I've haven't been paying attention to the radio lately but when I did, I've come to realize something. It seems that auto-tune has been sweeping the radio stations. For those of you who don't know, Auto-tune a is computerized audio technique used in a studio during the recording process. This technique automatically corrects the vocal tune of singers. This means that if an artist sings an off-key note, the auto-tune system will disguise it by manipulating the key into the perfect pitch. So if an artist is using the auto-tune technique, no matter how many mistakes that he or she makes, auto-tune will make them sound like they are singing in perfect key. Thus, even the worst singers in the world can sound on-key if they use the auto-tune technique.
However, there's a difference between using it to help once in a while and using it constantly as "wings". Singer/song writer Ne-Yo had mention this in his mini-rant about how he's sick and tired of "artists" relaying on auto-tune. He even mentioned how it's being used for the wrong reasons. I'm not a fan of Neyo's music but I have to agree with him about auto-tune, which is why I have a few quotes from him.
"You don't want to blow your throat out trying to do the same note a thousand times, so you sing it a few good times and you let the Auto-Tune catch whatever notes fall out. It was not meant to be wings. You were not supposed to strap it on back and jump out the building, that is not what Auto-Tune was meant to be."
"'I can't sing at all so let's just turn Auto-tune all the way up so that I sound like Willie the robot,' that's wack! That's terrible, it takes all the character outta your voice and you become a robot. You hear it on the radio and you go 'who is that?" and you have no idea because everybody sounds the same. If you're a singer, sing!"
Too many artists use the auto-tune technique heavily (such as T-Pain, Kanye West and Lil Wayne) and it's sad to see that real talent isn't the driving factor anymore. I miss the days where singers relied on their voices to sell records. For the most part, modern day music has been reduced to mediocre lyrics, generic studio sounds and auto tuned voices. At least, that's the way it seems to those that listen to the radio and come across the increasing number of auto-tune "artists". Though the good thing is that, on TV shows, such as American Idol, especially that new show, The Voice force on the singer's ability to sing. It's all their natural voices and they are judge on that and not how they look, where they are from, and so on.
 DamnBlackHeart · Thu Apr 28, 2011 @ 04:59am · 0 Comments |
