- Feb 18, 2018 Welcome to WatchMojo.com and today we’ll be taking a look at our picks for the top 10 Artists Who Heavily Use Auto Tune. For this list, we’ll be taking a look at singers and rappers like T.
- Real bands that started out playing small live gigs in bars and the like are less likely to need auto tuning than manufactured pop stars who are promoted more on image than singing chops.
- Aug 10, 2018 We’ve all heard about Auto-Tune® from the Kanye’s and Britney’s of the world. Yes, it corrects pitch and yes, it can make you sound better. Take one look at the Billboard top 100 and you’ll see artists like Taylor Swift, Katy Perry, Justin Beiber and more who use Auto-Tune® in many of their songs.
This article is going to be about Auto-Tune. Go grab your pitchforks … I’ll wait.
People don't understand pitch correction. You still have to be a good singer. If you have crappy tone, or your singing is lifeless and bland, no amount of pitch correction will save it. I'd say every single professionally produced vocal track th. Sep 11, 2010 Like a spellchecker or photo editing software can save us from our mistakes, the audio program Auto-Tune can correct a singer's bad notes and wavering pitch. Although the program is best known for the singing-through-a-fan, robotic vocal style that has dominated pop radio in recent years with stars like Lady.
For many of you, this is going to be a great article about the creative and practical uses of Auto-Tune in modern music. For another significant portion of you, this will be a great opportunity to make not-so-clever jokes like “the best technique with Auto-Tune is hiring a better singer!”
Love it or hate it, Auto-Tune is a thing. Download cooking stand restaurant game apk. And there are things about this thing worth knowing. So here are a few modern techniques for Auto-Tune.
The Two Categories of Use
In my mind Auto-Tune (or pitch correction in general) is used in one of two modes:
Mode A: A tool for locking in a few stray notes that missed the mark in spite of an otherwise rockin’ performance.
Mode B: An effect used to create a tone, much like a phaser or flanger or reverb or distortion.
Mode A is pretty straightforward — if a dirty note slides on by, hit it with just enough tuning to lock it back in. Generally, using a graphical mode from Auto-Tune, Waves Tune, Melodyne, etc. is the best way to do this. Or simply using an automatic mode and automating the Bypass works as well, unless some serious shifting is required.
Mode B is more fun. Within the world of being effect-y, there are a couple of ways to go. Auto-Tune can be used as a post effect — that is applying it after the initial recording, or the vocalist can sing into the plugin and manipulate it. I’m a fan of the latter. A very good vocalist can control their pitch and delivery enough to play off of how the tuning mechanism reacts and get a number of fun effects from it. Controlled slides and ‘distunes’ (I’m making that a word) can make the happy accident of tuning distortion into a creative tool.
Auto Tone
In today’s music, I often think of Auto-Tune as a tonal device (hence my horrible pun). Most of the time I’m trying to get a bit (or a lot) of sparkly, phase-y distortion. This creation of synthesized harmonics makes a voice sound a bit synth-y, or robotic depending on the approach. For the most part, people just tend to slap Auto-Tune on there and find a retune speed they like and roll with it. I’m a bit more neurotic and like a more refined approach. I’m pretty decisive about whether I’m abusing Melodyne, modern Auto-Tune or the classic ol’ school Auto-Tune. They all have different tones and sometimes one is more fitting than the others.
Melodyne generally has the most transparent tone. It can thin the low-mid of a vocal a little, but sometimes that can actually be a good thing. When abused, it has a specific color but it’s a very evenly distributed harmonic thing that happens — hard to put into words but it feels very “consistent”.
The current version of Auto-Tune is also pretty transparent but does do the quintessential Auto-Tune sound. The classic Auto-Tune, version 5.1 most notably, is really the one that we think of when we think T-Pain — because the formant shifting is the least accurate.
Then there’s the question of how much abuse I want. Just a touch of glitter, or full-on Robotron.
