Auto-tune: An instrument, or a crutch?

Auto-tune (for those who don’t know) is a tool, whether software or hardware based, that allows users to tune or modify the pitch of vocals. It’s been a hot topic as of late, so I think the music geek should weigh in on the subject.

It’s funny to me that such an esoteric topic has made news stories (at least on music radio), because it wouldn’t be an issue had producers not overused it. From what I understand, the Anti-Auto-Tune crowd (music purists I’m assuming) argue, that if you have to use a tool to correct the pitch of a vocalist’s performance, the vocalist couldn’t perform the part and has no business being in the studio. As Henry Rollins put it on William Shatner’s song, I can’t get behind that, “If you have to fix it with a computer: quantized, pitch corrected, and overly inspected, then you can't do it, and I can't get behind that!”

This is a valid point. If you are recording a performer who is pitch challenged, or a novice singer, and you absolutely have to use a pitch correction tool to make that person sound in tune, I would say that you are entering into a world of hurt. If you are this producer, you might want to ask yourself why you are wasting your time trying to polish a terd . Is it really Auto-Tune’s fault, or is the producer using bad judgment? Maybe a more important question is; should the performer practice a lot before trying to become a rock star?

This is a great example of polishing a terd:

In this video, the producer is actually feeding the desired notes into Auto-Tune using a midi track that he recorded using a midi-controller. This is more an example of Manual-Tune, than Auto-Tune. If you listen carefully, you can easily pick up where Auto-Tune is fixing the off-notes.

Remember the days… like when Elvis was king… and you had to be “uber-talented” to even think about recording a song? Well I don’t either, I’m not that old. Recording gear is somewhat affordable and people are consuming music (media in general) at a fiercer pace than ever before, so why not let people record whatever, right?

Consider this; we live in a digital age where audio can be manipulated to within an inch of its life. The vast majority of the music coming out of the world’s most successful production houses, is as Henry said “quantized, pitch corrected, and overly inspected”.

How did music production get to this point? Maybe producers have been polishing terds for so long, that it has driven the industry to find ways to make the poo shinier, faster. Or, maybe someone just wanted to get an edge in a very competitive industry, so they developed a tool to make already great sounding vocal performances pitch perfect.

Which brings me back to the matter at hand…The reason regular people (as opposed to music geeks) have heard about Auto-Tune, is because many producers (as of late) use Auto-Tune as a production technique. You can use Auto-Tune to completely change notes; it makes the Auto-Tune effect very noticeable. The end result bears some similarity to the effect a Vocoder has on vocals. The effect is kinda neat, but not so neat that it needs to be used in every song. It is a technique that has become very trendy; so trendy in fact that they now have an Auto-tune iPhone app, and guess what, it’s being promoted by T-Pain.

Whether overused or not, producers are using Auto-Tune to create an effect. If producers are using it to create an effect, they are essentially using it like a musical instrument. A lot of people think that the studio itself is an instrument. The tools that are available in the studio are just as crucial when producing an album as a guitar pedal, or a bass amp, or other gadgets that we would obviously characterize as “musical instruments”. So why not Auto-Tune?

I use Auto-tune. There, I said it. I have never used it on a recording of someone that absolutely tanked their part. I try not to take on projects where I’m put in that position. When I worked with the Shouting Ground, I worked with some of the best vocalists in my career. Not only could they sing, but they all had a very good sense of pitch.

The reason I used Auto-tune on that project was because I wanted to make the track as perfect as possible. I am competing against all of the awesome studios in town for business and I’m also trying to portray myself as a professional by making the work I do sound as good as possible. From the musician’s perspective, once the music gets “out there”, the band is competing against every other band in the world. I know people don’t like talking about music as a competition, because it’s art. But grow up, it’s a business, and if people weren’t treating it that way, would musicians even bother to record their art in the first place?

In all of the instances I have used Auto-tune (except for one, which you can ask me about offline), the effect was completely transparent. The singers were so close to being perfectly on pitch, even the most trained ear wouldn’t be able to pick up the Auto-Tune effect. I know what you’re thinking, “so why use it at all if they are that close to pitch perfection?” For your answer, please refer to the last paragraph. In all of the cases where I used Auto-Tune, I carefully explained to the artists what the plug-in does, and gave them the option. Some artists don’t want to use it, some do.

So what is the right answer? To use, or not to use… The answer is: it depends on the project. As an audio producer, it’s advantageous to know and be familiar with as many of the tools that are developed for the audio production craft. That might be your edge.