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.
Perhaps I’m ignorant, but my impression is that one is most likely to encounter this in contemporary Pop. As such music is heavily processed to begin with, why would this be a concern to its fans? I have difficulty envisioning Classical or Jazz vocalists going this route but given the accelerating pace of technology, who knows? |
@stuartk May I ask what you mean when you say, “…contemporary pop…is heavily processed…” ? |
Any processing of music will decrease some spontaneous vibe in the expression... The fact that we like the singer or not is beside the point... The central point is the loss of integrity, meaning in the expressive gesture itself... This is how i read the OP thread... It is not about taste or about a useful tool in some case in my not so humble opinion ...😊 It is about the essence of this emotional micro dynamic in the human voice that can move us ....My experience is that the greatest singers in any genre are not "perfect" or "imperfect" so much as they had learn how to control the fine line between these two zones... Processing their voice to adjust it will degrade their performance and not just their integrity even if the final product may seems more appealing in the short time... Maria Callas will never accept any correction to improve his performance nor Marian Anderson nor Billie Holiday... Am i wrong ? It is my notion of what true artistry is... Once this said as anybody here i can enjoy a corrected or processed piece of music as everybody here without even knowing it... A product can be appealing even with NO ARTIST, an A.I. composing and singing it for example... 😊 But Art is not a mere electronic craftmanship so perfect it could be...
And dont look for someone pompous, it is not the OP neither our friend frogman , everybody knows here it is me the philosopher of the north american territory... 😁😊😉😊 I plan to keep the title and the adjective associated to it...BEWARE any contender for pomposity master title ...I will keep it...
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