Recording (creating) higher vocal parts than I can sing.

daddio307

Member
Back in the days of cassette recording, I just put the tape on half speed, sang the higher parts and then when I played it back at regular speed you would hear the higher harmonies that I could not produce with my regular voice. So my question is, with digital recording (I am using an older Boss BR600 digital 8track) is it possible to record a vocal and play it higher, and how do you do it? Thanks.
 
Get a harmonizer...either standalone hardware...or if you can use plugins with your Boss, there are various software harmonizers.
 
What's your budget? The 'tape speed' trick makes you sound like Alvin & the Chipmunks, probably not what you are looking for.
 
You could still do that same old school trick with Audacity. Record at half the speed and digitally change the vocal with the change tempo effect.
 
Melodyne. Although I've never used it for this purpose, I understand that it can be used for this, and harmonies, etc. etc. Can be expensive depending on what version you get, but it's well worth it imo.
 
You could still do that same old school trick with Audacity. Record at half the speed and digitally change the vocal with the change tempo effect.

That gives the 'chipmunk' effect

Melodyne. Although I've never used it for this purpose, I understand that it can be used for this, and harmonies, etc. etc. Can be expensive depending on what version you get, but it's well worth it imo.

Yep, you need to use a software that changes the underlying sound. A voice on C below middle C does not sound the same as a voice on middle C.
 
That gives the 'chipmunk' effect

I'm not advocating for the technique, per se, but if you record them at half speed, then they should come out at normal speed and the octave this person wants.

Yep. And sound like a chipmunk...

Even Melodyne can't make a full octave sound natural. It is just impossible.

Used in a mix with a natural voice however, it is not so noticeable. Upper and lower 3rds and 5th harmonies sit good when mixed well. Solo them and you hear that it is fake.

Octaves can be done, but it will sound intentional as an effect. I just did one recently that we called Death Kermit. But it is obvious for a reason.
 
If the key is more than four semitones too high you can increase your pitch by artificial means (like simple pitch shifting) for BVs and get away with it but if you want to retain 'you' then I've had little luck going more than a tone. The new features in cubase are great, but move too far and while you don't sound like Alvin you don't sound like you. However, I've also discovered even a semi tone shift in the whole song's key can be worth trying and then you sing normally. Like reinventing varispeed from the 60's.
 
Back in the days of cassette recording, I just put the tape on half speed, sang the higher parts and then when I played it back at regular speed you would hear the higher harmonies that I could not produce with my regular voice. So my question is, with digital recording (I am using an older Boss BR600 digital 8track) is it possible to record a vocal and play it higher, and how do you do it? Thanks.

the very best thing you could do,
would be to find a friend, with a great voice,
and have him/her sing the backups.

what you add to the music,
is another level of interest that would not have been there using tricks,
and the end result might surprise you.
collabs rock.
 
That's what I was looking for. If I can figure out how to record at half speed, which is what I did with my cassette recorder, the problem would be solved. Thanks
 
I suspect the Mickey Mouse effect we thought quite cool back then (remember Alvin and the chipmunks, we thought good?) would now just be wrong.

With modern DAWs, pitch changes can be done quite easily and sound a lot better than changing the speed (AND the tempo) but the range is still not brilliant - a fish up can work, but more than that it's still not that real. If your range is not enough by a couple of tones, I'd do it electronically, not mechanically. If it's more than that, get a singer in.
 
Melodyne will work. I use it all the time for backing vocals. BUT....any time you are changing the pitch of a recorded anything, the timbre is going to be stretched and will sound different and sometimes not in a good way.
 
I'm fortunate. With my ancient Akai DPS12i, I'm still able to varispeed in digital. In fact, back in 2005, I sold my Zoom MRS1266 and got the Akai for that very reason. The only other creature I came across that varispeeded in digital was one of the Fostex ones {the VF160 ?}. I might have bought a Boss if it had varispeed.
 
I sometimes will use my TC Helicon Play Acoustic unit, and record only the harmonies from it. After a few times sounding horrible, i worked with the settings and got it to sound pretty decent. Other than that i would use melodyne, but that doesn't always sound right if shifting the pitch too much. 3rd option is to get someone else to sing the harmonies..:guitar:
 
I have some times tracked a pre-mix, transposed it down a couple of semitones, and then used that as monitormix for my High Pitched Vocal harmonies. After this I have deleted the pre-mix, pitched the vocals up so they matched the original recording. If this is done in a busy harmony section it’ll work just fine.
Or just sing like hell. More power gives the ability of higher Vocal pitch ;-)

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Or use Melodyne. It can work wonders on stuff like this.
 
I sometimes will use my TC Helicon Play Acoustic unit, and record only the harmonies from it. After a few times sounding horrible, i worked with the settings and got it to sound pretty decent. Other than that i would use melodyne, but that doesn't always sound right if shifting the pitch too much. 3rd option is to get someone else to sing the harmonies..:guitar:

These TC Helicon units where they key off a guitar playing the underlying chord really do work pretty well and do not sound that "fake,"

When using Melodyne there is a control called the "formant" which allows you to change the harmonic content of a note to make a female sound more like a man for example. Sometimes this will also take out the "fake" quality of raising the pitch of a vocal part.
 
These TC Helicon units where they key off a guitar playing the underlying chord really do work pretty well and do not sound that "fake,"

In studio just set the desired key and all harmonies stay within it. Blended well it can sound pretty damn good.
 
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