Studio 101 – Time and Pitch Shifting

Since the beginning of recorded audio, it has always been possible to change the playback speed of an audio recording. However, back in the day, speeding up or slowing down the playback of tape or vinyl not only altered speed and tempo but inadvertently altered pitch as well. Speeding up playback made the pitch go up concurrently, producing the familiar “chipmunk” effect. Even early digital technology was subject to similar artifacts, but nowadays, audio time/pitch shifting—changing the playback speed of an audio recording while maintaining the original pitch and changing pitch while preserving playback speed—has become a standard feature of modern audio production.