Steve Perry Criticizes Singers Who Uses Auto-Tune

[Aftermath]

https://societyofrock.com/steve-per...BNVSZTMqjWFcqlvrkzN67upFjrQo_ZDs6X8ef6WJ2pteI


Perry said in a new interview with Kyle Meredith, and added,

“I was told a long time by a very bright musician, he said when you listen to somebody as beautiful as a [Barbra] Streisand, your heart just goes, ‘I can’t believe she can do this. How is she doing this?'”

“And then you listen to Muddy Waters and you get an emotional touch too. Well, they’re totally two different vocal directions, totally two different vocal timbres, different styles. Well, one is angelic and beautiful and the other has some struggle in it, and it’s the struggle and the imperfections that you pull for, too. There’s this human thing.”

“Singing is the most primal thing. It really is a very primal form of communication,”

“And, obviously, it’s gonna be around for a while – which is why I’m not so happy that people are washing out this description we just talked about with Auto-Tune.”

from the article:
Paul McCartney once said before “If John Lennon had had an opportunity, he would have been all over it.” and explains “Not so much to fix your voice, but just to play with it.” and his son agrees with him.

Rock artist like Alice Cooper used it on his most recent album as well.'

what do you think?

 

[68tele]

As an obvious 'effect', its no different than using a wah pedal on a guitar.

When used to mask an inability to sing? Problem.

 

[ChicknPickn]

Oh, well. There's one camp that says, if Beethoven had had access to synthesizers, he'd have been all over them. Maybe. But perhaps he would have been horrified and thought they were the spawn of the devil.

 

[Cadillac_Mike]

I think it's kind of a neat gimmick thing on some songs like "Believe" by Cher (one of the first to use it). But generally I think it's one of the worst things to ever happen to pop music, specifically the way it's used most the time so heavily. I can't imagine John Lennon ever using it unless it was really subtly just to correct the pitch of some vocal parts in the studio that weren't so on the money.

 

[Muddyshoes]

I am not a fan of auto tune but than again I don't listen to any of todays new music and when it's unavoidable I do my best to not to listen.

 

[Lou Tencodpees]

Pitch correction is all over the place. I suspect many artists aren't even aware of what goes on in the mix.

 

[Aftermath]

I think it's kind of a neat gimmick thing on some songs like "Believe" by Cher (one of the first to use it). But generally I think it's one of the worst things to ever happen to pop music, specifically the way it's used most the time so heavily. I can't imagine John Lennon ever using it unless it was really subtly just to correct the pitch of some vocal parts in the studio that weren't so on the money.

I read Geoff Emerick's book, and Lennon was supposedly really self conscious about his voice. They did kind of use pitch correction on their later albums using the tape speed.

 

[getbent]

most opinions about what auto tune is and isn't are not well informed.

 

[ndcaster]

we don't give violinists a pass for playing out of tune -- we demand it, and rightly so, because the beauty of the music is disfigured by sour notes

should we demand pitch precision of our pop singers?

sure, why not? most of what they sing is crap, their melodies are crap, their voices are crap -- so the least producers can do is give us crap that is in tune

let them sling their adolescent cyborg music all they want

why should we care about its tuning?

 

[Manual Slim]

It can be kind of annoying sometimes, but that's really just me annoying myself by listening too long to music I don't want to hear anyway.

 

[Wildeman]

My T Pain mic is gonna be worth a fortune..

 

[bigbean]

Even though I'm a bad singer. I recently started working with a band that expects me to sing a lot of back ground vocals. To protect the listeners from my voice, I bought a a Digitech Vocalist live5 pedal for auto tune and harmony. It works pretty good. It's kind of fun to sing falsetto with the synth voices set to female.

As long as it's down in the mix it is additive to the overall performance. If you isolate it it sounds like ass. In the mix I have it with significant Echo, Verb and ADT (Allen and Heath FX)

The live performance of the overall group is better with it than without it, so it stays.

 

[Mr. St. Paul]

If it's being used to correct minor imperfections (much as how Pro Tools is used to correct timing, etc.), it's usually not even perceptible. When it's being used as an effect (Cher's Believe being the first well-known example), then it's unmistakable.

I find the robotic sound of it when being used as an effect to be unlistenable. I actually have a physical reaction to it.

 

[tanplastic]

T-Pain gets a pass.
(NSFW, will remove if deemed offensive, please let me know and I apologize, sorry if this is too long, will finish now, here's the video):

 

[TeleTucson]

It has become so pervasive in the McMusic of today that it is now trite. All these semi-rap guys and wanna-be solo star wailing women now sound like the same annoying crap to me, over and over and over. If one of these artists had to perform live without all the props and crutches they would be a shocking embarrassment.

 

[cdwillis]

Like somebody already said, it's cool as an effect, but using it to correct bad singing has helped ruin modern recorded music. Now it's even being used live! I watched a video where a vocal coach was reacting to Michael Buble's auto tune going haywire live and it made me laugh a little. I feel like that's what you get for being a cheat. And that guy is a good singer! It's just pathetic imo. That's probably not an outlier opinion in these parts.

 

[Aftermath]

we don't give violinists a pass for playing out of tune -- we demand it, and rightly so, because the beauty of the music is disfigured by sour notes

should we demand pitch precision of our pop singers?

sure, why not? most of what they sing is crap, their melodies are crap, their voices are crap -- so the least producers can do is give us crap that is in tune

let them sling their adolescent cyborg music all they want

why should we care about its tuning?

The thing is most rock music uses pitch correction today.

 

[radtz]

T-Pain gets a pass.
(NSFW, will remove if deemed offensive, please let me know and I apologize, sorry if this is too long, will finish now, here's the video):

LOL.... Definitely gets a pass.

 

[radtz]

Its like anything else. It's fine in moderation. T-Pain excluded.

 

[Skully]

I think it's kind of a neat gimmick thing on some songs like "Believe" by Cher (one of the first to use it). But generally I think it's one of the worst things to ever happen to pop music, specifically the way it's used most the time so heavily. I can't imagine John Lennon ever using it unless it was really subtly just to correct the pitch of some vocal parts in the studio that weren't so on the money.

I read Geoff Emerick's book, and Lennon was supposedly really self conscious about his voice. They did kind of use pitch correction on their later albums using the tape speed.

Lennon also wanted to hear himself back drowned in reverb.