Auto-Tune, is it abused?

[MusicMistress]

Now hey, I listen to rap and autotune has no place in any of the rap I like. The more organic, the better.

As far as concerts go, there's a lot more going on there than we readily admit. A lot of sound effects and vocal effects and all sorts of things beyond or other than auto-tune. A lot of the older guys we go see have an audio vocal track to help them out. Roger Waters for one! Me, I think live shows should be completely live and completely raw. For example I think Pink Floyd should forego the sound effects at a live gig, let the music speak for itself. For example I have a recording where for the intro to money they were actually throwing some change around or something. Sounded completely different but it was really cool. Then again I think everybody should be raw and live on their studio records too, so what do I know?

But S&S brings to mind a staggeringly romantic concept... imagine some poor little twerp, with no technical talent to speak of, mired in poverty, but with a brilliant mind and a knack for composing genuine pop masterpices. Imagine this person composes these amazing songs all on his own and then uses a bootlegged copy of pro-tools to turn his scraggily voice listenable and his songs launch to the top of the charts! Beautiful... too bad this is not the end to which auto-tune is commonly employed. Also there's the fact that I'd much, much rather here his scraggily voice than some computerized piece o' crud.

You are going to have to explain to me what "organic" means in your terms. To me, organic means pure and from the heart with natural percussion and acoustic instruments. I am sure the rap artists are 'rappin' from the heart, but the music is sure fabricated scratch and beats.

I did watch 8 Mile, that was as close to rap as I could stand, and I never saw any band or instruments acompany those rap artists.

 

[AboutAGirl]

You are going to have to explain to me what "organic" means in your terms. To me, organic means pure and from the heart with natural percussion and acoustic instruments. I am sure the rap artists are 'rappin' from the heart, but the music is sure fabricated scratch and beats.

I did watch 8 Mile, that was as close to rap as I could stand, and I never saw any band or instruments acompany those rap artists.

8 Mile was one of my fave movies, but if that's as close to rap as you've ever been then it's no wonder you don't know rap can be organic. There is plenty of rap music that is organic. Nowhere near the percentage I'd like, but a lot of rappers use organic beats and real instruments. Heck, my favorite rappers are more raw and organic than every indie rock band from the 00s. For starters, you've clearly never heard of the roots. Nuthin' wrong with that but it's time for you to see 'em.



You don't have to dig the songs but you can't deny it's organic. The Roots do all their music with instruments and apparently this track features the Monsters of Folk band...



My favorite rapper is Immortal Technique. A lot of underground rappers like him use organic beats that sound more raw than anything the radio has played in 15 years.

 

[MusicMistress]

I wont say anything bad about your music genre choices, since I know you like this type music. What I do appreciate is your explanation and examples.

I do understand what you mean by "organic". If I was into rap, this would definitely be the type of artists I would seek. They do have talent. I can see why Immortal Technique is your favorite, it wasn't what I was expecting. I am going to search this guy out a bit more. Cant promise I will end up a fan, but I like his style.

 

[LXA]

Autotune shouldn't even exist. Its so overused its not even funny. Every musician nowadays use it. ****ing retarded. Its the worst thing to happen to the music industry since... since well, john lennon died.
Theres nothing artistic about sounding like a douchebag.
Even if you use it to correct your voice it sucks, it makes you sound so artificial and fabricated, and it completely destroys any artistic intregrity you may have once had blah blah i hate autotune with all my guts.

 

[Fisha]

Umm if you mean it shouldn't be used in the T-Pain way sure I can accept that but autotune has been a staple of the industry for a long time on a lot of tracks you'd never even know so I think you're being a tad hard on it

 

[LXA]

Oh no, it gives music this fake feel to it. It takes away the authenticity of it. So what if you don't have a perfect voice, thats what makes people unique. If everyone tried to make their voice this like this, there would be nothing unique about the music industry.... oh right, they already have done that now.

 

[Fast Eddie]

yes...autotune is abused to no end...one thing i love about listening to live music from the mid/late 60's to early 70's was the rawness in sound...my favorite boots come from groups like hendrix,clapton,beck,bloomfield,page etc...where the timbre of the instrument almost had a life of its own and that combined with how the musician was feeling at the moment could sometimes cause an instrument,specifically the guitar to almost come to life and have a voice of its own...

with certain present day "virtuosos" the music almost has a manufactured sound and watered down feeling because it comes off as being almost to perfect or rehearsed...

i love that fly by the seat of your pants feeling i get from listening to the old masters

 

[Fisha]

Oh no, it gives music this fake feel to it. It takes away the authenticity of it. So what if you don't have a perfect voice, thats what makes people unique. If everyone tried to make their voice this like this, there would be nothing unique about the music industry.... oh right, they already have done that now.

I promise you, the majority of songs with it on you wouldn't even know

 

[LG]

^^Don't you find it a little like...cheating Fisha?

I have been going to shows since the 70's, and grown up with "Organic" live concerts, consisting of the band/artist, the sound board/engineer, and their PA equipment.

Maybe younger music fans don't mind "Sampling", "Mechanical Droning Beats", and "Altered Vocal", but those of us who have grown up in the golden era of live events want the Real Thing, warts and all thank you.

If you are referring to the plethora of new Pop artists etc., that use auto-tune as a staple live, then it has no effect on me, I don't have any of their music in my collection and don't care what they do live either.

 

[Slip'nn2Darkness]

Pop music is big on using auto tune.. But I consider anybody using it for a rock song is going too far..

This commercial that came out during the super bowl cracked me up