either i'm insane or everyone else is

einride

your best friend
Feb 29, 2008
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eh i was going to post a thread but you know what, fuck it

i dont wanna. but you cant delete threads if youre not a mod.

it was about autotune being fucking shit. is autotune fuckin shit? yes it is. thanks for your time.
 
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i am reviving this to shit on eternal champion's vocalist.

i listened to the studio album and was immediately repulsed by the vocals. the most artificial, processed, autotuned shit i've ever heard in metal. so i google "eternal champion autotune" to see if anyone is even talking about this, like surely people are criticizing the album for this reason? am i insane for being bothered by my retro-revival 80s metal sounding like its sung by hal 9000?

but no -- only one review in german even mentions the heavy autotuning, and some apologist on rateyourmusic says "well for what it's worth, he sounds the same live so..."

you're right -- he DOES sound the same live. BECAUSE THEY AUTOTUNE THE VOCALS LIVE TOO. listen to this clip from keep it true at 4:00-4:12 roughly and hear how the pitch correction struggles to find the correct note to latch onto so instead it keeps wavering between different pitches in the scale. does this sound like a human? i have never ever heard more processed, fake vocals in metal. am i insane? does this not bother anyone else?



yes, this is the future -- there are rack mount autotune units for live usage. will they fool anyone who knows what the fuk autotune sounds like? will they save you if you are a shitty vocalist? no.

fuck off computer shit in heavy metal. get a singer who can sing or at least has the balls to own his suckage.
 
Another glaring example of this is “Mana” by Idle Hands (now they’re called Unto Others)



This album has some really cool stuff on it, but the guy sounds like pitch-shifted Robert Smith. Need proof? Listen to any live video. They sound like shit 90% of the time because the guy doesn’t use the vocal effects for live performances. Somehow this is preferable to what Eternal Champion is doing. Pretty shameful. Another fun example is the Agalloch DVD.
 
It doesn't really bother me, but yeah, I'd rather hear those small-time 80s bands with the out of tune singers swinging their hefty suckage-owning balls.

I don't need vocalists to sound human though, I just need to like the end result. How about stoner metal with a crazy amount of reverb or echo in the vocals like say, Looking Glass?
 
Im pretty sure no one here but me likes them, but Fear Factory's singer sounds good on CD with his clean vocals. Ive watched live videos and man, he sounds like pure ass.

You would think a band that prides itself on its tech themes would use them
 
Another glaring example of this is “Mana” by Idle Hands (now they’re called Unto Others)



This album has some really cool stuff on it, but the guy sounds like pitch-shifted Robert Smith. Need proof? Listen to any live video. They sound like shit 90% of the time because the guy doesn’t use the vocal effects for live performances. Somehow this is preferable to what Eternal Champion is doing. Pretty shameful. Another fun example is the Agalloch DVD.

funny you should mention idle hands (i know they had to change their name because of reasons but unto others sounds dumb so i'm not using it) because a couple friends of mine are way into them and think they're the best thing since sliced pastrami, and they REALLY TRIED to get me to like them. i mean on paper, it's my thing, right? a mixture of 80's goth rock and metal, how the fuck can you go wrong?

the vocals, that's how. i just fucking cannot with this guy. i don't like his style to begin with but the autotune just kills it dead. yes! i would take him sounding shitty and out of tune on the album every day over this robotic bs. if you can't sing, well you're in a studio and you have protools, do 500 takes until one is decent enough. cut different takes together, do what you need to. just don't fucking autotune.

why is it desirable to take out all human emotion and nuance from the voice? we have evolved over millenia to hear the faintest nuance in language and you're going to erase any chance at communicating emotion in art because you're worried that a DAW says you're 12 cents off the note and people in youtube comments will make fun of you? i don't fucking get it. i don't get it. i simply do not understand why you would self sabotage like this.
 
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I don't need vocalists to sound human though, I just need to like the end result. How about stoner metal with a crazy amount of reverb or echo in the vocals like say, Looking Glass?
this works with the style imo, i don't mind it. he still sounds like a human being, if in a big smoky space cave. it's difficult to articulate why i think autotune in particular crosses a line, but i think it's because you no longer sound like a human being.

and maybe if you're doing cold clinical cyber mechanical blackgrind future metal then that would work? idk. but i don't think it works with these 80's retro revival bands because now you're up against bruce dickinson and geoff tate and rob halford and you're making a fool out of yourself.
 
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I mean, the big problem with autotune is that these guys are using it as a lazy way out. They're unable to sing their parts and they're masking it. I would honestly love to know how horrible Eternal Champion would sound without the vocal effects. Also, talk about a shitty/boring frontman.
 
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i think autotune is fine as a surgical tool to be used when there's no better option, like if you basically can sing and nailed a take but fucked up one note at the end or something, and if you can autotune that without it being audible, then go for it. otherwise just don't.
 
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I just don't know why reverb isn't used instead. It worked fine for decades and is studio trickery that doesn't dehumanize the performance. This is my example I'll forever cite with such things:



She clearly misses some (actually, most) of the high notes at the end of this monumental song, and it doesn't fucking matter. The reverb masks it enough, and then nailing the final note makes it all Perfect.
 
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