Yes, that’s why I wrote “can be”; some performers are really good at their craft, others can’t hardly play guitar. It was done with studio musicians, i.e. “the wrecking crew” etc.
I have absolute pitch and find out-of-tune music to be borderline unbearable. It’s hard to describe but it’s almost like physical pain, just a really uncomfortable sensation that makes me feel very tense and like I want to run away. So AutoTune is just fine with me.
I get the sense the OP is more interested in the “invisible” use of auto-tune, as opposed to the musical “HEY LOOK IT ME! I’M A SOUND LIKE AN AUTOTUNED ROBOT!” effect type of auto-tune, judging by their comments in this thread.
“Auto-tune” does NOT only mean robotic vocals. That’s one use of it – as an effect. More subtly (and its original intent), it’s used to clean up slightly off-key notes and to nudge them into the right pitch. It’s used on a lot of music over the last 15 -20 years where you would never suspect it’s being used.
Yeah, this. It’s not the notion that the performer is “cheating” that bothers me; it’s the awful sound itself, as overdone in the trashpop music world. Sets my teeth on edge. Affected and unpleasant, it sounds like someone pinching their nose off to imitate a person with a head cold.
My favorite singer(s) would never use auto-tune; believe me, I’d know.
I think some folks may be surprised to hear that even some recordings of opera performances use auto-tune judiciously. It’s surprisingly ubiquitous.
I dislike auto-tune.
Peasoup! I’ve never heard it called that. It’s perfect!
But, yeah, it got overdone. (And I do love some disco.)
I can’t remember where I first heard it. It may have been from Andy Partridge describing the drum beat in parts of “Generals and Majors,” but I’ve heard it around to describe that closed-open eighth note hi-hat pattern. (ETA: Here’s the Partridge quote in #6.)
ETA2: Although this may be where I first read it.(Or, maybe not, as that’s about “Meccanik Dancing.”)
Bob Dylan? Leonard Cohen? Curt Cobain?
Honestly, those of us without perfect pitch experience the same sensation. For example, an out of tune string bend on a guitar is horrendous. It creates dissonance, a different note than what is expected… and that causes tension in the brain.
I may not know that the dodgy note is an E or a C# etc, but I know that it’s not good!
Whether or not I find auto-tune “forgivable” depends upon context. For cleaning studio recordings? As long as it’s subtle I don’t care. As a deliberate effect? If it integrates well with the piece, sure, it’s just another artistic choice. Badly done to clean up sloppy work? Hey, bad editing is bad editing and lousy musicianship is lousy musicianship.
this. if used to fix a missed note in an otherwise good take, no problem.
and its use as an “effect” e.g. T-Pain is just annoying.
I guess, but it depends to what extent it is required - same thing for any other kind of editing effect - if someone edits the drum track of a song to minutely shift the timing of one off beat in an otherwise excellent performance, that seems reasonable. If it’s necessary to edit the timing of every percussion sound to make it fit the beat, then I’m afraid what you have is a talentless drummer.
Or any other kind of editing. If you use photoshop to remove a strand of hair that’s in the wrong place in a shot, that seems reasonable (you could have done it with a comb before taking the picture). If you use it to completely change the shape and appearance of the subject, that is art in its own right, but what you have at the end is not so much to do with any intrinsic qualities of the subject.
I think it has its place as an effect. In the vast majority of bubblegum pop uses, I agree it’s annoying. But there are cases where I think it adds to the feeling or atmosphere of a song.
Take this example by Dean and Britta (she’s a good singer and doesn’t need autotune to hit the notes). Its use here gives the music an ethereal, dreamy feel.