If I want just a touch, one really easy technique is to use two instances of Auto-Tune, both set to very slow retune speeds. The reprocessing of the tuned vocal generates harmonics on top of harmonics allowing for a subtle yet ever-present flavor. Because I’m using slow tuning speeds it also means that the tuning effect is fairly homogenous.
Melodyne Into Auto-Tune
However, sometimes I want a much more printed effect that still stays on the vocal in a consistent way. I find that by coupling Melodyne with Auto-Tune I can get a very even, yet very effected sound.
A great example of this is the vocal tracking for “Comentale” by Ozuna and Akon.
The chain for both vocals was Melodyne first in graphical mode just getting the notes a bit closer to center, and then Auto-Tune with a pretty fast retune speed to create the effected tone. The only place the Auto-Tune really ever varies tonally is when Akon does his faster note runs. When he does this I prefer to let the Auto-Tune glitch up a little because I like the texture it creates. Kon is very smart about where he places these glitches in his delivery — which I’m going to touch on again in a moment. As a side note, both Ozuna and Akon sang into Auto-Tune Pro during the recording in order to make the sound very deliberate — with Ozuna set to the regular mode and Akon set to the “classic” mode. The whole process is a lot more calculated than simply slapping Auto-Tune on there.
That said, sometimes you can just slap Auto-Tune on there.
Automating Auto-Tune
Sometimes I don’t want Auto-Tune to act evenly on everything. As I mentioned before, Akon is very particular about how he blends his voice with Auto-Tune. He will go out of his way to glitch it on purpose in order to create captivating moments. When he does this I take that as a cue to automate the settings on Auto-Tune to emphasize the effect.
Basically, I’m just picking up what he’s putting down. A lot of people associate Kon with heavy Auto-Tune, but when I think of his style I really think of someone with a masterful delivery above all else. He shapes his vocal tone and personality very carefully. For an artist who does this, I actually don’t like the Auto-Tune to be overly heavy. My default here is “classic” Auto-Tune (that 5.1 algorithm sound) with a retune speed of 12ms (maybe less for a more serious song, maybe more for a more club-oriented song). Admittedly this is pretty fast because I do want that distinct tone. But it’s not the T-Pain 0 millisecond sound. On certain runs or moments, I’ll automate the retune speed either very fast to bring out the glitches, or slow it down to keep things a little more subtle.
Manual Formant Shifting
Formant shifting is an underutilized effect. When we speak, our vowel sounds are determined by the shape of our mouths. These harmonic signatures, determined by mouth shape, are called formants. In order to preserve the sound of a voice during pitch correction, the formants have to be adjusted accordingly.
Pitch correction software generally does this automatically — but sometimes it’s not 100% spot-on. So most pitch software will allow us to manually adjust formants when needed to compensate. Higher formants refer to brassier tones like “a”, “ah” and “e” sounds, while lower formants refer to rounder tones like “oo”, “oh”, and “uh”. Sometimes it’s fun to abuse this formant shifting to create a variety of textures. We can do this on background vocals to make them sound less like the lead and more like different voices. Or, we can do this on a lead to make it sound like a singing chipmunk or Frankenstein’s monster.
Getting Creative
What’s the fun in writing an article if we can’t be a little creative? Here’s some next level stuff that my weirdo brain likes to get into.
The first thing that tickles my fancy is the relationship between pitch correction and reverb. You may notice that if you’ve ever printed or committed Auto-Tune it will not null against the original track. That means that the same track printed through Auto-Tune is not technically the same thing as the track with active Auto-Tune on it.
Ok … so what?
Well, the discrepancy between the two comes down to phase rotation. The micro-timing of the track changes, which changes the phase of the signal. Phase is an extremely important aspect of determining spatiality. Because I often use outboard reverb I found that if I print the reverb back in, and subsequently commit my Auto-Tune settings after the reverb print, the vocal will actually feel a bit more forward and disconnected from the reverb and have a stronger front to back image. Weird little quirk.
