Why Is Audio Track Now Recording Mono?

[DallasSteve]

In the screenshot below I have a section (Pre-Chorus) recorded in stereo and another (Chorus) recorded in mono (I think).   I recorded the Pre-Chorus last week and I went in today to redo the Chorus.  I did not intend to change from stereo to mono.    Actually, I thought it was a mono track.  I may know the cause and the solution, but I'll post this anyway to see what the experts say.  I added 3 Audio FX to the track last week (Melodyne, Modulator, and Reverb).  Then I froze the tracks.  Does one of those effects cause the mono track to become stereo when you freeze it?  The stereo sounds much better.  My voice almost sounds decent.  I want to get that effect again in the Chorus.  I'm going to proceed with applying the effects and freezing the track again after I finish cleaning up the vocals.

[John Vere]

Melodyn is not normally used in an effects bin. It is a Regional Effect. Is that why you are freezing? 

The preferred way to work with Melodyne editor is first make a copy of the track and archive it as a back up.. 

You highlight a preferably short audio clip,

right click to open the dialog shown in my screen shot. Then choose as shown to Create a regional effect. 

This will open Melodyne editor . 

When your finished editing then open the same dialog and choose "Render Regional effect" 

This prints the editing to the audio file permanently. and frees up CPU and Memory usage. If you found you need to re do something it's easy to use the back up copy of the track. 

 

[DallasSteve]

Lord Tim

That may be my problem I recorded the new vocals while the track was frozen.  I still don't understand the mono/stereo situation.  When I add an audio track it doesn't ask me if I want stereo or mono.  When I look at the new audio track it looks like mono because it has only one squiggly line in the track icon.  But in my screenshot the track has two squiggly lines like stereo.  I just tested Freeze and that seems to be when it happens.  If I have a Pan dial I don't see how that would work unless it is stereo.   Can you explain the stereo/mono on an audio track?  I can try to find it in the documentation, if necessary.

[DallasSteve]

John Vere

I had seen that Regional Effect before, but I don't know how to work that way.  I understand the Effect rack and I found it easier to go with that.  Will it be easier if I treat Melodyne as a Regional Effect?  Melodyne seems to work correctly in the Effect rack.

[DallasSteve]

Lord Tim

I have been  doing Melodyne in the Effects rack and it seems to work.  I'd rather not add a whole 'nother layer of complexity to this. 

A - What will be the problem using it in the Effects rack?

B - If I go the Regional Effects route I'm still unsure of the sequence of steps:

1 - Apply other effects to the audio track (or does Freeze track do that)

2 - Freeze the track

3 - Make a duplicate of the track (with events)

4 - Freeze that backup track (necessary?)

5 - Archive that backup track

6 -  Unfreeze the original track

7 - Create a Melodyne region

8 - Do the Melodyne steps

9 - Freeze that track

 

[DallasSteve]

Lord Tim

Thanks for all that work.  I just tried doing it with a Region FX and it's not too complicated, but there is one thing it makes more difficult in the way I work.  I have a Midi vocal guide track that I create while I'm writing the song.  That's how I roll.  I compare that to the Melodyne blobs and I fix my bad singing.  Even after doing the Correct Pitch macro, I'm sometimes off by 1 or more semitones.   Doing it the Region FX way I don't see how to display the piano roll side by side with the Melodyne editor.  Maybe if I undock them?  On the plus sound, it looks like the Region FX method may actually produce a better pitch correction than what I was getting the other way, so it's worth the extra effort.

Bonus question: Under Region FX there is a choice for Vocal Sync.  Can you tell me if I have that and what it's for?  If not, I can look it up.

 

[scook]

Vocal Sync

[DallasSteve]

I checked out the VocalSync tool.  It's a neat idea, but what I need is something that would sync my Audio track to a Midi track as the guide to keep my vocals better in time with the music.  Is there an effect for that?  That would require a lot of magic.

[Byron Dickens]

There is. Its called "practice."

[John Vere]

Even though this sounds rude I have to agree with mr Dickens. If your pitch is that far off might be a good idea to do some voice training. 
 

We all started somewhere and singing is all about control of your voice. That only comes with practice, just like a basketball shot. 
 

I haven’t looked but I would imagine that there are many good tutorials on singing now. 
 

That said there’s definitely a way to use midi to control vocals. I think the hardware to do that was originally made here in BC in the 80’s. Possibly better versions of Melodyne can do this?  
 

Anyways glad you’re finally using it properly and you can move forward from there.