Vocalists singing like autotune (without autotune)

[FAT]

I work in a variety of busy studios, and over the last year or so I've been noticing an unusual phenomenon. Some (mostly young female) vocalists have begun to emulate the artifacts of autotune in their natural singing voices.

With commercial radio so jam packed with autotuned vocals, it would make sense that vocalists naturally begin to parrot the type of timbre mutation that ia a signature of autotune.

Has anyone else encountered this?

Is it possibly a developing trend? If so, then autotune type software has come full circle, with the computer now utilizing the human voice - as opposed to the human voice utilizing the computer.

[JoaT]

Interesting... Do they also pitch-correct themselves on the fly?

[raal]

Originally Posted by FAT

I work in a variety of busy studios, and over the last year or so I've been noticing an unusual phenomenon. Some (mostly young female) vocalists have begun to emulate the artifacts of autotune in their natural singing voices.

With commercial radio so jam packed with autotuned vocals, it would make sense that vocalists naturally begin to parrot the type of timbre mutation that ia a signature of autotune.

Has anyone else encountered this?

Is it possibly a developing trend? If so, then autotune type software has come full circle, with the computer now utilizing the human voice - as opposed to the human voice utilizing the computer.

i've actually tuned some lines of a natural voice to not sound like auo-tune, so yes, i've encountered this.

[John Eppstein]

Ick!

[solo-bration]

Originally Posted by raal

i've actually tuned some lines of a natural voice to not sound like auo-tune, so yes, i've encountered this.

I guess this is where the line gets blurry on what is considered "natural" tutt

[larry b]

I have experienced this, yes. It's pretty hilarious and sad.

I wonder if you autotune someone that is trying to sing like autotune if it will cancel itself out. Or maybe it would become extra-autotuned. Someone should discuss this with T.P.


I hereby name this phenomenon: ManualTune™

[FAT]

I'm pleased to hear it's not just in my imagination.

Parrotting the artifacts of autotune does not mean they are necessarily singing in tune at all. In fact in some of the examples I've heard, it's a bit like autotune in some utterly non-chromatic Indonesian type mode. It's in the way notes are attacked and sustained. Especially the sustained note, a very constant unwavering pitch (even if it's 25 cents out!)

Personally, I don't have a problem with changing/experimental trends in vocal technique - they tend to be short lived fads anyway. I just think it's interesting that a simple piece of software could influence singing in such a way. Humans are not so different from parrots!

[Ozzy]

Originally Posted by FAT

Especially the sustained note, a very constant unwavering pitch (even if it's 25 cents out!)

Yup Ive had that with a few singers and thought "sounds like autotune".

Very odd!

Oz

[narcoman]

Originally Posted by FAT

I work in a variety of busy studios, and over the last year or so I've been noticing an unusual phenomenon. Some (mostly young female) vocalists have begun to emulate the artifacts of autotune in their natural singing voices.

With commercial radio so jam packed with autotuned vocals, it would make sense that vocalists naturally begin to parrot the type of timbre mutation that ia a signature of autotune.

Has anyone else encountered this?

Is it possibly a developing trend? If so, then autotune type software has come full circle, with the computer now utilizing the human voice - as opposed to the human voice utilizing the computer.

yup - heard it loads.

When i listen back to records from years ago - i can "hear" it too.... the human voice produces some remarkable tones occasionally ! Heck - i've even sat recording orchestra and "heard" edits.... WHILE THEY'RE PLAYING !

[BB3]

I've been amused by the "auto-tune emulation" for 4 or so years.... I vividly remember being in a bar at an open mic and hearing this kid sing about nailing his substitute teacher. He actually sang in tune, but he sounded like the auto tune was slamming him into tune. Me and and the engineer I was sitting with were baffled, amused and depressed all at once.

Do you think Antares is going to try and make these Tune-a-riffic singers use an iLok?

[inayat]

Yes. The same thing happened here, with a young female singer/writer. Crazy.

