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Do I just send the vocal to the reverb or receive the reverb in the vocal (I'm taking baby steps here )


Confusingly, they're the same thing in Reaper. You can either click the io button on the vocal track, and select the reverb track from the Sends dropdown, or click the io button on the reverb track and select the vocal from the Receives dropdown. Just make sure the reverb FX is sending out only the "wet" portion of the reverb, not the "dry" part, since the vocal track's got that covered.

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Yes I have to agree with you that it is one failing that you can't get Biab to just play those notes where you want them (I'm talking RealTracks here)


That's the really nice thing about RealTracks - you can generate a bazillion riffs, and then if it doesn't match what you wanted, assemble it yourself. I usually have BiaB generate a bunch of tracks, and then cut and paste my favorite into the target. I'm sure you've got something comparable in RealBand and PowerTracks.

In addition to cutting and pasting a solo together, you can also edit individual by slicing them at the start and end. Once you've isolated a single note you can use Alt+MouseDrag to stretch it to fit, or Shift+9 and Shift+0 to move the pitch up or down a half step. It's great for those RealTrack riffs that have the perfect contour, but you want them to hit a specific target note, or when the soloist plays an "outside" note that you want to change. (I'm looking at you, BossaNova Flute player! )

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I deliberately left the harmonies set back because they sound too mechanical (done in TC Helicon in Biab) as I am hopeless with singing my own harmonies, tried it been there and it just doesn't work.


Singing harmonies is the same as singing the melody - it's just a matter of getting it "in your ear". Try singing it without the melody track, to make sure you're got it solid. I'm no good at memorizing stuff, so I just take things one phrase at a time.

Check out the Recording Multiple Alternative Takes option in the Reaper manual. Basically, you can loop a section of the song, and do dozens of takes in a row. Then you can cut and paste your vocal from your "best bits".

ReaTune is your friend here - turn on Track/Update pitch graph in the Manual Correction tab to see you what note you're singing. You can turn on the options in the Correction tab to snap the pitches to the scale, or manually draw in the fixed pitches in the Manual Correction tab.

It takes ReaTune some time to drag a note to the proper pitch - if the Attack Time parameter is too short, you sound too robotic. In some cases, it might make sense to isolate a single note and use Shift+9 and Shift+0 to shift it up/down a half step.

Seeing the notes that you're singing can be depressing, because you can see exactly what you're doing wrong. When I'm scooping pitches or going flat at the end of notes, it's all there on the graph. I've also found out that notes I'm singing aren't the notes I thought they were. But it's very helpful for making corrections, too!

So once you've cut and pasted and pitch corrected a version of yourself singing in tune, instead of using that as the final vocal, you might instead want to use it as a guide vocal and have another go at the harmony.

-- David Cuny
My virtual singer development blog

Vocal control, you say. Never heard of it. Is that some kind of ProTools thing?