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| TC Helicon’s VoiceLive Play GTX is optimized for singing guitarists, and also includes convincing guitar processing. |
CALLING ALL SINGING GUITAR
players! You definitely want your vocals to
sound as good as your guitar, and plenty of
vocal processors are here to help.
HARDWARE
Popular “vocal helpers” include the Boss
VE-20 and VE-5, TC Helicon VoiceLive
series, DigiTech Vocalist series, Electro-Harmonix Voice Box, and TASCAM TA1-VP
(co-designed with Antares). These typically
provide pitch correction and other effects
(delay, doubling, dynamics control, reverb,
EQ, de-essing), and the specific effects
roster depends on model and price point.
Although they’re stage-friendly—especially
TC Helicon’s VoiceLive Touch, which can
mount on a mic stand and does looping—
you’ll often find these kinds of vocal processors in studio racks.
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| DigiTech’s Vocalist Live 3 provides pitch correction and generates vocal harmonies that follow your guitar playing. |
DigiTech debuted vocal harmony control from your guitar (plug in your
guitar,
play, done—no need to set scale or key),
and their Vocalist Live 5 and Vocalist Live
3 incorporate that technology. Both offer
guitar tuners, and Live 5 includes reverb,
chorus, and fl anger for guitar. TC’s VoiceLive
Play GTX, designed specifically for singing guitarists, provides dedicated
guitar effects
processing and vocal processing. Again,
vocal harmonies key to your guitar playing.
TC Helicon’s VoiceTone line breaks vocal
processing down into seven floor pedals
dedicated to specifi c functions: pitch correction, doubling and detune, reverb,
intelligent harmony, etc. They also exploit the
real-time effects control switch offered by
TC’s MP-75 mic. Don’t underestimate this
mic. It flatters my voice, and might flatter yours, too.
iPad-based processing is another hard-
ware option, and IK Multimedia leads that pack with their iRig Mic—a complete
pack-
age including mic and processing software
that you can augment with additional down-
loads. It’s inexpensive, but highly effective
and flexible.
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| iZotope’s Nectar is a comprehensive vocal processing plug-in. |
SOFTWARE
For studio DAWs, there’s a plethora of plug-
ins for vocals. Pitch correction is included
with Apple Logic Studio, Cakewalk Sonar,
Cockos Reaper, Magix Samplitude, MOTU
Digital Performer, PreSonus Studio One
Pro, Propellerhead Reason, and Steinberg
Cubase. However, you can also buy individual plug-ins such as Antares
Auto-Tune,
Celemony Melodyne, Waves Tune, and iZotope Nectar (a vocal strip that includes
pitch
correction and tons of presets.
Waves also makes the excellent Vocal
Rider—not a processor per se, but a time-
saving plug-in for mixing that smooths out
vocal level inconsistencies. Their Artist
Series plug-ins also include quite a few
vocal processing options. And don’t over-
look Toontrack’s EZmix 2, which provides
“plug-and-play” presets for multiple instruments, including vocals (however, it
doesn’t
include pitch correction).
Most DAWs include dynamics, EQ,
delay, and reverb plug-ins, which are as
applicable to voice as other instruments.
Sonar even includes a vocal effects strip
optimized for voice. And while Universal
Audio’s series of powered-plug-ins aren’t
specifically for voice, they offer several plug-
ins that emulate the vintage gear used on classic vocals, such as the LA-2A
compressor and Pultec equalizer.
Get the picture? If you want to take your
vocals to the next level, check out some of
these hardware and software options. You
might be surprised at how easily they can
take your voice from so-so to “wow.”