What tools and software are essential for accurate music transcription?

In order of priority:
- A developed ear to identify intervals (relative pitch).
- Notation Software.
- Good audio source from the file and also in our hardware.
- Experience with the music we are transcribing. And for the same reason, having theoretical knowledge in music will only be an accelerator of the process.
- Transcribe! by Seventh String. If not, your favorite DAW.
- Ai track isolator.
- An instrument to support yourself with. (Optional)

And above all: understand the purpose of musical transcription. It's supposed to be a guideline, not a law. It will depend on the performance of course, but if you get carried away writing down every little detail you could end up putting the reader's attention off and that doesn't enhance the playing experience afterward.

In terms of hardware, I consider the following essential:

- good quality headphones with flat response. I personally use Sony MDR-V6s. They are particuarly clear in the high end which I find incredibly helpful for transcribing complex melodies/solos
- a midi keyboard: even with a great ear, one can work out chords and melodies a lot quicker on a piano keyboard, even without any serious piano skills

For software, while any DAW can assist with transcription a great deal, there is also a very lightweight, purpose built software available called Transcribe! by Seventh String which I swear by. It is incredibly straightforward to 'map' out a piece of music, into sections/bars/beat, to navigate around it, to slow down/speed up sections without changing pitch, as well as more powerful features like EQ/phase inversion. 

But the greatest tool is probably experience, and a working knowledge of functional harmony (at least for jazz/pop transcriptions) to help make educated decisions when a piece of audio is unclear.

A good pair of headphones, attention to details and a reliable engraving software are the 3 essentials of course, but to make the work easier and faster, there is some techniques I use :

- Import your music in LogicPro or any other DAW and track the tempo of the file + adjust the time signature, this way you can loop tricky parts perfectly on time and makes finding. Specific bar 10 times quicker.

- by having the track on a daw, you can also play with an EQ to cut some frequencies , helping you hear some parts better and work faster. ( for exemple, when I do bass transcription , I cut all of the frequencies above 1000Hz )  

- Use a second screen, one for the music you are working on and one for the engraving software ( Sibelius or others ) it’s an investment, but in the long term it’s a game changer.

- Use and AI “Audio to MIDI” transcription tool for solo intruments, this way when you have a doubt on a complex chord or on a very fast passage, you can check the generated midi for some help. 

What works best for me is a good set of headphones, and user friendly software. I use a set of Audio Technica ATH-M40X headphones, and the latest version of Guitar Pro. A second screen is very useful, but not entirely necessary