ABSTRACT
Everyone knows that a great live performance has the capability to connect with a listener’s emotions, in spite of (or even because of) numerous tuning and timing discrepancies. However, for mainstream productions designed to withstand repeated listening, commercial expectations are now extremely high regarding the tightness of both pitching and groove, and much time and energy is routinely expended buffing these aspects of many professional recordings. Everybody’s heard songs on the radio where this tinkering feels like it’s been taken way too far, but opinions clearly differ widely on what “too far” is. At the end of the day, how much corrective processing you use in your own work remains a personal judgment call. However, I’d urge you to resist any dogmatic ethical stance on the subject, and judge the merits of any such studio jiggerypokery purely in terms of whether it serves the music. If an ostensibly outof-tune note encapsulates the emotion of the music, then have the courage to let it lie. If the most emotional vocal take has some distractingly duff pitching, then consider that the general public (and indeed the artist) will probably thank you for tastefully drawing a veil over it.
