How To Tune Vocals Transparently with Melodyne 4

[@vojtechstarek2766]

I’ve watched hours of videos and tNice tutorials one is the first that explains it in a way a complete beginner could understand! Great video

[@lesmatheson6001]

Excellent! I've done quite a bit of bad stuff with Melodyne and didn't really get it until this, despite seeing numerous Melodyne videos.

[@bugsy3333]

The "U" command alone was worth the watch. Thanks

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

Glad it helped!

[@jillischell7570]

shout out to you for teaching your professional tricks! Been looking all over youtube for someone who doesn't instruct me to select all, double click to perfect pitch, and drag modulation to zero. excited to check out your other videos

[@surgerywithoutknives2353]

This the most helpful video I’ve seen on melodyne .. really musical and I can’t stress how good this is 👍🏼

[@TheAugustusCC]

Fantastic Tutorial! Thank you buddy!

[@ShadikTV]

Bro this helped a lot. I didn't even click on your video. It was playing after another video on Melodyne when I came back I heard you talking and understood what you were saying and it finally gave me what I'm looking for.

[@donnythompson408]

I’m very sensitive when it comes to pitchy vocals, and I can’t begin to count the number of times over the years in the studio, where I’ve either been tracking or mixing, when I’ve caught myself wincing when hearing dicey pitch on a lead vocal... those occasions where the singer is off “just” enough, to make me want to slam my head in a car door as opposed to having to endure the pain of their pitch. But, there’s something that can make me wince just as much - maybe even MORE - and that’s if I can HEAR pitch correction being used on a vocal. Unlike many other Melodyne instructional vids I’ve seen, where their goal seems to always be about achieving pitch “perfection”; you have stressed what they have ignored, and what I feel is THE most single important facet when using pitch correction: To preserve the HUMAN element of the performance. Your goal is for transparency, instead of “perfection”. And by being conscious to NOT correct every single note/drift/gliss to a 100% pitch-perfect center, your correction is super transparent; the vocal still sounds very natural. Preserving those natural drift nuances in a singer’s voice - we could call them “imperfections” - has allowed you to retain the heart, vibe and soul of the performance. (IMO, quite often, those little “imperfections” turn out to be the “gold” in a vocal performance). BTW, in watching your vid, I also picked up a few things about Melodyne that I hadn’t previously been aware of... So, nice job. 😉 FWIW, You just picked up another subscriber. 😊

[@BillGraper]

I've found from experience that if I have to remove vibrato, that's when it starts sounding fake. I usually have to leave a bit of vibrato, so it doesn't sound fake. Also, people have to know that the BLOB doesn't always have to be centered. It looks like the blob is mostly an average of the note pitch, and many times the line going through the blob veers up. You want to keep that, in most cases, and make sure the line goes through the middle of the note, leaving the blob lower than the note. That keeps the singer's performance more real. I haven't watched this video yet, but he probably explains it, just as you & I have just said. 😎

[@BillGraper]

One trick I use with editing vocals, which works with Reaper (and probably other DAWS) is when I use Melodyne, I always save my project. Then when I have to make more edits, I just open it up, make the changes, then REPLACE the old .wav file with the updated one. It'll update automatically in Reaper. That is so handy! It doesn't matter how many times you cut up the audio in the DAW. It'll update & be perfect in the DAW, AS LONG AS you save the wav file the same every time. If you saved a section, you have to save the exact same section every time! If you saved the entire project in Melodyne, you have to save the entire project every time. I even use Melodyne if some notes were sung too loud. I'll open the edited version in Melodyne & lower the volume of the note with the amplitude tool. Then resave it, to once again replace the old wav file.😎

[@spetcumichael7215]

Thank you from Germany!

[@SamGirgenti]

You describe things very clearly, thank you.

[@serenitynow66]

LOL LOVE YOU WORK BROTHER . YOU ROCK!!!!

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

Thanks for the kind words. Glad you enjoyed the vid and happy music making!

[@ericpassmore3068]

Nice job man....I'm pretty handy with Melodyne but you touched on a few things I've been wondering about for a while....actually it's nice to see that you DO in fact have to be meticulous when you tune and not just use the macros. I have been wondering for a while if I've been too detail oriented while I'm tuning - nice to see this is actually the right way to do it......again, good tutorial

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

Thanks Eric! Tuning is very meticulous, but when done right is magic. I am grateful that you learned something from the video and thank you for taking the time to leave a comment!

[@vikaskaushal9389]

Thank you for making this video, I think this is the most detailed video on Melodyne on KZbin

[@OGChadney]

The 90/70 is a great help

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

Yes, the 90/70 isn't hard science, but it seems to work out for most projects. I'm happy to hear you found value in this!

