Sony Pixel Power calrec Sony

Phrasing-The Final Correction Frontier

08/12/2023

First, a follow-up: In the October 13 tip about creating Track Presets for parallel processing, I mentioned that Track Presets can't include buses, which is wrong. Sorry! However, the premise behind the tip is still valid. For example, by using tracks (which can record) instead of buses (which can't), you can create Track Presets for recording tracks with effects that produce random changes in real time. Or, create Track Presets optimized to record hands-on effects control while recording the results. Another part of the tip about creating a dummy bus so that a channel fader can provide a master send to tracks, without sending audio to the main bus, can also be useful. Now, on to this week's tip.

We have tools to correct pitch, and tools to correct timing. But one of the most important aspects of expressive music is phrasing, especially with vocals. Pushing a vocal slightly ahead of the beat, or lingering on a phrase a bit longer, can enhance the vocal performance.

Fortunately, the Bend Tool can alter phrasing. Of course, vocals don't have the fast, strong transients to which bend markers usually lock. But we can place bend markers where we want them, and ignore the rhythmic grid. Think of bend markers not only as tools to correct timing, but as tools to add expressiveness to vocals by altering their phrasing.

Getting Started

Figure 1: Note the show/hide eye button toward the top. Moving a bend marker affects the audio between it and both the previous and next bend markers.

Turn on Show Bend Markers (the eye button in fig. 1).

Turn off snap. Phrasing rarely benefits from the grid.

Remember that stretching involves the interaction of three bend markers. The top part of fig. 1 shows a phrase before moving the yellow bend marker. The lower part shows what happens after moving the bend marker forward in time. Audio between the bend marker and the previous bend marker becomes time-compressed (green coloration). Audio between the bend marker and the next bend marker becomes time-expanded (red coloration).

You'll often need to place bend markers manually, in the spaces between words or phrases.

Remove Unneeded Transients, then Edit the Phrasing

Because vocal phrases don't have defined transients, asking Studio One to detect transients won't give the same results as percussive instruments. Often, transient pairs will be close together. You want only one of these (usually the one closest to the note beginning). Hover over the unneeded bend markers with the Bend Tool, and double-click to delete them (fig. 2).

Figure 2: In the top image, the bend markers to be eliminated are colored red. The lower image shows the result of altering the phrasing.

In this case, I wanted to tighten the timing and move some notes closer to the beat. But also look at the second bend marker from the right in fig. 2. This had nothing to do with timing, but altered a word's phrasing to slow down the audio leading up to it, and speed up the audio after it. This led the note more dramatically into the final note.

Here's another before and after example. The words toward the end have had their phrasings adjusted considerably.

Figure 3: The phrasing slows down toward the end to give the lyrics more emphasis. The bend marker at the far right was added to keep the final word's length closer to its original length.

Remember that moving a bend marker affects audio before and after the marker. In the bottom of fig. 3, the added bend marker at the end of the last word prevented the audio from being too compressed. Otherwise, the word would have been shortened. In cases where you need to move an entire word earlier or later on the timeline, sometimes it's easier to split at the beginning and end of the word, and move the Event itself rather than use bend markers.

Custom Markers

If the transient detection isn't useful with vocal phrasing, you're better off placing bend markers manually. The Bend Tool options are:

Click to create a bend marker.

To alter the phrasing, hover on a bend marker. Then, click and drag to move the bend marker earlier or later on the timeline.

To move a bend marker without affecting the audio, hold the Alt/Opt key, hover over the marker until left- and right-facing arrows appear, then click and drag.

Double-click on a bend marker to delete it.
LINK: https://blog.presonus.com/2023/12/08/phrasing-the-final-correction-fro...
See more stories from presonus

Most recent headlines

05/01/2027

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be demoed at CES 2026

Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...

04/08/2026

Dalet Announces Commercial Availability of Dalia, Bringing Media-Aware Agentic AI to Enterprise Productions

Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...

04/07/2026

Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in Dolby Cinemas Across Japan, Presented in Dolby Atmos and Dolby ...

April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...

