Autotune

yeppydeppy · 30-04-2013 08:01PM #1

So, I'm in a local bar and they are playing a selection of recent / chart music. One song after the other is autotuned. My question is: is autotune here to stay or will peoples tastes return to true musical ability? I think and hope it will die a death and real talent will shine through again but I don't know how long it will take.

kneemos · 30-04-2013 08:07PM

There's probably a generation that know nothing else so I'd say it's here to stay.

Nodin · 30-04-2013 08:09PM

Through years of listeing to hard core punk, thrash and the like, I have to say that the notion 'I wonder if they're using autotune' never occurred to me.

TroutMask · 30-04-2013 08:09PM

I like AutoTune. T-Pain uses it to great effect. Heard a trad guy with AutoTune on his vocals the other day - pretty funny.

o1s1n · 30-04-2013 08:10PM

It brought us 'Muslamic Ray Guns' - so it can't be all that bad.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AIPD8qHhtVU

GLaDOS · 30-04-2013 08:10PM

Maybe if you listen to ****e music, otherwise it isn't a problem

Nabber · 30-04-2013 08:12PM

I use auto tune on the radio. Its so much faster than manual.

These auto tune 'artist' are lazy, just like me with the radio. I don't buy their junk, so all the best. People who buy it, for shame on you.

Sky King · 30-04-2013 08:16PM

A lot of music uses autotune subtly and you don't know it - the software is extremely intelligent and works great to make mediocre singers sound great.

The effect I reckon you're talking about is / daft punk / cher-believe stylee, and that's basically autotune with the dials turned up to eleven.

i hope that dies a protracted and painful death. Awful, awful sound.

The mark of a really good singer is acapella singing live, without any of the 'studio magic'. If you can find the clip of Sinead O'Connor singing live on Ray D'Arcy you'll know what I mean by good singing talent. Breathtaking sound with out even so much as a hint of reverb on the track

Its a pity good singers are lumped in with crap ones but what can you do eh.

blow69 · 30-04-2013 08:20PM

When Kanye West used it on his 808's & Heartbreak album, he was utilizing it to create a concept album which enabled him to 'sing'

He knows he can't sing.

Then there's people like will.i.am who also can't sing, but now insists on using it in all of his songs. I was listening to a song he has with Bieber earlier on the music channels. Horrible.

cletus van damme · 30-04-2013 08:32PM

autotune and charlie sheen. can't be bad, in fact it alone justifies autotune.

John.Icy · 30-04-2013 08:33PM

Sky King wrote: »

The effect I reckon you're talking about is / daft punk and that's basically autotune with the dials turned up to eleven.

i hope that dies a protracted and painful death. Awful, awful sound.

GTFO man...just GTFO.

frozenfrozen · 30-04-2013 08:36PM

It's just more bad music I don't listen to

yeppydeppy · 30-04-2013 08:47PM

I don't listen by choice but I'm subjected to it, almost everywhere, when will it end? Give me Old Crow Medicine Show any day. Please don't let someone come back with proof that they do.

hatrickpatrick · 30-04-2013 08:58PM

I'm a singer myself who has no problem staying in tune and in all honesty autotune does have its uses.
I won't get into the science of it here, but there's a whole world of complication when it comes to modern music. Because instruments like guitars and keyboards have the notes exactly spaced between eachother - but actual frequency ratios are almost never exactly equal distances from eachother - there are always subtle tuning issues with those instruments. Unless you have perfect or relative pitch you're not going to notice them, but because so many professional musicians DO have perfect or relative pitch, it becomes a problem for them while recording, which is why such instruments are often auto tuned prior to the singer recording the vocals, OR alternatively the singer with perfect pitch sings in "true" pitch and is therefore subtly out of tune with the equally tempered instruments.

Personally I don't have problems keeping my voice in tune, but I do tend to use melodyne to autotune the third in chords I play on guitar. I have relative pitch and I can acutely hear the fact that the third is never in a proper ratio with the other strings, depending on the key, and while others literally don't notice the difference, it sounds awful to me when I record my own stuff.

So basically, I wouldn't blame singers necessarily for the need for autotune in modern pop music, it doesn't necessarily mean they can't sing - rather, that most music we record these days is recorded with electronic instruments which divide notes into perfect intervals, which f*cks over anyone with perfect pitch who's trying to sing along with them.

Ruudi_Mentari · 30-04-2013 09:02PM

when an EDM fan drops an E they tend to come over all EDMO, that's all I know....

also if punk is daft, then so am I if it permits me to have testicles again.

yeppydeppy · 30-04-2013 09:08PM

I've no problem with it being used for instruments, we've had electric / modified sounds for donkeys and that's ok when it's done right. It's the singer's who can't sing is the problem or maybe they can and it's the music companies pushing it?

