Observation

This may sound really weird, but I find the built-in iMac speakers are nicer for adjusting pitch than mixing headphones. Some headphones smooth things out and make it harder to identify intonation issues.

Using speakers also helps prevent ear fatigue too—which is really important to me.

Mixing headphones are a must though for clinically reviewing the edits after. I only caught the issues documented in Don’t Melodyne Vocals with Polyphonic because of good mixing headphones (HD 650)!

Workflow

• Use speakers to Melodyne intonation
  • Use a shruti box/tanpura app in the background for raaga-based music
  • Optionally use a tone generator for reference.¹ The tone generator’s sound is very similar to the Melodyne note preview (click and hold)
• Verify the exports afterwards using mixing headphones

Links