Tuning

[Batoun]

Hi!

What's the BEST WAY make sure your recording has a correct pitch (avoiding lower or higher error caused by different speeds between different tape players) when working with music transfered from a tape?

i.e., to make sure that an "A" played and recorded on a tape using one record player is still an "A" when transferred from analog to digital using another tape player.

Any help is appreciated.
Thanks!

[Jeyan]

If you are transfering from analog to digital, why can't you try one of those auto tune (pitch correction) plug ins? Usually they are used for vocals, so I am not sure whether they can be used for these kind of applications. but lets see what others have to say about this.

[Jakearabble]

how do those tuner plugins work anyway...they always seem kinda shady to me, ii tried to install one once, but it kept f-ing up my computer, not letting me start CEP that kinda thing.

[demensia]

I played with auto-tune... I didnt play with it long enough to get it to work correctly.. But I did make an um.... audible difference to the sound.

[scottboyher]

Yea but too much of a change will sound like sh#t. They are semi-usefull on single tracks but not a full song cause it will mess with the sound.

[mjbee]

Originally posted by Batoun
Hi!

What's the BEST WAY make sure your recording has a correct pitch (avoiding lower or higher error caused by different speeds between different tape players) when working with music transfered from a tape?

Autotune and magic pitch correction plugins are not the answer.

If you know the piece of music, or have reference tones, then you can check against that. If you're lucky, you might find a bit of 50Hz hum as a reference tone. Otherwise, play along on a tuned instrument and see how high/low it is.

If faced with this, and a pitch-fixed playback deck, then I transfer the material to CEP at 44KHz/16 bit (or higher) and then I usually use an in-tune keyboard and play along, listening to the offset. Working with a short section, I use the stretch (Preserve neither) to resample it to the correct pitch, comparing by ear. Then apply to the whole file.

If I have a varispeed deck, I'll usually use the same trick, but dial in the right pitch before transferring. It saves a bit of time.

Mike.