Pitch Correction in Music. Just another another effect? (Autotune)

[Slowpoke Catracho]

Can anyone have a hit? The difference in "effects" on a voice. I listen to this guys analyzation a lot.

 

[dtgreg]

Can anyone have a hit? The difference in "effects" on a voice. I listen to this guys analyzation a lot.

This is a really fun video that explains to non-musicians / recording folks what pitch correction does, as well as other effects. He purposely sings out of tune so he can use the software to "retune" his voice to the correct key and possibly even tweak individual melody notes.

In earlier years, one had to re-record or possibly "punch in" for bad notes if one could do it without it being noticably jarring. Also, recording experts like Led Zeppelin and the Beatles would record a song in a lower key and then speed the song up so the tempo would be faster but the singer would sound like they had inhaled helium. John Lennon famously hated the sound of his own voice so he always insisted that his voice was double-tracked or had some sort of effect on it. He didn't mind the helium sound. On Led Zeppelin's "the Song Remains the Same" because of the way it was written, it had to be played on guitar from a D chord shape. Plant couldn't hit the notes in that key so in the studio, so they obviously slowed the song down, which, back then, dropped the pitch to C or B. Plant then sang it and when it was sped up to regular speed, Plant is singing in D. With a noticable helium tone, however.

If my memory is correct, all this new technology began when Ted Turner bought the Warner Bros movie catalogue. All the business types ridiculed him but he had a plan. He would "colorize" the old Black and White films PLUS he would speed up and slow down the movies so they would fit into neat two-hour blocks (with commercials, of course). That meant the actor voices would change pitch and sound ridiculous, no? No! He had discovered that technology was just becoming possible to slow or speed up a voice with no noticable change in timbre. Suddenly Bogie was rattling off speeches in Casablanca like a disclaimer lawyer. Or fast scenes were slowed down.

Thirty years ago this technology was only available in the priciest studios to the most money-backed Mouseketeer Blonde flavor-of-the-month. I you were pretty, boy or girl, you no longer had to have vocal ability. They could "fix it in the mix". You would tour, lip-syncing to a backing track. A decade later there was even a portable "live" version of Autotune, although there was a slightly noticable latency but not too bad.

Today, Autotune is practically non-latent and cheap enough for anyone. You just have to be knowledgable enough to know how to use it to fix your lack of talent. As you can tell by the demonstration above, it still won't give you a great sounding voice. However, it will make sure your thin, whiny screech will be on key, at least.

 

[AlistarWills]

If I’m not mistaken, Autotune was borne of the mining/gas exploration industry. It, like viagra, was meant for one thing and used for something else.
Just waiting for @crimsonaudio to chime in on the thread.

 

[lowend]

I love that guy's stuff. His video on the natural perfection of Karen Carpenter's voice is well worth the 20ish minutes.

 

[Tideflyer]

Didn`t have autotune and such during the 60`s . Artists had to be......good. When you heard groups and solo artists singing, you were hearing them sing.
Google Unchained Melody and listen to Bobby Hatfield of the Righteous Brothers sing it in a live performance on the Andy Williams Show. Just him, a microphone and an orchestra. No electronics.

 

[Elefantman]

Being an old guy, I will say music today is pathetic, but that is what my parents said about my favorite music. But autotune, IMHO has taken this belief to another level. I feel like I'm listening to a computer algorithm instead of a human voice. It is sad that you can't trust what you hear or see anymore.

 

[FaninLA]

Phil and Wings of Pegasus!

 

[crimsonaudio]

Autotune / melodyne in and of themselvesa aren't awful - engineers have been manually tuning vox via samplers with keyboarad controllers for decades - but the reliance on the tech is truly problematic.

The music industry has become too democratrized - the lack of 'gate keepers' (via labels) means the bar for entry has been lowered to the point that most normal listeners have no idea what really talented artists sound like anymore.

 

[Slowpoke Catracho]

I've been watching a series called "This is Pop" from a few years ago and they did an episode on Autotune. Interesting stuff. The industry to no surprise rewards style over substance (A polite way to put it.). Bottom line is $$$$.