How to pitch vocals and stay in Key

[Ferdows]

Hi Guys,

When I pitch vocals, I mainly pitch them an octave just to be sure it stays in key with my song.

But is there a theory to pitch it less than an octave and still be in key. Because sometimes an octave is too much.

Thanks in advance.

 

[bandcoach]

I'm not sure what you mean here, but i am going to take a stab at you meaning the following:

if you do not pitch your vocals to be in key it makes no difference

i.e pitch them one or two octaves higher or lower or at pitch it is fine, pitch them at any other interval and it will be out of key no matter what you try to do (any attempt to fix the off-notes will have other effects that you may not want either)

 

[Ferdows]

Thanks for your answer bandcoach. What I meant was, sometimes I pitch the vocals an octave lower just for some seconds because I think it sounds nice. And than it goes back to 0 pitch again.

But now I'm working on a song and I think a whole octave makes the vocal too low and weird sounding, so can I pitch it less then 12 semitones?

But if I'm not wrong, you say that it will always be off and you always have to pitch vocals an octave, else it will be off, right?

 

[bandcoach]

are these sampled vocals or vocals that you sing yourself?

if sampled then you will have a hard time correcting the pitch problems

if you singing then you should be able to sing in tune with your current key/chord no problem

 

[Ferdows]

Its a acapella from a song that I'm remixing. But the drop is from like 1:15-1:45 and I want the acapella there to go lower. So can I pitch the acapella anywhere less then 12 semitones, like 7 semitones? The synth is playing in b maj, which is the key of the song.

 

[steffeeh]

There's no rule of how much you need to pitch a vocal - as long as it sounds good and floats on well with the music.
It's good though to keep in mind what scale you use at that certain moment.

If you still want to be able to pitch it down a whole octave bu it gets too dark, you can try adding a formant pitch plugin and boost the formant pitch (not the same as regular pitching) up a bit.

 

[bandcoach]

Its a acapella from a song that I'm remixing. But the drop is from like 1:15-1:45 and I want the acapella there to go lower. So can I pitch the acapella anywhere less then 12 semitones, like 7 semitones? The synth is playing in b maj, which is the key of the song.

lets take any phrase in Bb major

say

Bb-D-C-Eb-D-F-Eb-D-C-Bb-A-Bb

give them note numbers (as in midi numbers) as follows

70-74-72-75-74-77-75-74-72-70-69-70

subtract 12 from these and you get

58-62-60-63-62-65-63-62-60-58-57-58

which are the same notes one octave lower...

subtract 7 from the first set of numbers and you now get

63-67-65-68-67-70-68-67-65-63-62-63

which is

Eb-G-F-Ab-G-Bb-Ab-G-F-Eb-D-Eb

i.e. A has now become Ab if the underlying chord structure does not support that Ab it will sound off and may not be able to be rescued with single tweaking of the sample


table of midi note numbers

FL/BiaB Octave Num	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10
Most other Daws	-2	-1	0	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8
B	11	23	35	47	59	71	83	95	107	119
Bb/A#	10	22	34	46	58	70	82	94	106	118
A	9	21	33	45	57	69	81	93	105	117
Ab/G#	8	20	32	44	56	68	80	92	104	116
G	7	19	31	43	55	67	79	91	103	115	127
Gb/F#	6	18	30	42	54	66	78	90	102	114	126
F	5	17	29	41	53	65	77	89	101	113	125
E	4	16	28	40	52	64	76	88	100	112	124
Eb/D#	3	15	27	39	51	63	75	87	99	111	123
D	2	14	26	38	50	62	74	86	98	110	122
Db/C#	1	13	25	37	49	61	73	85	97	109	121
C	0	12	24	36	48	60	72	84	96	108	120

 

[Ferdows]

Thanks steffeeh! And bandcoach, thanks for your detailed answer! Appreciate it.

 

[BLUFRANK]

easy man

first , i am assuming that you know the key of your vocal sample ... and i am assuming that it is a hit like sample not a 4 bar loop or sumthin ( long sample )



lets say your sample ... is in G .... and your song is in G minor ............ instead of just playing that vocal sample as it is , only restrained to octaves moves on one note , assign your sample to its real key on the keyboard ... and volllia , you can play it like if its a piano pitch bend and what so ever , because your pitch system is now routed to the keys !

 

[Ferdows]

Thanks BLUFRANK

 

[rayzer]

scooter used to have a technique where they would pitch the vocal 4/5 keys up but still be in tune with the song, what they would do is pitch down the instrumental in a sampler by the same amount and even though the song would be slower they would record the vocal according to that pitch and tempo then when done repitch it all back to normal. you end up getting a perfectly synced acapella in key but pitched up higher than normal. tried it on a vocal before and it sounded exactly the same.