Auto-Tune and Melisma
Two ways a voice can move. A real voice slides and wobbles between notes; pitch correction pulls each note to the nearest note of a scale, and turned to the maximum it snaps the slides into robotic steps, the sound of Cher's Believe and of T-Pain. Then melisma: one syllable stretched across many notes, runs built from scales like the pentatonic, from Handel's Messiah and Gregorian chant to gospel and R&B. Sing your own run, then look back at the whole Production Secrets module.
In this lesson you'll
- See how pitch correction works: the sung pitch is measured and moved to the nearest note of the chosen scale, gently with a slow setting, instantly with the retune speed at zero.
- Hear the same line as a natural slide, gently tuned and hard-tuned, and tell natural from hard-tuned by ear.
- Sing or play a short pentatonic run on one syllable (E D C A G A C on "ah"), slowly and then faster, and practise singing in tune with the sing-it-back exercise.
Music in this lesson
- BelieveCher · 1998
- T-Painthe hard-tuned voice as a signature · 2000s
- Messiah: For unto us a Child is bornG. F. Handel · 1742
- Gregorian chant: Alleluiatraditional
- Gospel & R&B vocal runsWhitney Houston · Mariah Carey
Remember
A natural voice glides between notes and wobbles with vibrato, so its pitch is a smooth curve; Auto-Tune measures that pitch and moves it to the nearest note of the chosen scale.
A slow setting gently nudges notes into tune and the curve stays smooth; with the retune speed at zero the voice jumps instantly from note to note, the slides become steps: a mistake fixer that became a new instrument.
Syllabic singing puts one note on each syllable, melisma stretches one syllable across many notes; runs race through a scale, often pentatonic (C D E G A) or blues, decorating one simple target note.