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If you want to give your home-recorded vocals more of a professional touch, then software, such as Melodyne by Celemony, is a useful tool to have on hand.
The full studio version is incredibly well developed to help refine any issue you might encounter. The entry-level edition is essential. Although it might not give users complete access to some of the more advanced capabilities, it will, without a doubt, keep your vocals on point.
Although it could be used with any track, vocal editing is where this software shines. Melodyne goes a little further than most basic autotuning software, and the results are far less synthetic.
This is the fourth iteration of the software. It started life as a standalone, but will now also work as a plug-in, in conjunction with your go-to DAW. It is widely compatible, and, despite being a restricted version of the high-end software, gives you a great deal of control over your editing.
This user-friendly software lets you examine tracks in detail note-by-note. The ARA lets you have multiple sub-tracks of different vocal takes, and you can choose the best parts of each to get the full potential of your vocals. The selected pieces form the main track. It's color-coded to show you what comes from where.
You can change the time, pitch, rhythm, and dynamics, adjust vibrato, or even the melody itself. This is a great feature if you often find yourself having production afterthoughts. If you wish the singer had held that high note a little longer, it's no problem you; can stretch the note out without dragging the singer back for rerecording.
As well as the time, you can alter the pitch. A higher pitch has a faster frequency, so if a track is sped up or slowed down, the pitch will get higher or lower.
Melodyne will let you change the speed and keep the original pitch, or vice versa. This is what gives it a real purpose.
Those with great natural rhythm might not always be on time. This can be worsened with a cheaper home-studio set-up, as low-latency is not completely lag-free. You can address any lag issues with the timing correction. Singers with great pitch could also have a few bad notes in the mix to sort out.
Correctional abilities aside, Melodyne is a fun vocal editing tool. You may want to be able to manipulate time to take a vocal edit and use it as a sample. Then you can sculpt it into something unrecognizable from the original input.
You can correct pitch and time in manually with detailed visuals, or make use of its automation features and let it do the work for you. This can be a small scale, by changing the intonation or transposing the key. You can suggest a key to stick to, so it corrects pitch to stay in the scale, or you can adjust it wildly.
You can play with the dynamics of the piece, adjust the vibrato, or add it in after the singer has left the building. You can give it a new melody and completely mutate the vocal capture. It'll unleash your creativity, letting you play with a range of new melody takes until you're satisfied.
The capabilities range from subtle to extreme. You could even sing an ostinato input and end up with something rhythmically different.
Celemony Melodyne 4
Summary
Melodyne Essential is aptly named because it is, indeed, essential; it makes vocal optimization a doddle and saves you hours of work with its automation, ensuring that you get a polished piece.
The built-in algorithms are very accurate, and you have a good range of parameters to manipulate. You are in full control of time, phrasing, and rhythms. You can adjust pitch post-production or even during the take by selecting a specific key beforehand.
The correctional capabilities are very in-depth. You can see the waveforms in detail and adjust the melody note by note.
The volume of the recording is available in snippets. You can play with the dynamics of the recording after it's captured and even add vibrato effects. It's widely compatible, easy to use, and reasonably priced.
Pros
+ Great correctional tool.
+ Piece together the optimal vocal take.
+ Automatic pitch correction facility.
+ Change time, phrasing, rhythm dynamics and melodies.
+ Widely compatible.
+ Accurate algorithms.
+ User-friendly navigation.
Cons
- Some people may want to seek out the full studio version for its cutting-edge-features if their budget allows.
Why We Like It
Melodyne is a powerful piece of kit to add to your set-up. It lets you get the best of your vocal takes in an easy-to-use format. It can make the tiniest of adjustments or dramatically change what you've captured.
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