Synthetic Vocals 101: Use AI to Create Very Realistic Vocals

Let’s be honest, AI is taking over the music industry right now. 

So, as producers, you need to know everything about synthetic vocals to keep up and dominate the game.

That’s why I’m breaking down everything you need to know about creating, editing, and perfecting synthetic vocals using different/creative AI tools. 

We’ll cover it all in detail so you can enhance your vocal production skills and work with synthetic vocals the right way, like:

• AI-enhanced vocoders for creating epic vocals ✓
• How to program MIDI melodies & lyrics easily ✓
• Using voice generators and vocal cloning ✓
• Editing vocals to sound completely natural ✓
• Building harmonies and vocal layers quickly ✓
• Mixing tips for synthetic vocals ✓
• Advanced vocal manipulation techniques ✓
• Text-to-speech and text-to-singing tricks ✓
• Humanizing AI-generated voices produced by voice generators ✓
• Much more about synthetic vocals ✓

By the end, you’ll be able to create vocals from scratch and produce legendary vocal melodies for any genre, style, and vibe.

Plus, you’ll successfully edit, mix, and enhance synthetic voices like an absolute boss.

This way, your tracks will always sound epic, and your synthetic vocals will be professional and on point every single time. 

Trust me, it’s all worth it to be able to create synthetic vocals like a true professional.

What are Synthetic Vocals & Why They’re Important for Producers

Synthetic vocals are basically vocals created entirely using AI voice generators instead of recording a real singer in the studio. 

Instead of spending hours recording multiple vocal takes, synthetic vocals let you instantly turn your melodies, lyrics, and MIDI ideas into perfectly sung vocal parts.

The coolest thing about synthetic vocals is that they’re powered by advanced artificial intelligence and neural networks. 

These technologies analyze real vocal recordings, then generate new voices that sound natural and human-like, even down to details like: 

• Vibrato
• Breathiness
• Unique vocal characteristics
• Etc.

This gives producers and sound designers like you and me the ability to experiment freely and create songs in any style, from epic pop anthems to gritty rock tracks. 

You can even customize synthetic voices with celebrity voices or totally original vocal styles that would otherwise be impossible without hiring expensive singers.

And because synthetic vocals let you easily switch between different AI voices and languages, you can create songs in English, Spanish, Japanese and other languages without ever stepping foot in a recording booth.

By knowing all about synthetic vocals, you’ll be able to produce music faster, play around with endless creative ideas, and elevate your vocal production.

And that’s exactly what we’ll be covering today, so buckle in.

Key AI Tools & Technologies for Synthetic Vocals

Before we jump straight into creating synthetic vocals, let’s quickly break down the epic AI tools and technologies you’ll be using. Knowing these tools inside and out will help you take your synthetic vocals to their full potential 一 making your songs stand out in the music world.

• AI-Enhanced Vocoders

AI-enhanced vocoders can completely transform ordinary vocal parts into unique, futuristic-sounding synthetic vocals, giving your music a modern edge. 

When you’re looking for a fresh sound, start by feeding your vocoder a simple vocal phrase (something around four to eight words long usually works best). 

Once you have the basic vocal recorded, input a MIDI melody in the range of C3 to C5 to give your vocoder clear melodic guidance…

Higher notes around C4 to C5 sound brighter and more pop-oriented, while notes around C3 to C4 give you a darker, moodier vibe.

One pro tip I strongly recommend is carefully adjusting your vocoder’s “formant” control. 

Shifting formants by around +2 semitones can brighten up your synthetic vocals for genres like pop or EDM, while lowering them by about -2 to -3 semitones can help create deeper textures ideal for trap or future bass tracks. 

You could also automate these formant shifts subtly over time.

Start neutral (0 semitones) at the verse, then gradually shift up (+2) as the chorus hits for added excitement and intrigue.

Just make sure to dial in the blend control between 60-75% wet so you maintain vocal clarity while still getting that epic vocoder sound. 