01/06/2026

Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026

January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026 Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...

09/05/2026

Celebrating a TV Legend: Sir David Attenborough

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

09/05/2026

Playmetrics Acquires SportsEngine From Versant

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/05/2026

NBC Sports, Peacock Scale Vertical-Video Production Across Sports - and Beyond - Ahead of FIFA World Cup 2026

NBC's 9:16 live-production workflows power Courtside Live, Rinkside Live, Vi...

08/05/2026

ESPN Pieces Together Production Strategy After WNBA's Unsettled Offseason

Native 1080p HDR productions will rely on a mix of remote workflows from Bristol and Los Angeles Despite another prosperous WNBA season in 2025, there was no g...

08/05/2026

SVG GameDay, Ep. 14: Buffalo Sabres' Autumn Bolton - Bringing Back Better Days at KeyBank Center

In-venue and creative video staffers at the professional and collegiate level ha...

08/05/2026

ESPN and Players Era Announce Multi-Year Broadcast Agreement for Mens College Basketball Championships

Players Era, an EverWonder Studio company, and ESPN have announced a multi-year ...

08/05/2026

BFBS Selects Synamedia to Build Next-Generation Digital Platform for UK Armed Forces

BFBS (British Forces Broadcasting Service) has announced the selection of Syname...

08/05/2026

UFC and Joe Hand Promotions Launch Championship Rounds Commercial Subscription Package

UFC and Joe Hand Promotions, UFC's exclusive commercial distributor in the U...

08/05/2026

Ease Live Granted US Patent for Interactive Streaming Overlay Technology

Ease Live, an Evertz company, has announced it has been granted US Patent No. 12,556,777 for its graphical overlay technology for interactive live streaming. Th...

08/05/2026

Ateme Deploys OTT Platform for VTVcabs VTVprime Service in Vietnam

Ateme has announced that VTVcab has deployed Ateme's OTT platform to power its VTVprime streaming service in Vietnam. The deployment covers live and on-dema...

08/05/2026

Amagi Launches In-Content Ads Marketplace for CTV Advertising

Amagi has announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering via the Amagi ADS PLUS marketplace, providing programmatic access to ad formats inserted dir...

08/05/2026

USA Sports Dives Headfirst Into Its Inaugural WNBA Season With Onsite Postseason-Style' Productions

Young broadcaster will deploy 11-camera complement, At the Line' scorebug f...

08/05/2026

Ratings Roundup: NBCs Derby Coverage Hits All-Time High; 1st Round of NBA, NHA Playoffs Up Big

Ratings Roundup is a rundown of recent rating news and is derived from press rel...

08/05/2026

A Mother's Day Toast to Joan Rubinsky in Theater Camp

Molly Gordon and Ben Platt appear in Theater Camp. (Courtesy of Searchlight Pictures) By Lucy Spicer Her character is the beloved founder of the AdirondACTS...

08/05/2026

Cyma Forma & Bambounou unveil RND synth

One-button synth generates random four-track ideas Cyma Forma and French artist Bambounou have announced RND synth, a compact hardware synthesizer built aro...

08/05/2026

Tasty Chips GR-2 granular synthesizer

Portable four-layer granular and sampling instrument Tasty Chips have announced the GR-2, a new granular synthesizer and sampling instrument that combines e...

08/05/2026

SUPERBOOTH 2026: Polyend Drums

Video Show Report Video of SUPERBOOTH 26: Polyend Drums Polyends big announcement for Superbooth 2026 is the Drums, a new drum machine that features both ...

08/05/2026

Native Instruments to be acquired by inMusic

Deal agreed as NI enters new chapter Native Instruments CEO Nick Williams has announced that a definitive agreement has been signed for the company to be ac...

08/05/2026

SUPERBOOTH 2026: Erica Synths Bullfrog Drums

Video Show Report Video of SUPERBOOTH 26: Erica Bullfrog Drums The Bullfrog Drums is the latest collaboration between Erica Synths and Richie Hawtin, and ...

