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How to Set the T-Pain Effect with Auto Tune

Auto-tune is a pitch-correction tool for music production. It was originally designed for moving slightly flat or sharp notes in tune, mitigating the need to rerecord an otherwise good vocal take. However, by “abusing” the settings, you can achieve a range of quirky, robotic-sounding effects. Cher, Daft Punk and T-Pain have all used Auto-tune as a creative, rather than corrective, tool in their recordings. You can emulate the distinctively “delirious” sound of T-Pain’s vocals by adjusting the parameters on your Auto-tune plug-in.

Things You'll Need

  • Audio production program
  • Auto-tune plug-in or alternative
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Instructions

    • 1

      Open your preferred audio production program--for example, Logic or Pro Tools. Double-click the desktop icon or open the program by clicking “Start,” “Programs” and selecting it from there. If using a Mac, either click the desktop icon or open the program from the Applications folder.

    • 2

      Highlight the vocal. Click on the track on which you recorded the vocals to be Auto-tuned.

    • 3

      Open Auto-tune or a similar pitch-correction tool. The method of opening Auto-tune may vary slightly from program to program, but the tool is typically located under Tools or Effects. While the “T-Pain effect" is known generally as Auto-tune, this is actually a brand name owned by Antares. There are various similar effects, although Auto-tune was the original pitch-correction tool. If you don’t have an official Auto-tune plug-in, use one of the free alternatives that came with your audio software. For example, in Apple’s logic click “Effects” and select “Pitch Correction.”

    • 4

      Set the input type. Pitch-correction software works within a pre-determined set of parameters. The first parameter to set is the voice, or input type. The trick is to confuse Auto-tune by lying about the type of voice you have. For example, if you have a low voice, select “Alto.” This configures Auto-tune to correct each note to a pitch in the alto register. If the input note is baritone, the difference in pitch between the original and the corrected note is large. This creates the distinctive sweep as the notes jump around in pitch.

    • 5

      Set retune speed to zero. This parameter determines how quickly the original note converts to the corrected note. When a human sings, there is a natural gradient between notes. This called portmanteau. By setting the retune speed to zero, this natural incline in pitch is replaced with an instant, glitchy sound as the correction snaps the note from the original pitch to the corrected pitch.

    • 6

      Add vibrato. Natural vibrato is a gentle modulation of pitch as you sing. Auto-tune removes this when it corrects the pitch. You can add in an artificial vibrato to create a distinctive wobble sound. Underneath the Create Vibrato tab, adjust the Rate and Variation dials to set your preferred vibrato type.

Recording Music

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