Heart's in the Choirbox

A shell (?) of a country song, but also my first try with Melodyne (an Auto-tune-esque plugin). Combo music talk/listen: how does the pitch correction sound?

I picked this song as my first try at pitch correction because my pitch (while not totally awful or anything) was worse on it than anything else I'm currently working on. How does it sound? Can you hear the pitch correction doing funny things? I hear some funkiness in the vibrato; does it stick out to you, or am I just too close?

I'm really not planning on using pitch correction heavily, but it sure is a nice option to have when you've got a great vocal take with a couple of pitch problems.

It will be a huge bonus for me if you let me know if you think I should fill out the arrangement or just leave it as a vocals/guitars song. Can't decide.

(Get Flash to see the track player.)
posted by nosila (4 comments total)

really sweet and lovely melody; any pitch correction happening is discrete. The bright guitars and warm, saturated vocals are quite wonderful -- though I'd be interested to hear a full arrangement, it stands on its own all spare and intimate as it now is.
posted by February28 at 6:18 PM on November 28, 2008

First, the song is really nice. I don't really think it needs anything else at all, but if you already have this version you could do the other one and then compare. What else would you be adding to it?

As for the pitch correction: it never sounds "vocoderish" or tampered with, though it does sound a bit 'metallic', but I think that could be attributed to a 'chorus' or slight 'flanger' effect had you not mention that you used pitch correction.

And I want to say again that the song is really nice. Thanks for posting it.
posted by micayetoca at 3:45 AM on November 29, 2008

micayetoca: I'm going to try bringing down the highs and upper mids a bit to see if that helps. Can't believe I didn't try that already...thanks for your use of the word 'metallic'! It's funny how you can get stuck into thinking a certain thing should sound a certain way at the expense of having it sound really good.

If I add to it, I'll probably try to keep it sounding somewhat authentically old-school country. Maybe just some kick and snare, a little bass, a few backing vocals, and a little bit of that ol' B3.

And thanks to both of you for your compliments. Glad you like the song. :)
posted by nosila at 6:00 AM on November 29, 2008

I didn't realize you were the girl from voodoo economics. I didn't recognize the username and the style was so different I didn't even think of it. Now I'm a fan all around, please keep posting more stuff!
posted by micayetoca at 3:36 PM on December 1, 2008