Melodyne to step up an octave?

[b1j]

I'm gradually making my way to record a piece with acoustic guitars that was written for piano. It's very melodic, as opposed to "piano-ish," so I'm going to pull the work apart into separate parts, like choral parts, onto different guitar tracks.

I'll do the lowest voice with a bass guitar because it goes down to B flat below the low E string, and to give the part a distinct timbre.

It's the highest voice I'm suddenly thinking about, after reading the nearby Melodyne thread. The melody line starts out tame enough: the first verse runs between the open G string and B flat on the high E string. Very well suited for acoustic guitar; I'm currently planning to give it to the 0-18.

But the line gets repeated in the second "verse" one octave higher. I can do most of the line with my high-strung guitar. In fact, for the verse itself, I can do the whole line.

Here's the rub: later the top part briefly lunges up to E flat, two octaves (less one half-tone) above the E string. Out of bounds for the Gurian.

So just now I was thinking. Could I record the problem phrase an octave lower and hike it up an octave in Melodyne without having it sound like a distressed duck? The whole offending passage is only two 2/4 measures.

What do you Melodyne pros think? Is this feasible and if so, are there any steps I should take to avoid a weird, foreign tone quality?

[DupleMeter]

An octave is a big change. My gut tells me it won't sound natural. Do a test. See what you think.

[b1j]

Originally Posted by DupleMeter

An octave is a big change. My gut tells me it won't sound natural. Do a test. See what you think.

Kind of what I'm expecting. I'll be able to get to this in January after I clear out two huge projects at work and home.

[runamuck]

You'll get unnatural sounding artifacts going that far.

[keith.rogers]

You can try, but if it's forward in the music I agree with others that it's likely to be a long-shot to sound good.

Sounds like a job for a mandolin or violin, honestly. Their E [string] is already an octave higher than the guitars, so going up another octave is fairly normal.

p.s. I'm assuming you've got a 5-string bass if you're tuning the low B to a Bb? Tuning the E to Bb is going to be a bit flabby sounding I'd expect. (That's also a pretty darn low note - well below a human's bass range.)

[Mbroady]

Perhaps in the future there will be a consumer product that can do what you’re asking it to do, without artifacts, but Melodyne is not there yet. A feature that you can do in Melodyen is turn audio (simple melody lines) into midi notes. Sometimes it can be “hit or miss” and you have to massage the midi notes a bit, but if you play with it and find the right patch (sound sample) it can add a unique quality to your music. It’s another tool in the tool box.

[b1j]

Originally Posted by keith.rogers

You can try, but if it's forward in the music I agree with others that it's likely to be a long-shot to sound good.

Sounds like a job for a mandolin or violin, honestly. Their E [string] is already an octave higher than the guitars, so going up another octave is fairly normal.

p.s. I'm assuming you've got a 5-string bass if you're tuning the low B to a Bb? Tuning the E to Bb is going to be a bit flabby sounding I'd expect. (That's also a pretty darn low note - well below a human's bass range.)

I don’t own other instruments like a mandolin, although one might do the job. I might be able to borrow one.

The B flat I need is B flat below the low E string on the guitar, not the bass, so I can reach it on the bass’s A string. Yes, an octave below that would be something like 29 Hz. I’ve never understood the usefulness of a five-string bass.

The high notes are more than forward: they amount to the three prominent lead notes of climax phrase, and are played in crescendo f — ff — fff before the music subsides. Yikes.

[b1j]

Originally Posted by Mbroady

Perhaps in the future there will be a consumer product that can do what you’re asking it to do, without artifacts, but Melodyne is not there yet. A feature that you can do in Melodyen is turn audio (simple melody lines) into midi notes. Sometimes it can be “hit or miss” and you have to massage the midi notes a bit, but if you play with it and find the right patch (sound sample) it can add a unique quality to your music. It’s another tool in the tool box.

Yes, I was wondering about MIDI. Something to noodle about.