Pitched up–The first thing most average human beings outside of the industry would probably think "pitched up" means that the audio will automatically sound like Alvin & The Chipmunks... But that of course isn't the case. In the broadcast industry, "pitching up" the audio is a slight pitch tweak up to help the music being broadcast sound a little bit "brighter", at least this is how I've understood it... But of course, every station does this differently, if they even pitch up audio at all. The unwritten rule when it comes to pitching seems to be only use 1 to 2 percent. 1 to 2 percent probably isn't noticeable to the average human, but it does give the audio a slightly "brighter" sound when you compare it to another station that doesn't use pitch. If I remember correctly, iHeart for example pitches there CHR & Country stations up 1.5%... Something I didn't notice until it was pointed out to me, and then after comparing lossless music I bought off Qobuz to the air feed of our local iHeart CHR KDWB/101.3 I could totally hear it, but if it was never pointed out to me, I would've probably never heard it. It's enough to get the audio a little more vibrant, but not enough to be noticeable.
But when is pitch audibly noticeable?....Let's backtrack to a trip to Rice Lake, WI we took in 2017. (Mind you this was before I was aware that pitching is common practice in the industry) I was in the car and stopped on one of the local Country stations, WPLT 106.3–This station is top notch for a small market, and sounds really good to begin with. But something caught my eye (ear)... On the air at the time was "I Could Use A Love Song" by Maren Morris. Something was different.… The song sounded more vibrant and almost more alive than it did on our local Country station, KEEY. My ears were intrigued by this; it sounded SOOOOOO good! I estimate now they pitch up their audio about 4%... Which is a lot, and there are some vocals that sound borderline squirrelly at this point, but there also are songs that aren't. It all depends.
So how do you benefit from pitching up? Well for one the music will probably sound more vibrant compared to the original copy–IF DONE CORRECTLY. (I will have a guide below of my recommendations for pitch...) Also if your competitor DOESN'T pitch up, you can make your audio sound brighter than them... In theory, making the music a little more appealing to listeners, again, if done correctly. If your competitor doesn't pitch and you use 4% for example, people probably will notice... The competitor may sound like the music is dragging, meanwhile yours sounds like it's fast.
For stations looking into pitching–Here's my recommendations:
CLASSIC COUNTRY: 1% (0.17 semitones)
CLASSIC HITS SLIGHT PITCH: 0.75% (0.13 semitones)
CLASSIC HITS BRIGHT: 1% to 1.5% (0.17 to 0.26 semitones)
CLASSIC ROCK: 0.75% (0.13 semitones)
CHR/TOP 40 SLIGHT PITCH: 1% (0.17 semitones)
CHR/TOP 40 BRIGHT: 1.5% to 2% (0.26 to 0.34 semitones)
COUNTRY: 1% (0.17 semitones)
COUNTRY VIBRANT: 2% (0.34 semitones)
ADULT CONTEMPORARY: 0.75% (0.13 semitones)
ADULT CONTEMPORARY BRIGHT: 1% (0.17 semitones)
ACTIVE ROCK: I'd recommend no pitch, but if you seriously are considering it, try and use 0.75% (0.13 semitones) or less.
SOFT AC SLIGHT PITCH: 0.75% (0.13 semitones)
SOFT AC VIBRANT: 1% (0.17 semitones)
HOT AC: 1% (0.17 semitones)
OLDIES: 0.75% (0.13 semitones)
My personal recommendation is if you don't already, you definitely should pitch. But not too much.
Pitching recommendations have been updated since originally posting.
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HOW TO CORRECTLY PITCH SHIFT MUSIC IN ADOBE AUDITION CS6:
Open the desired file you wish to pitch in CS6, click on the waveform and then click Control + A on your keyboard so the entire waveform is selected. Go to Effects > Amplitude and Compression > Normalize (process). In the Normalize tab, Check “Normalize”, and make sure it is set to dB and NOT %. Set the “Normalize To:” level to -6.0. MAKE SURE "NORMALIZE ALL CHANNELS EQUALLY" IS SELECTED, otherwise you will lose your Stereo separation. “DC Bias Adjust” should be unchecked. Once you have done this, click ok and wait for the normalization process to be done. (This should only take a few seconds if your file isn’t long.) Then go to Effects > Time and Pitch > Stretch and Pitch (process). Follow the instructions in the image below and then click ok. Wait for the process to finish and you are good to go!
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