By now I'm sure you've heard the news that Kanye West is addicted to auto-tune and plasters the pitch-perfecting device all over his latest album. Adding his name to the list of musicians who have used the software—T Pain, Cher, JoJo, Jennifer Lopez—automatically gives Auto-Tune a bit of credit, because honestly without Kanye (and Lil Wayne) it's a pretty embarrassing list. But here's my question: Why should I care about auto-tune? Moreover, why should I care about auto-tune when there are other voice distortion mechanisms out there that have cooler, more mind-boggling effects?
For example, Stevie Wonder often used the "talk box"—an effects pedal that connects to a musician's mouth via a plastic tube. So feel free to get all worked up over Kanye's bold move if you want, but I'll stick with this unreal video of Stevie playing "Papa Was a Rolling Stone" on THREE pianos, a talk box, and even a harmonica at the end!
Part of me really wonders if they didn't just put three keyboards in front of him to make sure he wouldn't miss. Sorry, that was bad.
And if the talk box doesn't do it for you, how about the sonovox, which literally attaches to the singer's throat:
(Also, I have no idea what this guy's talking about at the end of the video, so if you have an idea I'd be happy to hear it)
—Gabriel Baker
We can't mention the talk-box without talking about its most famous user: Peter Frampton.
Actually, let's not talk about it, a mere acknowledgment is enough.
My point is, the talk-box isn't without it's own crimes against music, and I’d argue that auto-tune is no more inherently evil than any other effect. Why it has swept the hip-hop world (or at least the radio hip-hop world) is another mystery altogether.
I won't pretend to have an answer to this question, and this might just be one of those impossible enigmas the universe has bestowed on us. I also have a feeling that like most trends, this too will pass, and relatively soon. The backlash has already begun, as T-Pain's new single, "Karaoke" takes aim at all of those who have ripped off his patented sound.
And, as strange as this is for me to say, I think I'm a T-Pain apologist. He writes consistently catchy songs that don't instantly have me reaching for the radio dial, and while his reliance on auto-tune is definitely gimmicky, it's somehow less grating than when Akon or Lil Wayne employs the same effect. The otherwise talented Wayne gets to me the most; it sounds like he's gurgling vomit during his verse on TiPain's "Can't Believe It." But commercial hip hop is about one thing, dollars, and right now the bottom line is auto-tune = $$$$$.
I really think the whole uproar over auto-tune is a bit overblown. Case in point is the FWMJ's Rappers I Know blog's excellent Death of Auto-tune post. Teddy Troutman and Roger Riley ran the vocals to classic hip hop songs like "Buck Em Down" and "Ante Up" through auto-tune in an effort to highlight how ridiculous the effect is in the context of classic hip hop. The results are hilarious and quite unintentionally enjoyable.
So, in a roundabout way of addressing your initial query, I don't think you should care about auto-tune. I don't think you need to embrace or hate it, it's a novelty. What you should keep doing is listening to Stevie kill it on the talkbox.
Here's Syreeta's wonderful version of "She's Leaving Home," featuring keyboards and talkboxed backing vocals from Stevie:
—Lloyd H. Cargo
Damnit, Lloyd. I thought I could make it through this whole year without hearing Peter Frampton's name. Way to fuck it up for me.
For some reason this whole discussion has reminded me of the way Steve Vai always "sings" along when he plays guitar; and by sings I mean makes terrifying orgasmic facial expressions . See "Bad Horsie" -- Check out about 2:10. It gets really scary about 2:25. I don't even want to talk about that weird guitar grinding he's doing; it's like Prince for pedophiles.
But enough about Steve Vai. And, for that matter, enough about the auto-tune. I'm gonna sound like the old man shouting at the kids to get off his lawn on this one, but the auto-tune, and the talkbox before it, are shitty and unnecessary commercial fluff, in my opinion. Even though, yes, I'll admit it, I once danced in drag to Cher's "Believe." I won't go into the why part of it all (cocaine's a hell of a drug), I'll just vow to never let it happen again.
T-Pain doesn't do it for me. I don't like "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)" for the same reason I don't like Trace Atkin's "Honky Tonk Badonkadonk." I think you know what I'm getting at here. Kanye, however, as much of an asshole as he is (just Google "Kanye West Asshole" and you'll get plenty of valid examples), is pretty damn good. In fact he's almost epic when Zach Galifiankis and Will Oldham make his videos.
