Auto-Tune Examples

jdier

jdier

New member
I am not sure I am 100% newbie, but I feel like one about this subject.

I have tried Auto-Tune. I have heard it used on Cher's disco song, I believe. I do not use it currently, because I am not recording radio music nor am I in a situation where I wish I could fix something that was sung out of tune (we just resing it)

I have read through piles of threads where people complain about how easy it is to hear, and that it drives them crazy. One place I understand it is overused is in current popular country music.

I listened on a 5 hour car ride to just hot country, and I cannot hear it.

Can anyone help explain what the sound is and help me find a way to identify it? I guess I just want to be able to identify it.
 
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The Cher tune is done with a vocoder but that's another story. I'm a fan of Anteres Autotune used surgically.
 
jdier said:
I have read through piles of threads where people complain about how easy it is to hear, and that it drives them crazy......
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That's just people pretending to be audiophiles, purists, golden ears, etc....
Most of the time nobody is the wiser.

You don't really hear that it has been done unless it was done poorly, overdone, or just done intentionally like the effect on the Cher song. (which I have also heard was not done with Auto Tune, and yet it has strangely enough become synonomous with it)

There's probably way too much of it being done on modern pop and country, so it would be no surprise to hear the odd song where the effect was a little too obvious.
 
Antares has some samples on their site of the AVP-1
I've always been able to hear a slight artifact of the auto-tuner kicking off in the female's voice. Of course, there's the "Cher effect" at the bottom of the page
 
Sugarland's newest song, Want to, has rampant Autotune all over it. In this case it is used to extent single notes, reduce Jennifer's natural vibrato, and some quick note changes that sound almost yodel-like.
 
Maybe a car driving down the road is not the best way to learn how it sounds - check things out on headphones and listen closely for the vocals to sound unnaturally pure.

metalhead28 said:
That's just people pretending to be audiophiles, purists, golden ears, etc....
Most of the time nobody is the wiser.
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I must be "pretending" then, because I hear it clear as a bell. Sometimes I hear it over used, sometimes I hear it done well. Then again, I hear lots of things most don't hear. For instance, no one else can hear all these voices in my head...
 
I heard a use of some autotune device on a record that I didn't expect --- Bob Mould's new solo record.

It's really profesional sounding (read: boring) but on one of the songs that sounds like it could be a chart hit he's got his voice slathered with auto-melodyne-itis.

If you want to hear a bunch of really clumsy autotune/melodyne use, tune into your local Urban/R+B/HipHop/Rap station. It's so common there it's rare to hear a song that DOESN'T use it...

.
 
I heard that song yesterday scrubs, and I agree- it's really noticable. They seem like talented singers so maybe it was meant as more of a vocal effect. It sounds like the lead singer's pitch is stepping up and down in discrete steps and it sounds kind of silly. Now I'm going to be suspicious every time I hear that characteristic vocal "sheen" that's so popular in pop country. Could that have been the effect I've been hearing all along?
I wonder if people had conversations like this when compression became popular?
Maybe we should not be so worried about this new trend; if it helps artists be more expressive by being less worried with the technical aspects of the performance, it may end up being a good thing. I do kind of wish I could turn on the auto-tune every time I hear "Chop Suey" (sp?). Cool song but the singer's kind of pitchy.
 
easlern said:
I heard that song yesterday scrubs, and I agree- it's really noticable. They seem like talented singers so maybe it was meant as more of a vocal effect. It sounds like the lead singer's pitch is stepping up and down in discrete steps and it sounds kind of silly. Now I'm going to be suspicious every time I hear that characteristic vocal "sheen" that's so popular in pop country. Could that have been the effect I've been hearing all along?
I wonder if people had conversations like this when compression became popular?
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It seems to have become almost standard to use AT on background/harmony vocals in much of contemporary country/pop/emo for that "perfect" unwavering wall of vocals. Although bands may claim they are doing it for the "effect," my suspicion is that it's just laziness/time/money. The Rascal Flatts tune was for a movie soundtrack, so they probably just went into the studio
for 1 day to lay down the vocals (to a backing track laid down by session musicians -- pretty common in country). I suspect they did a few takes and said "good enough." AT is a crutch. I mean, the Beach Boys didn't have autotune and I would take their harmonies over this overprocessed crap any day.
 
Ive always been suspicious of that rascal flatts guy -- after going to one of their concerts and hearing him hit 3 correct pitches the entire set. (no joke, it was baaaaaad) After hearing that, Im almost certain that every recorded word of his is autotuned -- even without the ability to recognize it.

But I'm still unclear about "detecting" when autotune is being used, as i have never used it myself. I think i may have a slight grasp on it, but definitely not enough to spot it all the time.

Using rascal flatts as an example, what is the most obvious instance that you can think of it being used? Is it the crazy, almost random, "runs" that he does?
 
TravisinFlorida said:
Practice singing intervals and I guarantee you that your pitch control will improve. Look for the ones that give you the most trouble and focus on them.
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Thanks! I am pretty certain that I am having breath control issues that I don't know how to resolve, too. That's why I was thinking voice coach.
 
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