use of auto tune in classic rock and other genres where it can seem a bit off

this thread did not take off :P

anyway, I'm still interested in the topic - how's about this gorgeous ballad, am I the only one to hear autotune on Matt's voice?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipx8qWt2fVA

(plz note that I am in no way suggesting this is 'problematic' or smth, I just find it interesting)

this new Croz single is all AT
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S77732a8XJ4

sounds better on
https://open.spotify.com/album/0cAsUGxS78JtXUTbbcSExu

again, I'm not at all averse to this effect being used in rock, all the same I find it weird that Ringo would drench his vox in it when it can be done subtly, maybe he likes the effect?
http://www.spin.com/2017/07/ringo-starr-give-more-love/

Allegedly it's used live by a lot of classic rock acts, Roger Waters is one - not that I have any intention of investigating any further.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4941nGHSqhk

haha that's a fun one

according to this article everybody's doing it:

There is much speculation online about who does — or doesn’t — use Auto-Tune. Taylor Swift is a key target, as her terribly off-key duet with Stevie Nicks at the 2010 Grammys suggests she’s tone deaf. (Label reps said at the time something was wrong with her earpiece.) But such speculation is naïve, say the producers I talked to. “Everybody uses it,” says Filip Nikolic, singer in the LA-based band, Poolside, and a freelance music producer and studio engineer. “It saves a ton of time.”

I'm not sure that's true (and probably that guy doesn't work with a lot of, say, indie or hardcore bands) but I'm curious to know more abt it

so anyways there's two types of auto-tune (which I use as a synonym for modern pitch correction), there's the one used as an aesthetic choice (Cher, T-Pain etc) and then there's the "natural effect", where you're not supposed to notice it's used, described nicely in the article:

Then Mike Auto-Tuned two versions of our Boys II Men song: one with Cher / T-Pain style glitchy Auto-Tune, the other with “natural” sounding Auto-Tune. The exaggerated one was hilariously awesome – it sounded just like a generic R&B song.

But the second one shocked me. It sounded like us, for sure. But an idealized version of us. My husband’s gritty vocal attack was still there, but he was singing on key. And something about fine-tuning my vocals had made them sound more confident, like smoothing out a tremble in one’s speech.

and I think it's the "natural" auto-tune that really interests me, especially when it's (accidentally?) overdone, and so that's actually perhaps what I'm looking for with this thread: examples where you notice the use of auto-tune, when you're not supposed to notice it

with Crosby and Ringo, I'm thinking perhaps their core audience are not familiar with autotune, so they won't hear the pitch correction

here's an interesting quote from http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6266467/melissa-etheridge-op-ed-speaks-out-against-auto-tune

My favorite moment was watching Rocc move alongside the engineer so he could take a look at the computer screen. "Hey, where's the Auto-Tune?" he asked.

"I'd never presume to put Auto-Tune on her voice," the engineer replied.

"She's singing like that without Auto-Tune?" was Rocc Starr’s stunned response. That made my day.

while Etheridge uses this anecdote in an argument against auto-tune, what's interesting to me is that, presumably, the producer would not be able to tell if auto-tune was used or not as long as the singer was on key

can't help but think it's a shame to use any auto tune on a voice so beautiful as Sade's, but it's relatively subtle

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H4H9T3iFfWg

I felt the same way about Rebekah Del Rio's performance in Twin Peaks: The Return.

here's live auto tune in a rootsy setting

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=REpNOLdbXe4

terrible, imo

but I guess it's everywhere now

Apropos of nothing I bought an album back in 1998 called Pop Artificielle, by a chap called LB (in reality the incredibly prolific Uwe Schmidt). It had a prototype of the autotune sound but although it was released just after Autotune came out I think he used custom software; I remember hearing Cher's "Believe" for the first time several months *after* I bought LB's album.

