THE AUTENTICATION PROCESS
UNDERSTANDING TUNING
'Standard Pitch' (or 'Pitch Standard') is a tuning which was widely used in the early 1900's whereby the A4 (the fourth octave of the 'A' note, the 'A' above middle C) is tuned precisely to the frequency of 440hz. This allows every note to have the same relationship across all octaves, for all instruments. It may help to think of frequency as 'pitch', as the higher the frequency, the higher the pitch.
Standard Pitch was accepted as 'standard' tuning in the UK by the mid 1950's. It had been used consistently much earlier than this, but wasn't considered the standard. This tuning though is a compromise, as this is a system developed to allow one tuning to sound equally accurate in all keys. The nature of sound is not so 'cut and dried'.
THE ADVENT OF AUTO-TUNE & PITCH CORRECTION
'TUNING' THE VOICE
Autotune came to the public's awareness in 1998 with the success of Cher's release 'Believe'. Auto-tune is generally used for live performances in the industry as it's 'automatic' (hence the 'auto' of auto-tune). For studio releases, it's generally used artistically as it's application is unsubtle and abrupt giving auto-tune it's distinctive sound. It's calibrated to Standard Pitch by default.
Pitch Correction is a different process, as currently it is a post editing tool that is performed manually, not automatically. This allows more subtle tuning applications to be applied. Pitch Correction is calibrated to Standard Pitch by default.
THE ISSUE
sound moves...
When it comes to singing, human vocal cords can't be tuned. Singers who have the ability to sing notes that sound 'pitch perfect' to the listeners ear, are hitting the 'mean' frequency of all instrumentation combined. For example, a string section tuned to 'Standard Pitch' will not all play their 'A' above high C perfectly at 440hz, due to individual technique and stylisations, such as 'vibrato'. This results in the collective pitch moving, therefore the most accurate frequency to hit vocally has moved from 440hz. Many great singers when singing in the minor key for example, will drift slightly flat subconsciously, as pitch also communicates emotion.
WHAT ARE WE LISTENING TO?
THE 'INDUSTRY STANDARD'
It is commonly stated that Pitch Correction is now the 'Industry Standard', meaning more singer's voices are tuned than not. This results in these voices being calibrated to Standard Pitch, no matter how far from the relevant pitch the singer was with their attempt at hitting the mean frequency. As the mean frequency moves, as does the pitch of a singer's voice to communicate mood, calibrating the voice to Standard Pitch can start to sound 'robotic' and/or devoid of emotion.
THE RABBIT HOLE
IS ANYONE SINGING NATURALLY ANYMORE?
With Pitch Correction now being the Industry Standard, people are starting to ask whether their favourite singer is ACTUALLY singing what they're hearing. When Pitch Correction is applied, the original vocal is replaced with a new, digitally altered version calibrated to Standard Pitch. The original vocal ceases to be, and will never be heard. As you can imagine, it doesn't take much to abuse the technology and this is a common practice in the modern day music industry. This is where Authentic Vocal comes in.
ANALYSIS - DETECTION - PEACE OF MIND
CLASSIFYING VOCAL PERFORMANCES
Due to the nature of Pitch Correction and Auto-Tune being calibrated to Standard Pitch, when the pitch of a vocal is analysed in detail by the use of pitch graphs, the differences between 'natural' and 'edited' are clear. A determination can then be made as to the validity and authenticity of the vocal performance.
QUANTIFYING THE DATA
INTERPRETATION OF THE OBJECTIVE ANALYTICAL DATA
Currently all vocal authentication cases are handled by Fil Henley, using his years of experience from vocal analysis videos performed online, as well as his over 20 years experience as an independent artist, professional musician, vocalist, guitarist, producer and teacher. His analysis videos to date have received over 93 million views, with his channel consisting of over 350,000 subscribers. To date, there have been zero 'disputes' from record labels or artists on the results of his findings and determinations through vocal analysis. (For more on Fil, head to www.wingsofpegasus.com/bio )