Auto-tuning conversation number 157

[Jim of Seattle]

I've subscribed to my free week of Napster here at work, and I've been listening to the Billboard Hot 100, and I'm completely aghast at the rampant and obvious over-use of pitch-corrected vocals. It's horrifying. I had no idea it was that bad. I cringe at thinking kids hearing this stuff think that that's those people's natural voices.

Just had to rant for a second. And now that Antares has an auto-tuner that can be used in live performance, it's even worse.

[roymond]

If only the Dead had used it...

<ducking>

[WeaselSlayer]

As Dave Berman sang, "And all my favorite singers couldn't sing."

[HeuristicsInc]

Do you mean pitch-correction a la Cher, where it's on purpose and used as an effect, or badly-done p-c a la "trying to fix my crappy vocals and you can tell"?
-bill

[jack]

If only the Dead had used it...

<ducking>

hehe...you know, maybe that's why they were never very popular on the radio.

it's ok. they're laughing all the way to the bank.

[WeaselSlayer]

Or the grave.

[Jim of Seattle]

Do you mean pitch-correction a la Cher, where it's on purpose and used as an effect, or badly-done p-c a la "trying to fix my crappy vocals and you can tell"?
-bill

I mean the latter - overdone p-c that we aren't supposed to notice, but that the discerning listener can hear.

1) It's easiest to catch it between pitches - the transition from one pitch to the next sounds unnatural.

2) This is less obvious: the very timbre of the vocal is very slightly mechanical, almost metallic.

3) The vocals have less gradation of pitches than one usually hears in natural performances, where people slide on and off pitch for effect

4) Sometimes it's just plain old too good. When they are singing some melodic passages and every last damn note is Right On Pitch I get very suspicious. Not that people sing off pitch in perofessional recordings, but it's just SO accurate. That A is actually at 440. And listen to backup singers. They sound like robots.

[WeaselSlayer]

(They are robots...)

[Jim of Seattle]

(They are robots...)

Yes, sometimes. But the fact that it is harder and harder to tell scares me. Check out Symphonic Choirs by East/West. It sets you back a grand, but those demos are impressive indeed.

[boltoph]

Do you mean pitch-correction a la Cher, where it's on purpose and used as an effect, or badly-done p-c a la "trying to fix my crappy vocals and you can tell"?
-bill

I mean the latter - overdone p-c that we aren't supposed to notice, but that the discerning listener can hear.

1) It's easiest to catch it between pitches - the transition from one pitch to the next sounds unnatural.

2) This is less obvious: the very timbre of the vocal is very slightly mechanical, almost metallic.

3) The vocals have less gradation of pitches than one usually hears in natural performances, where people slide on and off pitch for effect

So right. I hate pitch correction too. You can really tell it's there sometimes if you listen to a song with it, on a small boombox that only puts out midrange. Seems to be in every punk-pop tune nowadays.

...but...

2 yrs ago, a friend of mine who can't really sing, wrote a song for his wife and really wanted to record it and give it to her as a wedding present. Autotune made it happen, because he consistently hit 1/4 note flat or sharp on a note. The couple of places where you can tell it's there, were insignificant compared to the final result and the emotional impact it made of having him sing it to her on a nicely produced CD. I redid all the guitars and added backups ... when I play both versions, I begin to appreciate it a little. But only because of the situation. It kinda saved the day for us, producing his song. It was a big ordeal for me at the time, because I wasn't computer recording. I had to "mix down" from a digital AKAI machine, to my 64MB RAM PC, and isolate the vocal.

This isn't playing devil's advocate in anyway cause vocal pitch correction for "professional" singers is just ridiculous.. But if you have a friend that can't really hit notes but has to be on a recording, singing, Autotune may help you out. I highly recommend not using the vibrato simulation thing. It's so silly.