# Vocal Effect?



## Beaumont (Sep 20, 2006)

I'm working on some home recordings and I'm looking to figure out a way to get a similar effect as this dude (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6WKof1ncKo&mode=related&search=). I'm really not sure what it is, but I'm sure it's fairly simple. Thanks for the help.


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

It's a vocoder effect. This particular variety was made popular by Cher on the track - I Believe - a little while back.

There are many different uses of a vocoder, and this would be one of them.


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## ajcoholic (Feb 5, 2006)

I thought it was Neil Young that popularised the vocoder back in the early 80's... (remember TRANS?) 

AJC


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

ajcoholic said:


> I thought it was Neil Young that popularised the vocoder back in the early 80's... (remember TRANS?)
> 
> AJC


Yeah, it's been around awhile - It just seemed that after Cher used the effect it started poping up all over the place. You can't listen to the radio now without hearing it at least once a day.


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## Hamm Guitars (Jan 12, 2007)

Jroberts is right,

I think...

You may be able get a similar effect using the autotune function (I've never used it myself), and it does simulate this vocoder effect pretty well, and the guy in the video is probably using the pitch correction, so you are likely right.

But the trendy effect that was made popular by Cher that you hear on alot of top 40 recordings nowadays is usually a vocoder.

It is debated quite a bit here:
http://createdigitalmusic.com/2005/11/03/lets-kill-the-cher-believe-autotune-myth-forever-or-not/

There are also many keyboards on the market with a built in vocoder that you can use to achieve this effect. They keyboard player has a unit on top of his keyboard, but you can clearly hear his pitch bending when his hands are off the keys so he doesn't appear to be manually controlling it.

You can also hear keyboards and electronic drums when neither he or the drummer are playing as well.


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## GP_Hawk (Feb 23, 2007)

Yep, Antares autotune. And I have come to hate that sound more than anything. Using it manually gets the best results when doing actual and sparingly pitch correction but if you use the auto function you can get ALOT of those funky vocal sounds.


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## SkunkWorks (Apr 12, 2007)

I can also guarantee the "Cher thing" is Antares Autotune :wink:


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