}

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Singin' in the wires



This video does a pretty good job of explaining how Auto-Tune took over American pop music. I saw this over at Joe.My.God., which was timely: This past weekend I had a look at the Top 10 on Billboard’s charts and seven of them definitely used Auto-Tune, and I think at least one more did, too (it’s hard to tell from a 30-second snippet). The point is, can’t pop singers actually, you know, sing any more?

Side note: I've seen this in several different places, so I can't remember where I saw it first. But I'll credit Joe.My.God. anyway because it's one of my favourite sites.

5 comments:

Roger Owen Green said...

In re: last question: no.

Nik said...

Yeah, I despise the mechanical sound they make. I tried listening to a bit of Lady GaGa the other day to see what the fuss was about but all I could hear was generic fuzzed-out machines singing for her.

Arthur Schenck said...

These things always go in cycles, and I'm sure it'll pass sooner rather than later. But, as much as I don't like its over-use, I don't necessarily mind ALL of it, including some Lady GaGa, actually. In such cases, I just listen to it more as an experience, rather than a "real" song. At the right time, under the right circumstances, even Auto-Tuned songs can be fun.

Still, I wouldn't mind some good singers at least SOME of the time! Hell, at this point I'd settle for some singers who are only mediocre!

Mark from Slap said...

I agree with you, Arthur. Autotune, when used as an audio effect (and not to compensate for lack of talent) isn't necessarily a bad thing, in moderation.

Although you should join us for karaoke one night, Arthur. No matter what your ultimate opinion is, you'll beg for someone to install autotune by the end of my turn! ;)

Arthur Schenck said...

Yep, that's exactly what I was thinking. As for karaoke, we often have that at parties, actually, so I'm familiar with the gist of what you're saying. But maybe you two will have to come to NZ on holiday so I can decide for myself if you need Auto-Tune… :-)