ROAD TEST
Celemony Melodyne 5 Studio Editing Software
By Adam Gallant
Celemony has released the latest edition of its ubiquitous Melodyne software . Version 5 was released in May 2020 and October will mark Celemony ’ s 20 th year in business .
Melodyne has a trusted reputation as the most comprehensive vocal finishing and detailing tool on the market . Over time , it has grown to become a fully polyphonic sound design tool with an incredible breadth of features under the hood . Correct pitch or timing issues of individual notes on a piano or guitar chord , augment or modify any order of harmonics within a note , chord , or group of notes in a song , and make any monophonic or polyphonic samples nest inside your production by altering the key and timing of independent layers . It ’ s all there .
I ’ ll first touch on what ’ s new with version 5 , then dip into a couple of thoughts we came upon while testing the software .
New Features Version 5 has a highly intelligent Sibilant Tool that can make blanket de-essing a breeze . The algorithm has been modified to retain the true sounds of esses and “ ch ” sounds when modifying the pitch of surrounding notes .
The Fade Tool lets users adjust fades in and out of notes in both monophonic and polyphonic content . It ’ s great for making granular adjustments to the dynamics on a guitar or piano performance , or editing stacks of background vocals at once .
The new Leveling Macro will automatically tame dynamic volume differences between notes in an audio clip without any pumping or audible compression artifacts .
Chord Track and Chord Recognition display information about which chords are being played in polyphonic instruments . Key changes and chords can be input along the top of the grid and the underlying audio tracks can be easily shuffled into a new chord .
In Use The real power of this software sets in when you start getting into the nitty gritty . To my ear , this version of Melodyne is more transparent , especially when used in broad strokes .
The most immediately apparent update is the Show Sibilance view . The esses , breaths , and non-pitch-related consonant sounds are dis- played with a simple and easy-to-identify cluster of vertical lines , referred to as hatching . When notes are stretched , esses and “ ch ” sounds are left locked in their time position in the grid . This is a very smart and musical perk that emulates what a vocalist would naturally and ideally do in a performance : elongate the vowels while hopping across the consonants .
Musically weighted pitch analysis provides a more natural-sounding way of handling pitch drift across a note and displays a more functional view of the way we perceive vocal pitch in a performance . Updated displays can show an average pitch drift across any note and the drift can be tilted to be bending up , down , or leveled out . The same principles of editing can be applied to the formant of these notes as well .
Another musical touch is that the esses are left unaffected when pitching neighbouring notes ; the result is very transparent and natural-sounding . De-essing can also be handled in batches , very quickly , by simply selecting a group of notes and choosing the sibilance re-balance tool .
Unlike sibilance , the ( automatically identified ) breath sounds are not locked into the time grid and will shift as neighbouring notes are moved in time . Again , this is to emulate the natural tendency of vocalists to take shorter or longer breaths depending on the tempo or how many notes are within a succession . The way the software handles breaths can really speed up a vocal edit when using the macro mode for timing .
The notes separation algorithm is also extremely intelligent . For example , take a guitarist strumming a chord ; we hear the pick scrape first , then the notes ring out . In polyphonic mode ,
we can adjust the time of each string in the strum and the algorithm will automatically take a portion of the pitch scrape sound with it , leaving a very honest-sounding edit .
Adjusting note transitions is extremely smooth and natural . Subtle pitch variations within notes are generally retained to present a more true-to-life sound . The pitch drift tool is both simple and detailed and results in a vocal performance that can consistently retain pitch without undesired artifacts that can go along with micro shifts in tuning . Often , vocalists will begin a note and land just outside of its intended pitch . The drift tool will analyze a performed note and its vibrato , then display an average note drift that can be tilted and modified while preserving the nuance of the performance . Pitch drift can also be modified with the macro tool and be applied to the full audio file that is on the grid , which can be great for broad strokes and quick results .
Summary Melodyne was designed with musicality in mind . The software can be as simple or as comprehensive as desired . There is a lot more to be explored than can be summed up in a single page test here , so I urge readers to demo the software and have a look at Melodyne ’ s updated tutorials that were released alongside version five .
Adam Gallant has worked in all facets of digital audio production , from music composition to location and post audio for television and film . He currently owns and operates The Hill Sound Studio in Charlottetown , PE .
22 CANADIAN MUSICIAN