Recording audio

Audio and recording preferences

Before recording for the first time in the stand-alone implementation of Melodyne, you should open the Preferences property sheet to examine, and if necessary change, the audio and recording settings.
To open the Preferences property sheet, choose Program (macOS) or File (Windows) followed in each case by Preferences..

On the Audio page, you will see the general audio settings. If you have already loaded, played back and edited files with Melodyne and everything functioned, you can just leave the existing settings. (On the Mac, the internal Core Audio hardware is used by default; under Windows, the ASIO driver of your audio hardware should be selected).

On the Recording page, you can select a file format for your recordings, such as WAV or AIFF.

Handling the tempo and the metronome

Before you begin the first recording in a new Melodyne project, you should devote some thought to the matter of tempo. In a new document, the tempo and time signature fields are initially empty; instead of a value in each case, a simple dash (“–”) is displayed. The Time Ruler, initially, is calibrated in seconds. At this stage, then, there is no musical tempo.

You now have two choices: you can either enter the tempo manually and record in time to a metronome click or begin recording with the tempo field still empty, allowing Melodyne to detect the tempo automatically.

To enter the tempo manually, proceed as follows (the default values, unless others are entered by hand, are 120 BPM for the tempo, 4/4 for the time signature, and quarter note (crotchet) intervals for the Time Grid):

• Enter the desired value in beats per minute (BPM) in the tempo field
• Enter the desired values for the numerator and denominator of the time signature (e.g. 6/8)
• Enter a musical note value instead of seconds in the menu for the Time Grid
• Click on the icon between the time signature and tempo fields in the transport bar to activate the metronome. When you choose this procedure, Melodyne assumes that you intend the tempo to be constant, so any fluctuations in tempo will be revealed by a discrepancy between the position of the blobs and that of the grid lines. The fact that you have opted for a constant tempo will be indicated by an equals sign (“=”) before the tempo in the transport bar.

To activate the metronome, click on the icon between the time signature and the tempo in the transport bar. To make the click quieter or louder, click on the same (metronome) icon and drag downwards or upwards without releasing the mouse button.

If you are used to working with DAWs, you may be more comfortable setting the tempo manually and recording to a click. Since Melodyne is extremely good at detecting the tempo, however, it is in many cases easier and more practical simply to allow Melodyne’s tempo detection routines to determine the tempo for you.

• Instead of initializing the tempo, time signature and Time Grid values manually, as just described, begin recording with the tempo and time signature fields empty. Now you no longer need a click to listen to as you record because Melodyne will detect the tempo and tempo fluctuations within the recording and adjust the grid lines and subsequent click accordingly. Instead of entering a numerical value for the tempo, in other words, you are determining the tempo through your performance.

This will result in any fluctuations in tempo within the performance being considered deliberate and the tempo being interpreted as variable. The value in the tempo field will therefore be constantly changing in the course of playback, and the mesh of the Time Grid will expand or contract accordingly (i.e. distance between grid lines will increase or decrease) as the tempo changes. The fact that the tempo is variable is indicated by the presence of a tilde (“~”) before the value in the tempo field.

Enabling, starting and stopping recording

• Move the playback cursor to a point just to the left of that at which you intend to begin recording. This will give you a cue.

• Click on the record button in the transport bar, to activate Melodyne’s record mode.

• Begin the actual recording by clicking the play button and commence recording.

The cycle range can also be used during a recording to play back a specific segment of the track repeatedly. The recording, however, ignores the cycle and appears on your track as though the cycle were inactive.

By clicking on the record button in the transport bar as the playback proceeds, you can punch in and out (i.e. toggle record mode on and off). When you halt the playback in Melodyne, all recording ceases.

You can discard a poor recording simply by choosing Undo. You can listen to a recording even while the detection process is underway and cancel if you wish.