My Love Affair with Melodyne
Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2011 1:58 pm
When I first met Mel, I had a good feeling about her. She wasn’t like all the others. She was different. She could do things for me that nobody had ever done before. We had an instant connection. After a couple years together, I have fallen head over heels for her, and grow fonder of her everyday. This one’s for you Mellie, baby.
But seriously, I wanted to share a few tricks I’ve discovered with Melodyne because there was some conversation about it a while back, and it continues to amaze me all you can do with this program. Pitch correction, timing adjustment, harmony and ad-lib creator, compressor, click removal, plosive corrector, vibrato creator, vibrato remover, multiple personality creator…
As far as pitch correction goes, there are so many ways to approach it in Melodyne. Let me stop here and say, though the “Auto” Pitch correct function cuts down a lot of time, don’t use it unless you want your listener to know the vocal was tuned. That said…
Note Separation - One of my favorite things to do is slice up the notes (aka blobs) with the note-separation tool. A lot of singers will come into the note a half note or full note below the intended note and then go up into to the note on the 2/16 beat (or wherever). Know what I’m saying? This is pretty normal, but using the “pitch drift” tool on the whole note kills that dipped entrance and sounds unnatural. So, I cut it ½ way up the ramp, and only use the drift tool on the latter part of the note. Pretty basic example, but slicing notes gives you a lot of options.
Pitch Modulation – I avoided the Pitch Mod tool for a long time, unless I wanted to make myself sound like TPayne or Lil Wayne, but I’ve recently discovered what an awesome tool it is for fixing performance errors – not just pitch errors. The trick is to use it only on tiny spliced sections of a note blob – not the whole note. Try it on anything weird that you missed in recording, and that you don’t want to bring the vocalist back in for.
Amplification Tool – not only can you use it to automate volume levels, as a manual compressor, but it’s also great for removing or camouflaging undesirable audio. For example, when I encounter a plosive “P” or “T” scenario, I slice just the very tip of the blob, and bring down the amplitude. Of course, you can automate a fade in ProTools for a similar effect, but Mel does it a lot cleaner, without completely removing the “p” or “t” sound.
The Formant Tool - probably the most fun of the Melodyne tools is the “Formant” adjuster, which allows you to have multiple personalities. With the formant tool, I’ve made myself sound like a little kid, a big (I’m not big, btw) hefty rap artist, and an old Country singer. You can’t go overboard with it, but with slight manipulation, you can get real creative.
But seriously, I wanted to share a few tricks I’ve discovered with Melodyne because there was some conversation about it a while back, and it continues to amaze me all you can do with this program. Pitch correction, timing adjustment, harmony and ad-lib creator, compressor, click removal, plosive corrector, vibrato creator, vibrato remover, multiple personality creator…
As far as pitch correction goes, there are so many ways to approach it in Melodyne. Let me stop here and say, though the “Auto” Pitch correct function cuts down a lot of time, don’t use it unless you want your listener to know the vocal was tuned. That said…
Note Separation - One of my favorite things to do is slice up the notes (aka blobs) with the note-separation tool. A lot of singers will come into the note a half note or full note below the intended note and then go up into to the note on the 2/16 beat (or wherever). Know what I’m saying? This is pretty normal, but using the “pitch drift” tool on the whole note kills that dipped entrance and sounds unnatural. So, I cut it ½ way up the ramp, and only use the drift tool on the latter part of the note. Pretty basic example, but slicing notes gives you a lot of options.
Pitch Modulation – I avoided the Pitch Mod tool for a long time, unless I wanted to make myself sound like TPayne or Lil Wayne, but I’ve recently discovered what an awesome tool it is for fixing performance errors – not just pitch errors. The trick is to use it only on tiny spliced sections of a note blob – not the whole note. Try it on anything weird that you missed in recording, and that you don’t want to bring the vocalist back in for.
Amplification Tool – not only can you use it to automate volume levels, as a manual compressor, but it’s also great for removing or camouflaging undesirable audio. For example, when I encounter a plosive “P” or “T” scenario, I slice just the very tip of the blob, and bring down the amplitude. Of course, you can automate a fade in ProTools for a similar effect, but Mel does it a lot cleaner, without completely removing the “p” or “t” sound.
The Formant Tool - probably the most fun of the Melodyne tools is the “Formant” adjuster, which allows you to have multiple personalities. With the formant tool, I’ve made myself sound like a little kid, a big (I’m not big, btw) hefty rap artist, and an old Country singer. You can’t go overboard with it, but with slight manipulation, you can get real creative.
