Antares Auto Tune Photoshop for the human voice!

An ingenious plug-in called Auto-Tune, a downloadable VST plugin studio trick that can take a vocal and instantly nudge it onto the proper note or move it to the correct pitch. It’s like Photoshop for the human voice. Auto-Tune doesn’t make it possible for just anyone to sing like a pro, but used as its creator intended, it can transform a wavering performance into something technically flawless. “Right now, if you listen to pop, everything is in perfect pitch, perfect time and perfect tune,” says producer Rick Rubin. “That’s how ubiquitous Auto-Tune is.”

Auto-Tune’s inventor is a man named Andy Hildebrand, who worked for years interpreting seismic data for the oil industry. Using a mathematical formula called autocorrelation, Hildebrand would send sound waves into the ground and record their reflections, providing an accurate map of potential drill sites. It’s a technique that saves oil companies lots of money and allowed Hildebrand to retire at 40. He was debating the next chapter of his life at a dinner party when a guest challenged him to invent a box that would allow her to sing in tune. After he tinkered with autocorrelation for a few months, Auto-Tune was born in late 1996. Exerpt from:  Brian Zieske Blog.

AutoTune Tutorials and Info.

• YouTube Tutorials – Tutorials for T-pain effect (Cher and many more who have used this program in the recording industry.)
• Antares Autotune product page – All Antares products.
• AutotuneEFX – The easy version with presets. (demo available.)
• Antares Vocal Harmony Engine EVO – VST Plug-in that puts professional-quality vocal harmony arrangements within reach of any songwriter, producer, musician or engineer.
• Antares Microphone Modeler – Discontinued product modeling (Emulated) many vintage microphones.

Other Vocal Vst Plugins and Software:

• Gsnap – 100% free like autotuneEFX but FREE.
• Celemony melodyne – Melodyne editor is the first Celemony product to offer the revolutionary Direct Note Access technology. This makes possible what had previously been considered impossible: access to individual notes in polyphonic audio material. Correct wrong notes in a piano recording; change the chords in a guitar accompaniment after the recording is over; refashion a sample lick. Melodyne editor lets you do things of which, until now, you could only dream. (Commercial Software Not Free)
• RSO Vocal Magic Pro 8 is part of RSO’s “Smart” effects, simple to use production tools designed to help you achieve a higher level of quality in your mixes. VideoTUT.
• Enchoir is a vocoder-based 6-part Vocal-Harmonizer. It can be used to create vocal backing-lines in a short period of time. Enchoir uses a doubling-algorithm to make you sound like you had 20 people singing with you. It can be used for any musical style where you need to either thicken up the lead vocal or have a choir singing in the background.
• Waves Vocal Rider rides the levels of vocal tracks, automatically. Instead of manually riding the physical mixing console fader, or tediously drawing in each individual level change on a DAW track, Vocal Rider does it for you, making it a true timesaver.
• VocALign is an audio editing tool that synchronizes two audio signals automatically at the touch of a button. It massively speeds up audio synchronization tasks and increases the quality of results, working by automatically “micro-editing” the new or replacement audio signal to align the timing of its modulations to match that of a guide signal.
• Vocal Intensifier gives vocal tracks added punch and presence, to make them stand out in the final mix. It uses an advanced studio technique called “parallel compression” (also known as “New York compression”), often used for drum tracks but here specially tuned for vocals.
• Vocal Lab AU is a plug-in that helps you train to sing on key. It listens while you sing and displays the pitch of your voice on a graph, in real time. All you have to do is watch the graph while you sing and try to stay near the lines. With a little practice you can greatly improve your intonation.
• Vocalizer is a vowel effect which enables you to convert any sound into a human-voice-like sound. Vocalizer is similar to a “formant filter” but it has its own original speech processing algorithm which enables it to apply human voice characteristics to any input sounds. Vocalizer can be used not only for lead sounds but also for various sound sources.

These are just some of them I have listed check out the KVR website for a more complete list of everything for vocals and more.