We’ve all heard about Auto-Tune and pitch correction. Most of us know it is used to “fix” imperfect vocals. But the difference between the two can be confusing.
First off, neither is synonymous with lip syncing. Both start with live vocals. Some artists do mime singing their songs. In this case part or all of the live vocal is prerecorded. Artists like Dua Lipa, Maroon 5’s Adam Levine and Taylor Swift are known to use prerecorded tracks for parts of songs and live vocals for other parts.
Auto-Tune is a program that grabs the live or recorded vocal and blankets the entire song and affects all of the vocals. How? Think of it like pole vaulting in track or field. The bar is the note that needs to be hit. In the case of Auto-Tune, even if you’re a foot short on the jump, the program bumps you up to clear the bar. It also can lower the jump if you go too high.
As you can imagine, it could start to seem odd if you’re always a foot off the jump and the program constantly has to bump you up. It’s the same with Auto-Tune, which can sound unnatural and robotic if it has to snap too many notes to the line. What line? The line is the target note in the song as opposed to the note that was actually sung, which with vibrato and expression is rarely right on the line.
Pitch correction is used to move a single note at a time. This takes more effort, but usually sounds more natural because it doesn’t interfere with the notes the singer sang that were very close to the target.
Sounds great, right? Sort of. One of the inherent problems with these programs is the loss of micro tones and nuances in the singer’s voice that are lost with each processed note. Slight vibrato around the exact point, and vocal slides up and through notes, are expressive tools used by great singers. In the process of making the notes perfect, you actually lose all those small textural qualities that give us the emotional content we are used to from talented singers.
These tools and their limitations are certainly not only used by big acts, as even some local acts use pitch correction to enhance their vocal performance. We must bear in mind this is considered an industry standard and often the artist is not even involved in the decision to use Auto-Tune or pitch correction. And one might be surprised by the artists who are pitch corrected who don’t really need to be.
Auto-Tune was released in September 1997. I invite you to compare some vocals from before and after this date and form an opinion as to whether you like it, don’t like it or don’t hear a difference.
