Autotune Hypersensitivity?

[Phil O]

A discussion in a thread here led me to do a little listening of mixes done by Chris Lord-Alge. I came across a YouTube post of Michael Buble and Reese Witherspoon doing "Something Stupid." Is there an outrageous amount of pitch correction on Reese's vocals, or is that just the sound of her voice, or have I acquired an acute case of Autotune Hypersensitivity?

Phil

[dix]

You may think you're hearing AT when you're not. It's getting harder and harder to tell. As this video demonstrates young singers are doing what young singers have always done by imitating their heros voices. It was only a matter of time really.

"Singer Sings As If She's AutoTuned": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXypB4tOlOc …a beautiful track btw.

[HCMarkus]

Yeah, but Reese Witherspoon? I haven't heard the track, but my guess is Phil's impression is probably the correct one here.

[Phil O]

As this video demonstrates young singers are doing what young singers have always done by imitating their heros voices. It was only a matter of time really.

Hmm. I hope this doesn't become a trend. It makes me cringe. Maybe I'm just getting old.

Phil

[Phil O]

Yeah, but Reese Witherspoon? I haven't heard the track, but my guess is Phil's impression is probably the correct one here.

I haven't seen Walk the Line. Didn't she do her own vocals in that movie. Was she any good?

Hmmm. On to more YouTube research.

Phil

[twistedtom]

I do not have Autotune, so I am a bit ignorant on it, I can hear it used in some extreme cases, and places where it is made into an effect, but I am not sure I can always tell when it is used. I some times get a bit out of key here and there when I sing, and thought of getting it. I have used DP to fix some of my vocals, I also tried "pitch quantizing" but it sucked the life out of the vocals and they sounded worse. Maybe I just do not know how to quantize. I hear Melodeon is much more natural, does Autotune kill the subtle fluctuations in vocals? What about the less expensive Autotune, is it ok?

[gavspen]

You may think you're hearing AT when you're not. It's getting harder and harder to tell. As this video demonstrates young singers are doing what young singers have always done by imitating their heros voices. It was only a matter of time really.

"Singer Sings As If She's AutoTuned": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CXypB4tOlOc …a beautiful track btw.

That's wild! How the hell does she do that? Sorta like yodeling or something, but with small intervals.

That said, I wouldnt imagine Reese Witherspoon would be doing Autotune impersonations, so if it sounds autotuned it probably is. I must say though, I listened to the track and he pretty much covers her up..I couldnt tell. I saw "Walk The Line" and she sounded just fine. If she was autotuned, I didnt hear it.

I'd never tried to autotune a vocal till the other day and I didnt find it very useful, but then I probably dont know what I'm doing. I suppose if you can make it work without adding the annoying "effect" thing, then you'd never know it's there. Maybe everything is autotuned!

Gavin

[Phil O]

...I'd never tried to autotune a vocal till the other day and I didnt find it very useful, but then I probably dont know what I'm doing...

I tried a demo of Autotune a few years back and found it to be awful. Perhaps it's improved since then. Dunno.

I try to avoid pitch correction by working towards a good vocal take, or at the very least multiple takes and some work with the comp tool. But, sometimes when you're up against the wall and the budget is not working in your favor, pitch correction saves the day. I haven't figured out why DP is sometimes better and sometimes Melodyne is better, but I usually start with DP and switch to Melodyne if I'm not getting a good sound. Also there are just some things DP does better and some things Melodyne does better, so it's good to have both. I actually corrected the pitch of one string on an acoustic guitar with Melodyne. I was quite impressed with its ability to find all the notes in a polyphonic track. But the bottom line is, if you use pitch correction, use it subtly or it will sound like crap. JMHO.

Phil