The End All To Auto Tune Thread

[Terminus]

I love the vocoder effect Cynic use.

Antares Harmony Engine, not a vocoder (vocoders really cant change notes with your voice, at least up to this point). There's a free demo on their site, I've done a few tests with it and I pretty much got an exact copy of the Traced In Air vocal sound.

Now, the Focus vocal sound is achieved with the Digitech Vocalist II through a keyboard, so you actually have to play the keyboard with your vocal notes to get the sound- Tony Teegarden used to be the keyboard guy playing the notes Paul sang on tour, hence having a keyboard on stage and not actually hearing it in the music.

The Axe FX can do this type of effect, which may be what Cynic uses on tour now, not sure on that. I know they use the Axe Fx for guitars now.

 

[nwright]

Absolutely. I understand what your saying and why you are saying it.

But when a band asks for a certain sound any successful engineer would do everything they could to deliver just that. It's like any other business, you need to make the client happy. Nobody wants to have a shit sounding disc because the engineer wanted to skimp on editing for whatever reason.

I'll quantize breakdowns all day and night to pay the bills. I don't give a fuck.

You're right.

In thinking about this some more, I guess I really don't care about the use of auto tune, or any type of "fixing", as I know I'd do it if time/money allowed it.

Probably the only reason I ever say anything about the whole auto tune thing in general is because I don't really like probably 99% of artists who use the stuff...And, that's not a crack on the engineers...I just don't dig what these bands bring to the table in terms of songs. Not my style of music at all. I don't really care for sung vocals in "metal", don't care for much (if any) metalcore, don't care for bands like attack attack, etc., so I guess I have no basis.

I'm using studio techniques as the scapegoat for my disdain for bands that are usually talked about in reference to the techniques (and possible abuse thereof).

 

[Ben Johnson]

This is my favorite example of autotune (Digitech Vocalist) as a blatant effect.

 

[lolzgreg]

Almost everyone tunes vocals to some extent, period. The problem arises when a band cannot perform their parts properly (as in, not singing in key enough), forcing the engineer to pitch correct vocals to the point of it sounding UNNATURAL.

HERE LIES THE ISSUE:

When your intonation/melisma/switching from note to note in a song sucks balls, autotune tracks too fast and makes it sound robotic. This is a problem because it sounds like shit. The issue you have, Joey, is either:

a. You're not getting takes that are GOOD ENOUGH from the singer (pitch wise), or

b. You're not using whatever pitch correction problem to its fullest capacity. Again, I recommend using Melodyne Studio 3, exporting your vocal tracks and a rough instrument mix and editing vocals there. You can edit vocals much better in Melodyne, period.

 

[Chryst Krispies]

Well, I think your productions kick ass and the force is definitely strong with you , so I'm going to echo everyone else and say fuck it, keep doin what you're doing, because it's the beeze kneeze.

Lammert is right, there's been some fuckin lame shit goin down on the UM lately. Motherfuckers needa crank up some Cannibal Corpse, and let shit be.

 

[Force666]

Motherfuckers needa crank up some Cannibal Corpse, and let shit be.

 

[SentencedToBurn]

This is my favorite example of autotune (Digitech Vocalist) as a blatant effect.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cpSv2mNhhc

That video is down but im assuming it was imogen heap? in that case she used a vocoder for "hide and seek". Check out any video of her playing it live. its amazing.

 

[jrt12]

i effin love this song... and this artist should not otherwise be mentioned in the same conversation as the crap that attack attack, tpain, and every other hip hop/r&b artist has passed off as music in the last 2 years.

 

[NNotN-ENN]

Yeah cause Imogen actually uses the vocoder (which I guess is an arguably similar effect to 100% autotune) in a creative way rather than just "hey just autotune the shit out of my vox, it will sound sooooooo sick dude".
I've got no beef with guys like Joey completing a task that they were asked to do (Joey - if I've personally written anything that might have come across as a personal attack I'd like to clarify that that was definitely not my intention) by bands, but I do have beef with bands that, for lack of a better word, abuse autotune and put the pressure on guys like Joey by not bothering to learn how to sing in the first place.

This thread has got me wondering if a flow on effect of autotune in general in years to come might be a sharp decrease in the number of people who actually bother to put in the time and effort to learn how to sing; either because they know that autotune has got their back, or they are just disillusioned with the fact that so many others who haven't taken this time and effort can get results that are (basically) just as good through it's use.
I suppose the same could be said for drum correction though, and that hasn't stopped a large number of monster players from popping up all over the place in the last few years...

