Request for general recording support

[-mjk-]

So, from a pure artistic point of view, the only real thing ist live performance on acoustic instruments without amplification, right?

All of my performances are "real" and un-tuned. I use a drum machine and I program it using a combination of, standard patterns that I edit, step recording and performances using drum pads. All guitars, keys and vocals are real performances too. Amps don't matter. Genre doesn't matter either. What matters is: Can you play and sing?

 

[UrsusArctos]

I see your point, Arjan and mjk. Perhaps I am too narrow minded. I was really looking at it from the musicians point of view. It is really mind blowing what it takes to win a position as a violin player in the most aft row of the 2nd violins in a major orchestra. Very good hearing (not to say at least close to absolute) and associated blind certainty of playing every note in tune regardless of however technically difficult a given composition is, are just very basic prerequisites. This is why only a tiny fraction of professional classical musicians end up in major orchestras. Most never get to that level despite having trained at conservatories for years. And then all of a sudden you are being told that perfect intonation is not all that important because it can be corrected in post probably takes some getting used to.

On the other hand this is probably similar to digital photography: these days a lot can be done to enhance an already good picture in post, but all post processing won‘t save a picture that has been screwed up at the moment of capture.

 

[-mjk-]

Don't get me started on digital photo editing!

But yeah. If you have chops you use those tools in an artistic manner. If not, it's polishing turds. A Filipino band in my neighborhood autotunes everything without a second thought. But honestly, that just makes it bearable.

 

[UrsusArctos]

Well, not in real time, but you might wanna check this out and be dazzled. The future is here!

Arjan, I dowloaded the test version of Melodyne yesterday and started playing around with it. The software is indeed impressive. It certainly did a good job in correcting the off-tune piano but also did some strange things to the double bass track.

I would consider post tuning the piano track „legitimate“, because there is nothing the pianist can do about the off-tune instrument. This is a different matter with the double bass and many other instruments as well as vocals for that matter, where playing/singing in tune is a distinguished skill of the musician.

I did not find out yet if Melodyne can also differentiate between instruments. If so, that would be an even more fantastic feature.

I will play around with it a bit more before the license expires in 29 days and report here when I find time.

 

[Arjan P]

Interesting! And I don't think the software can differentiate between instruments, but who knows what will be possible in the future. Let us know how you go!

 

[UrsusArctos]

I think you are right, Arjan. It does not recognize individual instruments. Therefore, e.g. separate tuning for piano and leave the double bass as is would only be possible, if these instruments were recorded on separate tracks, which can obviously only be accomplished in a studio and not in a live recording session.

I find this a bit strange since I just watched a video in which the inventor (who really seems to be a genius) explains about the spectrum and formants of individual instruments and that this full information is actually analyzed by the software. Despite the double bass and the piano surely having very different characteristics, I only see one harmonic spectrum, which seems to be a mixture of both instruments.

Admittedly, the ability to recognize different instruments recorded on the same track could have lured me into buying this tool. The lack of this feature, however, does not justify this heavy investment for my niche type of hobby application.

It is still an amazing tool and I imagine it can be extremely helpful to some musics people.