Autotune - ing the stars

[Professor T]

I just wanna mention that it was interesting reading through this thread, imagining that all of the bold parts are autotuned ...

time for a spoken word project!

I am listening to a book on CD. I swear it is autotuned. Spoken words. Tuned. You can hear it in the iTunes preview. Check out "The Woman Who Can't Forget" by Jill Price. It's not "mp3 artifacting" I'm listening to the actual CD.

It is friggen irritating -- it sounds like it's being read by a text-to-speech converter. Why, why, why?

[JGriffin]

NPR just ran a segment on Kanye West's new CD, basically about the fact that he uses Autotune as a vocal effect on every track--the signature vocal sound of the record, if you will.

Which would be more cool if 6 million dance tunes hadn't already done that, but...

[kdarr]

NPR just ran a segment on Kanye West's new CD, basically about the fact that he uses Autotune as a vocal effect on every track--the signature vocal sound of the record, if you will.

Which would be more cool if 6 million dance tunes hadn't already done that, but...

Yeah, I was a little disappointed when I heard the singles. I'm not a huge Kanye fan, but I like him okay, and he's much better when he's setting next year's overused hip-hop production trend (chipmunk samples), rather than following one from five years ago (egregious autotune).

At this point, production techniques in pop music are just fashion trends... you gotta have the newest Nikes or the newest smartphone, or a shit-ton of robot voice on your track if you want to seem cool. And all of those things are purely disposable.

[<|>]

[CraigS63]

NPR just ran a segment on Kanye West's new CD, basically about the fact that he uses Autotune as a vocal effect on every track--the signature vocal sound of the record, if you will.

Which would be more cool if 6 million dance tunes hadn't already done that, but...

I happened to see him on Letterman last night, it was pretty annoying. 10 Grammies? What?

[Brian]

NARAS called me last year to re-up. I told them NO. When they asked why, I said," you only want rap, you have been rap-centric for too long, it just isn't more than an a novelty with backing tracks. I don't do rap and that makes Naras incompatible with my little operation. You give Grammys to acts that aren't even real routinely, and you tacitly support the worst practices in our industry. I'll keep my money and be illegitimate from now on.
What' a grammy for an engineer, a way to get famous? That's for artists.

[;ivlunsdystf]

NPR just ran a segment on Kanye West's new CD, basically about the fact that he uses Autotune as a vocal effect on every track--the signature vocal sound of the record, if you will.

Which would be more cool if 6 million dance tunes hadn't already done that, but...

I heard that but I was having a conversation at the same time. It sounded dilletante-ish anyway. Was it at all informative at our 'real recording enthusiast' level? I keep meaning to search for a rerun online.

[JGriffin]

At this point, production techniques in pop music are just fashion trends... you gotta have the newest Nikes or the newest smartphone, or a shit-ton of robot voice on your track if you want to seem cool.

or gated canyon reverb on the snare drum...wait what?

[JGriffin]

Was it at all informative at our 'real recording enthusiast' level

Well, not partcularly, except to reinforce that the word "Autotune" is continuing to take root in the lay lexicon.

[dave watkins]

sorry but i have got to be shameless here and bring this back:

in the spirit of this raging debate, and more importantly in the spirit of the holiday season i give you this thread:

http://messageboard.tapeop.com/viewtopi ... 981#516981

yes my freinds, goddamn autotune on a turkey. enjoy.

anyway... carry on as your were.

[kdarr]

At this point, production techniques in pop music are just fashion trends... you gotta have the newest Nikes or the newest smartphone, or a shit-ton of robot voice on your track if you want to seem cool.

or gated canyon reverb on the snare drum...wait what?

Exactly, or a freaking Linndrum for that matter. But I dunno, the level of homogeneity seems even higher than it was in the 80's. And (no offense drummers) but a bad, dated drum sound is one thing... Processing every goddamned vocal track on every major release with the same gimmicky toy (even when the singers don't really need it) is just... yuck.

I dunno. Maybe I can deal with the gated verb more because I can only view the 80's through childhood nostalgia goggles.

(childhood nostalgia goggles look exactly like a ViewMaster, in case you were wondering.)

[<|>]

[Brian]

At this point, production techniques in pop music are just fashion trends... you gotta have the newest Nikes or the newest smartphone, or a shit-ton of robot voice on your track if you want to seem cool.

or gated canyon reverb on the snare drum...wait what?

Exactly, or a freaking Linndrum for that matter. But I dunno, the level of homogeneity seems even higher than it was in the 80's. And (no offense drummers) but a bad, dated drum sound is one thing... Processing every goddamned vocal track on every major release with the same gimmicky toy (even when the singers don't really need it) is just... yuck.

I dunno. Maybe I can deal with the gated verb more because I can only view the 80's through childhood nostalgia goggles.

(childhood nostalgia goggles look exactly like a ViewMaster, in case you were wondering.)

[<|>]

That is the BEST post I've read all year!

I'm telling you, they ain't just autotuning the vocals, they are autotuning EVERYTHING on some tracks.
It's beyond disgusting that the new criteria for professional level production has nothing to do with the skill of recording anything, and only has to do with autotuning and way-over-compression of everything. It makes music irritating. It's like putting strawberry cake icing on a 2"thick filet mignon medium rare.
yuk.

[bluesman]

A fellow gave me a cd of a band he liked..a local production. He asked me what I thought of the recording....I told him how it was....That the recording souded harsh & very over compressed, the vocals were spitty & extremely silibant & that the recording overall was painfully bright, very unsettling & difficult to listen to, not an enjoyable experience at all. He replied that these were the very qualities that he admired about the recording. His feeling was that the band did these things intentionally as part of the message in their music....!

So....who's right???? Leo Fender never intended for his amplifiers to be turned all the way up to 10 either.

It makes me wonder why I gave up drinking, just when I was getting good at it!

[JGriffin]

A fellow gave me a cd of a band he liked..a local production. He asked me what I thought of the recording....I told him how it was....That the recording souded harsh & very over compressed, the vocals were spitty & extremely silibant & that the recording overall was painfully bright, very unsettling & difficult to listen to, not an enjoyable experience at all. He replied that these were the very qualities that he admired about the recording. His feeling was that the band did these things intentionally as part of the message in their music....!

So....who's right???? Leo Fender never intended for his amplifiers to be turned all the way up to 10 either.

Well, that's an excellent point. Different strokes and all.

[rwc]

Here is my take on robot sound.

When roboted, whether the performance was that good or not, doesn't matter as much.

Stuff I would NEVER let through unroboted, become not only tolerable, but good and usable when roboted. Obvious, glaring errors stick out without it, that once melodyne'd to robot, seem to disappear.

I think it is a gimmick because it hides how bad you are, not even because it's necessarily a desirable effect.

I have handed off sessions where this was going to be what half my time was spent on to coworkers. I know I've lost a couple of hundred a month for it, but it's worth it to me.

[Brian]

I totally agree, if the track is never going to be done better, I probably don't want to work with the group and hear that stuff all day for weeks. I have NEVER used autotune and I NEVER will, it's suicide to the craft, art, and future of talent.

alright bluesman, who was the engineer?
I'm dying to know.