Hi everybody.

So I have some really fast guitar solos that need to be cleaned up.
It's pretty good already, but the client wants it to be perfect. I have a midi reference of what the guitar plays, the problem is it's so fast melodyne can't pick it up. I'm talking both pitch and rhythm here. I guess auto-tune, waves tune etc can help with the pitch if I feed the midi, but:

What can I do to polish the rhythm imperfections? If I slow down and edit manually each note it's gonna take forever. Also the resulting noise isn't helping melodyne pick up each notes either.

Variaudio (I'm on Cubase) shows me the midi ghost layer under the audio track, but so far I can't find a way to snap the audio to the midi's rhythm.

 

Last edited: Sep 13, 2021

Slow it down?
Convert the audio so it stretches in time with your project tempo; work on the audio with Melodyne; put back to original speed after.
I don't know how this will sound like though, tbh!

 

Luckily this is monophonic. If it was polyphonic and melodyne would not be able to pick it up, that would be about it - only option would be for your client to play it better and/or tune their guitar better.

Anyway, since it's monophonic and you can work with Variaudio, all you really need to do is cut those notes. I believe you can do it with alt-modifier, but not 100% sure. And then splice some parts too, I think by pressing 4 you can get the glue tool. It shouldn't be hard, all you have to do is learn how to use VariAudio. You could check tutorials for that too.

 

a fast way to edit the midi nicer would be to load it again, but with the project set to "keep tempo"; at 2X whatever the real bpm is.

I'd still rather deal with slices though.

 

@Lost In Translation
I just had a thought.
In my head.
Melodyne and AutoTune will both respond better if you chuck a compressor on the guitar, before Melodyne.
Might help.

 

Turns out slowing down and editing in Melodyne, then speeding up totally ruins the quality of the sound.
The simpler choice was the best; I slowed down the files within Cubase with musical mode, then edited the timing with audiowarp. For the pitch I couldn't do much though.

 

Most of the DAW's are the same and each does something better than another.
In Cubase faced with what you are doing, you have ask yourself what is more important, the time taken for manual editing or client satisfaction? Based on your thread wording - the client.

In Cubase the fastest way is to copy the real guitarist's file in the folder it is in and insert BOTH into their own tracks. This way you can do lethal editing without fear and compare against the original and the MIDI file. Because you are using a MIDI file as a reference you have set a benchmark you have to follow.

There is a slightly better way for the audio file(s).
A good method is to Ctrl+P (Command+P) and select the tick-box on the tempo (make sure it's correct) - The audio pool.
Slow the piece down (TEMPO). You are editing timing here not pitch. Sure the audio really slow will sound like shit but you can hear easily where it is not aligning with the MIDI. Look in Vari-audio where ALL the notes in any passage are there. Sure you can manually cut each portion of the wave file but that is the last step and NOT all.

The sections where every note is played and showing in Vari-audio - you have 'quantize' (Use it!!) - if the timing is off - Remembering the client wants it perfectly. If you hold Ctrl(command) and your mouse wheel you can zoom in and out and get it perfect.

To the Pitch....
You may very well have to manually edit all of the passages that will neither quantize properly or show in Vari-Audio. Additionally, if tuning on certain notes is incorrect, be careful. Unless the note is a semi-tone above or below what it should be (drag it up or down), you rarely need to use more than 50% on quantizing the pitch. Keep in mind if a human played it, unless the client wants it to sound like an Autotuned voice except it's a guitar, then use everything I mentioned in small steps to allow your ears to hear what it is doing and just how much you need to apply (if any).

P.S - Melodyne has detection settings. At the highest level you may get clicks and pops appearing as notes, but you should get more notes displaying too (be careful when moving notes closely tied to clicks, you may need to move both to sound natural.)

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 29, 2021

@Lost In Translation How important is the pitch? Try quantizing within, even if you have to chop the main file into tinier sections and do a 'new' on each one.
Stay away from the straighten curve unless a dip or slide is completely unwanted. Even then, it tends to work better with short wrong notes than slower ones. Hope some of this helps. as the arrows show you can do it one at a time or bulk, This is an actual real saxophone solo (Soprano). His pitch actually needs little work but it was a decent reference.

Guitar hammers,sweeps and slides Vari-audio has a huge problem with and often makes them one note. Use the scissors and chop where the note lands will also help if showing as one note. You will also see the chopped note move to what it actually is.
The better the articulation of the musician, the better Vari-Audio works.

 

Last edited by a moderator: Sep 29, 2021

Exactly.