70.176.237.190
In Reply to: RE: Well, I've done a bit of research on pitch-corrected software and look at it like any technological change. posted by Audiophilander on July 01, 2009 at 14:34:19
"It is a tool for musicians to use in creating effects and maintaining a consistent pitch in a variety of situations, not a substitute for live performing.""Creating effects" is maybe the only legitimate reason for its application. (Porcupine Tree uses it for some songs, not for others.) The "maintaining a consistent pitch" is purely an excuse, in my humble opinion.
"But, and this is a very big BUT, it can be a powerful tool in the right musician's hands when applied in moderation to compensate for widely varying acoustics, poor sound mix, hearing impairment, bad monitors, etc."
Who determines whether it's in the "right musicians' hands?"
Maybe you can post a link where you think such application was appropriate. Aside from with Barbra Streisand, I have to say I've never encountered any.
"I've seen Joe perform in dozens of venues, indoor and outdoor settings of varying acoustics, with all manner of sound mixes that sometimes made it difficult to hear him singing over his own instrument, so I'll cut him a lot of slack in using pitch correction software to consistently hit notes."
I've heard a lot of singers who play instruments who don't use the app in concert. (Mostly old-school rockers like Pete Townshend.) And most singers who *don't* play instruments use the app too. I don't see much correlation here.
"As for 'auto-tune' entering mainstream music gradually over the past 20 years, it's even more recent than that apparently. According to the Wikipedia entry this kind of software was introduced around 1997."
Pitch correction has been around a lot longer..... Not necessarily in the form of Antares AutoTune......
The earliest song I've noticed having pitch correction is Jonathan Edwards' "Sunshine" (link), which came out way back in 1971. (I have no idea what application was used at that time.)
"I can't blame artists for using pitch correction in a live or studio setting based upon the competitiveness of the music industry."
And therein lies the problem...... The same excuse is used for "loudness wars"....... Hence both applications continue in spite of the scorn.
I liken this to using steroids to be competitive in sports.......
As far as I'm concerned, it's a roundabout admission of a terminal cancer in the music industry.
"Heck, some producers may even employ it in mixing albums in the studio when the artist isn't fully aware of it!"
I think this very thing happened with Rush "Vapor Trails"....... Geddy's voice is pitch corrected in this album. I only realized this recently, when I heard a track played on a radio station..... (And then confirmed it playing the CD.) This is IMO why everybody thinks this album sounds crappy.
"Would I prefer that no artificial vocal enhancements were used? Sure, but it's no biggy as long as it isn't sync'd willy-nilly or rather Milli Vanilli."
During Springsteen's Super Bowl gig, which most of it was lip-sync'ed, someone brought up the lip-sync'ing, and I then said better that than pitch correction. (At least people pick out lip-sync'ing quite readily.)
Edits: 07/01/09Follow Ups:
Post a Followup:
Top of Page ]
[ Contact Us ]
[ Support/Wish List ]
[ Copyright © 2009, Audio Asylum, all rights reserved ]
[ Go Green ]
[ Take5 ]