What are all these singers using?

[A7X]

I noticed a lot more latley that every hiphop/dance song, that has a singer such as AKON, Danny Fernandes, ect; all have this effect on there voice, kinda robotic. What is this there using?

 

[Guitarer]

I've noticed an extreme overuse of the Cher effect coming from that genre lately if that's what you're talking about.

 

[NL5]

Autotune

 

[A7X]

Yeah, its sad to see, all these singers turning to effects over talent. When I first noticed this "effect"(ill call it) I thaught it was pretty cool. But now every song I hear, the singing sounds like robots!

 

[rayc]

It's the how & why of its use that is at issue.
remember Bowie's vocodered voice in Fame? It was new, cool, not over done & deliberate - not snuck in.
Cher's was at least obvious if nothing else - a cheap gimmick & reasonably new. Now, it's just another effects process to use & use badly.

 

[PhiloBeddoe]

Autotune/pitch "correction" is sadly ubiquitous these days, hiphop, rock, country, pop. The worse the singer, the more obvious and painful it becomes.

 

[DAS19]

I like the effect once in awhile or maybe on certain parts of a song instead of the whole thing but I do agree autotune is being overused in recent hip hop and rnb.

 

[j-dawg]

I think that particular flavor of autotune is called a 'Vocoder'.

 

[TyphoidHippo]

I think that particular flavor of autotune is called a 'Vocoder'.

A Vocoder is a different animal all together that can be used to make voices sound like all kinds of weird things. I'm sure a vocoder could be used with some kind of high-pitched, edgy, squarewave kind of sound to make a similar sound to the over-autotuned 'cher/T-Pain effect', but the effect the original poster is asking about is most definitely attained by using aggressive settings on Autotune.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dn_1ZWo0GNw <--- If that's the sound you are talking about: That's autotune, not a vocoder.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hqvvNcvenU <--- There's a really good explanation with examples of what a vocoder does.

 

[j-dawg]

Aaah, cool! Thanks man. I'm not a big hip-hop listener but I keep an ear open when my teenage daughter has the car radio on the hip-hop station. You're right, I was hearing heavy auto-tune, not vocoder. Thx for the tip.

 

[WhiteStrat]

Yeah I just saw Lil Wayne on Saturday Night Live--and I was surprised at the consistent use of autotune to the extreme. It wasn't to subtly tune; it was used to creat a deliberately noticable effect. Might have been cool on a chorus or break in one song--but it was on every note of both songs he did.

 

[Carny1122]

Which is why we stick to everything except hip-hop, eh fellas?

 

[TyphoidHippo]

Which is why we stick to everything except hip-hop, eh fellas?

Ahhhh... if only things were that simple. In a perfect world, perhaps - sadly there's way more rappers - errr... "rappahs" with a pocket full of cash who want to record than there are musicians who play any other style of music... Dare to dream, I suppose - (Some of them are actually cool guys who are truly creative, artistic and fun to work with, though.... maybe like 1 in every 482 of them ).

 

[DAS19]

a common mistake is people thinking the rappers and singers are using a vocoder when really its only autotune. On a vocoder you must play the notes that you want to sing so you only have to talk into the microphone and the melody you play is the one the notes take form. A totally different concept then automatically tuning to the correct pitch.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I noticed a lot more latley that every hiphop/dance song, that has a singer such as AKON, Danny Fernandes, ect; all have this effect on there voice, kinda robotic. What is this there using?

Usually it's a fentanyl patch followed by a cocktail of oxycontin, Snurf and Red Bull.

That and Autotune. A vocoder is rare these days.

G.