There are two pitch correction softwares that seem to lead the market when recording people need them – Melodyne and Antarres. They are both from Star Trek.

I tried Antarres first (absolutely amazing) but soon an opportunity to buy Melodyne came along so I tried the demo and then I had to buy it. It was also cheaper than Antarres but really what price tag for access to super powers? I spent about $100 – total steal.

There are pitch correction plug ins already in Logic etc. but they aren’t seamless when the pitch problems are more serious. They simply force the correction and that unfortunately sounds very electronic. Kind of surprising it would become a fad, as it did in the 2000s with Kanye West and a zillion others. Lots of fads take me by surprise.

The  bullnose style nose-ring is probably the most surprising fad of all time (to me). A close second would be pants that hang below one’s asshole. Who’d a thought?

The Star Trek aspect of both Antarres and Melodyne is that if you’re skillful then the listener doesn’t hear anything more than beauty. Think about it, you can capture someone singing or playing a monophonic instrument and then alter the waveforms within certain parameters to rejig the performance in terms of pitch or in terms of what kind of wave generated the original sound. Make them sound completely in tune even if they weren’t in the first place. Like they were correct all along.

Even when it requires a zillion hours of close-up attention and auditioning various stabs to fix it, it is more than worth it. Like patiently using the cloning and stamp tools to repair a torn and crumpled photo after scanning it. Presto your labour might result in realizing a new perfect version.