Autotune Overkill

The other day, I went to the new Julie Taymor movie Across The Universe, starring Jim Sturgess and Marilyn Manson's girlfriend, Evan Rachel Wood.  I am a huge Beatles fan, and I was really looking forward to seeing this film.  I wasn't disappointed.  The story line was basic, and what I expected, but the real stars of the show are, of course, the songs.  I thought the songs were done very well, as they should be, given that the producers of the soundtrack are T-Bone Burnett, Elliot Goldenthal and Teese Gohl.  But as I sat and watched and listened, the lead vocals started to grate on my nerves.  In the cinema, they are so up-front as to be in one's face, and the use of autotune (by which I mean the pitch correction software used by the producers, and not necessarily the Antares product) was so glaringly obvious that it became distracting to me.  I realize that pitch-corrected vocals are ubiquitous and have become what people expect of pop music these days, but I felt it robbed the vocals of their character.  The voices began to sound like funky clarinets, gurgling from one note to the next.  The harmonies sounded like unison synth parts.  I've heard no word on whether the cast can actually sing, so perhaps the use was entirely necessary.  The video of the cast's appearance on Oprah has been removed from YouTube, but you can still see them do their thing live on Good Morning America.

But is it really live?  Now the use of pitch correction has made its way into live performances.  For a particularly dismal example, check out Billy Joel's rendition of the Star Spangled Banner at the Super Bowl.  It sounds to me as if the sound man set it to the wrong key.  So we know that pitch correction is widely in use at live performances by huge-name acts; does it make a difference to the audience?

I suppose I must be on a musical kick, because when I was recently in Toronto, I decided to take in a showing of the Queen/Ben Elton musical, We Will Rock You.  It was nothing short of breathtaking.  The young stars sang so beautifully and perfectly, and the music was so well done that I was nearly moved to tears.  I emerged from the show feeling uplifted and possibly even euphoric.  But, somewhere deep in my mind, I couldn't help but wonder if the cast members had been aided by live pitch correction.  I voiced my concern to my companion who told me that, f she learned that had been the case, she would be extremely disappointed.  Obviously it matters to her.  Maybe it matters to me as well.  I want to believe that they were simply that good, but I'll never know for sure.  It's not like it is performance-enhancing drugs; there won't be an autotune test that the performers have to pass.  And I wonder, should live autotune be considered the steroids of the music world?  Or is it nothing to be concerned about?

Over the past number of years I have learned more and more about studio recording, and in particular, the wonders of autotune.  I firmly believe that it is a technology sufficiently advanced as to be indistinguishable from magic.  If I were to tell my non-musician friends about the things that can be done with pitch correction, or indeed with music editing software, they would surely find it difficult to believe.  It would be even harder to convince them that live pitch correction is commonly in use.  In fact, I believe many people who willing accept its use in the studio would be put off by its use in a live setting.  They might feel like they had been duped.  And maybe we have been.

I want to start an 'Autotune Project'.  I want to get my hands on the masters from classic acts of the past and apply pitch correction to see what it does to the character of the song and the vocal.  Can you imagine 'Satisfaction' with it?  Or 'Stairway to Heaven'?  'Strawberry Fields'?  Feel free to substitute any one of your favourite classic tunes.  I'm sure it would not sound right, much like when they do it to Bono.  But these days, it has probably gone too far.  People are so used to it, they will not settle for less than perfect pitch.  If you heard Maroon 5's Adam Levine without it, you might not even recognize his voice.  And he is but one example.  Perhaps you've even used it in your own recordings.

And I still bought the soundtrack.