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Perfect Pitch for Those Without It

Posted by michael on from the milli-vanilli dept.

airrage writes "Sometimes technology is a good thing, and sometimes it ends up in a hardware device called an autotuner. Apparently, it allows real-time pitch correction. They are actually being used at concerts. I think we all realize that some singers sound different -- much different -- live than they do on CD's, but this just seems so, so, what's the word: fake?"

4 of 776 comments (clear)

  1. nit pick by nyet · · Score: 5, Informative

    perfect pitch is NOT the ability to sing in tune, it is the ability to know the pitch of a tone w/o a reference.

  2. It's not the use of autotune that's the problem by youbiquitous · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's overuse and misuse. I have a copy of Auto-Tune 3 (yes, a REAL bought and paid for copy) but you'd never know it from listening to the music I record.

    Here's a real-life scenario: I'm recording a singer who is pretty good but there's one note that they can't quite hit today. We could scrap the session and do it again later - even good singers have trouble hitting all the notes all of the time - but that will cost the client hundreds of $$$. Alternatively I can fix the one note that's not quite there. I wouldn't try to correct every little shaky bit of intonation in the entire song, just the one that's really sour. What would you do?

    Or how about this? Got a great bass player laying it down. Good tone, good part, one note played near the end of the neck is a bit off because the intonation of the instrument needs adjusting. Would you fix the note with Auto-Tune or scrap the session ($$$) and ask the bass player to get the intonation fixed? I'd do the expedient thing - fix the note AND ask the bass player to get some work done on the instrument before the next session.

    What drives me crazy is the obvious warbling and perfectly pitched effect you hear on all of the modern pop and Nashville country CDs. Nobody can sing like that, it sounds like a machine. That's misuse of what can be a very subtle and powerful tool.

    --
    "Clean up the air and treat the animals fair" - Captain Beefheart
  3. Re:this is news?? by zoeblade · · Score: 5, Informative

    Cher really abused it on that "Believe" song.

    Nearly. It was a vocoder, but the end effect is very similar. The main practical difference is that vocoders can be used to make anything sound in pitch, and even let people sing chords rather than single notes. That and they've been around far longer. Hmm, maybe I should submit them as a new technology for a Slashdot article...

  4. Some mp3 examples of the correction: by jon323456 · · Score: 5, Informative

    From Antares' site:

    Female singer before
    and after processing.

    Lots more at the product info page.