OMG! SuperBowl AutoTune fiasco!!!

[chovie d]

It was "a rude-looking shadow show" that was "embarrassingly rude, crude and unfortunately placed," said Daily News television critic David Bianculli. Many bloggers agree, despite the fact that several entertainment critics have lauded Prince's performance as one of the best in Super Bowl history.

well, I saw him on the Purple Rain tour and he had a guitar that he stroked the neck of in a very suggestive manner of until white liquid shot out all over the audience. Basically the first fiofty rows of the Cleveland Coliseum (RIP) got a facial that evening. so they should be grateful all they got was the shadow. that was a killer show btw...

[thunderboy]

If your dingle looks like this, please seek medical attention.

jt

[RefD]

*calls 911*

[agauchede]

To be fair, I don't think Billy can be blamed for this. Unfortunately, there's an audio engineer out there who can! Billy's a pro and he's been doing this a long time. He knows when he sucks, and he knows exactly what to do when he sucks.

Prince still rocks.

-C

[agauchede]

Oh. . . I guess we're talking about Prince now. Sorry.

[TheStevens]

No that's the point..... someone had it on STUN (AUTO) mode......what's funny is someone posted on another forum that they thought it was just Billy Joel getting old, because they'd heard the same thing happen with Don Henley!!! HA hA HA HA HA

Last time I was in the supermarket I heard what I think must have been a new Tom Petty song, with some strong autotune on his voice. It obviously didn't sound as bad as Billy Joel, but it kind of made his voice sound exactly like everybody else's voice these days, instead of like fucking tom petty. it pisses me off the most when it's used on someone's voice who has been around for a while.

[chovie d]

its hard for me to even understand the purpose of autotune on a singer. I dont WANT to hear perfect pitch. I want inflection, emotiveness, grit...not Robby the fucking Robot. I guess its great if you got some talentless bimbo your gonna hawk off to the american idol crowd, boy bands? sure go for it, but I just dont understand it for any other purpose...for making art that is , whats the purpose? especially on a proven singer with a distinctive and original voice ...billy joel, Tom Petty...whats next? Willie Nelson autotune? Cyborg Willie? why?

[UXB]

its hard for me to even understand the purpose of autotune on a singer. I dont WANT to hear perfect pitch. I want inflection, emotiveness, grit...not Robby the fucking Robot. I guess its great if you got some talentless bimbo your gonna hawk off to the american idol crowd, boy bands? sure go for it, but I just dont understand it for any other purpose...for making art that is , whats the purpose? especially on a proven singer with a distinctive and original voice ...billy joel, Tom Petty...whats next? Willie Nelson autotune? Cyborg Willie? why?

Amen!

[rant]
I was in some store where they were playing Jackson 5's "I want you back", and the pitch is all over the place, and IT's GREAT!

The emotion of the delivery is what I was enjoying so much.

This is not meant to be derisive, but if there's professionals who don't seem to notice it or mind, then perhaps we are tilting at windmills worrying about what the general public hears. I'm too much an idealist to be a good judge of things these days! I long for the days without audio corrective surgery!

On the other hand, I got to work with a rather visionary artist who was listening to my "godd**m !@#% %$!$ beat detective autotune" rant, and he replied ,
"I'VE always wanted to put beat detective on a train clacking down the track, to make it synch and use it as a percussion instrument".
Here is a person using the tools for musical creation, not correction. I was humbled thinking about it after I condemned the use of the tool itself.

Hell, before this technology folks were re-punching using an Eventide (Madonna, Paula Abdul anyone?). It's just faster/easier and harder to detect now.
[/rant]
Best to you all,
H

[charlievela]

It's kind of funny. I watched the game with my girlfriend's family, and in the first ten seconds of Joel's performance I blurted out "Why in the world did they put so much auto tune on his voice?!" Nobody else seemed to notice, even when they asked what I meant and i pointed out the hard stepped notes. Maybe most people don't notice or care just because we're sooooo accustomed to hearing robo-pitch these days.

[JGriffin]

I got to work with a rather visionary artist who was listening to my "godd**m !@#% %$!$ beat detective autotune" rant, and he replied ,
"I'VE always wanted to put beat detective on a train clacking down the track, to make it synch and use it as a percussion instrument".
Here is a person using the tools for musical creation, not correction. I was humbled thinking about it after I condemned the use of the tool itself.

Hell, before this technology folks were re-punching using an Eventide (Madonna, Paula Abdul anyone?). It's just faster/easier and harder to detect now.

Excellent points there. A tool is just a tool, it is not inherently evil, though the people who wield it may wield it to evil ends.

[wedge]

Maybe -- just specurlatin' here -- labels are puttin' pressure on producers to use autotune because they feel that it'll increase sales, much the same way the same suits insist on mastering engineers squeezing the shite out of mixes, for some deluded notion of competitive edge...

"Let's destroy music, so it'll be more popular!!!"

"Weeeee!!!"

[Knights Who Say Neve]

The pitch nazis are out of hand.

Viva La Resistance!

[ludwig_van]

its hard for me to even understand the purpose of autotune on a singer. I dont WANT to hear perfect pitch. I want inflection, emotiveness, grit...not Robby the fucking Robot. I guess its great if you got some talentless bimbo your gonna hawk off to the american idol crowd, boy bands? sure go for it, but I just dont understand it for any other purpose...for making art that is , whats the purpose? especially on a proven singer with a distinctive and original voice ...billy joel, Tom Petty...whats next? Willie Nelson autotune? Cyborg Willie? why?

There's inflection, emotiveness, grit, and then there are bad notes. I think autotune is a useful tool. Sometimes you get a great take save a note or two. You could do more takes, but maybe you don't have time for that, so you fix those notes and now you've got a great take and nobody can hear the difference. Autotune does not mean Robby the Robot. It can be used transparently, or it can be used obviously. It's up to the engineer.

[Knights Who Say Neve]

its hard for me to even understand the purpose of autotune on a singer. I dont WANT to hear perfect pitch. I want inflection, emotiveness, grit...not Robby the fucking Robot. I guess its great if you got some talentless bimbo your gonna hawk off to the american idol crowd, boy bands? sure go for it, but I just dont understand it for any other purpose...for making art that is , whats the purpose? especially on a proven singer with a distinctive and original voice ...billy joel, Tom Petty...whats next? Willie Nelson autotune? Cyborg Willie? why?

There's inflection, emotiveness, grit, and then there are bad notes. I think autotune is a useful tool. Sometimes you get a great take save a note or two. You could do more takes, but maybe you don't have time for that, so you fix those notes and now you've got a great take and nobody can hear the difference. Autotune does not mean Robby the Robot. It can be used transparently, or it can be used obviously. It's up to the engineer.

"It's up to the engineer"- that's exactly the problem. Autotune puts the decision of what a "bad note" is in the hands of an engineer, and takes it away from the singer. If the artist wants autotune, fine, but in the "music" that 95% of Americans hear on a regular basis, the singer is not consulted in those decisions. It's a major shift of power away from the artist.

[ludwig_van]

"It's up to the engineer"- that's exactly the problem. Autotune puts the decision of what a "bad note" is in the hands of an engineer, and takes it away from the singer. If the artist wants autotune, fine, but in the real world it's often not their decision to make.

So what, artists should always do their own mixes? Obviously the engineer shouldn't be doing things against the artist's wishes, but besides that I don't see your point.