Auto-tune

Whoa, this thread went off on an odd tangent! I think the point is that music is loved, hated, and created for myriad of varyingly compatible reasons, depending on the people involved, and that different tools are made to satisfy the whims of musicians and music listeners from all sides of the spectra. Those who are purists will naturally dislike practices like pitch correction, beat quantization, and sample replacing. Those who simply enjoy hearing sounds they like, regardless of how they were created, will not give two shits about how the sounds were made. Those who revel in technology and how it can create sounds and performances that no human could ever produce unaided will hail technologies like multi-note auto-tune as magnificent tools to create soundscapes hitherto impossible before their invention.

If everyone loved music for the same reasons, we'd all love the same music and it wouldn't be special any more.
 
As I said, if autotune and it's ilk is used as a matter of course, then I'm afraid it's delved into the realm of overuse and the user is simply a slave to it......unless that's their particular sound. But I would say the same thing of a guitarist that routinely puts chorus on their guitar, no matter what.
But I'm essentially talking about fixing the odd note here and in a way that you'd never know anyway. I can't see there's a problem with that. Personally, I detest that autotune sound effect. Like I said, don't give it to me for xmas ! There again, maybe I'll swap it for an e~bow.
 
grimtraveller said:
Personally, I detest that autotune sound effect.
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Doesn't everyone? That fad should've died years ago. On the other hand, using it as a deliberate, obvious effect is more honest than using it to hide the fact that the material is beyond your skill level.
 
Steve Henningsgard said:
Whoa, this thread went off on an odd tangent!
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I wouldn't say that, Steve. At the end of the day, every argument for or against AutoTune is an opinion. Nothing more.

For the pragmatist, for whom mixing is just a job and AutoTune is just a tool for accomplishing a task, it's laughable to hear someone cry "witchcraft!" And that opinion is perfectly consistent with the pragmatist's worldview.

For the spiritualist, for whom music is a sacred art, so to speak, the idea of faking the ritual smacks of blasphemy. And again, that opinion is consistent with the spiritualist's worldview.
 
Autotune, like any effect has its place and its in the ear of the beholder. But as for my ear I don't like it at all in my applications. I record southern and bluegrass gospel, which are genres that are usually free of overdone vocal effects. But the autotune fad has hit the southern gospel genre like a 1000 pound sack of bibles. Quartets used to practice for hours getting their parts right - now if they can't get it they auto tune the heck out of it. Whenever i hear an autotuned southern gospel song, i always think it shows laziness. If the group could sing it, then they wouldn't need the autotune.
 
jonesey said:
Autotune, like any effect has its place and its in the ear of the beholder. But as for my ear I don't like it at all in my applications. I record southern and bluegrass gospel, which are genres that are usually free of overdone vocal effects. But the autotune fad has hit the southern gospel genre like a 1000 pound sack of bibles. Quartets used to practice for hours getting their parts right - now if they can't get it they auto tune the heck out of it. Whenever i hear an autotuned southern gospel song, i always think it shows laziness. If the group could sing it, then they wouldn't need the autotune.
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Wow, autotune in gospel... the power of a gospel is the uniquity of each individual voice, why blandify this wonderful natural sound??? I guess its shifting from "god gave me this voice" to "god gave me this autotune". The funny thing is, both statements would be correct, which leads into the ultimate truth here - its just a sound, how its made is how its made.

Leaning on autotune is only detrimental to the musician - not allowing them to grow as they could otherwise. Its kinda like needing to use a calculator to figure out 2+2... what happens when the calculator fails and its time for (duh DUH DUH!!!) multiplication!

With that said, as a production technique I have found it useful to help fatten a vocal by combining it with the dry sample, works in a similar way to chorus but much more organic sounding.
 
guitaristic said:
I heard that autotune was invented during WWII by the Nazis!!
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If the Nazis invented Autotune, this argument would not exist because AT would be a mind-control VST.

On the other hand, if Les Paul invented Auto-Tune, this argument would not exist because AT would be cool.
 
Ach it's like everything else.
If it's meant to be an audible effect then fair play. It might not be my taste, but i don't hate it.

If it's meant to be a subtle corrective tool, i still don't mind, as long as i can't tell it's there.


I hate when you listen to a recording and you can hear cuts in and out between takes. There are a few really dodgy ones on chinese democracy. 14 years of work and you can still hear dodgy fades and unnaturally cut breath sounds.



Someone mentioned autotune being monophonic. Isn't there a polyphonic one now too? or did i make that up?

Henry, you were askin if anyone uses it on instruments. I used it on a viola intro. The poor girl was freezing in my 'less than professional' environment a few winters ago, and the best solution was to get what we could and tune whatever needed it.
I was pretty pleased with the result! I'd do it again, but only if it was necessary.
 
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