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We can also do a doubler effect by making three instances of our source track and pitch correcting a left pan version up a few cents higher, and the right pan version a few cents lower, keeping the main version right in the center. This works very similarly to a classic doubler but because there’s movement in the pitch we get a bit of a phaser quality as well as an image that actually expands and contracts a bit. It’s a bit more movement-driven, which can be good or bad depending on what we want.
Lastly, I really like delays into Auto-Tune. We can get the glitchiest sound in the world and it sounds very futuristic and cool as a delay. Great for something we want to have a hint of sci-fi sound to it.
Conclusion
Auto-Tune is part of our musical landscape. Personally, I prefer to look for ways to expand the use of the tool rather than try to fight the cultural wave.
How do you find yourself using Auto-Tune? Have any of your experiments gone right?
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Program Description
(Program not available for streaming.) NOVA scienceNOW talks to the engineers behind Auto-Tune, the pitch-correction software that turns sour notes into sweet ones. Professional musicians from Madonna to Snoop Dogg use Auto-Tune, but can the software turn host Neil deGrasse Tyson into a singing star?
Transcript
Auto-Tune
PBS Airdate: June 30, 2009
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: 'Ourlove was like a supernova,'
Yeah,I sing.
'In the nebula of my soul.'
Okay,I'm not great.
'But now I find her heart is like a bigblack hole.'
Allright, I'm terrible. But here's what I'm wondering: if, digitally, you canremove red-eye, smooth over wrinkles, make people look thinner, then why don'twe have the technology to make me sing better?
ANDYHILDEBRAND (Antares Audio Technologies): We can fix Neil.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: This guy invented away to do it.
ANDYHILDEBRAND: We can fix Neil's pitch. He'sstill going to sound like Neil, though.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: Electrical engineerand inventor Andy Hildebrand designs pitch-correction software. He calls itAuto-Tune.
'Pitchcorrection?' Is that a euphemism for 'fixing bad singers?'
ANDYHILDEBRAND: Yes, we fix bad singers.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: I visited Andy atAntares Audio Technologies in Scotts Valley California, where he and engineerJustin Malo..
JUSTINMALO: Hey,Neil.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: ..showed me how itworks.
Hummmmmmmmmm.
ANDYHILDEBRAND: Great. There you go. You didthat.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: That wavy line representsthe exact frequency of my voice. This line shows where a perfect A should be,so, not too bad.
ANDYHILDEBRAND: He's right dead nuts on in tune.Look at that.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: So how does acomputer know that?
ANDYHILDEBRAND: When you hear A, you'rehearing 440 vibrations per second.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: So somebody at thebeginning of time said 440 vibrations per second is an A?
ANDYHILDEBRAND: A.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: So, if you sing orplay a pitch at 440 cycles per second, the computer calls it an A and it restson this line. B-flat would go on the line above it, G-sharp below, and so on.
'Butnow I find her heart..'
Whenyou're out of tune, the notes don't fall so neatly onto the lines of the grid.
'..big..'
That'sawful.
'..blackhole.'
ANDYHILDEBRAND: Well, it's creative, it'screative. Okay.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: '..supernova..'
Thoselines are me singing the word 'super.'
'supernova..'
Mypitch is all over the place. If anything, it's closest to this note, here.
JUSTINMALO: Neil,you sang an F, which normally is okay, if you're in the key of F. And we're not,so we moved your F to an E.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: 'Supernova..'
SoJustin gently nudges it down to where an E would be.
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'Supernova..'
You'rechanging the frequency of the sound that came out of my vocal cords.
JUSTINMALO: Actually,yes.
ALVINAND THE CHIPMUNKS (Audio recording):'Christmas, Christmas..'
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON:Changingpitch isn't new. You can change someone's voice by fast forwarding on a taperecorder, but you'd sound like..