[Pasta4lnch]

I've experienced this too - some times soo bad that I'm completely in disbelief. . . i find myself checking the track several times when I'm comping just to make sure. it's freaky!

[FAT]

Originally Posted by Pasta4lnch

I've experienced this too - some times soo bad that I'm completely in disbelief. . . i find myself checking the track several times when I'm comping just to make sure. it's freaky!

That's EXACTLY the what happened to me in one session - 'where's the f***ing stray autotune plugin!

[RKrizman]

Yeah, it happened to me with one singer. I thought I had autotune on by mistake.

-R

[vernier]

I thought they must be autotuned -instruments and vocals, but turns out they sing and play perfectly. Maybe some of it is due to their Swedish ancestry.

[dkelley]

I guess I see it differently.

I'm impressed and blown away by singers who can do that, it takes incredible control to emulate that perfect centered tuning without vibrato with your voice.

it does seem to be a post-autotune phenomenon though yes.

One would swear there's autotune on all the high school musical tracks (and I'm sure there is). but you hear one or two cast members sing live and sometimes they actually do sing like that.

Don't forget though, it's not an accident. they're doing it because it's the pop music sound now. it's very very tough to sing like that and those singers put a lot of work into it, and doing it without autotune is certainly not a bad thing, I wish more singers would sing perfectly in tune all the time LoL.

As an engineer it really does mess with your brain though since you waste time wondering if you did something dumb like tracked through an autotune plug or something crazy like that.

cheers,
Don

[rgr22]

LOL yeah I saw this happen once, I also thought I had autotune on

[theblue1]

I think there are multiple layers to this. There is, of course, the technique of locking one's voice tightly to one pitch, as devoid of vibrato as possible. This is one thing that one does hear in older pre-AT-and-other correction recordings... it's sometimes been approached as a sign of vocal mastery, particularly in jazz circles.

(I'm not much of a singer, but a couple of times I've been able to lock down my vibrato to the extent that I thought I sounded tuned. And just like real pitch-correction, I still sounded like crap. )

Emulating 'perfection' is one thing -- but then there's the emulation of the oft-considered-nasty byproducts of clumsy vocal retuning... and that's where things can get interesting.


I have to say, though, that I find the emulation of A-T artifacts much easier on the ears than the real thing. It's the beauty of the fullness of that full circle, I guess.

[dkelley]

Originally Posted by theblue1

I think there are multiple layers to this. There is, of course, the technique of locking one's voice tightly to one pitch, as devoid of vibrato as possible. This is one thing that one does hear in older pre-AT-and-other correction recordings... it's sometimes been approached as a sign of vocal mastery, particularly in jazz circles.

(I'm not much of a singer, but a couple of times I've been able to lock down my vibrato to the extent that I thought I sounded tuned. And just like real pitch-correction, I still sounded like crap. )

Emulating 'perfection' is one thing -- but then there's the emulation of the oft-considered-nasty byproducts of clumsy vocal retuning... and that's where things can get interesting.


I have to say, though, that I find the emulation of A-T artifacts much easier on the ears than the real thing. It's the beauty of the fullness of that full circle, I guess.

well said.

yes, if a singer is singing a perfectly in tune note without any vibrato and jumps a perfect semi-tone up or down then right back into the original note (like auto-tune trying to keep a singer on one note when the singer is wavering (possibly quite musically) over more than one pitch), well that's just crazy sounding and is I think something from the post-autotune age.

It bugs me, it's impressive, but it bugs me.

[FAT]

Hey this might make a new live band:

- Vocalists and backing vocals who sing like autotune

- A drummer that hits like drumagog and plays like beat detective

- A bass player that sounds like Trilogy, and plays like quantized midi

- etc etc.

Perhaps they could play with the dynamics of a crushed L2, and end songs with perfect digital type fades.

The real challenge would be putting them in the studio, and recording a totally live track that sounded like your regular digitally processed mix and master, but with zero processing/editing and the faders all at zero.