What I find most interesting about the auto-tune is that its standard equipment in in the big boy recording industry, gently evening out flat notes here and little glitches there for your MTV/VH1 hitmakers. When it's used the way it was originally intended you would never know it was being used at all (just another fancy thingamajig to achieve maximum manufactured American Idol-style pop perfection). Sasha Frere-Jones did a whole write-up on it over at the New Yorker back in June:
"The New York producer Tom Beaujour, who records rock bands that sound nothing like contemporary R. & B. or pop, says that it gets used, in one way or another, in almost every session that he works on. Often, it solves logistical problems: an artist has left the studio and has no opportunity to return just to re-sing one or two off notes."
There's also a very interesting audio segment, wherein Frere-Jones plays around with the auto-tune, setting it to recode for just the note of G, for example. It's only when the auto-tune is set to rather extreme settings that you get the "Cher effect," as the auto-tune manual calls it. I had no idea it's use was so conventional or pervasive, since I'd only associated it with the T-Pain crowd. All the same, to me it's just another little uninteresting pop music gimmick.
—Zach Kaufmann
First, “Death of Auto-tune” is absolutely brilliant. But Lloyd, when you say "enjoyable" you are referring to listening to it for like 30 seconds each song right? Anything beyond that would drive me totally bonkers insane.
Here's a scary thought I want you guys to consider: What if auto-tune wasn't a fad? We're talking about it as if it was already passé, but clearly it's quite the opposite. T-Pain has rocked it for years, Cher's single is probably chronicled in some bullshit music volume somewhere as an historically important moment, and we haven't even scratched the surface of how successful it has been for Daft Punk. Even now "Digital Love" is still a banging track.
Maybe instead of a novelty act, when Cher set it to an extreme setting, she gave birth (I'm sorry about making you think about Cher giving birth) to a logical evolution. Hell, it might be a music staple for decades to come? I mean is auto-tune any more a novelty than mash ups?
All I can say is thank god Walé has never associated himself with this shit.
OH WAIT! NO it can't be! NO!!!!!!!
—Gabriel Baker
Now wait just a minute, Gaby. Let's just be honest here: we've all rubbed one out at one time or another to Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" video. That black one-piece and the fishnets. Damn.
I don't really think we need to take seriously the idea that the "Cher effect" auto-tune style will become some kind of mainstream staple, I'll bet that in five years we'll all be wondering what everyone was going on and on about in the first place. Seriously, I give it 5 years. Cher's never done it again, as far as I know. T-Pain's already getting fed up with everyone ripping him off. No, I think auto-tune's time has just about come and gone. Same thing with the Talk Box: no one thinks of that as anything but the 70s Frampton thing. Thirty years from now we'll all be saying, "Oh yeah, auto-tune, that T-Pain shit, right? Man, he sucked."
—Zach Kaufmann
Zach: five years? I wouldn't give auto-tune five more weeks.
At least not in the way it's cu rrently being used, I suspect that it will still serve it's intended pitch-correcting purpose indefinitely with the occasional T-Pain inspired cut here and there. Even if my time line is off, it will surely be replaced by some other annoying production fad sooner rather than later.
But in the interest of representing another side of an argument we all seem to fundamentally agree on, I'll attempt a defense of the misunderstood device. As Gaby mentioned, no one seemed to have any problems with Daft Punk's vocal manipulations. Maybe they get cut a little slack because of the whole robot thing, but it's more likely that no one cares because when they do it, it sounds good. And they aren't the only ones playing around with vocal effects, as Pitchfork's Scott Plagenhoef notes in his review of Kanye's auto-tune heavy 808s And Heartbreak; Battles, Dan Deacon, Radiohead, The Knife and even Bon Iver have all been lauded for their experimentation. Kanye hasn't really been getting too much heat for it either, even though nearly all of his new album is filtered through auto-tune, because largely, it effectively adds a layer of melancholy detachment to an album about the death of his mother and the dissolving of his relationship with his ex-fiancé.
Now clearly the use of auto-tune in commercial hip hop has passed the point of innovation, and is getting a bit annoying, but it seems to annoy critics and purists a lot more than your average listener. I think the whole kerfuffle is a bit reactionary, and while it's provoked an interesting (I hope) discussion amongst us, I'll be happy to lay this conversation to rest.
Here's the eulogy:
—Lloyd H. Cargo
