I would to talk about a very special “tool” for use in audio recording which is a signal processing program we have been using very recently. It is call “Melodyne”. The program comes from a Germany-based company called, Celemony. The inventor is Peter Neubacker. The program is nothing less of one of the most amazing tools I have ever used in recording to this date. This is by the way, an award-winning program. Once I began to use it, I understood why. It comes with the Persounus Studio One program as the “Essential” version of Melodyne. One of the first times we used it was to fix vocal parts where the intended note was missed, or was very difficult for the signer to reach.
The “Melodyne” program allows you to change the pitch of a vocal, or even an instrument or fix parts of the vocal that were off key. If your singer missed the entended note in a passage, no problem. Melodyne easily displays the vocal passage, then shows it on a chart where the problem or problems are. You can click on the note, thus hearing the note while also seeing what key the note is in and easily slide it to where you what it. The display even shows where the intended note was probably supposed to be. It is that intelligent. This can be done with guitar, bass, string instuments, horns…the list goes on.
This is only the scratches the surface of what Melodyne can do. Timing errors on all the above can be fixed as well. The program is easy to learn and use.
Josh and I have done lots of vocal repairing without the need for the vocalist to come back and record over and over again to get it right. It also will create harmonies. This combined with the skills of good hearing from our engineers, is outstanding. The corrections sound very natural. No side effects as I have witnessed with other programs. This is a producers, engineer, and musicians dream come true.
A great benefit of Melodyne is that it helps saves time in the studio, which translates to saving money. I will say however, it will not replace the way a person sings something in the first place, their tone, inflections, or emotions. Nothing replaces that. Remember it’s a “tool” not a replacement. But a great tool, like a great Mic, or pre-amp.
If you upgrade to the “Editor” version which allows great repair functionality, it is without a doubt a must for any studio in my opinion and we have it. Come by for demo. Call and set up an appointment.
Below are links to Celemony to give you an idea of how it sounds and works.
Follow this link:
http://www.celemony.com/cms/index.php?id=videos#top
Click on the Melodyne essential tab…. click “Note detection, melodic” (4:37) It’s a bit down the page.
Now the “Editor” upgrade:
http://www.celemony.com/cms/index.php?id=videos#top
Just look down the page a bit and click on “Fine-tunning vocals” (5:08).
