How To — DAW

You found the perfect acapella but it's in the wrong key. Or you want to push a vocal up for energy. Or you want that deep, pitched-down vocal effect that's all over modern music. All of these require pitch shifting. Pitch shifting vocals is one of the most common production tasks, but doing it wrong makes vocals sound robotic, chipmunky, or just plain bad. Here's how to do it right in any DAW. Basic Pitch Shifting: Transposing the Vocal The simplest form of pitch shifting is transposing: moving the entire vocal up or down by a set number of semitones....

Vocal chops are everywhere — tropical house, future bass, pop, hip-hop, even techno. That stuttered, sliced, melodic vocal effect you hear in tracks by Flume, Kygo, and Marshmello? It starts with a full vocal, cut into pieces and rearranged into something new. The technique is straightforward once you understand it. Here's how to chop vocals in any DAW, from basic cuts to advanced effects. What You Need Before You Start You need a vocal to chop. The better the source material, the better your chops will sound. Options: Full acapellas — the best source material. Clean, dry vocals with no...