ALVINAND THE CHIPMUNKS (Audio recording):'Christmas, Christmas time ishere.'
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: ..well, achipmunk.
Pitchcorrection software lets you change the pitch..
'Supernova..'
..whilekeeping the essential tone of a voice the same.
Andso, although few engineers are willing to admit it, pitch correction software,like Auto-Tune, has become an indispensable tool in most recording studios.
ANDYHILDEBRAND: It's been used by a lot ofpeople: Madonna..
MADONNA (Film clip): 'Music makes the bourgeoisie..'
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: ..Celine Dion..
CELINEDION (Film clip): 'You got one heart you are following..'
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: Reba McEntire usesit live?
REBAMcENTIRE (Film clip): 'Starting over again..'
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: You're telling me asinger can sing into a microphone a bad note, and out the speakers comes a goodnote?
ANDYHILDEBRAND: Yes.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: Now, that's evil.
ANDYHILDEBRAND: To modify something isn'tnecessarily evil. My wife wears makeup. Is that evil?
Isthat okay, honey?
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: Evil or not, therecording industry kept Auto-Tune on the down-low.
ANDYHILDEBRAND: The secret popped out of thebag when Cher did 'Believe.'
CHER(Film clip): 'Do you believe in lifeafter love?'
ANDYHILDEBRAND: I couldn't believe it.
CHER(Film clip): '..aside and I can't breakthrough..'
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: Rather thangradually and naturally reaching up to each note..
CHER(Film clip): 'I can feel somethinginside me say..'
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: ..like this,Cher's producer forced Auto-Tune to jump suddenly from one pitch to the next.
CHER(Film clip): 'I feel something inside mesay..'
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: Is this some knobthat you turn?
ANDYHILDEBRAND: Yes.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: All right.
ANDYHILDEBRAND: And we can turn this knob tozero, which means 'move instantaneously to the new pitch.' And so, if we dothat, your voice would sound like this.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: 'But nowI find her heart..'
Didyou plan for people to use it that way?
ANDYHILDEBRAND: No. I didn't think anybody intheir right mind would ever use it that way.
Auto Tune Star
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: Well a lot ofartists do.
T-PAIN(Film clip): 'She got me doing the dishes
Anything she want for some kisses'
OJO(Film clip): 'I wasyoung and in love..'
SNOOPDOG (Film clip): 'She might be with him but she's thinkin' boutme, me, me.'
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: But it's mostlyused to tweak out-of-tune performances—a kind of cosmetic surgery.
'..bigblack hole.'
Inmy case though, more like triple-bypass. Frozen cooking games free download for pc.
ANDYHILDEBRAND: Try to change this to the keyof C.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: Moving the tracesof my voice up in pitch or down..
'..supernova..'
..Justincoaxes me into tune.
'Supernova
ofmy soul..'
Ittook several hours.
'..ofmy soul..'
Howwell did it work? You be the judge.
'Ourlove was like a supernova Auto tune tune percent corrected calculator.
Inthe nebula of my soul, but now I find
herheart is like a big black hole..'
JUSTINMALO: It'sa lot more pleasing.
NEILDeGRASSE TYSON: I thought the firstone sounded pretty good myself, I don't know.
Kiddingaside, there's no substitute for training or talent.
ANDYHILDEBRAND: If the singer doesn't have agood tonality to their voice, we're not going to make that better.
Dous a favor. Don't go on American Idol.
Broadcast Credits
Auto-Tune
- Produced and Edited by
- Vincent Liota
NOVA scienceNOW
- Executive Producer
- Samuel Fine
- Executive Editor
- Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Senior Series Producer
- Vincent Liota
- Senior Producer
- Julia Cort
- Supervising Producers
- Stephen Sweigart
Joey David Jovanovich - Senior Editor and Colorist
- David Chmura
- Senior Researcher
- Sharon Kay
- Associate Producer
- Fran Laks
- Assistant Editor
- Tung-Jen (Sunny) Chiang
- Graphic Design
- Brian Edgerton
- Compositor & Animator
- Yunsik Noh
- Music
- Rob Morsberger
- Sound Mix
- Bill Cavanaugh, RazorMix, Inc.
