The day the music died The invention of Auto-Tune
THE DAY THE
M u s i c DIED
The invention of Auto-Tune It is my honest opinion that the music industry has been steadily going downhill since about 1955. This book pays homage to the glory days whilst simultaneously bashing today’s popular music. Double whammy!
e W om W ❉ m elc W ❉ me elc ❉ e lco W ❉ o e o e m e c lc W ❉ m e e m el o co W W ❉ om el ❉ e elc W e ❉ me elc W e com W ❉ om co W ❉ m el ❉ e lc W e m e co el W ❉ l o ❉ W om e ❉ me lc e e lc e c W ❉ o l e m e c W l om e ❉ o W e W lc om e ❉ ❉ me elc W e com We ❉ me e co co W ❉ m el e el co W ❉ om el ❉ e c W W ❉ m el e e co W ❉ m el e m el co W ❉ om e e co W ❉ om el ❉ lc W e lc W om e ❉ om e ❉ me lc W ❉ om e m lc W e co We ❉ me elc e ❉
! e er th i H
Do you mind if we talk about Auto-Tune for a while? I promise it won’t take long. For anyone reading this with no idea of what ‘the Auto -Tune’ is, here’s what it’s all about. Auto -Tune is the steroids of the music industry. It’s the reason why people such as Lindsay Lohan can release singles and attain mainstream commercial success. Auto -Tune is quite often mistaken for being some kind of vocoder, or other digital effect applied over the vocal track, much like a filter - this is simply not the case. Auto -Tune actually combines itself with a recording; physically altering the pitch of any notes sung. Technology of tomorrow, today!
RN TU E SE HER A E PL VER O
Auto-Tune is more c
THAT FUCKING STRANGE
commonly known as
ROBOT VOICE THING
t is ? wha tune o aut
ngs fi i st thi f t n i s
The scoop on
HOW EVERYTHING CHANGED THE BIRTH OF AUTO-TUNE SMARTER THAN YOU THINK . . . Before the anti Auto -Tune brigade arrive, let it be known that we are in fact dealing with a very intelligent piece of software here. It’s a proprietary audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies. It provides the incredible ability to correct pitch in vocal and instrumental performances. Therefore it’s primary use is to ‘disguise’ off-key inaccuracies and mistakes; allowing singers to perform perfectly tuned vocal tracks without needing to actually sing in tune.
IN THE BEGINNING . . . “How did it all begin?” I hear you cry. Well in 1996, Andy Hildebrand, an engineer working for Exxon, a chain of gas and oil stations in America, used his mind-boggling skills at interpreting seismic data to come up with a nifty formula called, ‘autocorrelation’. This technique saved the oil company he worked for a large sum of money, and allowed him to retire at the ripe old age of 40. He simply applied the same principles to sound waves and ‘hey presto!’, Auto -Tune was born.
Thanks a lot, Andy Hildebrand.
AUTO-TUNE or
AUTO-DOOM
Turn find over to out m ore !
m a F vs
t n e l Ta ON?
I e T Th OR FIC T C FA
e m
y r o e Th
TUNE-O-MATIC We’ve all been fooled into thinking that fame has got some kind of direct correlation to talent. Thanks to Auto Tune this is no longer true. Auto -Tune has turned TV stars into pop stars, Disney teens into singing sensations, and allowed paparazzi princesses and other pop culture ‘freak of the week’ types to record albums that molest our sweet innocent ears with their overproduced pop catastrophes. Auto -Tune is the next step in a mutating evolution that will see the likes of the ‘great’ Kanye West winning the Grammy in rap, R&B, best engineered album, classical vocal solo, producer of the year, and the lifetime achievment award. I fear that an excessive use of Auto -Tune software will always be prevalent within pop music; or at least as long as ‘talented musicians’ and ‘being a beautiful, attractive person’ continue to be two very different, mutually exclusive things. Thanks a lot, evolution.
