Autotune for Freesies

If you have a Mac, chances are you've also got GarageBand lying around your dock. If you've always ignored it because it seemed overly complex, you're missing out on some features.

Like free Autotune.

While Jay-Z has declared war on autotune, the voice-altering mechanism is still being widely used by chart-topping stars like The Black Eyed Peas, Ke$ha and of course, T-Pain, so while it's not always much of a joke when you earn millions of dollars, you could always get in with the fun by doing a mere 4 steps.

If you've already created a project, you have to make a new instrument by clicking the plus sign on the bottom left. Choose "real instrument track".

Next, set the clock icon (found next to the playback controls) to "Project" which is indicated by a metronome icon. Choose a key (usually C major) for you to be in tune with.

Click on the sort of scissor-like icon and a panel will appear. In the panel you should put the "Enhance Tuning" slider to its maximum level and check "Limit to Key". Checking this box will ensure that the autotune won't sound too terrible. Also, make sure that you've selected the vocal track first before doing this.

And now, for the last step, hit record and sing your heart out. The results become apparent, and you'll fiddle with it till dawn. If the key doesn't sound right, you can change "C major" to some other key.

Much credit goes to Download Squad for this free, fun and easy tip. The pictures also belong to them.

I'm not sure what you have to do if you use Windows, but I'm willing to bet Sound Recorder won't really take you far. I guess Google is your friend in this case.