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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
mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,806 posts
 

I cannot fault you at all , on the contrary i think you are right...

It is one of the reason i cannot stand most actual pop music : artificiality...

I did not know about this  digital correcting  tool you spoke about before reading your post... And you are a singer.... That explain a lot for me about what i could not realize being not in this industry nor craftmanship ...Thanks to you...

People act like they’re owed everything.
They say, “iT tAkEs ToO LoNg aNd iT’s tOo eXpEnSiVe WiTh sTuDiO TiMe!”
- Well, you can practice a lot before you go to the studio, thereby limiting your studio time doing tons of takes and limiting the monetary cost. That’s called, “being professional.”

They act like they’re entitled to crank out sheer PRODUCT with as much ease as possible.

What really gets me is that it doesn’t sound better, either. It sounds worse.
Digital pitch correction is just bad. Full stop.

wolf_garcia
6,796 posts
 

The sound of pitch correction has become a "musical" style by itself, especially in Hippity Hop. I don't listen to pop music much at all except accidentally as I'm too into what I like (mostly jazz), although once in a while a decent band comes along like the Landreth Brothers or somebody with good musicianship but still...meh...I've been a musician a long time and have known or worked with lots of remarkably great singers and none of them needed pitch correction. Guitar tuning maybe...even ol' Bob Dylan with his "barely there" croaky voice generally stays in tune. Am I worried about it? No. I mix small venue shows and you can get off the couch and hit a little club (if one exists near you) and hear some real singers...try that.

asvjerry's avatar
asvjerry
5,105 posts
 

...if all else fails, there's always the vocoders and helium.....

mahgister's avatar
mahgister
13,806 posts
 

Myself i need helium to fly and a vcoder to land in my living room with a voice...😊

 

 

eryoung2k
89 posts
 

Well back in the the mid to late 60’s in an interview someone asked Jim Morrison (it was caught on video) where do you see you Rock Music going, he said in the future I see one person in the studio just pressing a button with machines all around him playing the music. He also said Who ever controls the Media controls the mind. Boy did he nail it.

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