Musical pitch has always been putty in the hands of Melodyne. Now, revolutionary features in version 4 promise to make tempo and timbre equally fluid.
These files accompany the Celemony Melodyne 4 article in the February 2016 issue of SOS
I’ve prepared these audio files to illustrate some of the features described in my February 2016 review of Celemony’s Melodyne 4.
Jazz__original
Jazz_constant_tempo
Jazz_faster
Jazz_faster_still
To show some of the things that are possible with Melodyne 4’s Tempo Editor, I’ve used a short excerpt from a jazz recording I made last year. This was recorded live in a small chapel. All four players — clarinet, two guitars and double bass — have their own close mic, and there is also a stereo room mic.
‘Jazz__original.wav’ is a rough mix of the files as recorded. I then dropped the source files into Melodyne 4, which calculated the tempo map, and manipulated them in various ways:
‘Jazz_constant_tempo’ is the same section of the same piece, but forced to a constant tempo; ‘Jazz_faster’ is the same section with the original tempo variations, but sped up by 5bpm or so; ‘Jazz_faster_still’ is sped up by a massive 10bpm.
As you can hear, the results are remarkably natural, despite the extent of the tempo changes.
Strings_original
Strings_tuned_equal_temperament
Strings_tuned_dynamic_just_intonation
This short excerpt, consisting of string quartet plus saxophone and flute, was taken from a live concert recording. Strings had clip-on mics, winds were recorded using SM58s, and there are also room mics. As you can hear in the raw recording, ‘Strings_original’, there are some tuning issues in the excerpt, particularly when the flute comes in.
In the second example, ‘Strings_tuned_equal_temperament’, I have used the standard Quantise Pitch macro to force all the instruments into equal temperament. However, in the third example, ‘Strings_tuned_dynamic_just_intonation’, I have activated Melodyne 4’s new Dynamic Just Intonation feature. As you can hear, there is a subtle but noticeable difference in the sound of the chords formed by the instruments.
Sound_Editor_examples
Finally, a file illustrating some of the sonic possibilities of Melodyne 4’s new Sound Editor. This started life as a penny whistle solo. I’ve crossfaded between various different Sound Editor settings before returning to the original sound at the end.