Unbelievable technology for the recording studio

[JazzCat]

Celemony Melodyne Direct Note Access Technology

Just got this info recently and I think it's pretty mind boggling technology.
It was demo'd at the music Messe and videotaped there.
The video is almost 17 minutes long but I think you, like I did, will find that it makes your jaw drop like a rock!
They have had a single note pitch correction and time shift software available for quite a while but this is freaking unbelievable!
Take a look at what they do with a 50 year old recording of Chet Baker! Holy rubbishski ! Every time I think I've seen it all something else comes along and just blows me away again.
This program is set for release in the Fall.

demo at Messe:
www.sonicstate.com/news/shownews.cfm?newsid=6281

video on the Celemony site
www.celemony.com/cms/index.php?id=dna

[Emerald Midi]

I have just had my first viewing of the demo video and I am speechless! What an incredible piece of technology.

[JohnG]

Just amazing isn't it!
I wonder how much processor oomph it takes to do that.
JohnG.

[Emerald Midi]

I imagine it will take a lot of power to make it run as efficiently as demonstrated in the video but today's processors have such power so no real worries.

This from their website:

Key facts

Access individual notes in chords and polyphonic audio:
see them, grab them, edit them

Audio, not MIDI!

while editing single chord notes is common for MIDI, it is a world premiere for audio recordings. Patent pending.

Examples of use:

tune a guitar after recording, correct harmony vocals that are out of tune, or fix their timing, turn major chords to minor (and vice versa), switch tone scales, mute single notes, remix volume levels, etc. – all after the performance is already taped!

All Melodyne tools available:

pitch shifting, time stretching, formants, amplitude – you name it ...

Coming soon

available in Melodyne plugin, Version 2, first (scheduled for Autumn 2008); will also be integrated in future updates of other Melodyne editions

[Emerald Midi]

Here's one question in particular (from their site) that will resonate with midi enthusiasts:

Q: Is Direct Note Access also suitable for transcriptions and polyphonic Audio-to-MIDI?

A: Yes. Once the notes have been detected in this way, MIDI export of the audio file with a view to printing out the notes is naturally one option; outputting the MIDI data of a previously detected file in real time (audio-to-MIDI) is another

[Emerald Midi]

I note that: "the full version will cost 349 Euro/399 US$. The update from Version 1 will cost 129 €/129 US$. Customers purchasing Melodyne plugin after the 12th March 2008 will receive the update free of charge."

[Stephanie]

I had a look at Celemony's website a while back and it's certainly incredible stuff. Definitely not for the faint of heart, processor or purse. Sort of like Photoshop for audio - and priced similarly :-)

Maybe I'm just too old school, but every time I see this type of thing I wonder how lazy it's letting us become. Has it become OK to sing off key or even off-tempo since the sound engineer can fix it? Pitch correction should ideally happen at the vocal cords, not the patch cords, no? Otherwise all this is no different than airbrushing the Playboy girls.

I suppose if our focus is to be recording artists, that's fine. We acknowledge that the whole post-production processing is part of the work of art and embrace the sound engineer as a full and equal member of the group. After all it's he or she who makes the recording sound the way it does - even if it doesn't sound like the performers.

The risk is that we'll lose (or never develop) real performance skills. All of a sudden we'll be up on stage with no dynamic retuning of the guitar, no time stretch to compensate for that too-shallow breath and no automatic lyric insertion for when you forgot the words.

Food for thought, in case you've OD'ed on Easter candy :-)

[Emerald Midi]

Hi Stephenie, interesting comments and thanks for making them.

I think the thing to keep in mind is that not everyone is either musically or vocally equipped to be able to get it right from the get-go, or even after much rehearsal, etc, which is where a device such as this can come into its own.

I know from personal experience how frustrating it can be to get a piece just right after many goes only to find at a later listening it wasn't as right as you originally thought, but with a device like this you have the opportunity to "fix it" without having to go over it all again.

It won't be for everyone, but those who have a genuine use for it will find it an invaluable tool to own.

[JazzCat]

Well, pitch changing technology has been used in the studio now for a very long time. So I see nothing wrong with this improvement in the technology at all. It isn't designed for live work. (Although I believe I saw a harmonizer unit once that could correct pitch on the fly for live gigging!)

Now if I have my druthers, I will go hear a fully live band with a stage full of skilled and talented musicians, but we know not every 'pro' is top of the line. The music business is just that, a business and the recording companies are competing for sales, just like any other company, they will do what it takes to make a product more sellable, including Photoshopping zits and wrinkles off of a performers face for an album cover and correcting their pitch in the studio.

[JohnG]

Hasn't it been like this from as early as the late sixties though? You only find out who the "real" performers are when you see, or should I say hear, them live. The complete group with no karaoke, all live musicians playing live, and it's those who can generate the "feeling" in the music. That's not to denegrate those who use MIDI files as a backing when they don't have a full compliment of musicians.

The Stones were incredible as a live band and I remember Zoot Money(?) and John Mayall's Blues Breakers as being wonderful too, I heard them when Clapton was the guitarist. We were favoured with his presence as he lived, or his home town, was only a couple of miles from the youth club where we had the last two bands as guest artists. Better live than recorded.

"Them were the days!"
Nostalgia rules OK.
JohnG.

[strawbs1949]

HI THERE,
2ND. Try at posting my ideas, could this software be used to expose notes and chords from original songs? Then isolate the vocals and marry to a MIDI FILE, fancy having Freddie Mercury singing on your midi file. Can it do this?

Nice one, JazzCat

[muso]

Really impressive stuff.
Perfect for a bedroom recording enthusiast.

[Emerald Midi]

muso said:

Really impressive stuff.
Perfect for a bedroom recording enthusiast.

Indeed. But I feel such a device would even be appreciated by those with something more elaborate than a "bed-room."

[Stephanie]

I quite agree - this kind of tool is great for fix-ups where the original cannot simply be rerecorded - sort of like photoshopping the grass stain off the wedding dress. For those situations it's wonderful. It's also great for creating new works from old (Freddie Mercury in your backup group!). I have no argument with using it in such ways (plagiarism and derivative works issues aside).

My concern was that people who ARE capable of developing performance-level skills and who CAN tune a guitar should not let themselves become lazy just because this tool could compensate for it, and thus facilitate it.

If this can be used to create music that can't be made any other way, then it becomes an instrument in its own right and the ability to "play" it well becomes a new talent or skill to perfect, no?

[ovation99]

The spec is nowhere near as stringent as you might think:
www.celemony.com/cms/index.php?id=products_essential

Also take a look at the videos on this site..Unbelievable