I'm over autotune in a big way

[remo]

this is prob a really old gripe been bashed to death before but...

ITS FRICKIN EVERYWHERE ....

it just kills any life of the vocal. its the slight drifting in and out of tune and natural gliss etc that really make a vocal great and rewarding to listen to.. not a perfectly, wrenched into spot, same as everyone else, SAFE autotuned sound.

Its the other killer of modern music aside from laclk of headroom and dynamic in songs.

Its sad... I'm hearing really nice songs with nice, solid production get wrecked by a SAFE, boring autotuned vocal everyday.. ok I admit it's mostly radio freindly pop I'm talking about.. (maroon 5 - she will be loved, etc...)

even if they would just wind back the mutha a bit so its not SO BLOODY OBVIOUS....

*rant off*

[Kris]

agreed.

[Don]

Autotune to enth degree..

[Ahellam]

I love autotune, you can still use it without making it sound cheesy and robotic. When properly used I think autotune is one of the best tools a producer can have.

[remo]

sorry, have to disagree...

The best tools a producer can have are fantastic musicians and singers.

[entropy]

Originally posted by Ahellam
When properly used I think autotune is one of the best tools a producer can have.

you must be joking, right?

ottertune

[Ahellam]

everyone is entitled to their opinion, I didnt say it was the best tool, I said one of the best.

(Discounting good musicians)

[toolskid]

most of my work is freelance protools editing/engineering and autotune is useful - but what REALLY GETS ME - is tuning vocals that are perfect already.

Recently I was working on a big selling artist's project and I was being asked to autotune these fantastic vocals even to the extent of whipping out pitch n' time and 'tuning' the BREATHS + ARTICULATION. I'm a pretty fastidious guy, but this was just tooooo muuuch.

Its a product that get used a too much due to artist-producer fear.

RANT over...

I do use it personally for reining in the odd stray notes in an otherwise killer performance (but not always - love a bit of pushing)- but the lack of formant correction and other artifacts is generates is endlessly irksome

[Ahellam]

Yes I agree, it is very usefull when used in manual mode and I never autotune already fantastic tracks, it works wonders for doubling and harmonies, things in the background and long hold outs. I just think its kind of foolish to say "well im just sick of it, never again will i use autotune"

[Agli]

I think it's similar to overcompressing a track, using too much kinda makes you not wanna listen to the song again. Your ears just get tired. Then again it's hard being a perfectionist and having that offpitch note at the end the second verse. I often have to bite my tongue knowing that it will make the track more interesting leaving it there.

[remo]

it definitly has it's uses don't get me wrong. I'm just sick of hearing it all over every vocal on the radio. It make all the songs and singers sound "the same" in a way. I agree its probably due to the artist and/or the producer being afraid of slightly out of tune notes. Too bad their not afraid the song will be boring to listen to after a couple of airings.

Imagine The Smiths being autotuned, its those gross but infactuating "off kilter" notes Morrissey sings that make the tracks so fantastic. Its just to sterile when its all perfect.

sterile scared autogooned vocals

[toolskid]

NO

THESE NOTES WERE NOT OUT OF TUNE

I was made to use it anyway!!!!

[remo]

Originally posted by toolskid666
NO

THESE NOTES WERE NOT OUT OF TUNE

I was made to use it anyway!!!!

sorry dude.. I was agreeing with you, my post was not aimmed at you at all.

[toolskid]

ooops

didnt mean to shout!!!!

sorry - not pissed in any way at all -

jus a bit frustrated about 'the fear'


sorry if I gave the wrong impression

[Stick]

Originally posted by toolskid666 whipping out pitch n' time and 'tuning' the BREATHS + ARTICULATION. [/b]

How do you tune a breath? There isn't much pitch information there? Were they wanting them "tuned" so they looked like a straight line on the display? That's whack.

[toolskid]

Originally posted by Stick
How do you tune a breath? There isn't much pitch information there? Were they wanting them "tuned" so they looked like a straight line on the display? That's whack.

Man - breaths dont even register on the ol' autotune window of doom

I'm talking about hauling out pitch n' time and shifting them by microtones, by ear.

sigh...

whack doesn't even come close

pays good tho

sigh...

[Stick]

That's beyond ridiculous. Even if you can hear a pitch in the breath, surely it's going to buried by whatever other instrument happens to be playing that that moment in the track.

If the pay is good though, you should tweak and re-tweak those breaths. Perhaps you should not only be tuning them, but also individually eq-ing for optimum presence, and then time align them so the groove's continutity is faithfully preserved.

[toolskid]

naah - the eq'ing was solely the province of the mix engineer in the other room, I was merely comping, tuning, and aligning and acting as if I knew what the point of it all was...

sigh!

[Jose Mrochek]

Like someone said, it takes longer to use auto tune than sing the track word for word if necessary. Punching word for word will take away feeling, but I think it's less of an impact than what auto tune takes away but in the other hand.. If big name artists are still popular with overload use of autotune, then it's probably not that bad either. I sing, and I am not the worlds most in key singer.. but not the worst either, and I find auto tune of great help sometimes. Even though I do prefer 20 takes of the lead vocal if necesary to satisfy my "feeling and tuning" capabilities. I find it hard to match these both 100% I still see "feeling" as more important, so if I have a take which is perfect feeling wise.. I won't mind autotuning it a bit if you know what I mean..

[mooboy]

Originally posted by toolskid666
THESE NOTES WERE NOT OUT OF TUNE

I was made to use it anyway!!!!

That's fuggin' disgusting. But you're a richer man for it!

[Mark]

I seriously doubt that the current No 2 in the UK's Top 40 singles chart has even been within sniffing distance of an Antares (or similar) Autotune (Autodetune, perhaps ).

Who can tell me which other tracks in the Top 40 haven't been ATed? I'm guessing: The Finn Brothers, Kasabian, Biffy Clyro and The Mozster. And I'm also pretty confident that all the Bubblegum and R & B songs have been ATed till the pips squeak.

[Time]

Originally posted by Stick
That's beyond ridiculous. Even if you can hear a pitch in the breath, surely it's going to buried by whatever other instrument happens to be playing that that moment in the track.

If the pay is good though, you should tweak and re-tweak those breaths. Perhaps you should not only be tuning them, but also individually eq-ing for optimum presence, and then time align them so the groove's continutity is faithfully preserved.

If you listen to B. Spears newish joint you will correct yourself. The breath is most prominent. There is pitch in everything. All sound has an effect on the listener. Yes you can crossfade them. Yes you can remove them. However the breath which is super compressed has a particular intimate.longing, quality. Autotune for this is a good move. Would you wanna use it on Ella Fitzgerald or Betty Carter. Probably not. Would I use it on Anthony Kiedis. Only if you wanted me to remain in the room ;-)

[logichead]

I try to use AT only to fix "painful" out of tune-ness. Very subjective.

I recently mixed an independent cd by an artist with a wonderful John Lennon-ish voice. I was intrigued by the fact that the "hair" in his tone made his out of tune-ness less bothersome than out of tune clear voiced singers. I was able to use AT in a way that was unnoticeable to me.

On another project, an AT specialist was broght in to tune the lv, in excruciating detail. As AT "fixed" sustained notes, the harmonics became static - very unnatural, made even more apparent by the Genelecs we were monitoring with. I was horrified - no one else seemed to mind.

Oh well.....H

[mooboy]

Originally posted by logichead
no one else seemed to mind.

I think THERE'S the crux of the problem!