- Assistant to Neil deGrasse Tyson
- Elizabeth Stachow
- NOVA scienceNOW Series Animation
- Edgeworx
- Associate Producers
- Julie Crawford
Jonathan Loewald
Richard Marnell
Laura Willcox - Camera
- Austin de Besche
Brian Dowley
Robin Hirsh
Stephen Kazmierski
Rob Lyall - Sound Recordists
- John Cameron
James Lindsey
Len Schmitz
Chris Strollo - Animation and Graphics
- Anthony Kraus
Sputnik Animation
James LaPlante
Dan Nutu - Researchers
- Ethan Herberman
Eric Olson - ArchivalMaterial
- AP Worldwide Photos
BBC Motion Gallery
CNN Image Source
Corbis
The Frederick News-Post and Randall Family, LLC
Getty Images
Josh Landis
National Science Foundation
NASA
Prelinger Internet Archives
The San Diego Union-Tribune
Schenectady Museum & Suits-Bueche Planetarium
Steven Snyder
WTC: The First 24 Hours, Producers; Etienne Sauret & David Carrara - Special Thanks
- Jason Bannan, FBI microbiologist
Carnegie Mellon University
Dave and Busters
Gemological Institute of America
Justin Goger Malo
George Gray, Gray Jewelers
Susan Hrishenko
Northern Arizona University
David Rasko
Sandia National Laboratories
University of Maryland School of Medicine - Neil deGrasse Tyson
- is director of the Hayden Planetarium in theRose Center for Earth and Space at the American Museum of Natural History.
- NOVA Series Graphics
- yU + co.
- NOVA Theme Music
- Walter Werzowa
John Luker
Musikvergnuegen,Inc. - Additional NOVA Theme Music
- Ray Loring
Rob Morsberger - Post Production Online Editor
- Spencer Gentry
- Closed Captioning
- The Caption Center
- NOVA Administrator
- Mykim Dang
- Publicity
- Carole McFall
Eileen Campion
Victoria Louie
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Karen Laverty - Marketing
- Steve Sears
- Researcher
- Kate Becker
- Senior Researcher
- Gaia Remerowski
- Production Coordinator
- Linda Callahan
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- Sarah Erlandson
- Talent Relations
- Scott Kardel, Esq.
Janice Flood - Legal Counsel
- Susan Rosen
- Production Assistant
- Ryan Murdock
- Post Production Assistant
- Darcy Forlenza
- AssociateProducer, Post Production
- Patrick Carey
- Post Production Supervisor
- Regina O'Toole
- Post Production Editors
- Rebecca Nieto
Jason York - Post Production Manager
- Nathan Gunner
- Compliance Manager
- Linzy Emery
- Development Producer
- Pamela Rosenstein
- Business Manager
- Joseph P. Tracy
- Senior Producer and Project Director
- Lisa Mirowitz
- Coordinating Producer
- Laurie Cahalane
- Senior Science Editor
- Evan Hadingham
- Senior Series Producer
- Melanie Wallace
- Managing Director
- Alan Ritsko
- Senior Executive Producer
- Paula S. Apsell
This material is based upon worksupported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 0638931. Anyopinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in thismaterial are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views ofthe National Science Foundation.
NOVA scienceNOW is a trademark of the WGBH Educational Foundation
NOVA scienceNOW is produced for WGBH/Boston by NOVA
© 2009 WGBH Educational Foundation
All rights reserved
- (Neil deGrasse Tyson singing) Courtesy T. Robin Hirsh
Participants
Auto Tune Singing Apps
- Andy Hildebrand
- Antares Audio Technologies www.antarestech.com/