A Quick and Easy Technique for Creating a Melody From Spoken Words

Welcome to the latest in our more in-depth looks at the key capabilities of Auto-Tune 7. Last time, we looked at Auto-Tune 7's per-note throat length adjustment. This time we'll be looking at a quick and easy technique that takes advantage of Auto-Tune 7's Notes correction objects and per-note Retune Speed and Throat Length adjustments to turn spoken words into a melody.

Songs from Anything

If you've ever harbored dreams of creating a viral video that sets some dramatic or amusing speech to song, you've probably discovered that it's a process that's a good deal different than just correcting the pitch of a sung vocal track. Luckily, Auto-Tune 7 offers a combination of easy-to-use tools that seriously simplifies the process.

Here's How:

Since you'll most likely be shifting some of the original pitches by more than a few semitones, be sure to enable Auto-Tune 7's formant correction by clicking the "Formant" button in the common area at the top of the interface.

Track your speech using the Track Pitch + Time function. Since speech typically includes lots of pitch inflections, you'll probably end up with something like this example:

Click the "Make Notes" button. Then pick any of the resulting Note objects (it doesn't matter which one) and use the Arrow tool to extend its start and end points until it extends over the entire tracked speech.

Using the Scissors tool, click on word (or even syllable) boundaries to create separate Note objects for each word or syllable. (The Note object envelope display will help make this an easy task.) At this point you should have something like this:

Now comes the fun part. Using the Arrow tool, move each Note object to the desired pitch of your melody. Listen to the result and fine-tune it by:

• Adjusting the beginning and/or end points of any Note objects to ensure smooth transitions.
• Adjusting the timing of words or phrases using Auto-Tune 7's time manipulation tools.
• Changing the pitch inflections of words or phrases by adjusting the Retune Speed of selected Note Objects.
• Adjusting the vocal timbre of any Note Object using Auto-Tune 7's Throat Length Adjust function.

When you're finished, you should end up with something like this:

Add your musical accompaniment and you've got yourself a song!

This technique is not only quick and easy, it also makes experimenting with different melodic options both convenient and fun. Give it a try and see (and hear) for yourself.

That's it for this time.

To experience the power of Auto-Tune 7 for yourself, download a fully functional time-limited trial version (iLok smart key and ilok.com account required) and try it out on your own projects. Then head on over to your local Antares Dealer or our Antares Online Store and get a copy of your own.

Thanks,

- The Whole Antares Crew

© 2011 Antares Audio Technologies. All rights reserved.
Mic Mod™, Evo™, ATG-6™, and Auto-Motion™ are trademarks and Auto-Tune^®, Antares^®, AVOX^®, and Harmony Engine^® are registered trademarks of Antares Audio Technologies.