To align vocals for free, open the Vocal recorder (also at record.aden.space), record your lead, then record your double or harmony over it. Each new take lands lined up with your first take as you record it: the words move onto the lead's timing, and the pitch and tone stay yours. The align button in the record lane sets how tight, and Match pitch pulls a double onto the lead's notes. It's free, needs no account and runs in your browser, so nothing is uploaded.

What is vocal alignment?

Vocal alignment moves the timing of one vocal (the dub) to match another (the guide), word by word. No singer hits every syllable at the same moment twice. Two takes of the same line drift 20 to 50 ms apart, sometimes more on the start of a phrase or a held note. Stack them and the drift shows: consonants flam ("t-t"), word endings trail, and the double sounds like a second person rather than a thicker lead.

Producers fix this by aligning the double to the lead. Done by hand, that means cutting and nudging every word in a DAW. Synchro Arts' VocAlign is the best-known plugin for doing it automatically; its Ultra edition also aligns pitch. The Vocal recorder does the same job while you record, for free.

How to align a double or a harmony in the Vocal recorder

1. Open the Vocal recorder and drop your beat, or press Record without a beat to sing over a click.
2. Press Record and sing the lead. Press the check to keep it. It lands as Take 1.
3. Press Record again and sing the double or the harmony over the same part. The playhead is already back where the lead starts.
4. Press the check. The take lands lined up with Take 1: its words start and stop with the lead's.
5. Listen with Space. To change how it lines up, open the align button in the record lane (next to the metronome) before you press the check: pick the take to follow, set Tightness, or turn up Match pitch.
6. Download each take with the arrow on its lane, as a 24-bit WAV, or press Save to Aden to keep the beat and every take as stems.

The align button is grey on your first take: there is nothing to follow yet. From the second take on it is on, following Take 1.

Tightness and Match pitch: what to set

Tightness decides how far each word moves toward the lead: 100% puts every word on the lead's, lower keeps more of your own feel. Match pitch is off by default. Turned up, a take that sings the lead's notes (the same notes, or an octave apart) is pulled onto the lead's pitch, by at most a semitone. Harmonies keep their own notes either way.

Pick As sung in the align button for anything that shouldn't follow the lead, like ad libs answering a line. The aligner looks for the same words, but it can't tell other words sung over the lead from a sloppy double, so it pulls them toward the lead's words.

How the alignment works

The recorder reads both voices every 10 ms: what sound is being sung (the vowel or consonant, whatever the note) and how loud it is. It then finds the path through the take that sounds most like the lead, moment by moment, moving a word at most 0.3 seconds either way. Only moments where both of you sing set the timing; a word's tail keeps its timing until you go quiet, so changes happen in the gaps where nobody hears them. Finally the take is played along that path in short grains, so its pitch never changes. It's the same idea as VocAlign: dynamic time warping, then time stretching.

With Match pitch on, both voices are pitch-tracked too. A phrase within a semitone of the lead's note, or an octave of it, is a double and is re-pitched toward the lead with formants kept. Anything else is a harmony and is left alone.

How tight does it get?

We tested it on real multitrack vocals: pop leads with their doubles and backing vocals, recorded separately, and choir parts sung by different singers.

Timing is measured as the median gap between the two voices' syllables, pitch as the median gap in cents (a semitone is 100 cents).

Align a harmony you recorded earlier

Alignment isn't only for takes you're recording. In Aden, a version's Stems tab aligns a stem you added later, like a harmony you uploaded or a take recorded before the lead: open the stem's … menu, point at Align timing to and pick the vocal to follow. The aligned take plays in the stem's place. Save stem keeps it, Discard draft brings back the original. Read how to record vocals online for the recording side.

VocAlign or the free Vocal recorder?

Use VocAlign when the vocals are already in your DAW session and you want fine control over every region. Use the Vocal recorder when you're writing and stacking vocals quickly, on any computer, without a plugin.

VocAlign is a trademark of Synchro Arts Ltd. Aden is not affiliated with Synchro Arts.

Tips for doubles that sit with the lead

• Sing the double against the lead. Turn the lead up in your headphones and copy its phrasing, breaths and word endings. Alignment fixes timing, not a different delivery.
• Keep the same distance from the mic for every take of a part, so the takes match in tone.
• Watch the ends of words. "S" and "t" endings that land apart are the first thing listeners hear. Cut them short on the double rather than holding them.
• Keep a little looseness for width. A double at 100% tightness and 100% pitch can sound like one voice; 70-80% keeps two.
• Use wired headphones. Bluetooth adds a delay that makes every take late.

FAQ

Is there a free alternative to VocAlign?

Yes. Aden's free Vocal recorder at tools.aden.space/record lines up each new take with your first take as you record it, with a Tightness setting and Match pitch for doubles. It runs in the browser, needs no account and no plugin, and your recordings stay on your computer.

How do I make my double vocals sound tight?

Record the double over the lead in the Vocal recorder with Tightness at 90-100%. Each word lands on the lead's timing. Turn up Match pitch to pull the double onto the lead's notes as well, then download both takes as 24-bit WAV files.

Does aligning vocals change how they sound?

Timing alignment only moves words in time: the pitch and tone stay as you sang them. Match pitch re-pitches a double by at most a semitone and keeps its formants, so it still sounds like you.

Can I align harmonies, not just doubles?

Yes. Harmonies line up with the lead's timing like doubles do. Match pitch leaves them on their own notes: it only re-pitches a phrase sung on the lead's notes or an octave from them.

Can I align vocals I already recorded?

In Aden, yes: open a stem's … menu on the Stems tab and pick Align timing to. In the free Vocal recorder, takes align as you record them.

Are my vocals uploaded to align them?

No. The Vocal recorder aligns in your browser. Your beat and takes stay on your computer until you download them or save them to Aden.