The Deceptive Perfection of Auto-Tune

theodp writes "For a medium in which mediocre singing has never been a bar to entry, a lot of pop vocals suddenly sound better than great — they're note- and pitch-perfect. It's all thanks to Auto-Tune, the brainchild of Andy Hildebrand, who realized that the wonders of autocorrelation — which he once used to map drilling sites for the oil industry — could also be used to bestow perfect pitch upon the Britney Spears of the world. While Auto-Tune was intended to be used unnoticed, musicians are growing fond of adjusting the program's retune speed to eliminate the natural transition between notes, which yield jumpy and automated-sounding vocals. 'I never figured anyone in their right mind would want to do that,' says Hildebrand." As these techniques improve and become more popular, it makes me wonder what music produced twenty or fifty years from now will sound like, and how much authenticity will be left.

Comments

And...

[Creepy Crawler]

I thought they all lip-synced.

Next up: Fake Symphonies with synthesized "Real Life" performers. (with the symphony ticket cost)

Re:And...

[cbiltcliffe]

Simple:

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

Turn down the volume, or the lameness filter thinks you're yelling. That's feedback, stupid.

Authenticity

[Angst Badger]

Yes, because everything that isn't done manually is inauthentic. And it's been getting worse almost every day since the end of the Bronze Age.

Re:Authenticity

[sa1lnr]

"Yes, because everything that isn't done manually is inauthentic"

How do you do non-manual singing?

Re:Authenticity

[jeepien]

"Yes, because everything that isn't done manually is inauthentic"

How do you do non-manual singing?

Many singers find the throat to be useful in this regard.

Re:Authenticity

[Anonymous Coward]

Many singers find the throat to be useful in this regard.

I record the sound of sticking my fingers down my throat and call it music you insensitive clod!

Re:Authenticity

[rivaldufus]

How about learning how to sing in tune? People have been doing it for centuries. Is that bar too high? Talking about articulation isn't very useful if you can't perform the most elementary tasks on your instrument. Is someone who uses gimp or photoshop to run some filters on a drawing a real artist? Is it sufficient that he or she "looks like an artist?"

Re:Authenticity

[bonch]

What does authenticity have to do with music?

Ashley Simpson posts on Slashdot?

Re:Inauthentic?

[tompaulco]

Is hip-hop and R&B the only form of music?
Is hip-hop and R&B EVEN a form of music?
Actually, I kind of like R&B, but I refuse to recognize Hip-Hop as music. I mean sure, it's got a beat and you can kill cops to it, but it's still lacking something.

Re:It's an instrument.

[Quiet_Desperation]

Scene addendum: "It's deceptive *and* anachronistic! The eight note scale isn't supposed to be invented for thousands of years yet! Quick! Hit him with a femur!"

Re:Authentic is the wrong word

[unlametheweak]

Too bad Auto-tune wasn't around when Bob Dylan was made pop music.

Re:It's an instrument.

[FiloEleven]

Though admittedly the image of mercilessly beating a bard with a lemur is rather entertaining, and if he uses an auto tuner then he deserves it!