08/05/2026

Play Snooker: Cueing Up the Future So Every Frame Counts

In our latest blog, Tim Pearson reflects on the recent launch of Play Snooker, the new digital home of snooker by the World Professional Billiards and Snooker A...

08/05/2026

G&D KVM-over-IP Plugin for Netgear AV Simplifies Deployments

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/05/2026

Riedel to Support Glasgow 2026 as Official Connectivity I...

Riedel Communications today announced its return as a sponsor of the Glasgow 2026 Commonwealth Games, where the company will serve as the Official Connectivity ...

08/05/2026

Miri V410 Encoder-Decoder Wins 2026 NAB Show Product of t...

For the second straight year, Miri Technologies Inc. has been honored with a pair of coveted awards at the broadcast, media and entertainment industry's pre...

08/05/2026

Nine Alumni Nominated for Tony Awards

Nine Alumni Nominated for Tony Awards More than 20 alumni contributed to this year's Tony-nominated productions. May 7, 2026 By Tori Donahue Boston Co...

08/05/2026

Report: Rise of Video Podcasts Prompts Hybrid Approach

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/05/2026

U.K. Military Broadcaster Taps Synamedia for Digital Platform

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/05/2026

Gayle Benson To Receive NAB Leadership Foundation Leadership Award

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/05/2026

Dems Blast FCC Disney Probe As 'Egregious Abuse of Power'

Share Copy link Facebook X Linkedin Bluesky Email...

08/05/2026

Liberty University on why broadcast technology isn't just a technical investment, it's a human one

Liberty University on why broadcast technology isn't just a technical invest...

08/05/2026

COW Jobs: UGC, On-Camera Video Content

COW Jobs: UGC, On-Camera Video Content Brie Clayton May 7, 2026 0 Comments UGC, On-Camera Video Content April 17, 2026Documentary Editor - US,......

08/05/2026

For Dogs' Sake! Pete Wicks returns with more heart-warming rescue journeys

Pete reunites with Dogs Trust for a fourth series and a two-part overseas special London, Friday 8th May 2026: The award winning factual entertainment series P...

08/05/2026

Riedel to Support Glasgow 2026 as Official Connectivity Integration Provider

Wuppertal May 8, 2026 Riedel to Support Glasgow 2026 as Official Connectivity Integration Provider Riedel Communications today announced its return as a spons...

08/05/2026

Netflix Announces Standalone Sequel to Global Hit 'La Palma'

Back to All News Netflix Announces Standalone Sequel to Global Hit La Palma Entertainment 08 May 2026 GlobalDenmarkFinlandNorwaySweden Link copied to clipb...

08/05/2026

Say hello to ICG Belfast

ICG is excited to share news of our official launch in Northern Ireland, marking a significant milestone in the agency's growth. Led by Digital Marketing M...

08/05/2026

Investing in smart metering to close London's water gap

Over the past ten years, Thames Water, in partnership with Arqiva, has installed more than 1.2 million smart meters, creating one of the most extensive advanced...

07/05/2026

Sudan Digital Investigation Hub launches to support journalists navigating disinformation in conflict

Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...

07/05/2026

Victory+ CEO Neil Gruninger on the Impact of the Dallas Cowboys Deal, Creator-Led Content, and Free In-Market Access for Fans

Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...

07/05/2026

SVG Students To Watch: Ella Peterson, University of Illinois

From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production In the ...

07/05/2026

NAB 2026: Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards

Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...

07/05/2026

Scripps National Spelling Bee Revamps Broadcast; Mina Kimes to Host, Embassy Rows Michael Davies to Produce

ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...

07/05/2026

MUBI Selects Bitmovin as Cloud VOD Encoding Partner

Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...

07/05/2026

NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and U.S. Soccer Extend Spanish-Language Media Rights Through 2030

NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...

07/05/2026

Angel City Football Club and Victory+ Announce Regional Broadcast Partnership

Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...

07/05/2026

Spiideo Launches AI Highlights for Automated Highlight and Clip Creation

Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...

07/05/2026

Leostream Announces Unified HPC Remote Access Ecosystem for Post-Production and Enterprise Workflows

Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...