What do you think is the best plugin for LogicPro or software for Mac to shift an octave down (-12) a male singer's voice and still make it believable (avoiding ridiculous results)?
Have you had experience (or get a trick) with a voice treated like this in the recording studio?

Hints and Tips are welcome.

> Monday I will post the last tip I need before I start recording (your help - as always - is invaluable).

 

Last edited: Nov 4, 2024 at 10:54 AM

It's not down to the software; it's more about the voice itself as to whether it's going to sound weird or not. In 95% of cases- yeah, it's gonna sound weird. You probably need a voice that's kind of high to begin with or you're going to get "happy Halloween!" demon voice. Interested to hear what you're up to.

If you're only worried about artifacts, I'd think Melodyne would be fine

 

Last edited: Nov 3, 2024 at 12:17 AM

halloween demon voice is the best voice though (but yeah melodyne is likely your best option)

 

Look here Pitchwheel AU/VST/VT3/AAX The Pitchwheel plug-in freely alters the pitch and timbre of a sound in real-time..
Apple MacOS 10.11+, 64 bit Intel & Arm. --> www.quikquak.com/Prod_Pitchwheel.html

 

Last edited: Nov 3, 2024 at 2:40 AM

I mean if you pitch it that far it's gonna change it into a effect .. it definitely isn't gonna sound natural idgaf what software you use.. maybe try doing something less drastic like 3 or 4 semi tones .. depending on the key the voice is in and if your song is major or minor .. because -12 is like saying I want a delay on here with no feedback but I want the feedback all the way up..it's just something that can't be done .. you could always put waves pitch plugin and do -12 and blend it with the original track but it's still gonna sound weird

 

first of all record at the highest sample rate available on your system, then make the pitch shift with all the tools you have available and use the one that sounds best, melodyne has to be one of those, but the most important trick is working at a very high sample rate

 

If you take Pinky and Perky as a starting point, then pitch down an octave, you will get a human sounding voice.

So with that in mind, shifting down an octave from a human voice is never meant to sound human!


As for have I done it? I have taken instrumentals and pitched the vocals up an octave to get the Pinky and Perky Sound/ Alvin and the Chipmunks yep, just by using Ableton's Pitch control with the same results as in the above video.

I can post a few examples if you'd like.

 

I remember trying that when I first saw it and didn't see any difference with that or Ableton's pitch control.. I tried Waves pitch shifter as well,again no difference.

 

Before there was a thing called a DAW and vst plugins, I wanted my voice for a particular song to be low low but couldn't reach that low. My great idea was to drink lots of shots of tequila and chain smoke American Spirit cigarettes the night before and record the vocal immediately after waking up. It didn't go as so planned as I felt terribly the next afternoon (it was a late night) with a harsh hangover, the pounding headache that I gave myself inhibiting anything goodly in the recording process. Long live Melodyne!!!

 

zplane Elastique Pitch 2 for realtime transparent shifting. You can fine tune with it using xy pad style control. It stays locked to the diagonal until you unlink pitch and timbre values.

 

My 2cnts, also said by others.
-Record the voice with a minimum of 96 Khz, because pitching down a 44.1 or 48 Khz recorded voice will make the Nyquist frequency audible.
-Do 2 passes, not a whole octave at once.
-Maybe experiment with doing time compression first, then lower the pitch. This could improve the quality.
-Use a software with separate Formant control.
-If you have Pro tools, use Serato Pitch N time. It's considered to be the best pitch plugin, but only available for this DAW.

 

Inner pitch free https://plugins4free.com/plugin/3969/

 

Give the male singer xenon gas or sulfur hexaflouride before recording.

https://youtube.com/shorts/QMlGQAKSBLw

 

It is priced like it is the best, at least.

There is a modified AAX release from the WItches. Can you run it in Magix Sequoia? OP is using Mac so that doesn't matter, but I would not mind knowing. They claim to have used the same algorithm in Serato Sample, also.

The v2.2 of Elastique had Apple Silicon support already at that version. It's a useful realtime utility, lightweight and transparent. Otherwise there is Autotune Pro 11, and obviously Melodyne. To put Autotune 11 into graph mode, you have to record the audio from the DAW track into the plugin like you use Transfer feature in Melodyne. So I think the deciding factor would be the actual workflow situation.

 

So your cure for too much alcohol is, to get a DAW... I love that idea .

 

Any real-time pitch shifter produces weird results. I'd look for ARA2 solutions like Synchro Arts ReVoice or Celemony Melodyne. Or use your DAW's stretching.
In my experience, Cubase's native VariAudio produces best results.
An octave down tho. You'd want to multiband that shit.

 

As well as adjusting the pitch itself, using a plugin that can slightly adjust the singer's throat, formant and timbre will help to convince the ear. Izotope or Antares come to mind.

 

Melodyne can do the trick!

 

Autotune 11 Pro installs 2 copies of the plugin, one normal and one ARA version. You can use either in Logic, but I do not know if that can be said for other DAWs.

 

Thank you all for your opinion and advice...
I will try your suggestions one by one hoping to find the right technique to achieve the best result.

 

Last edited: Nov 4, 2024 at 2:52 PM