Sound On Sound UK July 2020

Since its launch 20 years ago, Celemony’s Melodyne has joined Antares’ Auto-Tune in that realm of ubiquity where people use its name as a verb. When producers talk of vocals as having been ‘Melodyned’, they are usually implying the use of non-invasive pitch-correction. ‘Auto-Tuning’, by contrast, often suggests the use of pitch processing as a special effect. Of course, both packages are adept in both fields, but Melodyne has some unique capabilities. It remains one of very few programs that can perform pitch-correction on polyphonic sources, and the Sound Editor introduced in Melodyne 4 provides a huge palette of resynthesis and processing possibilities. Version 4 also brought forth some amazing tools for manipulating the tempo of entire multitracks. New versions of Melodyne don’t come along that often, but when they do,…

P R O S • New sibilant detection and Sibilant Balance tool makes working with vocals much faster and easier. • The Leveling Macro is an impressively transparent — and, in the Editor and Studio editions, polyphonic! — alternative to compression. • Automatic pitch-correction now sounds more in tune without the need to split words up manually. • Chord detection and Chord Track open up some intriguing possibilities, especially for remixing. • Most new features are available in all editions apart from the basic Essential version. • Neat electronic documentation that tailors itself to your specific use case. CONS • Chord detection rarely gets it spot-on first time, and usually needs some help from the user. SUMMARY Melodyne 5 has been a long time coming, but it’s hard to imagine anyone feeling disappointed with the results! This is another killer…

Melodyne 5 introduces a new pitch-detection algorithm called Percussive Pitch, which is intended for use on material that is primarily percussive, but which also has meaningful pitched elements to it. The example that Celemony give is of an electronic drum kit, which might have a sine-wave kick drum sound and synthesized toms with definite pitched content. Unlike the conventional Melodic or Polyphonic algorithms, Percussive Pitch is optimised to preserve the integrity of transients over that of note pitch; but unlike the Percussive or Universal algorithms, it does analyse pitch and allows it to be changed. If you have any material that falls into its intended scope, it’s very much worth trying; in some cases the differences are subtle, but it may well allow you to push things that bit further,…

Sibilant Balance isn’t the only new editing tool in Melodyne 5. The program also now implements fade-ins and fade-outs courtesy of a new Fade tool. Simply position this near the start or end of a blob, click and drag sideways, and a fade is created. Fade shape can be adjusted by dragging up and down. There’s no direct equivalent of a crossfade, as such, but you can use the Time tool to extend one blob so that it overlaps another and have one fading out while the next one fades in. Fade lengths follow changes to note length made using the Time tool. Included in all editions apart from the basic Essential version, the Fade tool has obvious utility when it comes to detailed editing, but it also has some interesting…

Over the course of nine years and four albums, Kevin Parker, trading as Tame Impala, has made huge sonic leaps from his 2010 debut Innerspeaker’s modern reimagining of ’60s guitar-based psychedelia to the electronically coloured, kaleidoscopic pop of The Slow Rush in 2019. Growing from a bedroom project to one now operating out of Parker’s elaborate beach-facing studio in Freemantle, just outside of Perth, Australia, Tame Impala remains a solo recording project, but expands live to a five-piece band. Parker has chalked up two Top 10 albums in the UK and the US with The Slow Rushand its 2015 predecessorCurrents, which successfully located the unexplored middle ground between Pink Floyd and Michael Jackson. At the same time, the 34-year-old has earned a well-deserved reputation as someone deeply involved in audio experimentation,…

PROS • Excellent SPL handling on both models. • Both mics are solid, well built and have good mounting options. • LS-308 offers very high levels of rear and side rejection. • LS-208 sounds excellent on loud amps, close drums and live vocals. CONS • High-frequency roll-off starts around 7kHz on the LS-308. • LS-308 may be a little pricey for a specialist mic. SUMMARY Lauten Audio have produced two new microphone models that can excel in challenging recording environments. The LS-208 is a great all-round option for close instrument and voice recording, and the LS-308 offers very high levels of SPL handling and rejection which make it able to capture direct sound in very demanding situations.…