Autotuning a lot of vocals, what do you think about it?

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TheComposer

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Well, IMO, as long as the songs be perfect that's allright, but what do you think about it, i mean, using autotune to change parts of the recorded songs when they aren't perfectly recorded, i don't mean T-Pain or something lol!!

What are your thoughts about this?
 
I hate auto tune. It's a worn out effect, I can hear it on just about everything. It drives me nuts! Whatever happened to the sing it till you get it right attitude? It makes things sound so unnatural.....
 
I usually don't bother with it, if a word or two is out of tune I'll just copy paste from a different take, if I have to tune the odd word I'll do it with logics manual pitch corrector which actually processes the file but sounds more natural ( you can back up anyway)

If you do want to use auto-tune just choosing the words you want to correct and put them on a separate track with auto tune on, rather than running the whole track through it can work well.
 
Well...there's the "autotune effect"...that chirp crap that's been overused to death since Cher did it...
...and then there is "pitch correction" which can be done to an entire track or a single note (sung or played) in most DAWs.
 
It's very rare that I don't Melodyne at least a portion of a vocal. It's so transparent in my opinion. I can have the singer sing it 100 times or take 2 minutes and adjust the pitch in post.
 
Re-reading the original post I guess he's talking about the 'morality' of pitch correction in general, is it cheating or not.
 
Something about the word "morality" in the context of what goes on in recording studios....that just doesn't work! :laughings:

But I know what you meant...is it ethical?

It's about degrees of use, IMHO...either as a tool to fix the occasional glitch or as a band-aid to prop up a lousy singer or consistently lousy performances.
 
Well if you listen to recordings done in the 1950s (not necessarily rock) singers used a technique called vibrato. It is natural pitch correction in that it will cover for being a few cents sharp or flat. And unless you had perfect pitch like Nancy Wilson who could hold a steady pitch dead on then go into a vibrato, you sang with vibrato on any sustained note from the start of the note.

Melodyne? Use it all the time. Also create harmonies with it.
 
JB's Studio said:
...singers used a technique called vibrato.
Click to expand...


Yup...and not just in the '50s, though I've noticed that most of today's modern/alt Rock singer tend to sing without it, and often in a more monotone voice. The "in-thing" these days is the "yodeling" (aka vocal exercises) heard in a lot of R&B/Pop/Hip-Hop.
 
Man maybe I will try that melodyne - I can't hold a note for shit!
 
Now I can pass on the Behringer ButtRinger 3000 - I'll just go Melodyne!

But doesn't Melodyne eventually send autotuners from the future into the past to destroy the human race?
 
I'm sure the record companies love it, because it saves them so much money. They can pretty much have a vocalist sing one or two takes, as long as it's got decent attitude, and then have the computer get it in tune for them.

I suppose it's hard to argue the ethics of it, because if you're ok with copying and pasting an extra chorus in during the editing process, then that's basically the same thing: having a computer do what you didn't do yourself. I know some will say that's different, because it's just a choice that's made after the fact. But my point is that you can really only argue that autotune is unethical if you're a total purist and insist on recording everything (including the vocals) live to 2-track (or mono if you prefer) all at once.

Having said that, I'll say that I certainly hate it. It has undoubtedly contributed to the lack of professionalism in today's singers (and musicians in general).

It really is amazing to think that, back in the 50s and earlier, those people recorded those amazing performances completely live in one take. (I mean, they did numerous takes obviously, but the final take was one continuous performance.) The talent that takes is truly remarkable and, IMO, largely absent in today's world.
 
Pitch correction is the work of the Devil.-Richie
 
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