How
many singers in the music industry can maintain perfect pitch through a whole
recording session? Odds are, most probably can’t. Because of this issue,
something had to be created to solve that this issue. That is why vocal
correction software was created.
Vocal
correction is used in most modern music. From the biggest Pop stars, to the new
coming Indie artist, almost everyone’s vocals have to be fixed. To fix the
vocals, a mixing engineer needs a plugin to do the corrections. Two big vocal
correction plugins are Autotune and Melodyne. Each do the same thing, just in
different ways.
Autotune is the most known vocal
correction plugin. Most believe this plugin to be the easiest. It has many
different options on time correction and manipulation. Also, it has pitch
correction to fix flat and/or sharp notes while singing. This is definitely an easy to use plugin for anything vocal. This is widely used by anyone from amateurs
to professionals. Autotune gives the user an option of what kind of vocal or
instrument (not a wide selection) to alter. It gives an easy way to correct
pitch by allowing the user to select the key of the song instead of fixing
spots individually. The option is still open to fix things with more detail,
but this is for advanced users. It is a great plugin with an easy to handle
layout. This is a great vocal correction plugin to start with for novice mixing
engineers.
Even though Melodyne is not widely
heard, people in the music industry definitely know what it is and how to use
it. Melodyne is a little more detailed than Autotune. Melodyne plays the music
into the plugin and then it analyzes the sound file. When vocals are analyzed,
the plug in places each part of words and phrases on their pitch selection.
From here, the user can manipulate the sound file just about any way possible.
From vibrato to timing, Melodyne edits it all. It is a
visible platform and everything is organized. All the editing is easy to do;
just choose the tool preferred, click, and drag in the direction desired. Melodyne
is not a hard plugin to learn how to use, but it can be confusing for the new
mixers out in the industry.
There are many great software and
plugins to edit vocals. Two of the best and wide known is Melodyne and
Autotune. Even though they may work in similarities, one could feel better to
use to the user than another. It all depends on the user. Which one would you
choose?
Hello Zakk
ReplyDeleteThanks for the brief summary on these two plugins. As an artist I understand how difficult and time consuming it can be to always sing a particular line perfect when you are paying studio time. Although I am not a fan of too much vocal enhancement I still believe that its initial purpose is great. I have, however, seen some producers use Melodyne and I must that is quite confusing to look at from an amateur's perspective! A serious producer should be proficient in both programs if he want to make in the vast world of the industry.