Ready to join me in beating the proverbial "dead horse"?
Good.
Over the past year or so I have oft been audience to, or involved in, the great debate on "IS AUTOTUNE EVIL?" And, being a vocalist that has worked really hard to sculpt a vocal style that is my own (which hasn't happened and I'm not sure that there is such a thing... I would be glad to debate, shoot me an email), I have always been leading the charge with "how do we let someone capitalize on singing out of tune on purpose and just relying on the magic button to make it all better - and then some?". Granted, from a listeners standpoint that stuff all sounds really cool. "what what. wiggle voice wiggle voice" What's not to like right? Don't get me wrong. I've dabbled in it on my most recent project. It's still something that I feel like makes a really interesting sound. Where I think it has started to bug people is that it's sooooo easy and so with that sooooo many people have jumped on the autotune bandwagon.
That bothered me until I got to thinking about how music has progressed over the years. Let's start with Metal. When it started, it went from the dark muddy gallows of bands like Black Sabbath to arena rock and hair metal; big hair and fast cars. Then at some point it progressed into the Metal music of today where we have shredder riffs and mindless chugging. What used to be super melodic rock with a singer (imagine that) turned in to CHUG CHUG BRIE BRIE GROWL GROWL which is fine. In fact, I happen to like the heavy as hell smash your face in Metal of today. Now, our buddy down the street sporting his Iron Maiden concert Tee and mutton chops will gladly disagree with me.
The same story goes for punk rock. And for this, I won't even go as far back. Let's start later with bands like Fugazi, The Lemonheads, ...dare I say The Ramones. Stemming from that we have an extreme progression through bands like Green Day and Blink 182, and F.O.B.... even up to the powerpop punk bands of today like All Time Low and Boys Like Girls. Ask an Old-School Punk fan what they think of Blink 182. They would caress their Mohawk and tell you stories of the old days, before punk was "cool" and before those high-pitched-singing homos stole their identity. When the "sound" of punk singers progressed, it sort of morphed into a new identity. Who knew that singing like you were pinching your nose and getting kicked in the balls at the same time would ever take off? Well it did, and I'm glad.
A long way around the block to leave you with a thought. If you're a believer that history repeats itself, then we can't help but to step back and accept that this fad might not pass. Just the same as you'll be hard-pressed to find a metal band that's not screaming, or a punk band that doesn't sound like a whiny 13 year old with nose-plugs in, Autotune might just be here to stay. If we don't accept it and move on, then we are the same as the Mohawk'd, Mutton Chop'd, Iron Maiden shirt wearing'd people that are stuck in the past.
Robots are the way of the future.
Duh.
Think about it.
-Mark/TMS
Artist of the day: Angels And Airwaves (AVA)
I really feel like this band is a classic example of a progression of music. With Tom Delonge's musical birth and downfall of Blink 182, he went on to make music that was not completely different, and at the same time, not completely the same. Pulling from his inspiration and the work he had done in Blink, he went on to make music that wasn't necessarily unique to the world, but was the musical growth of an individual all the same.
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Hey. I linked here from hometracked.com enjoyed reading your post. I found your evolutionary, or devolutionary (a matter of opinion) model of music progression really insightful. Although I work professionally with a wide range of pitch correction plugins, I am always quick to point out it's overuse, since I strive for naturally sounding corrections myself.
ReplyDeleteYour post reminds me of how litle we take into account external factors to music. Most technological advances end up invariably changing art. When the phonograph was invented classical musicians started using vibrato more so it would sound better recorded.
There is a really interesting book by Mark Klatz called "Capturing Sound: how technology has changed music" that you might be interested looking into. It's partially available on Google Books.
Enjoyed your post.
john@pitch-pitch.com
I too just arrived from hometracked.com, doing some research regarding Autotune, trying to decide if I need it in my recordings, as I've been told by the internet "experts" in an online group.
ReplyDeleteI followed your lead on Klatz's text and also learned that vibrato was used to cover slightly off notes by violinists. I can sure bet that happens when there are no frets on the violin and just a 1/16th of an inch misplacement of a digit would cause an out-of-tune sound. The vibrato enables the violinist to at least dip or rise slightly towards the perfect pitch he was supposed to play.
Obviously there is a parrallel to AutoTune here! The singer uses a technology with AutoTune; the violinist uses a technique. Both achieve their aims of a better sound, but the latter can be done live, and the former (mostly) in post-production.
Just an observation, for what it's worth. I'm not much of a singer, never will be. But I bet some singers use vibrato for the very same reason some violinist have to: to enhance a slightly off tone/pitch, make it more close to pitch by offering a "range" from which the slightly confused ear can choose. Singing is like not having frets on a guitar; sometimes you're not going to be in that sweet spot and have to improvise!