 

[steeltormentorx]

I must write my opinion about this. I´ve heard a lots of great bands that played great live, but sucked on CD because mixing engineer couldn´t get those balls in there ). I think Joey is really great in this. In my opinion he is not overproducing. He just cares a lot about final product and that is what he is payed for.

I am really sick of comparing something to old times but I must. Today is really different time. Today production and overall sound on CDs is just better than in old days, but what is not better is songwriting. I really can´t get any emotion from modern bands. I like song or two but not all of them (except for Scar Symmetry). This problem is well described in ProTools Backlash thread (one of best threads on this forum).

Most income of modern bands is from live playing and crap like tshirts and stickers, because noone is buying CDs. So if you suck live and you are not singer it is really your problem not producers (There are some exceptions like Dragonforce or Trivium muhehe).

Autotune is not really problem.

 

[greyskull]

metal albums/bands i enjoy that don't sound blatantly tuned:


the ghost of a thousand

It's probably safe to say almost any album has some tuning on it, it's just a matter of is it blatantly noticable.

Which album are you talking about; coz there really aint much singing on the first one!
and the reason it would sound unautotuned is because it was mildly Melodyned.
Ask me why i know

But seriously. Joey you're making a good living recording bands and are getting a definate buzz about you because of your sound. Personally I don't go quite so nuts with editing these days but thats a style thing, and i'm heading in more of a steve evetts direction these days.

I digress, maybe give Melodyne a try, but thats just what i prefer; anyhoo you keep at what the fuck you're doing mate, keep making money making music and ignore armchair engineers.

 

[dan weapon]

Lammert is right, there's been some fuckin lame shit goin down on the UM lately. Motherfuckers needa crank up some Cannibal Corpse, and let shit be.

I pretty much love all your posts Tony. Beautifully put.

 

[jacare]

funny, i listen to the cd for the music, perfect production or not.
good music will shine through any production, it may take a bit longer, but it will always shine through, and thats what matters

^

 

[poidaobi]

I couldn't give a shit about shit. Do whatever the fuck you want....

 

[-Gavin-]

Joey, you need to stop ing over people not liking your methods.
You either care, and if you do... do something different... or you don't care, in which case, stop crying and do your job.
This is the same as the last thread you made where someone talked shit about you on myspace, you were obviously upset and hurt by it but proceeded to go "FUCK YOU MOTHERFUCKER! FUCK YOU!I DON'T CARE".

Stop looking at Myspace if you can't handle it and stick to mixing


I don't know you or any of your mixes, but from what i gather from the forum people like what you do and labels like what you do... So why not just stop second guessing yourself and being the big drama queen everytime someone questions your methods (which are admittedly, not to my taste from what i have read).

If you don't like people tearing your mixes apart and questioning what you do... and making a big deal about it, then you have an ego problem above anything else.


DAWs are disconnected from the internet for a reason. Not viruses or spyware. It's to prevent engineers getting butthurt from bad feedback on a mix!

 

[Ronixis]

A few more albums to the list with un-autotuned vocals:
Soilwork - Sworn to a Great Divide
Every album in Devin Townsend discography

 

[digitaldeath]

Joey, you need to stop ing over people not liking your methods.
You either care, and if you do... do something different... or you don't care, in which case, stop crying and do your job.
This is the same as the last thread you made where someone talked shit about you on myspace, you were obviously upset and hurt by it but proceeded to go "FUCK YOU MOTHERFUCKER! FUCK YOU!I DON'T CARE".

Stop looking at Myspace if you can't handle it and stick to mixing


I don't know you or any of your mixes, but from what i gather from the forum people like what you do and labels like what you do... So why not just stop second guessing yourself and being the big drama queen everytime someone questions your methods (which are admittedly, not to my taste from what i have read).

If you don't like people tearing your mixes apart and questioning what you do... and making a big deal about it, then you have an ego problem above anything else.


DAWs are disconnected from the internet for a reason. Not viruses or spyware. It's to prevent engineers getting butthurt from bad feedback on a mix!

+1.
This was my initial impression when I read this thread!

 

[ParsonsMatt]

A few more albums to the list with un-autotuned vocals:
Soilwork - Sworn to a Great Divide
Every album in Devin Townsend discography

Devin doesn't autotune? My respect for him just shot up like 100 points!

 

[iekobrid]

i effin love this song... and this artist should not otherwise be mentioned in the same conversation as the crap that attack attack, tpain, and every other hip hop/r&b artist has passed off as music in the last 2 years.

It's neat the way her natural, un-vocoded voice can be heard by itself in the reverb tail. Also that she managed to get through the entire song without anyone being gunned down.

 

[digitaldeath]

It's neat the way her natural, un-vocoded voice can be heard by itself in the reverb tail. Also that she managed to get through the entire song without anyone being gunned down.