Apologies for cross posting this in the plugin forum too but it’s DEAD in there
Just about to grab the demo for SynchroArts’ Vocalign Project3 as the price has been permanently slashed to quite an attractive point for many of us now.
I currently use Melodyne studio4 which is incredible and with which i can manually tighten up the timing and pitch of multiple tracks of backing vocals etc… pitch correction is a breeze with M4 but timing correction always needs to be done manually… i do a lot of funk/soul etc which many projects will have in excess of half a dozen backing vocals, harmonies and doubles mainly… having seen what vocalign can do timing wise i’m wondering if it’s best to time correct FIRST with this and then tighten pitch with M4 or vice versa?
I don’t currently have a project that hasn’t already been corrected to play with so wondering if anyone else has experience of using the two in conjunction?
I don’t think it’ll matter one way or another. I would just try and see which sounds better. A B them. Both processes will bring artifacts. Whatever process produces less I would do first.
Thinking about this some more, I would do timing first then print that. Then to pitch correction. My rationale is because you’re definitely going to want the sync. Pitch may need to be altered a couple times.
I recently released a project. When my client listened back to proof it, he had said that I made him sing something he didn’t intend. This was because I did correction when he wasn’t at Studio. He wound up going on the tell me that he liked it. He said he didn’t think about singing a line that way. And now he sings that way in the song. I could have changed it to whatever he wanted. My point being here is that if you mistakenly choose the note correction, all you have to do is put it where they want it. You won’t have to revert back and resync if you do the syncing before you do correction.
ok yes that all makes sense… have grabbed the demo but have to admit i’m not totally blown away with it so far… could of course just be me not being completely au fait with it yet. It’s a 14 day demo so plenty of time to put it through its paces properly.
Ah yeah i’ve had one or two of those serendipitous mistakes too… always nice when that happens!
What do you mean by not blown away by it? I’m curious about that plugin. Never used it because I tend to err away from automated processes. Old habit that is.
I always hard de-ssed followed by medium compression (fast attack/medium release always in a little reduction) on the secondary backing to lock em down and to push them back in the mix field. Then I do alignment and pitch manually. I’ve also followed that with a gate and had the main vocal control the gate it via side chain. You can set the gate to open a little slow so the backing will never be in the way.
I purchased Vocalign myself. I have not had great results with it so far, but I have only had a couple of projects that I have used it. I am sure it will be the best thing I ever purchased when I need it though!
Manual editing in Melodyne seems to work just fine for me. Maybe I am just lazy?
Hi Guys - I work for Synchro Arts and wanted to jump in and see if I can help. To achieve the desired results and get the best quality output and processing you want from VocALign, it’s always important to spend a bit of time getting the starts and ends of your Guide and Dub audio correct - as well as setting your preferred tightness.
You could have a look at the VocALign Project VST3 User Manual,
…and go to Chapter G covering Important tips for effective operation (p.27)
Hey Jeremy! Cheers for chipping in… always nice to see a manufacturer taking the time to do so.
I pretty much did what you suggested mate but it seems on occasion it just didn’t want to play ball, i think also the ability to ‘loosen’ the timing when it does work well, would be a massive advantage to us not using it for ADR as at times i found it could be a bit too tight for things like multiple channels of BVs. I did try different settings but to no avail.
I found it DID do a SUPERB job of a doubled main vocal though… the thing really came ‘alive’.
I’m still on the fence with it… on the one hand it doesn’t do anything i can’t do with melodyne… BUT it can do certain things much quicker…
In that case, maybe our more recent product, Revoice Pro might be more suitable for your needs. It recently came out top in a Pro Tools Expert pitch correction shoot-out:
…plus it offers more flexibility in terms of tightening and loosing your audio via it’s unique APT. See the main differences between VocALign and Revoice Pro here:
And watch this Quick Start guide for using Revoice Pro with Cubase:
You can also use Revoice Pro’s selection of tools to modify detailed pitch and timing characteristics of vocals, dialog and instruments and even create harmonies. This video is also worth watching:
