How to Transpose Music Recordings

To excel as a singer and performer, you may need to transpose some recorded music. If you are recording music to be used in performance as backing tracks, you will sound incredible if you have the perfect key. If you have live musicians, but can't afford to hire them for vocal rehearsals, backing tracks may still be required. Again, you will want them to be in the key of your performance.

But what if they are not in the right key? No problem. Here is how to transpose music at will and at high quality. It's a software program called Song Surgeon.

Doesn't Transposing Music Damage Its Quality?

Once upon a time, it did. Even today, extreme transpositions of half an octave or more will make the recorded music sounds somewhat artificial. But most music transpositions are within a 25% range, and Song Surgeon handles them at near-perfect quality. I often perform with recorded tracks in nursing homes and other venues where the accompanist is simply not possible, and have successfully edited the key of a number of songs in Song Surgeon without a problem.

In truth, digital audio editing workstations all have a transpose or change tempo function. The problem with them is one of ease-of-use and focus. Those programs are meant for studio technicians looking to add spatial effects, complex frequency equalizations, noise gates and limiters and other high-end functions. A singer looking to perfect their backing tracks will have to wade through a lot of unnecessary menus.

Focus and Simplicity

Song Surgeon was created for ease-of-use by singers and musicians. The transpose button is right on the main interface. The program can also change the tempo at the click of a button, without altering the pitch. You simply load up the song you wish to work with, and the program identifies the beats per minute and the chords. It will display them in the main window. At the bottom of that window are the most important editing functions for singers: transpose, change tempo, metronome, lower the volume of the vocal track and EQ.

What is most impressive about this program, and I have been testing the demo at length, is the retention of the original audio's quality. You can safely go up or down a few keys without losing the studio quality of the sound. Similarly, you can slow the song by up to 25% with no audible distortion.