[@simonturner1]

This is exactly the video I've been looking for. Nobody else with a Melodyne video bothers to explain how to try fixing bad/robotic vocals. All their adjustments sound natural no matter what they did to the vocal and it was driving me crazy because mine sounded nothing like theirs. I've already made some big improvements in only 20 minutes which is amazing (you can still tell they've been edited and I'll probably have to rerecord them anyway - they really are awful - but it's SO much subtler than before). Thank you for taking the time to explain the workflow! You've got yourself a subscriber :) Do the golden transition lines that appear with the pitch tool have an effect? The more horizontal I make mine the nicer the transition between notes sounds so I'm assuming yes. What I'd really like to see is another video but with a REALLY bad vocal take just to show what the limits of the software are, so we all know where our expectations should be. An explanation of the different functionality between the standalone and the plugin would be great. I've heard about how to control playback within the plugin but it doesn't seem to work. I have to keep playing the audio from my DAW instead.

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

Hey Simon. Thanks so much for taking the time to leave feedback, and I am so happy to hear that my tutorial has helped you. When you mention the "golden transition lines" with the pitch tool, are you talking about the actual pitch line of the vocal or the amplitude blob? I am always tuning by looking at the thin line and knowing where the notes are going to be hit. So when it comes to scoops, breathes, plosives (even in the middle of a phrase), and note drifts; I keep all those untuned. Runs you shouldn't try and doctor too much either unless there are very obvious notes that they need to nail within it. Use your ears and ask yourself if the pitch is distracting or can be left alone. You really should try and get a performance that is at least hitting the melodic notes. You don't want to just sing and then try and create a melody. If you are having a tough time hitting notes and the singer is really pitchy (I have struggled with this with my own voice for years), create a MIDI piano track that plays the melody. It might take you awhile to make it, but if the singer practices singing with it they will be closer to the notes and you will get a better tuning job. Melodyne can really do magic to vocals, but it should be the sweetener after a well practiced and recorded vocal. As for the plugin and standalone version, I never use the plugin. This may or may not be the right workflow for you. But I like to try and break my production process into pieces. Editing is its own separate thing, so I like to have my editing in separate sessions.. That way if I need to make changes to it I know exactly where to go and I don't have to eat up CPU resources with having the plug in on my chain. Some people may think it is a waste of time to keep on having to go and open Melodyne to edit, but it helps my brain :) Thanks again for taking the time to write your feedback and let me know if this has helped clarify a few things for you!

[@simonturner1]

Hey Brad, the lines I'm referring to can be seen (for example) at 26:50 connecting each blob, although I did note your advice to focus on the pitch line and not the amplitude. I noticed that you can click on the ends of them and rotate them somewhat between vertical and horizontal. A straight vertical sounds quite robotic whereas the more horizontal it is (giving a more S shaped curve) the more natural the transition seems to sound. Saving CPU resources could be quite useful so I can see why you edit as a separate process. I haven't figured out what my workflow preferences are yet so I'll give it a try myself. I've got a fairly decent system but there are still glitches every so often when using the plugin which makes Melodyne think the transfer has finished, so I think it could be beneficial. Thanks for the reply :)

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

Hey Simon. I honestly don't look at those lines much. I do make sure that they are always connecting the blobs because after some edits they disappear and then you hear a glitchy edit. But If you are finding that making the line go more horizontal is making your tuning more smooth and natural then continue to experiment with it. When I am tuning vocals I am really just focused on the what notes are trying to be hit and the main pitch line. I appreciate your comment and your time. I hope that learning these few things will give you more confidence in your productions and help you release more awesome music into the world!

[@danabarnes4751]

Thanks for the tips!

[@PaulParagon]

Ignore the many short videos on how to use melodyne which basically echo the manual. This video will introduce you to a more musical understanding of the process which will be of far greater value to your work. Thanks Brad

[@deebassman9877]

Thank you for this video, very helpful.

[@ginablease7931]

I found this very useful, thank you!

[@ericpassmore3068]

I would love if you could do a vid on timing adjustments using Melodyne....that would be great! I often find timing harder than tuning....cheers

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

Great idea! Melodyne does do some funny things for timing, but it isn't difficult once you know what to look for. Look for that video in the upcoming week!

