Originally Posted by Gavin Sinclair
Mike, you sound like a far more competent version of me:)

I like BIAB because it suits my style of writing. I always begin with a melody in my head and it's usually pretty much fully formed, with at least some of the lyrics. Then I go to my keyboard and work out the chord progression, before I ever go near a mic or a computer. Then BIAB is a bit like having a band that you go to and say, "Hey guys, I've got this great idea for a song. It goes like this."

I have never used a BIAB solo. I always create instrumental solos (sax, fiddle, harmonica, cello, etc.) with real or virtual instruments and lay them over the BIAB background. I'm interested that you have had success with the BIAB solos. Whatever you're doing sounds great, so maybe I need to investigate this further.

I only discovered Melodyne recently. I tend to use it sparingly, because I feel it can suck the life out of a vocal, if you're not careful. Not that it necessarily creates that awful autotune effect, but that it seems to kind of flatten things sometimes, especially as a lot of the stuff I do depends on having a warm, conversational tone. I think it's great for conventional pop songs, where you're not really listening too closely to the singer. Your approach of only using it on individual notes probably eliminates the problem I'm talking about. When I use it, I do use the macros, but I choose a relatively low percentage correction to get rid of the real bum notes without imposing an unrealistic perfection.

I use Mixcraft as my DAW, and the Pro version comes with the basic version of Melodyne integrated as part of the DAW. It's quite an economical way to get Melodyne, if you don't need the upscale features.




Hi Gavin,

Melodyne is indispensable for pro quality demo making, but depending on what one intends to do with their finished work, it may not be a necessary tool.

Never use the Melodyne presets--they tend to make things worse. I loop a few bars of vocal audio while looking at the Melodyne blobs, and set the pitch grid to "no snap" and nudge offensive notes "into the ballpark" which is generally towards the center but not on it. You can retain the style and sound of the original vocals by simply getting the bad notes within 10 or 15 cents minus or plus, but keeping a flat note flat and a sharp note sharp keeps the style and sound intact, I found, through years of experimenting.

Rather than sucking the life out of a vocal, I've found Melodyne has done just the opposite, with me. It free's me up to really "go for it" since I'm not worried about hitting every note. I can put my full concentration on dynamic, exciting performances, verse-by-verse, chorus-by-chorus..

Mike

Last edited by Michael Zaneski; 09/28/17 02:11 PM.

Fate doesn't hang on a wrong or right choice
Fortune depends on the tone of your voice

-The Divine Comedy (Neil Hannon)
from the song "Songs of Love"
from the album "Casanova" (1996)