Autotune HATE Thread

[JoeMeek12397]

I absolutely hate autotune. I'm so sick and tired of hearing songs that, according to the deaf people I'm surrounded by, feature amazing singers. Umm, excuse me but singers don't sound like robots.

 

[indecizo]

not all autotuned voices are robotic. what I don't like is that many of the singers that use the robot effect are actually good singers but they choose to sound like that, but people like it. i'd rather hear the more natural approach, even if it's autotuned

 

[Mago]

Autotune - Turns people who cannot sing into robots who cannot sing


Nowadays it definitely is a style choice. Personally I think that if you can tune a take with an awesome attitude without any obvious artifacts audible through the mix -> go for it.
IF you don't get the chance to do it again, or the attitude was that much more awesome and unique that you're not confident you'll get it again.

 

[Brent Holder]

I'm weird about autotune, for me when someone uses autotune and tries to pass it off as them being a great singer when they owe some of there talent to autotune it sorta annoys me.

However, there are a few bands I listen too, that are heavy in electronics and the autotune is so blatant, that I accept it and learn to love the fact that either it just sounds good with the music, or they cant sing and they know they can't sing.

And I do love this video...

 

[Sloan]

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I don't hate or love auto tune and I don't get people who have this retarded sense of morality when it comes to tools, be it a knife or a plugin.

 

[DullElysium]

I'm fine with autotune, but there has been many cases where I've felt like I'd rather have listened to the non-tuned version.

 

[egan.]

I'm fine with autotune, but there has been many cases where I've felt like I'd rather have listened to the non-tuned version.

Agreed. The "cheating" aspect is less disturbing than the tuning that just didn't need to happen.

 

[crillemannen]

Autotune is good period. But as with all good tools people tend to abuse and over-use it. I rather pitch a word or two if the phrase the singer just sang is great and had the right emotion to it, rather then go at it again, maybe ruin a good take. Feels like it's more certain genres that over-use it and pitch it like 100% instead of just going at it light and just fine tune, and that is more about people want to have clean vocals but noone in the band can really sing haha, aká Metalcore . I rather take a human performance over a 100% tuned one though.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

None of my favorite records ever used auto tune.

I`m going to be honest here: I truly believe auto tune is one of the main reasons why modern music is so fucking boring. Auto Tune destroys the humanity in a performance. Minor idiosyncrasies make music interesting.

Could you imagine auto-tuning Bruce Dickenson`s scream in `Number of the Beast` it wouldn`t have anywhere near the same impact. Or auto tune `Dreamer Deciever` yech. It would kill it. Let it Be, with Auto Tune? No thanks!

Just because it's "more in tune" doesn't automatically make it better.

I understand that this isn't going to be a popular opinion, but I've always liked real singers. Flame away.

(keyboard went weird there for a minute. sorry for the lousy punctuation.)

 

[Genius Gone Insane]

Never used it

 

[updog]

Honestly, I love Melodyne as a creative tool for electronic music. Just completely mangling a pre-recorded line beyond any possible recognition whatsoever is really fun, and it can even change how the actual performance sounds, completely apart from how well it actually stays in tune... I'm talking about stuff like pitching low notes to high notes and vice versa, sometimes works really well, sometimes doesn't.

As a simple robotic effect, though, I think everyone's heard enough of it by now.

 

[JeffTD]

I love it and use it everyday. Saying you don't want to use it because your favorite records didn't use it is kind of a cop out when you're not working with musicians on same level as those who played your favorite records.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

I prefer to hear the singer, not the correction. Even a not-so-great one. At least it's human.

on a side note, please don't take my opinion as a personal insult, it's strictly that: my opinion. I really like the work you do, Jeff.


However, I'm not the only one to share the opinion: My favorite Rollins quote, from the William Shatner song, "I can't get behind that!"


"If you have to fix it with a computer: quantized, pitch corrected, and overly inspected, then you can't do it!"

Here's the song in question: a ripping mix, btw!
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-eJQ1mTVzA"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-eJQ1mTVzA[/ame]

 

[egan.]

I love it and use it everyday. Saying you don't want to use it because your favorite records didn't use it is kind of a cop out when you're not working with musicians on same level as those who played your favorite records.

Beyond that, I think Crillerman's point is apt. There is no rule that demands that you hard tune every note because you own the plugin. Get the best takes you can. Fix what's broken. If a gliss or waiver or whatever adds to the performance then don't change it!

 

[Keregioz]

I prefer to hear the singer, not the correction. Even a not-so-great one. At least it's human.

I'm willing to bet that people have listened to "corrected" vocals much more often than they realize. If vocal tuning plug ins are used properly you can't really detect it in a mix, the same way you can't tell if a guitar riff was punched in or is a single take. It doesn't make them inhuman. It can make the singer seem better that he really is though, which I can understand why some people "can't get behind" .

 

[Mago]

I'm willing to bet that people have listened to "corrected" vocals much more often than they realize. If vocal tuning plug ins are used properly you can't really detect it in a mix, the same way you can't tell if a guitar riff was punched in or is a single take. It doesn't make them inhuman. It can make the singer seem better that he really is though, which I can understand why some people "can't get behind" .

So do punch-ins, in a way at least.

The better the player, the less you'll recognize the punch in though

 

[monoxide_child]

 

[Keregioz]

So do punch-ins, in a way at least.

I did say when done properly.
Although, I think you really have to fuck up a punch in or have a terrible guitar/bass player to make it obvious.

The better the player, the less you'll recognize the punch in though

Or the better the guy who is doing the editing.

 

[Mago]

What I tried to get across was, that a solid performer will make a punch in, and all you have to do is a crossfade, cause timing, intonation and attitude was the same as before.
But yeah, of course you can edit a lot.