1 9 9 6 From 1996 to 1998, Auto -Tune was a closely kept trade secret, used exactly as Andy Hildebrand had intended - a way for mixers and producers to ‘fix’ flobbed notes in post production, thus saving the record labels thousands of $ by elimating the need to book retake sessions.Things stayed this way until...
1 9 9 8
THE BLAME GAME On the 18th of October 1998, the music industry changed forever. So many different people had a hand in what went down that day that it’s almost impossible to pin the blame on only one person. It’s incredibly likely that all involved had no idea of the ‘musical doomsday’ of which they were a part; how they had conspired to sculpt and shape the dystopian future of pop music forever. They were playing God - and they didn’t even know it. 18/10/98 - Cher releases her smash hit, ‘Believe’. It has since become one of the best selling singles of all time, selling over 10 million copies worldwide. It was produced by Mark Taylor and Brian Rawling; the accidental Dr Doom and Lex Luthor of the music industry. The choice to produce the song with ‘heavy’ amounts of Auto -Tune was the first use of this technique in a mainstream pop song. After its massive success in the charts, use of Auto -Tune became ridiculously popular and many artists imitated the technique; later coined as, ‘The Cher Effect’. I suppose if Cher hadn’t done it, eventually someone else would have. It’s probably not fair to blame her entirely. However she did have the opportunity to put her foot down and say no. Therefore some blame must fall on her shoulders. When her record company heard the track, they requested the removal of the ‘extreme’ use of Auto -Tune, to which Cher replied, “Over my dead body. It’s great!”. If only she knew what she had done. Thanks a lot, Cher.
The Award for Killing Music
HOW AUTO-T
Step 1
d in a cat trappe sound like at ne u th -T ls to ca u Take vo hack the A machine, w now a washing very note is E ! M O O B change d to an , er 11 w up to has the po ne u -T ne. to u u rt A perfect. me and fo this. ng with it fa gi to in y if br st s; te live people can ss le nt le ta Many
Lindsay Lohan’s Vocals
❉
❉
❉
❉
❉
❉
❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉
UNE WORKS
Vocal Take
+ Auto-Tune
VOCAL TAKE
+ Auto-Tune overkill
Step 2
Top Tip! ve your Auto-Tuned vocals
u ha to maximize Now that yo ed, in order u team up st du d an done d yo recommende wn some success it’s tist to, ‘lay do song. ar p ra e al ur yo of with a m es en for the vers ing artist th fresh beats’ has a featur one.* rd co re ur r If yo teed a numbe you’re guaran
Once your voca ls are sounding spic and span, it’s time to get them into a highly repetative pop song that will m ake you wish you we ren’t so good at living. Now that the re cord’s ready to release, prepare to mak e lots and lots of money!
*Mainstream commercial success is in no way guaranteed.
❉
❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉
THE
CH ER EFFE
! d e e t n uara
G
Makes bad singers sound
good
and reall
y b a singers sound d like VILLAINS FROM DOCTOR W
HO
CT
The ‘Che r Effect’ is when are edite voc d with a pitch corr als speed th ection at is set too audio th at it is pro fast for the cessing. not only This ‘straighte ns’ imperfec tions (wro out the ng notes) vocal rec in the ordings, but can a pushed a lso be step furt her to cre that synth ate etic, rob otic, R2-D sound w e’ve all g 2 rown to h ate.
Can’t sing? Never fear, Auto-Tune is here!
?
