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Auto-Tune out

January 14, 2011
By

I personally look forward to the day when I can listen to robots serenade me with my favourite tunes. At least it would look cool to have a robot singing and dancing – presumably while doing the robot.

But until then, can we get rid of Auto-Tune altogether? I’ll even sacrifice the generally hilarious Auto-Tune the News.

Since T-Pain, among other artists, popularized Auto-Tune in his “music” it has been found everywhere, specifically on every radio station and in every magazine’s top 40 lists.

It has become mainstream for pop and hip-hop artists to use Auto-Tune whenever possible, egregiously violating my ears every time their songs are played.

It is no longer the case that artists occasionally use the program to create interesting sound effects with their voice or their beats, much like Peter Frampton did with his talk box – if you haven’t heard of him, he’s a pretty famous rock musician and has guest starred on The Simpsons.

Now it’s used solely to cover up terrible pitch and poor vocals. In other words, you no longer have to have any talent at all, and many popular artists do not – I’m looking squarely at you Kesha.

Even worse, it has led legitimately talented artists to get lazy and produce crappy songs. Artists like Lady Gaga, will.i.am and the Black Eyed Peas have shown they have an extraordinary amount of musical talent. Lady Gaga is known to be a very talented singer and pianist while the Black Eyed Peas’ first album, Behind the Front, was critically acclaimed.

But now it’s enough to produce “The Time (Dirty Bit),” which is entirely Auto-Tuned and samples — or steals — pretty heavily from “(I’ve Had) The Time of My Life.” It’s nice to know that the Black Eyed Peas are making millions on something that probably took about 20 minutes to produce.

Is it too much to ask that people actually care about their craft and put work into their lyrics, music and vocals?

If not, can someone please get started on those musical robots? Even if my ears will be bleeding from the awful sound, I would at least enjoy watching it.

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1 Comment

  • +3 Vote -1 Vote +1Alex Huggins     says:

    It’s all too easy to point the finger at autotune for being the sole cause of all bad music that is released today. This article is based on the incorrect assumption that autotune is being used by artists like T-Pain and Lil Wayne to “cover up” a lack of singing ability (it also bizarrely equates autotune with the talkbox, an entirely different kind of vocal manipulation). In its intended use, autotune IS meant to clean up undesirable aspects of a vocal, like faltering on a long sustained pitch, etc. In other words, in its intended use, autotune is meant to go unnoticed. Compare the use of autotune in a song by Lil Wayne to its more subtle use in a song by a pop singer like Avril Lavigne or Michelle Branch. Generally speaking, you would not notice the use of autotune in those pop songs unless you were actively listening for it. In a Lil Wayne song, on the other hand, the characteristic sound of autotune is immediately recognizable, which begs the question: if Lil Wayne really is trying to cover up a lack of talent, if he is trying to hide behind autotune, why would he flaunt it like this?

    The reality is that this particular use of autotune that you are railing against is intended as an effect, and nothing else. The fact that it is “easy” to achieve doesn’t make it any less valid, nor is it indicative that we as a society have abandoned all appreciation for true vocal talent. You might as well call out all the guitar players who rely on distortion pedals to achieve their sound. Call me old-fashioned, but whatever happened to hacking at your amp with a switchblade? You know, REAL musicianship.

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