Auto-Tune: Tell-tale signs of its use?*

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by fabtrick, Jul 3, 2009.

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  1. fabtrick

    fabtrick New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NorCal
    I've seen in threads folks who point out songs that they feel have been altered by auto-tune.

    How can one tell if it's been used?

    Example: KISS did a japan only cd of remakes, that have been said to have massive amounts of auto-tune applied.

    What's the give-away?

    And, is it possible to use this in a live setting, or just let the "hard drive" do the work?

    Just curious. :confused:
     
  2. I Am The Lolrus

    I Am The Lolrus New Member

    Location:
    LA, CA, US
    you can learn to hear it, it is unnatural and grating once you learn the signature. Live setting or harddrive? Huh? I think you have your terms wrong, so I take it you mean is it possible to use this in real time or only with calculated editing. Auto tune used as it was intended is a real-time processor, you feed it the vox track and you print the output as the auto-tuned vox. The calculated editing of autotune is used either in extreme cases when the processor is overdoing something (eg: a few cents too high or low, etc...) and you want to make sure its doing it right, or if you are intentionally making it work improperly eg: T-Pain, etc...
     
  3. heatherly

    heatherly Well-Known Member

    Location:
    USA
  4. Maggie

    Maggie like a walking, talking art show

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    Two sure signs:

    *Unnatural, Maroon 5ish smoothness within long notes
    *Unnatural warble between notes (or within them when correcting unintentional melisma); when slowed down, this 'warble' turns out to be a precisely stepped scale or arpeggiated chord.
    *by the same token: impossibly rapid, precise melisma (i.e., a whole scale or several arpeggios inside of a single beat)
     
  5. When Britney Spears is the singer . . .
     
  6. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
  7. Nostaljack

    Nostaljack Resident R&B enthusiast

    Location:
    Washington, DC
    It's especially sad considering Jamie Foxx doesn't need it. He's an excellent singer without it.

    Ed
     
  8. fabtrick

    fabtrick New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NorCal
    Thanks for those examples.

    However, those seem to be blatantly obvious. I'm more curious about how to tell of subtle uses....
     
  9. ClausH

    ClausH Senior Member

    Location:
    Denmark
  10. floyd

    floyd Senior Member

    Location:
    Spring Green, WI
    I guess whenever I heard it I just considered it to be a desired effect much like an echo or some of the processing John Lennon liked to have on his voice. I never liked it but I don't typically don't like the music it is associated with anyway.
     
  11. Jay F

    Jay F New Member

    Location:
    Pittsburgh, PA
  12. Gems-A-Bems

    Gems-A-Bems Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Duke City
    Ha! What does THAT tell you?

    It's only really audible in the chorus.
     
  13. TLMusic

    TLMusic Musician & record collector

    How to tell if a recording uses auto tuning software effects?

    Just look at the date. If it was recorded after the mid 1990s, you can almost bet 100% there are auto tuned vocals. It is such a standard procedure in recording studios that only extreme purists won't use it...

    P.S. I hate auto tune:realmad:
     
  14. Raf

    Raf Senior Member

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    One easy way to tell is if you hear a recent recording by someone who's been around since before Autotune was invented and you're very familiar with how his or her voice used to sound. If the vocals on the new recording sound strangely nasal, robotic, or otherwise unnatural to you in a way that the simple passage of time couldn't account for, then it's Autotune. Once you hear it, you can spot it anywhere.

    A good example I can think of is Donna Summer's Crayons. Talk about someone who doesn't need Autotune, but boy, it sure is in that album.
     
  15. glea

    glea Forum Resident

    Location:
    Bozeman
    I can't hardly figure out how to use the auto function in Digital Performer. I did mange to get it to work to fix a sharp bass note on a song I was mixing. No way to get the player back in to do it. It sort of stuck out, so I gave it a try... one note... I don't dare try to fix vocals... I'd rather hear a real voice. But I'm not making big money records...
     
  16. TLMusic

    TLMusic Musician & record collector

    Really, auto tune is so common now that I bet most people cannot tell when it is being used. Sure, there are examples like Cher and Kid Rock vocals where it is an obvious effect. But, most often it is applied for very slight touch ups. I recently did a recording project with some very accomplished and in tune singers, and the producer insisted upon using software to tune their vocals even more in the mixing sessions. Even the singers themselves never noticed when they heard the final product, the effect was so subtle. Don't tell them about it--it's our little secret!
     
  17. Cassiel

    Cassiel Sonic Reducer

    Location:
    NYC, USA
     
  18. ziggysane

    ziggysane Forum Resident

    Location:
    Austin, TX
    I usually hear it as an unnaturally straight tone (no vibrato), especially on long notes, or when the vocal sounds just a little too precise. It's more of a "feel" thing when auto-tune is used correctly, as opposed to the robot tone and precise scale degrees when it's used for effect.

    For example, on the "Rent" movie soundtrack you can tell that they used frequent auto-tuning on Rosario Dawson's vocals (she's not "really" a pro singer in the same way that the others are) even though she doesn't sound like T-Pain. You can even hear it (to a lesser degree) on Tracie Thoms's vocals, and she's Julliard trained! The tuning is also noticeable in other places because the original cast album had almost all of the same people with no auto-tune used.
     
  19. zebop

    zebop Well Known Stranger

  20. mbleicher1

    mbleicher1 Tube Amp Curmudgeon

    Location:
    Washington, D.C.
    Brian Wilson Presents Smile

    EDIT: I assume? There's no way Brian could reach all those notes now…
     
  21. Drifter

    Drifter AAD survivor

    Location:
    Vancouver, BC, CA
    Prime example: listen to Willie Nelson's vocal on "Beer For My Horses" (starting at 0:32) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azESmq6KENQ - it sounds like Stephen Hawking singing.
     
  22. TLMusic

    TLMusic Musician & record collector

    The concept of editing and tuning vocals on recordings has been around a long time.

    Here's an excerpt from a 1975 interview with David Gilmour:

    Studio equipment can also be useful in helping you out of a tight spot, especially with vocals, which is where Floyd found they needed a bit of first-aid, Varying the tape speed is one cure.

    "We have quite a bit of difficulty with vocals. I have trouble with the quality of my voice but I don't have much difficulty keeping in tune. On the other hand, Roger has no problem with vocal quality but he does have trouble keeping in tune."

    Normally Floyd will keep working away at a vocal line until it's right. There was one track, though, which just refused to go the way they wanted it.

    "The only time we've ever used tape speed to help us with vocals was on one line of The Machine Song. It was a line I just couldn't reach so we dropped the tape down half a semitone and then dropped the line in on the track."


    http://www.pink-floyd.org/artint/99.htm
     
  23. Gems-A-Bems

    Gems-A-Bems Forum Resident

    Location:
    The Duke City
    So to answer the original question(?): There's not always a give-away, and there's not necessarily a way to detect its use, it is much easier to hear its over-use?
     
  24. Maggie

    Maggie like a walking, talking art show

    Location:
    Toronto, Canada
    There is allegedly a bit of autotune on that record, though it's much more obvious on "Live Let Live" on That Lucky Old Sun. But honestly, 'those notes' are sung by Jeff Foskett. I think the autotuning on Smile is very minimal.
     
  25. fabtrick

    fabtrick New Member Thread Starter

    Location:
    NorCal
    It sounds like it's pretty much used on the chorus everytime.

    And now that I've heard it, it's pretty clear to me that HORDES of country songs have this particular effect on it.

    Ugh.
     
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