The Abuse of Auto-Tune

I have been unfortunate enough to have listened to Radio 1 for a few mornings this week (yes … why, I hear you ask would a 53 year old musician put himself through that? ?) Yes, why is another story! … But like watching the Jeremy Kyle show or sitting through more than ten minutes of the ‘Mamma Mia’ film … it rapidly becomes an endurance test for a middle aged musician such as myself! I always used to say to myself that I would never become a cynical musical prude as I got older, but I have come to realise and have to accept, that sadly, this now comes with the territory!

So … twenty years ago (yes, twenty!) When ‘Believe’ by Cher appeared and topped the UK chart for seven weeks, I, like many others, was captivated by the strange, robotic vocals. It was something sonically different, it sounded quite cool … it was the birth of ‘auto-tune’ on commercial records.

Jump forward twenty years and auto-tune has become readily available in pedals and as software / plugins in our digital recording systems. I personally think it’s a fantastic tool. To some degree, it has changed the way we record vocals now in the studio. A near perfect vocal take can be kept, even though there may be the odd off pitch note, something like Melodyne can fix this without the need for ‘dropping in’ or trying to do the whole thing again! Cheating possibly? … but I’ll leave that debate open!

The other extreme of course, is that it can now enable people who lack any sort of discernible pitch (or talent for that matter!) to not only sound like they may be able to sing but also sound like some sort of demented singing robot! … worse still, it seems to be on every other ‘record’!

So to get to the point of this post, like everything that was once a novelty, a useful new tool, an original effect, I feel auto-tune has now become overused and abused in music but I have to accept (or do I?) that a generation has now grown up used to it’s sound … and who am I to argue?!

Jeremy Kyle seems like a decent bloke who I might like to have a pint with but watch his show? I don’t think so! … and I personally love Abba’s music … as long as it’s not wrapped around some terrible lame story, for an equally lame film!

Oh yes … and next time you do watch Mamma Mia … watch out for the auto-tune!

The Abuse of Auto-Tune Middle Aged Musician Blog Middle Aged Musician, Rock and Roll Grandad and Foster Care Leaver  Middle Aged Musician, Rock and Roll Grandad and Foster Care Leaver Bill Lowdell – Patreon Page  wdcmusic.co.uk Blog Links: lowdell.uk/category/rock-and-roll-grandad/