Another smart move is layering multiple vocoded tracks at different pitches; for example, duplicate your main vocal and pitch-shift one layer up exactly 7 semitones and another down an octave (-12 semitones). 

Pan these layered vocoder tracks about 25-30% left and right for an immersive stereo image.

Finally, try using subtle distortion or saturation with around 15-20% drive on your vocoded vocals. 

This will help enhance harmonics and make sure your synthetic vocals sit strongly in the mix without sounding weak or thin.

By using these techniques, you’ll always have epic vocoded vocals that capture your listeners’ attention.

Pro Tip: If you’re looking for top-notch plugins to create epic vocoder effects, I highly recommend trying out VocalSynth 2 by iZotope for ultra-modern sounds, OVox by Waves for intuitive control and clarity, and Manipulator by Polyverse for creative pitch and formant shifting.

• Text-to-Singing & AI Vocal Synthesizers

If you want to create synthetic vocals completely from scratch without recording a vocalist, text-to-singing/text-to-speech AI synthesizers are your new best friend. 

To kick things off, type your lyrics into the software, clearly dividing them phrase-by-phrase (typically about two to four bars at a time). 

This structure makes it easy to sync your lyrics perfectly to the MIDI notes you’ll input next.

When programming your MIDI melodies, aim for note durations around a quarter-note (400-500 ms at around 120 BPM) to get natural-sounding phrasing. 

A common mistake producers make is using notes that are too long, which causes the vocals to lose their natural rhythmic feel. 

Therefore, you should vary your note lengths slightly and mix in eighth-notes (around 200-250 ms) occasionally to replicate a vocalist’s realistic rhythmic variations.

Another great tip is adjusting pitch transitions between notes carefully 一 transition times around 40-50 ms typically deliver the smoothest results. 

I also recommend adding controlled vibrato (around 4.5 to 5 Hz frequency) and keeping the vibrato depth moderate, around 10-15%.

This way, your synthetic vocals will remain expressive without sounding exaggerated or artificial in any way.

For even more realism, slightly increase breathiness on softer phrases by about 25%, which makes your vocals sound personal and authentic. 

It’s also smart to slightly vary vocal velocity values (within ±10%) from note to note, since no real vocalist sings with robotic consistency, obviously.

By implementing these detailed steps, your synthetic vocals will always sound impressively realistic and keep listeners fully engaged.

Pro Tip: For realistic and professional-sounding text-to-singing vocals, definitely check out Synthesizer V for its unmatched natural vocal textures, ACE Studio for easy lyric-to-voice workflow, and Vocaloid 6 for flexible MIDI integration. 

Whether it’s one voice or a hundred, they always nail it.

How to Create Synthetic Voices: Step-by-Step

Now that you’re familiar with the essential AI tools, it’s time to dive into how to create synthetic vocals like a pro. So, here is a step-by-step guide that you can use to produce legendary synthetic vocals for your tracks every single time.

• Choosing the Right AI Voice Model

The first key step in creating epic synthetic vocals is picking the perfect AI voice model for your track. 

There’s a bunch of choices that offer tons of different synthetic voices 一 everything from breathy female pop AI singers to powerful AI singers in the male rock category.

If you’re producing a catchy pop track, choose an AI voice model with clear, bright characteristics, like ACE Studio’s “ARIA,” which perfectly suits mainstream pop melodies. 

For darker electronic or trap styles, go for a singing voice like Synthesizer V’s “SOLARIA,” since it provides a deeper, moodier vocal texture.

My advice is to test out at least three different voices on your melody to find which singer matches your music best. 

Make sure to pay attention to how each synthetic voice handles dynamics and high notes because, ideally, you want minimal artifacts or unnatural sounds at the extremes.

Also, don’t be afraid to play around with vocal cloning (which we’ll talk about in a minute) if you’re looking for a more customized voice. 

Platforms like Kits AI allow you to create synthetic vocals based on real vocal recordings, capturing specific vocal characteristics from your favorite artists or even yourself.

Preview each voice with at least 4 to 8 bars of melody before fully committing. 

