Melodyne – Direct Note Access

This morning I came across a music technology article that really stirred me up. Its about a new version of the software suite “Melodyne” from company Celemony. See article.

The Old Stuff

Melodyne is nothing new. Its been around for almost a decade. In some cases, its the reason why some artists can sing like a god on CD but croak like a dying frog in live performance. In less extreme cases, it is used to nudge a slightly out-of-tune vocal take back into place. My favorite uses are of course those that intentionally call on an auto-tuner’s powerful manipulation engine to create a range of synthetic vocal qualities. Despite the creative possibilities of Melodyne/AutoTune’s powerful software engine however, it is used most frequently to de-crappify the vocals from an otherwise ordinary, out of tune, natural voice recording.

The New Stuff

So there’s the background on this software. Here’s the new stuff that landed this on the front page of reddit.com this morning: According to the article and the company’s website the newest version of Melodyne is able to dig into a mixed down, tonal recording and pull out chordal components, isolating the pitch material. It then allows you to manipulate each individual component pitch. This is POWERFUL stuff. It opens the doors to new sorts of experimentation and manipulation and on the other hand, hack performances disguised as pitch-perfect, steady handed musicianship. Many who, on account of earlier auto tuning plugins, had concerns about the integrity of modern music are now shitting in their proverbial pants with disappointment. Checkout just a few of the reddit comments on this article:

• “This is the most amazing bad thing that ever happened.” ~ ifm1989
• “I can see it now…people strumming lazily on one chord, then going to their computers and turning it into a masterpiece through trial and error.” ~ Duuuuude
• “I’m torn, being a tech geek, I think it pretty cool. Being a classically trained musician, I also think this is an abomination, learn to play and/or sing in tune.” ~ flycrg

The response is not all negative, however. Some responses focus on the technology itself and how many doors this sort of deep melodic access really opens.

• Even in the demo you could occasionally hear a bit of… i don’t know what to call it, “digital ringing” i guess. Miles better than auto-tune though, and with this sort of technology we could do some craaaaaazy stuff. ~ WinterAyars
• So this is basically like photo-shop for music? Cool! :D ~ Eugi
• That is fucking awesome. ~ appleaday

My humble opinion?

While I can appreciate where the haters are coming from, I think they are failing to see how this new technology will actually help the world appreciate raw, genuine, and un-autotuned voices. As more music employs technology like Melodyne’s auto tune and direct note access to ensure that squeaky-clean sound, more listeners will become desensitized to this homogenized, perfectly sculpted music. Think about how Americans have become increasingly aware of and thus unaffected by traditional advertising campaigns. Marketing teams have had to step up their game and in many cases this has meant a more honest, genuine approach; one that doesn’t assume the target audience to be a bunch of mindless idiots. Same is happening with music. Though there are more and more ways to hide a lousy performance behind a slew of star-making plugins, in the end, genuine, raw, and real will always outshine its competition. Have a little faith in the modern music listener to find the goodness out there. And have a little faith in the modern musiciain/music producer to use these tools in creative and explorative ways. Be calm, haters, genuine music is far from dead.