Deciding vocal notes

[Charron]

Let me preface by saying I'm not exactly the most tone-aware person out there (I'm a terrible singer and should never be regarded as one), and that I also have a tendency to be an idiot.

That said. While I haven't had all that much problem charting instruments, I simply can't figure out how to chart vocals. I understand the mechanics of it- lay down a note, set up phrase markings, add lyric events- that's all fine. I just can't seem to tell what note to use for a word in order to be pitched accurately. Am I just missing something obvious here?

[ethicalpaul]

No, you're not missing anything obvious. It's hard! Some people have great ear training to be able to pick out vocal notes.

Add to the normal difficulty that you can have slides from one note to another, and vocals just plain equal difficult!

The way I do it, is I have a pretty fast-responding Korg chromatic tuner sitting at my desk, and I sing each note into it (I find I can match my voice to the vocal pretty well). Then the Korg tells me what note it is (or the note it's near!), then I can play around with the exact note in Reaper.

Be sure to have the option in the MIDI editor where you hear the preview of the note as you move it around or click on it. That really helps you hear if you have the right one.

I have also been experimenting with the ReaTune plugin, which "listens" to an audio track, and outputs what it hears as MIDI notes. It makes a lot of extraneous notes, but I find that it really helps me find the right notes a lot faster than just my ear.

Here is a good document explaining how to use it:
http://www.****os.com/wiki/index.php..._audio_to_midi

Use it on a dry version of your vocal track if you have one.

Good luck!

[trg007]

You don't have to know much of anything about musical scales as long as you can listen to two notes and be able to tell if they are the same or different. Make sure you have the ReaSynth FX enabled on your PART VOCALS track, and when you click on any row you will hear the note play, assuming you have the "Preview notes on clicking" (or something to that effect - can't remember the exact wording) option enabled.

By listening to sung part and then clicking on rows in the MIDI window you should be able to find the note by trial and error. It'll certainly take a lot longer doing it this way than it does for someone with a good ear for pitch, but it can be done.

[TheOzone]

What I do for each note is play it from the vocal track a few times and try to song the note until I've got it. Then I hold the note and slide around the MIDI lines until I match myself. Never rely on the first note you think is right because you may think it's right but then you'll hear an even more accurate one.

Then place it where it belongs in the song and play them together a few times to make it sounds right and so you can match the placement perfectly.

[Charron]

No, you're not missing anything obvious. It's hard! Some people have great ear training to be able to pick out vocal notes.

Add to the normal difficulty that you can have slides from one note to another, and vocals just plain equal difficult!

The way I do it, is I have a pretty fast-responding Korg chromatic tuner sitting at my desk, and I sing each note into it (I find I can match my voice to the vocal pretty well). Then the Korg tells me what note it is (or the note it's near!), then I can play around with the exact note in Reaper.

Be sure to have the option in the MIDI editor where you hear the preview of the note as you move it around or click on it. That really helps you hear if you have the right one.

I have also been experimenting with the ReaTune plugin, which "listens" to an audio track, and outputs what it hears as MIDI notes. It makes a lot of extraneous notes, but I find that it really helps me find the right notes a lot faster than just my ear.

Here is a good document explaining how to use it:
http://www.****os.com/wiki/index.php..._audio_to_midi

Use it on a dry version of your vocal track if you have one.

Good luck!

The song I'm practicing on does have dry vox, so I tried this method. It's certainly going to take some cleaning up, but this (the Reatune, that is) gave me a huge jump forward. Thanks!

[ethicalpaul]

Good, I'm glad you found it helpful. You can use it on a wet vocal too (I have) but there's more extraneous crud of course.

[Ten0101]

ReaTune is what I have been using for my tracks too, quite useful even just as a guide to narrow down each pitch