This way, you’ll clearly hear how your chosen synthetic vocals will sound in the context of your entire track, like the pros like myself do.

• Programming Your Melodies & Lyrics

Now that you’ve selected the ideal AI singing voice model, it’s time to program your melodies and lyrics to create authentic-sounding synthetic vocals. 

The simplest way is to import MIDI melodies directly from your DAW into plugins like Synthesizer V, then manually type or paste/add lyrics beneath each note.

For even better results, always separate your writing melodies into clear phrases of about 4 to 8 measures at a time. 

This makes programming smoother and helps you fine-tune individual notes faster.

When entering notes, keep your velocity values around 80-100 for a natural singing voice, but vary velocities slightly (±10) to avoid robotic performances. 

On the same note, make sure to place subtle pitch bends of around ±25 cents at the ends of certain phrases to mimic natural vocal slides.

Also, when you’re programming lyrics, always double-check pronunciation, especially when it comes to words in other languages. 

Most AI vocal synthesizers let you manually adjust vowel shapes and consonant clarity 一 typically, a consonant timing offset of around 10-20 milliseconds works great.

Another personal technique I use is using:

• Shorter note lengths (around 75-80% of the original MIDI duration) for quicker, pop-style lyrics.
• Slightly longer (90-100%) for ballads or slower tempos. 

And remember that experimenting with rhythmic timing adjustments like pushing or pulling notes forward by around 10-15 milliseconds also adds realistic expression.

So, carefully tweaking these MIDI parameters and lyric settings will guarantee your synthetic vocals always sound professional and convincing.

This will keep your listeners hooked and fully immersed all day.

• Editing and Fine-Tuning AI Vocals

Editing synthetic vocals is another important step if you’re trying to get professional-sounding results.

Start by carefully adjusting the pitch of your AI-generated vocals 一 focusing on gently correcting notes that are off by about 10 to 15 cents. 

I mean, you don’t want to overly correct the pitch because slightly imperfect vocals sound more natural and human, am I right?

Next, carefully adjust timing by nudging individual words or syllables forward or backward by around 5-10 ms.

This will help make sure your synthetic vocals fit tightly with your track’s groove. 

Another great pro tip is manually softening hard consonants slightly…

Reducing consonant attack by about 5-10 ms helps remove unwanted harshness and make your synthetic vocals much easier on the ears.

It’s also a smart move to automate subtle gain adjustments as well…

Gently boost quieter vocal phrases by around 2-3 dB to enhance emotional delivery, then reduce louder sections by about 1-2 dB for a consistent performance. 

Never overlook the importance of detailed vibrato adjustments either because they can make-or-break your synthetic vocals.

I suggest you automate vibrato depth to increase slightly (about 10% more) during emotional peaks to add realism and feeling.

Also, make sure to EQ individual vocal sections separately, like cutting around 250-300 Hz (-2 dB) for clarity, and gently boosting around 2-3 kHz (+2 dB) on choruses to help vocals pop out naturally. 

Last but not least, try automating subtle reverb level changes (shown above), gradually increasing reverb wetness from 15% to around 20% during emotional climaxes, to add depth.

All without cluttering your mix, of course. 

If you follow all of these tips and techniques when you’re editing, your synthetic vocals will sound polished, professional, and completely natural all day.

Professional Mixing Techniques for AI Vocals: Breaking it Down

When it comes to mixing synthetic vocals, it’s all about making them sound completely natural and fitting perfectly into your music (like normal vocals).

So, you’ll want to start off with EQ by cutting out the muddy low frequencies around 100-200 Hz, usually about -3 to -4 dB.

This will keep your vocals sounding clean and not too heavy. 

Make sure to boost slightly between 2-4 kHz (around +2 dB) to help your vocals cut through without sounding harsh or sharp.

Next, compression is key for smoothness, so set your compressor at a moderate ratio of about 3:1 with an attack around 10 ms and a release around 50-80 ms. 

This gently controls peaks without squashing dynamics too hard, letting the synthetic vocals breathe a little bit.

