Thursday 23 July 2015

Effing auto-tune.

You don't have to have a critical ear to get utterly fed up with the over-use of 'auto-tune' in all of today's pop music, and you don't have to be a critic to complain about it.

My musician mate is just about to release his latest album which I listened to last night, and every note he hits when singing is reached without the aid of auto-tune. He would not dream of using it, so his music is genuine and touchingly un-robotic as a result. Not very fashionable these days, I know.

He has had several hit tunes and albums over the years and has played on many others, so he should know what he is talking about.

The only way they can get 20,000 tunes on a chip the size of a postage stamp is to 'compress' them. This actually means chopping a lot of stuff out of the recording, and many people can hear the difference even without comparing them back to back. Someone has just produced an album of 100s of pieces of digital information discarded when compressing these tunes, and it makes for very spooky music in itself. It is the ghost of many tunes, left to wander cyberspace for eternity.

Can't hear auto-tune or don't care about it when you can? You must be easy to please.

15 comments:

  1. I had to google it to see what it is. Kate and Anna McGarrigle would never have used it. My friends who sing and make music just pick up their guitars and play and sing and get pissed at the same time. They record stuff too. . Auto-tune has never featured in any of my conversations with them although I guess they would know what you are talking about. I think they must be the real thing.

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    1. Yes, auto-tune is very recent and very prevalent amongst those who cannot be relied on to hit a note - unlike the McGarrigles.

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  2. I think there are a lot of short cuts in the music industry because on the whole the majority of listeners are not all that discerning. Give me the old stuff any day.

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    1. I like the new stuff, but not when it is tarted up with idiot-proof technology.

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  3. With Rap, etc; does it really matter? As long as real musicians and singers continue to perform correctly, the rest can do whatever makes them happy.

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    1. Exactly. Some music depends on it almost as a form of instrument in itself, but that's not what I am talking about here.

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  4. Auto straighten in photo editing programs puts an un-plumb on a better path, but changes focus, a lot or little. That's just one picture. Artificial pitch perfect from one end of a song to another is another matter. But, maybe no one who cares listens to them.

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    1. I don't mind edits, but this system is even used in Karaoke these days. If you call yourself a professional photographer, then the picture should be taken with a level horizon. If you call yourself a singer, then the note should be right 99 times out of a hundred.

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    2. Except in opera, where singers wallow in singing flat. As someone with a 'finely-tuned ear', I find this very annoying. Maybe it's all part of the opera experience.

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  5. Auto tune makes me sick, too. I think there must also be a version of auto-tune for writing as well.

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    1. There are creative writing programs, I believe. Mine was bought from the old Star Wars studio, as was my auto-tune. I sing like Stephen Hawkins.

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  6. I hear it every time, and what's funny is the county music people seem to be the ones who use it the most. the whole thing has gotten to the point where singers are so used to hearing auto-tune they actually model their voices to have that 'perfect' tinny sound. Wasn't it Cher who used auto-tune first? Thanks a lot, Cher.

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