Vocal Harmony

[Studio 919]

Does anyone know of a plugin that will allow me to add harmony to my main vocals? If so, please give the name of the plugin and how well it works.

Thanks in advance.

[roberthall]

Hi DooDad,

There are several options.

1) Harmony Engine by Antares http://www.antarestech.com/products/har ... gine.shtml (same company that makes AutoTune)
This plugin was made exactly for this and Its pretty easy to use. Quality is not as good as option 2 or 3.

2) Melodyne by Celemony. http://www.celemony.com/cms/
There are several version and i believe you will need the mid range or higher version.
Not really made for harmonie but does it very well. a little harder to use than option 1

3) Waves Tune http://www.waves.com/Content.aspx?id=182
Also not made for this but can do a good job of making harmonies after you read the tutorials or videos.

hope this helps.

Robert

[Studio 919]

Robert,
Thanks so much for the response. I'll check them out.

Barry

[Ianpb]

Waves Tune is just their version of an autotune plugin. If you want a plugin that would make your voice sound more like a harmonising choir then I would suggest you take a look at Soundspectral's ChoirsX. It's available as a 3-day time-limited demo from their website.

Here's a Youtube demo:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOyZRqJw24g

[aj113]

TC Helicon

[Ianpb]

TC Helicon

TC Helicon only make hardware. They don't make software plugins.

[Vibrant Audio]

Ian is right about the TC Helicon vst plugs needing the powercore hardware. Unless you're using ProTools - the TDM version works native.

I use an older version of the TC Helicon VoiceTone Harmony-G foot pedal live and occasionally for recording. They make one for keyboard as well. The cool thing about these is that you can either set the song key manually or it can read the guitar/keyboard input and make dynamic harmonies in key live.

TC Helicon really makes the best harmonizer pedals I've ever heard. After live shows, I've never had anyone have anything but amazement at the harmonies.

You can find older models cheaper on ebay. Just search for "voicetone".

[aj113]

TC Helicon

TC Helicon only make hardware. They don't make software plugins.

My bad. Didn't read the OP properly.

[Studio 919]

Thanks to everyone for the input.

aj113 - I have thought about the TC Helicon. I have seen guitarists use them and they seem to work very well; plus, they sound pretty good. Since I don't do live performances I felt it would be nice if I could find a software solution for creating vocal harmony.

Background: My recording method starts with a drum track, then rhythm (either guitar or keyboard), then vocals. What I envision is: copy the main vocal track so that I now have two main vocal tracks. Then, on the duplicate vocal track I could delete everything EXCEPT the section that is supposed to be the harmony. Then add some "harmonizing plugin" in order to adjust the harmony to the correct notes (pitch).

One of the suggestions requires something called "I-LOK" I don't know anything about i-lok but some time back some of the users on the REAPER forum were against using anything that required i-lok. I'll have to plead ignorance since I don't know anything about it.

Meanwhile, I'll be looking at the suggestions and any other options I may be able to find.

Thanks again.

[Vibrant Audio]

Antares Harmony Engine Evo

Requires iLok. iLok is a copy protection method that requires an iLok usb dongle (like a flash drive). You buy the iLok and load your licenses on that, then you are able to just move the iLok from computer to computer rather than purchasing multiple licenses. Was used more often a few years ago, but use has been declining. Even newer versions of ProTools no longer require an iLok.

I know you want a vst, but I think you would have better results with a TC Helicon pedal. You can just sing the lead vocal again through the pedal but only record the harmonies. The unit has two outputs for the vocal on the back - one for the dry lead and the second for the harmonies.

[Studio 919]

Thanks for the information Vibrant Audio.

Your suggestion about the TC Helicon is something that I have wondered about. I just never checked in to it.

The unit has two outputs for the vocal on the back - one for the dry lead and the second for the harmonies.

I'm trying to envision the installation and setup. Since the unit has 2 outputs, does this mean that I would connect one mic, arm 2 tracks for recording, record the vocal melody on track one, and the harmony automatically be recorded on track 2?

[Vibrant Audio]

Exactly.

Or you record both lead and harmony vocals to a single track using one output from the pedal.

Or you could first record the lead vocal, then sing the lead again into the pedal while recording only the harmony output of the pedal.

Any of these methods would work with that unit.

[Studio 919]

SWEEEEEET!!!!!

Gonna check this out 2-night.

Thanks again VA.

Barry

[aj113]

If you want to hear the TC Helicon Voicelive in action, here's my own band (recorded using Mixcraft of course!). Play the track called X Rated, All backing vocals on this track were generated by TC Helicon voicelive.

http://www.reverbnation.com/salemuk

[gypsy101]

for T.C. Helicon,check out the H1 stompbox voice harmonizer-
http://www.tc-helicon.com/products/voicetone-h1/

pretty sweet for $150 & there are a few youtube vids for it.

or build your own-
I'll get back with how well this thing works when I'm done w/ it.
http://www.allelectronics.com/make-a-st ... KIT/1.html