Actually the more I think about it, I'm ready to put my name on line, and predict that the next major trend in popular music will be real musicians emulating the sounds and processing of the modern digital era 1989 - 2009. It's great artistically for this reason:

The humans go to battle with the computer for technical dominance (much like world chess champion Gary Kasporov playing the chess computer called Deep Blue, which he lost against). However, once the humans achieve technical dominance over the computer, we can completely remove the computer from music all together.

(alas, the computer will always win with it's editing power - unless humans can develop drugs that make our musical memory 1000 times more powerful than it currently is).

[joeq]

Originally Posted by dkelley

ee it differently.

I'm impressed and blown away by singers who can do that, it takes incredible control to emulate that perfect centered tuning without vibrato with your voice...
... it's very very tough to sing like that and those singers put a lot of work into it

it's only tough to do if they are actually staying in tune

I have heard people emulating the artifacts - the sproinginess - but the actual pitch is as "off" as any amateur singer.

I haven't decided yet if think it is worse than singers emulating the "American Idol" style melismatic atrocities and failing to pull that off.

[OneUp Ent]

Some singers have had that quality for a long time. Coco from SWV had autotune sound before their was such a thing.

YouTube - SWV - Rain

[Mikey MTC]

Originally Posted by raal

i've actually tuned some lines of a natural voice to not sound like auo-tune, so yes, i've encountered this.

That's funny!
Maybe Antares, Celemony and Waves can start marketing their tuners as being able to remove tuning artifacts from un-tuned singers. Now we've heard everything!

[FAT]

Originally Posted by OneUp Ent

Some singers have had that quality for a long time. Coco from SWV had autotune sound before their was such a thing.

YouTube - SWV - Rain

Rain was released in 1997. Autotune was released in 1994.

[timtoonz]

I always think Nickelback sounds incredibly auto-tuned, but I'm told they're not.

Which is it? Does it matter?

[FAT]

Originally Posted by timtoonz

I always think Nickelback sounds incredibly auto-tuned, but I'm told they're not.

Which is it? Does it matter?

I reckon 95% of gearslutz users would agree that Nickelback are pretty much unlistenable anyway.

I'll put a poll up in the moan zone.

[LAstudio]

Hilarious thread. Very true, sadly.

I recently had a big Pop/R&B writing crew in here and the writer actually sang (wanted to) into AutoTune. The result was the total absence of any feeling whatsoever. Bravo.

How you could sell a song that way is beyond me. But it's certainly done.

A couple years ago I accounted a scenario where a client was seriously coached by my partner (a REAL singer, performed at Carnegie Hall at 17)... and it was really well done without AutoTune, as well done as could be for a person who really didn't have any real training (Seth Riggs is bull****).

After hearing a heavily comp'd vocal that was for all intents & purposes right-on (without AutoTune), she proudly asked, grinning ear to ear, "Is that ME?"

"Yes!! And believe it or not, we didn't use any AutoTune!!"

Wait for it...

Smile goes away...

"But... but I LIKE AutoTune."


As was wisely suggested, "Don't ever tell the client what you're doing."

[GuitarRuss]

My band does Joe Cocker's "Woman to Woman". At the end we switch to "California Love" (which was built on the Joe Cocker riff) which is a fun surprise. He nails the autotune/vocoder sound which gets a great audience reaction. It sounds completely processed to my ears...bizarre.

[vonrichter]

I've noticed this as well. The goofy part is that the guy did not know auto-tune existed, he had simply been emulating it (the guy was like pop/nu-metal style) thinking it was how people sing.

His pitch was mediocre (he could not sing in tune to save his life.), but he did pretty convincingly remove all legato/portamento/vibrato from his performance for a robot effect, and mimicked other artifacts of autotune.

Pretty sad. He might have had a chance at being a good singer with some expression, but he's just another robot now. Ho-hum.

[audionickw]

i weep for the future. truly sad. look what monster they've created. ruined millions of young singers. way to go antares