Song Key Matcher lets you enter in a melody and then match it to a key that fits comfortabley under the vocalist, but doesn’t stray too far from the recorded version of the song. It has an easy-to-use interface, where you simply click on the controls with your mouse, or use your computer keyboard if you want to make changes more quickly. This interface calculate the best transpose to keep your melody within your vocal limit without moving it too far from its original place in the song.
To start with, specify the ‘footprint’ of the song as it is musically written out in the left-hand column. Pick the key of the song from the drop-down list; then pick the highest note the actual melody touches and the lowest note it sing to. Remember not to include the complete range of the accompanying instruments but only the endpoints of the melody itself. That way the tool knows which notes are the ones you will be required to sing.
How to Use Song Key Matcher
Finally, enter the singer’s measurements into the space next to it. Define the comfortable low and high points of their usable vocal range to set the boundaries the tool use to determine fit.
To control how loud or quiet the audio preview plays back, use the master volume slider. Something moderately loud lets you hear the pitch change but not strain your ears doing so.
Hit the Tailor the Key button to perform the calculation. The calculator then lists potential transpositions in order from -6 semitones to +6 semitones. It then orders them by how much falls completely inside your entered key range. Otherwise, it will choose the one with the least overhang on either end. Cards appear below the input box displaying the top three choices. You can select these to hear what they would of sound like.
As you can see in the visual bridge, the range is lined up. Your comfort zone is shown in blue and the transposed song span is in yellow. The tool highlights the chosen recommendation and tells us which notes are currently on your floor and ceiling.
Clicking one of the three recommendations will choose that one for you. Then you’ll instantly be able to hear what it sounds like. Hit the playback buttons for a tryout. “Sound original contour” plays the melody in its original key, which should remind you where it came from. “Sound fitted contour” plays the melody, transposed to whatever you’ve selected. The “Compare ceiling notes” tool presents you with an A/B comparison of just the high notes in each version. This is useful when deciding whether to bother with a tiny transposition or whether you might be better off rewriting just one peak note.
After you’ve got your inputs established, keyboard shortcuts will speed up your workflow. Hit T to update the key options if you change any parameters. The F button plays the fitted version while O plays the original melody. To hear the ceiling notes from the original and the selected transposition, hit H. To select the top recommendation cards immediately, use numbers 1-3. The Escape key resets the monitor and mutes any audio playback.
To demonstrate the function of the Load a tenor example button, we click on it, which fills in the fields with a regular range for a tenor. That way you can see how it works with a common voice type, then add your own information. As soon as you do so, the visual bridge automatically adjusts to show the match (or not!) between the example melody and the tenor range. This allows you to try your ear out first without taking a chance on your own measurements.
Remember, listen to the complete contour as you check it’s a good match. It may transpose neatly enough on paper, but not sound right to sing. It is made for minimum displacement and overall range coverage but has no idea of your preferred phrase lengths or timbre choices. Listen to the audio demos before confirming that you are singing naturaly in the new key.
More information about enharmonic spelling is included in the help panel, along with some information about pitch notation. Hit the How to play button if you’re unclear how the notes are being calculated and what they mean.
You can also use it in fullscreen mode so you have more room to work. To go into fullscreen, press the fullscreen key on your device, or hit the fullscreen button in the top right of the interface which will switch the interface to adapt better to your screen size.
Begin with something you are comfortable singing in and a song you want to change. Run the tailor function and hear the best suggestions. Listen carefully to how the high notes compare. Make sure the transposition doesn’t make your highest note too high. Tweak the slider values and try out the shortcuts until you hit on something that sounds like a good balance of comfort and music.
It’s intended as more of a tool that provides you options, rather than simply making a decision for you. Use this to guide your ear, not to supplant it.