WHO NEEDS
TALENT When you’ve got Auto-Tune
NOT YOU, THATS WHO
0 0 0 2
Auto using ever b a , r eve ion. How r y) a h Cher t by out of fas d necess ity e s d l n n i t a t e ( n u r t e d e ’s ever y re soon w establish producer or y, in e k i a L m ll usic sof tw led nt me a we Tune became credible mut a dista lly stumb ... l b a l t y i l dio n u e t d s it st ithin an e 90’s al i t r acc bedroom w tool appe the la With nknown r ct’ in his . t l e b fe one u er Ef 2005 ‘The Ch s s acro
5 0 0 2 ! n i a P T s e m o c e r e H ! h o Uh
, n i a P T ! n o o G to -
Au
soft Micro rites e k i l w e a littl t least he yrics. d n u l o a ative , but ight s He m g violated lly imagin equa bein Sam ional and at inspir
s, k n i dr s u e d a m . e m h e s ‘ h k n O “ u dr e W . to drink drunk.” Got ster e ma
A tru
S C O U R G E
O F
M U S I C
kI
r at wo
ee. ’ll agr
you think
B A N E
O F
E A R S
T-PAIN IN T HE ARSE
Oh T-P ain, wh at have accide ntally discov you done? of ‘The erin C and un her Effect’ in g the wonde rs leashin g them your bedroo world m for a s u p o n econd the decade time in s. as man prover You’ve truly y bial Pa opene d nd stuck b etween ora’s box. W the e’re place. a rock Th a you wa e shit’s hit th nd a hard nt e fan. Howev same th to say it, it am er ing. Yo u sir, r ounts to the uined m When usic. asked about in his using A songs, uto -Tu T-Pain ne said,
“It just w o my voice” rked for .
No T-P ain. N
o it did
not.
E V E R Y W H E R E
OK, so he didn ’t the tec hnolog do it alone. He y; he ju didn’t redeem st abus ed him ed it. H create self by comed e almos team yb t his own and, The Lone ing up with ly Islan m d parod a Boat’. usic style wit yin ht H inadver owever, he’s s he song ‘I’m O g till resp tently b onsible n ringing of Kany for about t e West h ’s “mus ‘music’ ic” (and e creation lightly) I use th , which a heino e term ca us and truly un n only be dee toward m forgive s the en able crim ed tire hum e an race . Thanks a lot, TPain.
B R I N G E R
O F
S A D N E S S
t s e b u o y Can
e y n a K ? T S E W
If it’s in a s ingin answ gc er West’s is probab ontest th en th ly yes c o m e ic are, w .K ell, c ally artific anye omic The o al to ial vocals nly c say th at be fu e nny. U ch is he i sn’t t least. nless case r ying we sh he is to , in w ould come all hic d and H ic prowes bow dow h s. n e use o artbreak’ His album to his f Aut o -Tun utilises e , ‘808s xt e voc al pr ensive When ocess inter ing. use o v f Aut iewed ab o -Tun out h said, is i eo “A singe uto -Tune n the alb ntense um, W r ”. Th make e at it c s ertai me a bett st nly d oes. er
EAST
Unfo rt Effec unately, th t’, a and t T-Pain, A nks to ‘Th echn n eC dy Hi ologi like S ldebr her cal o a think ulja Boy a advances nd , peo nd K they pl a can c roon. nye West e now Than ks a l ot, co mput ers.
La
er
R Jus bec J e i d M c tin a B y G han il dwar act B la ag na ey d Cy or ieb ck a r us er B O La R l J a n e dy ihan Mil dw e D ck E Bl Ga na ey ard ir y e ack ga C c t y i r on S us B o ulj Je On lac Mil dwar e D k E JL a B na ey C d irec yed S oy yrus S tion Pe T as T B h o
Re
POP h c t Pi erfect P
j a on E JLS Bo Ch Ch y er L yl C as B yed l P y r ol o yod e ther eas Th X od e J Fa s on c Re t C or as h J L X ust becc ad ery B Fa in a B y G l C roth B ol c a l t g ers or ieb ack a e ers er bec Lad Ri Je On Re ca y G han Mil dw e D Bl a na ey ard ir e C ieb ack ga c y rus er
h
oul
ack
eJ
Bl
Th
BE WARNED!
An army of pre pubescent boy bands that sound like robots are taking over the world (like robots).
T-Pain’s naive revival of ‘The Cher Effect’ in mainstream pop music has led to what seems like a never ending torrent of pitch perfect pop stars. Can they really sing? Who knows! JLS, Cher Llyod, Justin Bieber, The Jonas Brothers, Miley Cyrus and One Direction to name but a few of these insipid creatures.
