Melodyne expert tips by Rich Crescenti

Rich Crescenti is a freelance engineer who works as a Melodyne specialist for our American distributors, writes pro audio articles, interviews and reviews, and conducts numerous courses and seminars, having clocked up over 10,000 hours of classroom instruction time. Furthermore, Rich is a real Melodyne power user: watch him in action in the following videos, benefit from his experience, and be inspired! Shown here: Melodyne 5 studio, smaller editions may differ.

Vocals

What matters most – Tips and tricks for editing lead and backing vocals.

  • Fast and easy editing – The clicks that count for musical pitch correction

  • Sibilants and de-essing – More precise and better targeted than any de-esser

  • Natural transitions – Note transitions are a powerful means of optimizing a performance

  • Background vocals: phrasing and timing – Achieving balanced interaction with the lead vocals

  • Creating realistic harmonies – How to construct convincing backing vocals swiftly

  • Mixing tricks for sibilants – Putting the pitched components and the sibilants on separate tracks with separate effects

  • Creating vocal doubles from outtakes – Double-track your lead vocals using outtakes – despite tempo variations

  • Adding excitement to vocals – Crafty vocal enhancement through parallel editing

  • Tightening up vocal doubles – Strategies and workflows for perfect timing when double-tracking

  • Fine tuning the pitch detection – Advanced techniques for natural intonation correction

  • Time handles – How to optimize the phrasing of lead and doubled vocals using time handles

  • Distorted vocals – Tips and tricks for editing vocals with a lot of grit or screaming

  • Quick and easy vocal tuning – How to improve the intonation of your vocals with the Pitch Macro

  • Advanced de-essing – Professional advice for performing even the most demanding de-essing tasks

Other instruments

Vocals aren’t the only things that benefit from Melodyne. Here you’ll find suggestions for editing other instruments.

  • Drums: Shaping sounds with the Fade Tool – Smooth or crisp? Nuanced dynamics for your drums

  • Editing the bass – How to make the bass a solid foundation in the mix

  • Piano: Controlling dynamics with the Leveling Macro – Melodyne as the perfect complement to compressors, gates etc.

  • Guitars: Proper note assignment – Correctly displaying, replacing and copying notes

  • Guitars: Timing tips and tricks – Optimizing the timing of chords and notes

  • Guitars: Getting the sound right – Using the Sound Editor to adjust the timbre in unique ways

  • The Sound Editor: tips on bass – Enhancing the bass by isolating individual partials and processing them separately

  • Making sounds sit in the mix, Part 1 – Melodyne’s toolbox as an insider tip when mixing

  • Making sounds sit in the mix, Part 2 – Harnessing the power of the Sound Editor when mixing

  • Making sounds sit in the mix, Part 3 – Creating space in the mix with the Sound Editor’s harmonics controls

  • Tighter performances – How to tighten up the instruments on a multi-track recording

  • Smooth leveling for better mixing – The Leveling Macro for better-sounding performances

  • Multitrack drum quantization – A neat workflow for perfect drums with Melodyne studio and ARA