Aim for about 3-5 dB of gain reduction on louder phrases to keep levels consistent without losing emotion or clarity.

Don’t forget about spatial effects like reverb to make your vocals sit perfectly in the track 一 you can use plate or room reverb with a short decay around 1.0-1.5 seconds and set the wet level subtly between 15-20%. 

Pro Tip: Keep the pre-delay between 10-20 ms so your vocals feel upfront while still getting a sense of depth.

Delay is another great way to enhance your vocals…

I usually set a stereo delay at quarter-note intervals synced to my track’s tempo (for example, around 500 ms at 120 BPM) 一 mixing it lightly at about 10-15% wet. 

Also, automate the delay’s feedback slightly higher during chorus sections like I said above to give your synthetic vocals extra excitement without overcrowding the verses.

And please always listen to your vocals in context and tweak these parameters slightly as needed until everything blends naturally. 

This way, you’ll always achieve polished, professional-sounding synthetic vocals that listeners swear were recorded in a high-end studio.

Advanced Tips & Techniques for Synthetic Vocal Production

Now that you’ve mastered the basics, let’s dive deeper into some advanced techniques that’ll take your synthetic vocals to a whole new level. They’ll make your vocal production/music production skills truly stand out and give you an edge in creating epic synthetic vocals every single time without fail.

• Building Harmonies & Vocal Layers with AI

Stacking vocal layers and creating harmonies with synthetic vocals instantly adds depth, edginess, and professionalism to your music. 

You can kick things off by duplicating your main vocal melody track, then move notes up a third (+4 semitones) or fifth (+7 semitones).

This will help you lay down natural-sounding harmonies right off rip. 

Personally, I always create at least two harmony layers, one higher (third above) and one lower (fifth below), for a full, balanced sound.

To make these harmonies feel more human, shift the timing of each harmony slightly forward or backward by about 10-20 ms. 

This subtle change prevents the vocals from lining up too perfectly and makes them sound less robotic and more authentic.

Also, slightly reduce the volume of each harmony by around 5-7 dB compared to your main vocal so the harmonies complement rather than overpower your lead vocals. 

Panning harmonies slightly left and right (around 30-40% each direction) is also great for widening your vocal soundstage.

It will create that polished, commercial feel you hear in many chart-topping songs.

Another personal trick I recommend is altering the breathiness or formant parameters for your harmonies slightly (I’d say about 15-25%) which gives each layer a unique tone and texture. 

Finally, always EQ each harmony separately.

You’ll want to gently around 150-250 Hz (about -3 dB) to prevent muddiness, and add a gentle high-shelf boost of about +1.5 dB around 6-8 kHz for added clarity/brightness.

If you do so, your synthetic vocals will always blend flawlessly and you’ll have professional vocal arrangements that grab your listeners’ attention all day.

• Custom AI Voices & Voice Cloning

Creating custom synthetic vocals through voice cloning can seriously take your vocal production/AI music production skills to an entirely new level. 

To create a realistic custom AI voice, start by gathering around 15 to 20 minutes of high-quality, dry vocal recordings (ideally clear phrases without background noise).

Upload these samples to a voice-cloning tool that uses neural network technology, and the artificial intelligence will carefully analyze vocal characteristics like: 

• Pitch
• Tone
• Phrasing

Then it will recreate the singing voice accurately based on that.

Once you have your cloned voice ready, experiment by adjusting vocal characteristics like formant shifting by small amounts (around ±1 to ±2 semitones).

This will let you fine-tune the voice’s personality without drastically altering pitch. 

You could also enhance authenticity by subtly increasing breathiness by around 10-20% on softer vocal phrases to give your custom singing voice an emotional vibe.

As well as give it that personal touch too, which is key.

When testing your cloned AI voice and other synthetic media, make sure to use different melody ranges (such as C3 to C5) and tempos (between 70-130 BPM) because some voices sound better in specific ranges or speeds. 

It’s also helpful to test the singing voice across multiple music styles, like pop, R&B, and EDM, to clearly hear how versatile your custom AI singing voice really is.

