every step to avoid any issue.
Step 1. On your browser, go to Google and find GVST – GSnap. When you open the website, you can see the information about GVST.
Step 2. Go to Downloads, it is located on the upper part of the web page. Click that and it will redirect you to the Download page.
Step 3. Once it opened, you will see lots of plugins for effects. Find the GSnap which is the plugin for autotune. Go ahead and click that, the download page will open.
Step 4. There are two options for GSnap plugin, the 32- and 64- bit. The download is compatible with your device. Or you can also use the download buttons prepared below. Note that this is for Windows only. There is a separate link for Mac OS and Linux. Wait for a few seconds to complete the download.
Step 5. Open the download folder on your computer and find the GSnap. After that, extract all the files.
Step 6. Look for the .dll file, and paste it to the plugin directory for Audacity. Just go to the Program Files on your computer and find the folder for Audacity. Go to the sub-folder for plugins and then paste the copied file. The plugin will be added to your effects.
Try the Auto-tune Effect
Step 7. Open your Audacity and record your audio or import a prerecorded sound to auto-tune. Select the part of the audio you want to correct and click the Effect Menu. Look for the GVST GSnap plugin and the commands for adjustment will appear.
Step 8. Configure the settings and turn your audio into a nice vocal presentation. You can rearrange or fix the vocal presentation into a better sound that you want to produce.
Note: For Mac and Linux users, you can follow the same steps except for downloading. When you click Downloads on the website you can see on the bottom part of the page the download link for Mac and Linux. Click the “porting.project.page” and this will open the download page. Choose your platform and download the plugin.
How To Auto Tune On Studio One
Conclusion
Now, there’s no need to perfect your voice to create a great vocal presentation. Get GSnap for free, and make your recordings sound like professional.
How To Autotune Mac
How To Auto Tune Vocals In Logic Pro X
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