Auto-Tune

Cher does it. Everybody's doing it...

How good does a singer have to be? When you hear a song on the radio, how do you know if they really can sing? I for one can't be sure anymore and it's all Auto Tunes fault!

There was a time when if a singer hit a bum note, they'd have to do it again. Not anymore. Pitch correction is here. In fact we've been using it at Hullabaloo for six years. It's a godsend for record producers that have to make a average singer sound good, or it can make people lazy, thinking that anything can be fixed in post. But if you get that great vocal with just a small mistake, it's worth it's weight in gold.

There's a joke that's been around for a few years;

A singer is recording a vocal in a studio. "How was that take?" he says.
"Crap" replies the pro-tools engineer. "come on in, we're done".

But there's a lot of truth behind that joke. Auto Tune corrects intonation problems in vocals and solo instruments, in real time, while preserving all of the expressive nuance of the original performance. Have a listen to a before and after.

Auto tune was developed by Harold 'Andy' Hildebrand, a geophysicist with a love of music. He used technology from his geophysical background to create music processing products. In 1997 he released Auto Tune (a plug-in for Pro Tools), which became an instant phenomenon and the biggest selling plug-in of all time.

Having used this processor for six years, I can say it can be truly amazing, but the final result depends upon the original vocal. If the singer needs only minor pitch correction, you get great results, but if they need major surgery, you have to drive the processor hard and you can end up with a 'robotic' sound as it 'steps' between notes. You also get a lifeless performance.

It was Cher who used this robotic sound to her gain. On the single "Believe" you may have noticed that her voice jumps on the word 'believe'.  This became a great hook for the song and helped make it number one (and broke a 25yr drought since her previous number one). Many have used this effect since then, including our own Kylie.  Want to hear it?  Click on play below.

Auto Tune 'listens' to a vocal and decides what note they are singing, and then corrects it according to user parameters. We can tell it what key the song is in, or to only correct the note 'G'. It's totally flexible. You can use it on just a word or line, or the whole song.

But it will save time and therefore money. If you record that great vocal but it just has the one small pitch problem, auto Tune is fantastic. It's also good to create some unique vocal effects.

So next time you're in the studio recording your next number one, don't worry if you're having a bad pitch day. If we say "that was crap! You're free to go", you know you're in good hands.