How Does Melodyne Work With Vocals? : Home Recording Studio

TL;DR

Melodyne works with vocals by transferring the audio from a host DAW such as Pro Tools, then letting you correct note pitch and pitch drift. Joey Biagas recommends finishing the vocal comp before transfer because later Pro Tools edits will not automatically update in Melodyne. He demonstrates applying Correct Pitch at 100% while discussing the tradeoff between naturalness and closer-to-perfect pitch. Read on for the exact transfer and correction workflow.

Transcript

what's going on guys my name is Joey biagas and I'm an audio engineer and musician of a few years now and today I'm gonna show you how Melodyne works with vocals so let's get to it okay so let's go ahead and see how milodon works with vocals and I actually already have Melodyne open here in a proto-tool session I even already transferred over the v... Read More

Key Insights

• 👻 Melodyne serves as a powerful tool for working with vocals, allowing for precise pitch correction.
• 🔀 Transferring vocals into Melodyne requires selecting the "Transfer" button while the audio track is playing in the host DAW.
• 👻 It is crucial to have the final vocal comp before transferring to Melodyne, as any further edits in the host DAW will not update in Melodyne.
• 🎵 The "Correct Pitch" button in Melodyne can be used to globally correct pitch by shifting notes to the correct pitch based on the center of the note.
• 😚 Pitch drift correction is an option in Melodyne that corrects gradual changes in pitch over time, which some users prefer to utilize for achieving closer-to-perfect pitch.
• 💯 Melodyne's ability to correct pitch is beneficial for all vocalists, as even professional singers like Beyoncé and Katy Perry may not have perfect voices before utilizing pitch correction.
• 😚 Achieving a natural vocal sound while using Melodyne is subjective, with some users choosing to preserve naturalness and others preferring a closer-to-perfect pitch.

Questions & Answers

Q: How does Melodyne work with vocals?

Melodyne transfers a vocal track from the host DAW and becomes the source used for playback. It then displays the vocal as editable notes that can be shifted toward their intended pitches and corrected for pitch drift.

Q: How do you transfer vocals into Melodyne?

Select Melodyne’s Transfer button so that it turns yellow, then play the track by pressing play or the spacebar. Melodyne transfers the vocal while the audio plays in the host DAW.

Q: Why should you finish the vocal comp before transferring it to Melodyne?

After the transfer, Melodyne takes over playback of the transferred vocal. Corrections made later in Pro Tools will not automatically update inside Melodyne, so Joey recommends completing all vocal edits first.

Q: What happens if you delete the vocal audio region in Pro Tools after transferring it?

The transferred vocal can still be heard because the audio now exists in Melodyne. In the demonstration, playback continues even after the corresponding audio region is deleted in Pro Tools.

Q: How do you globally correct vocal pitch in Melodyne?

Select all the transferred notes and click the Correct Pitch button to open a window with two sliders. Moving the pitch slider to 100% shifts the center of each note onto the pitch Melodyne determines is correct.

Q: How does Melodyne decide which pitch a vocal note should move to?

Melodyne guesses based on the pitch closest to the detected note. For example, if a note is closest to C-sharp, the software places it at C-sharp when pitch correction is applied.

Q: Why is accurate vocal tracking important before using Melodyne?

Joey advises recording each note as close as possible to its intended pitch. If the performance is too far from the desired note, Melodyne may guess a different destination, although the result can still be checked and manually corrected.

Q: What does Correct Pitch Drift do in Melodyne?

Correct Pitch Drift addresses changes in pitch across a vocal note, and the tutorial demonstrates setting it to 100%. Some users avoid full correction because they feel it reduces vocal naturalness, while Joey prefers a result that is somewhat close to perfect.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The video demonstrates how to transfer vocals into Melodyne for editing and highlights the importance of having the final vocal comp before transferring.

• The tutorial showcases the use of the "Correct Pitch" button in Melodyne to globally correct pitch and explains how the software determines the correct note.

• The instructor discusses the option of correcting pitch drift and presents a corrected vocal sample for demonstration purposes.