Pitch shift in the context of "Effects pedals"

Play Trivia Questions online!

or

Skip to study material about Pitch shift in the context of "Effects pedals"

Ad spacer

⭐ Core Definition: Pitch shift

Pitch shifting is a sound recording technique in which the original pitch of a sound is raised or lowered. Effects units that raise or lower pitch by a pre-designated musical interval (transposition) are known as pitch shifters.

↓ Menu

>>>PUT SHARE BUTTONS HERE<<<
In this Dossier

Pitch shift in the context of UK garage

UK garage, abbreviated as UKG, is a genre of electronic music which originated in England in the early to mid-1990s. It is defined by percussive, shuffled rhythms with syncopated hi-hats, cymbals, and snares, and may include either 4/4 house kick patterns or more irregular "2-step" rhythms. Garage tracks also commonly feature "chopped up" and time-stretched or pitch-shifted vocal samples complementing the underlying rhythmic structure at a tempo usually around 130 BPM. The genre was influenced by garage house, jungle, Jamaican soundsystem, ragga, dancehall, gospel music, R&B, and rave culture.

UK garage encompassed subgenres such as speed garage and 2-step, and was then largely subsumed into other styles of music and production in the mid-2000s, including bassline, grime, and dubstep. The decline of UK garage during the mid-2000s saw the birth of UK funky, which is closely related. The 2010s saw a resurgence in the genre, then in the early 2020s, a revival of UK garage, sometimes titled "new UK garage" or "NUKG", was widely attributed to London-based producer Conducta and his record label Kiwi Rekords.

↑ Return to Menu

Pitch shift in the context of Effects unit

An effects unit, effects processor, or effects pedal is an electronic device that alters the sound of a musical instrument or other audio source through audio signal processing.

Common effects include distortion/overdrive, often used with electric guitar in electric blues and rock music; dynamic effects such as volume pedals and compressors, which affect loudness; filters such as wah-wah pedals and graphic equalizers, which modify frequency ranges; modulation effects, such as chorus, flangers and phasers; pitch effects such as pitch shifters; and time effects, such as reverb and delay, which create echoing sounds and emulate the sound of different spaces.

↑ Return to Menu

Pitch shift in the context of Reverb effect

A reverb effect, or reverb, is an audio effect applied to simulate reverberation. It may be created through physical means, such as echo chambers, or electronically through audio signal processing. The American producer Bill Putnam is credited for the first artistic use of artificial reverb in music, on the 1947 song "Peg o' My Heart" by the Harmonicats.

Spring reverb, created with a series of mounted springs, is popular in surf music and dub reggae. Plate reverb uses electromechanical transducers to create vibrations in large plates of sheet metal. Convolution reverb uses impulse responses to record the reverberation of physical spaces and recreate them digitally. Gated reverb became a staple of 1980s pop music, used by drummers including Phil Collins. Shimmer reverb, which alters the pitch of the reverberated sound, is often used in ambient music.

↑ Return to Menu

Pitch shift in the context of Beatmatching

Beatmatching or pitch cue is a DJ technique of pitch shifting or time stretching an upcoming track to match its tempo to that of the currently playing track, and to adjust them such that the beats (and, usually, the bars) are synchronized—e.g. the kicks and snares in two house records hit at the same time when both records are played simultaneously. Beatmatching is a component of beatmixing which employs beatmatching combined with equalization, attention to phrasing and track selection in an attempt to make a single mix that flows together and has a good structure.

Beatmatching is a core technique for DJing electronic dance music, and it is standard practice in clubs to keep a constant beat throughout the night, even if DJs change in the middle.

↑ Return to Menu

Pitch shift in the context of Audio time stretching and pitch scaling

Time stretching is the process of changing the speed or duration of an audio signal without affecting its pitch. Pitch scaling is the opposite: the process of changing the pitch without affecting the speed. Pitch shift is pitch scaling implemented in an effects unit and intended for live performance. Pitch control is a simpler process which affects pitch and speed simultaneously by slowing down or speeding up a recording.

These processes are often used to match the pitches and tempos of two pre-recorded clips for mixing when the clips cannot be reperformed or resampled. Time stretching is often used to adjust radio commercials and the audio of television advertisements to fit exactly into the 30 or 60 seconds available. It can be used to conform longer material to a designated time slot, such as a 1-hour broadcast.

↑ Return to Menu