GarageBand
Master Transpose tools
Automate pitch shifts to non-destructively retune regions to cool effect in GarageBand
Developer
Apple Inc
Difficulty
Time needed 18
Popular music has embraced a technique called ‘auto-tune’ with much success. Love it or hate it, the effect is applied to vocals to produce a synthesised sound that forces it into a set melody. What’s happening here is pitch shifting, or something known as ‘transposing’, between musical keys. This trick can be simulated within GarageBand, using its Transpose tools to not only nudge singers into line but also MIDI or audio Apple Loops. What this allows us to do is change the melody of a region without editing the sound wave, and this is particularly useful in genres like EDM. Here, we show how the Transposition track can be used ‘move’ a synth-based melody between pitch points to develop new melodic hooks.