Accidentally recorded entire track in auto tune over wrong key, what next?

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LeviiWhite

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Hey guys, longtime member and lurker but today I ran into a pretty big problem and I don't really know where else to look for some help. I had some people come down from L.A. - about 4 hours away from my home to record a track over a YouTube beat they had found and the artists are huge fans for auto tune, this would be my first time ever recording with auto tune over a track, the issue is that the entire recording is embedded with this auto tune that is the wrong tonic key. What are my options as to making the track sound better overall and possibly removing the auto tune, I don't imagine I have many options but anything will help, as I am pretty new to recording. Thank you for any tips and your time, much love, Levi.
 
There is some info missing for us to help you.

Normally, autotune is used as an effect over the original. You can in the end bounce the final track, but you usually keep the original. That way, you can edit the effect/autotune afterwards. What software did you use? Which autotune, which DAW or recording software?
You mix up past and presence tense in your sentence "this would be my first recording". Judging by your question, the artists already came to you to record and did their recording with you and that recording is recorded with autotune in the wrong key. Is that right?
If you mean the youtube beat is autotuned in the wrong key, I'd seriously recommend to rethink some strategies. Autotuning the beat in the key that is sung would also be an option :D
 
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Hey man, my apologies for being unclear, let me reiterate!
For starts I am working in FL Studio 12, and the plugin I'm referencing is pitcher. When I said that "this would be my first recording" I meant first time using an autotuner so naturally I went over to Youtube watched a few videos on how to use pitcher to autotune and one of the videos I watched said that when you are recording with it you want it in the same key as the song. The issue was though the song was pulled right off of Youtube and slapped into my DAW so I had to guess what key the song was in. Then when we started doing recording takes I had pitcher over the channel so it went directly through it changed every recording take to that key. When I went in to do editing I realized that there is the tiniest amount of off pitch and I don't know how to get it in tune or blend with the track. Hope this was a little more clearly stated! Thank you so much again! :-)
 
Hey! Not too familiar with FL, but I've used Logic, Maschine, and Pro Tools and all of the plug ins (auto-tune included) run non-destructively (except for Audiosuite in PT). Can you try just simply removing the pitcher plug in and seeing if that works? If not, can you try rerouting that audio to run through another instance of pitcher that is tuned to the right pitch?
 
Hey Ham! this was actually my second idea I thought of doing! Just a random question but how do you learn when things are in pitch verses when they're not??
 
Hey Levi,

You can use software like virtual DJ to help you detect key (not always correct but can get you in the ballpark unless the song is in a half or quarter key, which VDJ cannot detect).

That said in all honesty all I do to figure song keys is mess around on my keyboard but I do have some background in music theory so I already understand key signatures and what notes belong to what scale (probably the most valuable insight you can have if you really need help with using AT). Pentatonic patterns especially will help you know if you're playing in the right key. Additionally...if none of the notes on a standard keyboard are landing in a place that sounds right in the song...that's usually an indication that a song is in a half or quarter key, so you can detune your keyboard as necessary until the notes sound right.

All in all, like I said, you just need to develop an ear for it...start by learning your scales. Also, you need to have a good performer. AT actually works better on singers who are already good. Not only because it's easier to set the key, but also because there is less chance of AT moving your singer's notes to the wrong place or making glitchy sounds in the vocalist's performance because it's fighting to bring a note to the right key with insufficient time to do so. So for sure the source still matters even when using AT no question. I'm also an advocate for recording without AT and then if you so desire, slap AT on afterwards, although usually I'll let my engineer handle all that nitty gritty stuff in the mix.

Oh and just in case you don't know about this you should download download the key signature mixing wheel here to help you out a bit as you work on learning relative major and minor keys and such if you plan to be doing a lot more of this.
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You have provided me with a ton of information, and a direction to start, thank you for that I was getting pretty worried about how I could fix this particular song in anyway and you've given me great insight. I do plan on doing this for many years to come so no doubt I'm going to look into that mixing wheel and study it! Anything I can do to expand my horizons is a win! Cheers man :-)
 
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