[@arunc1760]

Thanks a lot man. Specially for the U quick key

[@ericpassmore3068]

Cool, well if you have time to do that timing tutorial I for one would be much obliged - again, I have a very solid foundation in Melodyne but I find watching someone else actually edit a vocal is so valuable....I understand the tools but it's always neat to see how someone with experience applies them! On a similar note if there is demand for showing the best:fastest workflow for editing a vocal double to the lead that would also be great 😀 Ok I'll stop being so demanding! Lol

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

When it comes to BGV's and doubles, I wouldn't worry about being as meticulous. You can get away with it sounding more "tuned" and not get noticed since it most likely won't be upfront in the mix. If it is two lead vocals that you are panning hard left and hard right, then you should handle both with detail. But if you tune a certain vocalist enough, you will start to see the patterns with their singing style and it should speed up your process. You could also just use delay to get that "doubled" effect.

[@ericpassmore3068]

Makes sense!

[@derekjamesmusic6765]

Thanks Brad Great demo.

[@bassaroo]

Hey, man ... thanks for the helpful video! By the way, with all the talk about your voice being embarrassing ... I was expecting something REALLY bad, but when I actually heard you sing, it was actually quite delightful, and reminded me of Chet Baker. Check out his "I fall in Love Too Fast" and "My Funny Valentine". Keep on singing!

[@jazmaan]

Just got the Cyber Monday deal on Studio 4. Interesting tutorial but I can't help thinking, even if you work three times faster when you don't have to explain it for a video, it still takes a heck of a long time to tune even a short simple segment! The jazz vocals I work with tend to be much longer and more intricate. So I would only use Melodyne to correct really blatant errors and leave everything else alone.

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

Yeah there is no doubt about tuning being tedious when you do it this way. The goal is to make it so that the client you are working with has no idea that you tuned their vocals. And with really good singers (I am not one of them) tuning this way goes a lot quicker because they already have good pitch and understand the notes they are trying to hit. Either way the question you have to ask yourself is what is best for the production and the song. If leaving the vocals alone and only touching up really bad parts is what is best, then more power to you! Thanks for taking time to check out the video and leave a comment!

[@d3vinity]

This is a great tutorial THANK YOU!!!

[@DeutschlandGuy]

Excellent video Brad... Some "voodoo" or "slight of hand" spots still exist, however. For example at 6:30-6:31, you talk about setting up "global time signature and beats". In the process pop open a window titled "All my files".... Well, that window just magically appears. I tried watching your mouse clicks to figure out how you opened it... but it was to no avail. What did you to in order to open that window? Sidenote: Wa... I just discovered something cool about KZbin. When I typed the above message and included the exact timeline spots (6:30-6:31), KZbin is smart enough to create a hyperlink directly to those time spots... That makes it easy for the person owning the video to jump directly to that spot on the time line. Cool!

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

Hey Cool Blue Ice! Yeah I can see what you are talking about, and I promise you I wasn't try to do any slight of hand 😉. That is actually the Finder folder on my Mac. So that part is definitely my greatest tangent in the entire video talking about session organization. I was just going onto the folder that contained the files I wanted to tune that was on my desktop. When I am talking about "Global time signatures and beats" it is referring to the time signature and the BPM of the session I got my audio files from. My tangent is explaining how it is nice as a producer/songwriter to label your song file with this information so you (or if you hired someone else) doesn't have to search that information out. In this example the song is called The Whistling Wind, so I just use the first letters of each word for TWW111bpm3.4 ... This way you know the song is The Whistling Wind and the BPM is 111 and the signature is 3/4. Hope that makes sense! Thanks for watching the video and joining in on the conversation. Hopefully this video helps you towards making awesome transparently tuned vocals!

[@BillGraper]

The problem I'm having is if I have to tune vocals more than 1 full step (2 notes) it makes my voice sound weird. I know people are going to say "just sing better, and you won't have to move the notes very far." The problem with that is I'm recording new, original songs & sometimes I don't even know the exact notes... or later, I'll say "Man, it sounds better if I sing THIS note." I tried the formant tool, but it doesn't help.

[@xaosnox]

1 minute in, and I can tell this is the tutorial I was looking to find! Thank you, friend. [Edit: Or so I thought. I've NEVER used Melodyne before. Have just been able to justify it artistically because of exactly what Brad says at the beginning. Sometimes the best emotional or tonal performance may have a pitch or timing issue here or there, so I'm cool with the occasional touch up. But he starts off with "Set up this key command and that one" without showing HOW to do it. Same problem with the "First Steps' videos on the Celemony site. They start in about the tools and such, but when a purist like me who is just coming over to the dark side opens up the plugin, there's nothing in there. I would think a "First Step" would be how to get the friggin' blobs into the workspace in the plugin, wouldn't it? I think it's so sad that music has devolved to the point that something like Melodyne skills are something that people just take for granted.]

