The use of digital pitch correction software on vocal recordings


To my mind, this practice is fraught with dishonesty.

The most obvious issue is:
- with digital pitch correction software applied to it, a vocal recording presented to the listener is done so under the pretense that it presents the human voice singing, when in fact any number of moments therein are the result of a program shoehorning the human-produced tones into a “perfect” tone” (whether it may be a Bb, C, F#, Db, or whatever), thereby negating the human expression and negating the validity of the pretense.
Much like a photo portrait of a human body post-airbrushing ceases to be a “true” presentation of that body, the viewer is not being presented with a faithful representation of that human form.

The next issue is:
- rampant apologia within the industry.
I’ve even heard an industry insider say, “pitch manipulation software does nothing we couldn’t do in the ‘70s and ‘80s. It just lets us do it for a lot less money.”
That’s a cute thing to say, but incorrect.
The finished vocal recording that was changed by the implementation of pitch correction software is, by definition, different from the finished vocal recording featuring none.

I am welcoming the thoughts of Audiogon members regarding this practice.

tylermunns

Pitch correction as you describe it was available in the mid 1980's (Michael Jackson and Frank Zappa were both using it then).

I got to play with one of the early machines and it was fascinating in that I could change the key of what I was playing (guitar) while maintaining the original time signature.

Not a clue as to how it worked.

 

DeKay

Who is this magic "presenter?"

It's merely another studio tool to make things sound better. (sometimes)

Doesn't bother me in the least - I'm just interested in the sausage, not how it was made....