Dyr · 30-04-2013 09:25PM

hatrickpatrick wrote: »

I'm a singer myself who has no problem staying in tune and in all honesty autotune does have its uses.
I won't get into the science of it here, but there's a whole world of complication when it comes to modern music. Because instruments like guitars and keyboards have the notes exactly spaced between eachother - but actual frequency ratios are almost never exactly equal distances from eachother - there are always subtle tuning issues with those instruments. Unless you have perfect or relative pitch you're not going to notice them, but because so many professional musicians DO have perfect or relative pitch, it becomes a problem for them while recording, which is why such instruments are often auto tuned prior to the singer recording the vocals, OR alternatively the singer with perfect pitch sings in "true" pitch and is therefore subtly out of tune with the equally tempered instruments.

Personally I don't have problems keeping my voice in tune, but I do tend to use melodyne to autotune the third in chords I play on guitar. I have relative pitch and I can acutely hear the fact that the third is never in a proper ratio with the other strings, depending on the key, and while others literally don't notice the difference, it sounds awful to me when I record my own stuff.

So basically, I wouldn't blame singers necessarily for the need for autotune in modern pop music, it doesn't necessarily mean they can't sing - rather, that most music we record these days is recorded with electronic instruments which divide notes into perfect intervals, which f*cks over anyone with perfect pitch who's trying to sing along with them.

Aboslutely, when I hear slight tuning differences between guitars and vocals it drives me mental. Here's a really obvious example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WusMzSL8ytM

SV · 30-04-2013 09:28PM

Bambi wrote: »

Aboslutely, when I hear slight tuning differences between guitars and vocals it drives me mental. Here's a really obvious example:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WusMzSL8ytM

sweet jesus.

who in the name of god considers that abomination to be music?

pragmatic1 · 30-04-2013 09:44PM

The only people who are paying for music are pre-teens or should I say the parents of pre-teens. That's why music has been consistently ****e for well over ten years. It caters specifically to that demographic.

TroutMask · 30-04-2013 09:50PM

SV wrote: »

sweet jesus.

who in the name of god considers that abomination to be music?

Napalm Death are a very important band

TroutMask · 30-04-2013 09:52PM

pragmatic1 wrote: »

The only people who are paying for music are pre-teens or should I say the parents of pre-teens. That's why music has been consistently ****e for well over ten years. It caters specifically to that demographic.

Can't really agree with this. I'm loving the wide range of music available on: CD, vinyl, cassette and iTunes. Probably spending more than I ever did on music these days.

mike65 · 30-04-2013 09:54PM

Auto tune is just another modern blight, like over compression.

pragmatic1 · 30-04-2013 09:56PM

TroutMask wrote: »

Can't really agree with this. I'm loving the wide range of music available on: CD, vinyl, cassette and iTunes. Probably spending more than I ever did on music these days.

I've maybe spent a tenner on music since I got an mp3 player about 6 years ago. Have thousands of songs on it though. The record industry is in major trouble and it's too good for them.

SV · 30-04-2013 10:08PM

TroutMask wrote: »

Napalm Death are a very important band

How do you make that out?

They sound like a very shít band to me

Mr. CooL ICE · 30-04-2013 10:21PM

Do you berleoeorve in leoeorf after lueuerve?

i57dwun4yb1pt8 · 30-04-2013 10:24PM

hah , napalm death ,

they played the burned down theate royal in limerick in 1991 i think , i rem being in the local night spot later and they were there ,
they had their roadies going around beside groups of girls going ' hey , aint that the singer/ bass player / drummer with napalm death ' ?

****wits

Battleflag · 30-04-2013 10:28PM

It could be on it's way out, Adele is a prime example. She had one of the biggest selling albums in the past few years and has no autotune. Maybe there is a new era on the horizon? Probably not

Lithium93_ · 30-04-2013 10:54PM

Auto tune should be banned outright in my opinion, music is supposed to be all about the human element mistakes and all, and not some computer program.

donegal_road · 30-04-2013 11:01PM

auto tune is widely used on the live music scene, even the odd pub band will have it built into their effects.

TroutMask · 30-04-2013 11:02PM

Lithium93_ wrote: »

Auto tune should be banned outright in my opinion, music is supposed to be all about the human element mistakes and all, and not some computer program.

Sure, and banking is about having a gold reserve to back up your paper currency!

TroutMask · 30-04-2013 11:04PM

SV wrote: »

How do you make that out?

They sound like a very shít band to me

Because they were one of the first Grindcore bands along with Carcass. Hugely influential on the subgenre Death Metal which followed/arose at the same time depending on where you stand. Saw them back in the day, they were great. An acquired taste, granted.

Autotune

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