Finally, I suggest always checking the AI-generated pronunciation of tricky or foreign words 一 adjusting syllable timings by ±10 ms as needed for clarity. 

By following these detailed steps, your custom synthetic vocals will always sound authentic, professional, and uniquely yours, which is most important.

• Creative Vocal Manipulation & Sound Design

Creative vocal manipulation is one of the best ways to make your synthetic vocals sound fresh, unique, and stand out from the crowd, hands down. 

A fun trick is extreme pitch shifting like we touched up, so you can:

1. Take short vocal samples (about half a bar long)
2. Pitch them up by +12 semitones or down by -12 semitones
3. Layer them subtly underneath your main vocal track for futuristic textures.

Another great method to experiment with is granular vocal synthesis.

To do so, take a small snippet of vocal audio (around one second long), and process it using granular synthesis plugins. 

Adjusting grain sizes between 50-100 ms can create full, ethereal vocal pads perfect for intros, outros, or atmospheric sections of your songs.

Make sure to also try reversing vocal snippets 一 simply reverse short samples around one bar in length and place them right before choruses or drops.

This will create smooth, exciting transitions like the professionals do. 

Automating stereo width is another creative idea so gently modulate the width from around 10% to 30% during buildups to give your synthetic vocals an immersive effect.

I suggest experimenting with subtle saturation or distortion too.

You can apply about 10-15% drive can help synthetic vocals cut through dense mixes without sounding harsh. 

Remember, it’s all about capturing your listeners attention and keeping them locked in from start to finish, so don’t be afraid to get creative and think outside the box.

Bonus: Tweaking the Best Vocal Samples in the Industry

When it comes to elevating your music production, we offer some of the most epic vocal sample packs in the industry (and trust me, I’m not just being biased). 

There’s this legendary Aaron Richards “Talk About It” Vol. 1 Series, which features over 450 professionally recorded: 

• Vocal lines
• Ad-libs
• Custom-made vocal chops

All created by the insanely talented Aaron Richards, I might add.

It comes packed with a super diverse range of vocal elements 一 including 80 unique vocal lines, 137 ad-libs, and 240 vocal chops available in both dry and wet formats. 

These samples are all perfect for adding a natural singing voice to your tracks, enhancing vocal melodies, and creating captivating harmonies. ​

Another top pick is this mind-blowing Free Vocal Samples pack, which offers 20 high-quality vocal loops, chops, and one-shots.

These samples are 100% royalty-free and cover various styles, so they’re perfect for top genres like pop, rock, and electronic music. 

If you want the rawest, most unbelievable vocal samples in the game, look no further because it will help your songs be addicting from the start.

Pro Tip: To make the most of these samples, consider layering multiple vocal parts to build captivating harmonies. 

You can also experiment with pitch-shifting and time-stretching to adapt the vocals to your desired key and tempo. 

Also, remember that adding effects like reverb and delay can enhance the natural feel of the vocals, while subtle EQ adjustments can help them sit perfectly in your mix. 

By using these techniques, you’ll be able to create songs with epic synthetic vocals that resonate with listeners and show off your music production skills.

Final Thoughts

And there you have it: everything you need to know about creating, editing, and perfecting synthetic vocals. 

So, regardless of your feelings about AI, you’ll be able to confidently create epic synthetic vocals and elevate your vocal production skills. 

Plus, you’ll know exactly how to humanize your vocal parts and build professional-sounding harmonies as well. 

This way, your vocals will always sound natural, polished, and ready to blow some minds.

Just remember that you should always pay close attention to the details, fine-tune your settings carefully, and experiment creatively with AI technology. 

Otherwise, your synthetic vocals might end up sounding robotic or boring, and nobody has time for that.

Bottom line, when it comes to synthetic vocals, it’s all about knowing your tools and pushing your creative boundaries. 

So, never be afraid to explore unique vocal ideas or experiment with new techniques (believe me, your tracks will thank you for it).

Until next time…