Listening to it on Youtube now it sounds like mostly vocoder of a similar style to Air's Moon Safari. It's fascinating how a digital technique went from being the foundation of an avant-garde art project to pop novelty and then mostly-unremarked, occasionally-reviled normality. The Independent has a review of it from 2000 which also talks about De La Soul's then-new album Art Official Intelligence, which is one of the worst album titles of all time.

art official intelligence is a good album

RIP glissandos.

here's live auto tune in a rootsy setting

I'm not hearing it...except for "child" at 2:38, where it sounds like it's clumsily double-tracked or something.

The couple recent Billy Gibbons records dip into this sound quite a bit, not surprising since MTV-era ZZ Top were early adopters of synths 'n sequencers in roots rock, but it still seems to piss off the purists in Amazon reviews.

Here's one that always felt strange to me. The Dixie Chicks, on the album Taking The Long Way. The first song, The Long Way Around, in the first verse the word "parents" is clearly auto tuned to the max. But nothing else in the song is.

is this the place to discuss the new swamp dogg record or is that conversation happening elsewhere

bring on the swamp!

I'm not hearing it...except for "child" at 2:38, where it sounds like it's clumsily double-tracked or something.

I hear it from the get go but the "deep and they're wiiide" phrasing around 0:31 is v clear to me

as quoted from some article upthread autotune is becoming the norm so that m/l 99% of recorded vocals in mainstream music have some percentage of a/t and is quite subtle but I think we're becoming immune to the artifacts of it, maybe the next generation won't be able to hear it, will just sound like recorded singing to them

So we have one song where the only auto-tuned word is "parents" and another where the only auto-tuned word is "child"?

is this the place to discuss the new swamp dogg record or is that conversation happening elsewhere

― budo jeru, Wednesday, November 28, 2018 9:52 PM (yesterday) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah it's a lot, i guess at least it's in the title

friend of mine plays bass on the record i really can't wait to hear about it

autotune has an uncanny valley quality for me -- when pushed to the max it's just another effect in the sonic toolbox, a grandchild of the talkbox. It's those subtle, in-between "wait, is that autotune?" moments where the effect bothers me most.

yeah i mean post "lollipop"/future/etc hip hop has made it an aesthetic

later period morrissey albums are lousy with autotune

xpost weird i have a couple friends who play on that record too, i think it’s probably the JV connection?

anyway, listened to the swamp dogg record at work today and it has some strong fucking moments. the opening track in particular uses autotune in a very interesting way and sorta leads me to believe that there are probably many many unconventional applications of the technology that could lead to some lovely weird stuff (perhaps people here will have other examples).

there’s a strong juxtaposition between SD’s “natural voice” and the autotune that echoes the call-and-response implicit in the title (“answer me, my love”) and also the painful duality of feeling betrayed and abandoned while also still loving that person. i almost see it as a parallel to the classic blues trope where the slide guitar is the “other voice” but idk, maybe i’m getting carried away. in any case, a really amazing track.

curious what y’all think:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiUJkcyzW2M

that song is wild

had to stop it to check another song wasn't playing in the background

autotune has an uncanny valley quality for me -- when pushed to the max it's just another effect in the sonic toolbox, a grandchild of the talkbox. It's those subtle, in-between "wait, is that autotune?" moments where the effect bothers me most.
^^completely otm

jagger does it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LNNPNweSbp8

I felt the same way about Rebekah Del Rio's performance in Twin Peaks: The Return.

― mirostones, Monday, 12 November 2018 15:10 bookmarkflaglink

otm that was absolutely horrible

only cool example I can think of is Neil Young on the album Peace Trail in a couple of places, but he's using it as an effect not to pitch correct, not to T Pain levels but a cool robot warble

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2ohH-0EYKE

I remember seeing this performance at the time and thinking that the autotune was really obvious, his voice seems so plasticy. And it turns out I'm not the first.

https://www.harmonycentral.com/forums/topic/105263-simon-lebon-voice-training-or-autotune-live/