[@youowemeapony]

Drag and drop the audio if you're using standalone, or hit the transfer button in the plugin, then play the audio you want to transfer. Or just pay someone to do it for you if the very basic seem overwhelming. It doesn't get any easier once you start editing.

[@michaelmifsud4763]

well presented

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

Thanks Michael!

[@santicandia7562]

Good job Brad ! Thanks

[@BobbyElliottav]

I am working on a track now, Female vocal, OVER USES VIBRATO, (Horrible), they want me to at least "calm it down", I've tried using the Pitch Modulation tool to flatten it out some but it gets really "jittery". Any suggestions on how to do this? (rerecording is not an option, she is no longer around). Fantastic channel by the way!!!!

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

Yeah when it comes to lots of vibrato you have to be very conservative with how much you try and flatten it. I would try using little amounts, maybe try separating the note and working with only certain sections. If she gradually builds into the vibrato then only work with the craziest part. Also I've found when tuning singers with lots of vibrato that you can't "hard tune" those notes. Because of the crazy swings in pitch it will still sound off. So hand tune those notes so the peaks and troughs are about even above and below the note. It's hard to explain without showing so let me know if that makes sense.

[@BobbyElliottav]

Brad Johnson Creative Thanks Brad! I had already figured out that I couldn’t hard tune, Everything was out when I tried. I did take your advice and split the notes where it was really bad and worked individually on them, it worked a little better!!! I spent an hour on the first 4 lines of the first verse...that leaves the rest of the song and 8 more..... hahaha..... this project will be the end of me!!! Thanks so much, you have been a huge help!!

[@cleverestx]

Question: You never used the "SNAP TO" feature in the Pitch Window...it seems like every other video (or many at least) utilizes this, even if they dial down the percentage while tuning as you do. What are the main reason to avoid doing that? (I'm assuming in the case of it detecting the correct key), and what are the best times TO use that checkbox? Thank you.

[@hoffy1003]

I'm not seeing exactly where you cut those notes. The beginning of the "leap" or the middle of the 'leap"? And also what is exactly is the "U". (is it the leap up or down).

[@thereysupremo]

i have to tune a vocal and the song change many times of key, from C maj to A maj. how do i change the key signature on melodyne? please help me. thanks!

[@cleverestx]

Had the U command process been updated/changed in recent versions of Melodyne? Is it still neccessary to do or did they fix the processing of stuff that is clipped off, like breaths, FFFF, SSSSS, etc? I ask because I will be picking up a more advanced version of Melodyne soon and my options menu on my basic Essentials version if missing the keyboard mapping choice that you set U too...I don't know why...

[@chrisdela8536]

When I hit "U" nothing ever happens. Do i have to set up a shortcut for that? I may have missed it. Sorry

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

You have to set it as a shortcut in Melodyne from the preferences window.

[@ericpassmore3068]

Ps...to select non-adjacent notes you just hold down "command"

[@Bradjohnsonmusic]

Haha thanks! My brain short circuits with quick keys sometimes!

[@ericpassmore3068]

Omg I know how it goes!

[@jhstudio749]

This was very hard to watch. You made some great points well into the 2nd half but this video seems aimless with unnecessary tangents that were frustrating to wade through. You also came across as unsure of yourself and the software version. There were about 2 good minutes of useful information that I pulled out so thanks for those.

[@RandomVelocity]

What version of melodyne is this ?

[@d3vinity]

17:19 If u gotta rewatch like me

[@practice4089]

17:29 hehe

[@DMKahn]

You cut the word "THE" way too short. It rapidly dives into a second note. Listen back to the original, it was a single note, not two. I did learn from you but that was tough to watch!

[@bjrnb9042]

3:20 you make this program sound more fun than chemotherapy

[@wiseman3806]

5 mins video made in 36 mins, couldn't follow after 8 mins, tooooo much talking, thank you

[@chrisshollinrake6826]

Anyone wanting to learn "How To Tune Vocals Transparently with Melodyne 4" fast forward to just before 11 minutes in. There are a lot of tangents and digressions and general flapping of gums leading up to it. Brad we only live once, get to the point.

[@cleverestx]

Maybe you should ask for a refund.

[@jerryocrow1]

1. Thank you. 2. I understand your effort to teach us another idea, but you only needed 5 minutes. 3. TORTURE listening to you fumble, muble, and stumble. Redo this video. 4. Bright, Tight, Brief. 5. Thank you.

[@franksmith9916]

Sorry, but after 10 minutes of waffling I couldn't take any more.