One Direction seem aptly named in my opinion, as once they come on to the TV you find yourself move in literally one direction - to reach for the remote. Thanks a lot, X Factor.
R&B That
O
OT ! d n Sou
WELCOME TO THE FUTURE
U T O A Y G O L O TECHNof
T
T
! y a d To
U N
, W O R OMOR
E
Not everyone’s falling for it and jumping on the Auto -Tune bandwagon. Many musicians have taken a firm stance in opposition of its extreme use. Protests have taken form in a number of different ways; from releasing singles, to wearing lovely blue ribbons during live performances.
If these anti Auto -Tune renegades were The Avengers, then their Captain America would be Jay-Z. He led the fight by releasing the single D.O.A (Death of Auto -Tune). It was a statement on how he thinks excessive use of the software needs to be stopped. Someone should probably tell him that all the artists that feature in his songs use it. Poor guy.
To add insult to injury, the release of his single, D.O.A had the opposite effect he had hoped for and actually boosted sales of the Auto -Tune software. President of marketing for Antares, Marco Alpert said, “The Jay-Z controversy is great. We could never buy PR like this!”.
❉
❉
❉
❉
❉
❉
❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉
FIGHTING BACK
It’s just one of those things Jay-Z, mate.
Abso lute tunin ly no voc al go corre ction r pitch the m was used a in this r king of ecord !
Another well known recording artist fighting the good fight is one, Christina Aguilera. She appeared in public in LA on August 10, 2009 sporting a t-shirt saying, “Auto -Tune is for pussies”. However, she later said in an interview with Sirius/XM that Auto -Tune “wasn’t bad if used in a creative way” and went on to say she had used it on her song “Elastic Love” from the album Bionic. Yikes! At the 51st Grammy Awards, alternative rock band, Death Cab for Cutie wore blue ribbons to protest against the use of the vocal editing software in the music industry. Upon reflection, if Auto -Tune stops artists from sounding like Death Cab for Cutie, then maybe its a good thing after all. Alternative country and western singer, Allison Moorer released an album called, Miss Fortune which had a sticker on the front saying, ‘Absolutely no vocal tuning or pitch correction was used in the making of this record.’
❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉ ❉
❉
A large number of other artists are also in support of this anti Auto-Tune movement. Noteable members of this resistance are Loretta Lynn, Dolly Parton, Trisha Yearwood, Vince Gill, Garth Brooks, Martina McBride and Reba McEntire. It’s interesting to see so many country and western artists opposed to the use of Auto-Tune in pop, hip-hop and R&B. It’s almost as if country and western singers aren’t fans of rap music. Who’da thunk it?
D U O L C EVERY
y r o g e s r r G othe ING Br The
N I L R E V L I S A HAS
It’s not all doom and gloom. Every cloud has a silver lining. In the case of AutoTune, that silver lining appears in the form of The Gregory Brothers. A band started in 2007 and famous for their music viral video series, ‘Auto-Tune the News’. Their formula simple, yet genius. Take the recorded voices of politicians, news anchors, political pundits, celebrities and members of the public interviewed on the news, then digitally manipulate them to conform to a melody; making the figures appear to sing. The band attained global recognition and success with their online video, ‘Bed Intruder Song’. It was viewed 7.1 million times in it’s first month and went on to become the most watched video on YouTube for 2010. If you are unfamiliar with the works of The Gregory Brothers, I suggest you get onto YouTube yourself and check out ‘Winning - a song by Charlie Sheen’ as well as ‘Can’t Hug Every Cat a song about loving cats’. These are my personal favourites. You simply haven’t experienced true laughter until you’ve seen these videos. Thank you Gregory Brothers, for making us all smile again.
“
A dream you dream alone is only a dream.
A dream you dream together is reality. - John Lennon
I’m T-Pain, you know me, konvict music nappy boy, oh wee. - T-Pain