Auto-Tune: Breaking The (vo)code

One whisper sweeping across internet-land recently has been discussion on a little known technique used in nearly all professional recording studios these days. It’s most used name is “Auto-tune” although it is basically a pitch-correction software. It can be heard throughout the world without us even being aware it is there in most cases, although it has become more obvious in recent singles by artists such as Eminem, Lady Gaga, Enrique Iglesias and so on.

This is mainly noticeable in the vocals, over processing the voice to be “pitch perfect”. This can be done to different degrees with the aforementioned artists using it as a production effect by pushing the pitch-correction so far that the vocal line starts to sound synthesised and robotic. Masses of modern R&B artists have been using it a lot too (Timbaland, Rhianna and Ne-Yo off the top of my head) although it has been pumped into our ears for over a decade, one prominent example being Cher’s massive 1998 hit “Believe”, so much so that it became known as the “Cher Effect”.

So what else can it be used for besides making vocalists sound like robots? From an artists point of view this technology is a godsend, allowing the vocalist to concentrate on their performance, pouring all their passion and creativity into the take without being 100% pitch perfect all the time. It’s easy to fix up any little discrepancies afterward, saving a lot of studio time (and thus a lot of money)!

Vocal harmonies can be made by duplicating an already recorded main vocal track and changing it’s pitch accordingly to save potentially hours of over-dubbing later on. It’s not just vocalists that can use it either, if the guitarist has been using the whammy bar a little too much and accidently gone out of tune the recording can easily be saved rather than recording another (perhaps inferior) take. In an extreme case you could even change the entire key of your song after it’s been recorded and mixed!

The question is, does this make the producers/engineers and artists lazy and unimaginative, or does it give them even more freedom to experiment?

In my opinion those little inconsistencies can give a song character and identity whereas this manipulated perfection can seem sterile and bland especially if over-used like nearly every song I hear on the radio these days! Once you notice you can never escape it!

If you’re still not sure whether you think this is a great innovation or an irritating trend I will leave you with this video demonstrating just how over the top you can go with Auto-Tune and I promise you’ll never hear Timbaland the same way again.

“Auto-Tune The News”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0OzxvClwoU

- E.S.L. Kazraine Maars -