I guess I should start this post off by saying that I am not extremely well versed in the technical details of vocal processing, most notably what the difference is aurally between autotune and other vocoding techniques--so far as I can tell, autotune is just a specific, extremely popular piece of vocoder software, but I can't pick it out against other vocoders. As such I will probably misuse and inappropriately equivocate the terms; my apologies to anyone I offend out there.
But that being said, if you're anything like me, you've probably had enough crappy autotuned pop shoved down your throat in that past couple years that just the two letters T and I next to each other make you gag a little bit; let's take a look at a prime example of this infection that has been festering for a while:
One of the main questions that naturally arises is one of the integrity and validity of the "musicians" using such heavily processed vocals. What does Keisha's singing voice actually sound like? Can she actually sing? And why does she always look like she'd be kinda smelly in her music videos? Anyway, a number of performers, whether because they can't actually sing or just because they feel safer with an autotune safety net, have actually been performing live shows with autotuned vocals, blurring the line between who is actually performing anymore and who is pulling a Milli Vanilli on us. Of course, it's understandable if the studio vocal is obviously autotuned, but when "singers" like Faith Hill are relying on autotune to correct their pitch live, it seems a bit more dishonest. Naturally, some musicians are not so keen on this practice; Christina Aguilera has obviously made her opinion on the matter crystal clear, and Henry Rollins also seems to share this sentiment on this track with William Shatner (check 2:30):However, I don't really want to talk about artistic integrity here; that's for another post. I want to talk about what these processed vocals sound like. A lot of people claim to absolutely hate the sound of autotuned vocals, and I often ask them if they actually objectively don't like the auditory experience they're having, or if they're just sick of hearing tons of crappy songs with autotuned vocals (obvious connotations with a robotic music industry notwithstanding). Some people do answer with the former, but I find more often than not it's not the autotuned vocal itself that people find offensive, it's the context in which it's presented.
Personally, I don't believe that the sound of autotuned vocals themselves is offensive to the ear, it's just that it's gone past being cliche to the point where you can pretty much assume that any pop song that needs a vocal melody is going to be heavily autotuned. It's the frequency with which this thing shows up that makes people really hate it, which is a shame, because I think it's a useful tool if put in the right hands.
One rather interesting application that has been cropping up has been autotuning vocal clips never intended for musical use. This technique often ends up being used for humorous purposes; a particularly popular example of this is the Gregory Brothers' Autotune the News:
Autotuning seems made for this sort of humor; the juxtaposition of something like the evening news in the context of a bumping dance song seems pretty funny to me.
A few brave souls have been autotuning existing audio clips for more serious musical endeavors, the best of which I've heard has to be John Boswell's Symphony of Science series. I'm planning on doing an entire post on Symphony of Science at some point, so I won't say too much here, aside from the fact that Boswell does an excellent job of being very musical in his use of autotune, proving that it's not strictly for club-bangers:
Boswell shows that autotune can actually be really cool when it's not being used mindlessly, and luckily other musicians are catching onto this as well. I'd heard plenty of autotuned and/or vocoded music before that I had liked (Kraftwerk's "Autobahn" and Radiohead's "Everything in its Right Place" come to mind in particular), but it wasn't until I heard "Love You All" by Cloud Cult that I really starting viewing autotune not as just a novelty, but as a real musical instrument, with potential for depth and expression:
Part of what is most effective about this kind of "serious" autotune is the interesting juxtaposition one gets when a very human sentiment is being expressed by this robotic voice--in this case, Craig Minowa singing about his love for his family and friends. In one way, it's almost tragic; I get an image of a robot who wants to be a "real boy", trying to be as human as possible and becoming attached to those around him, but there will always be this barrier between him and those he cares for because he is innately different, and yet he persists in this alien emotion because it seems so important. It actually reminds me a lot of Leto II in the Dune series and his pure but tragic love for Hwi... but maybe I just have a really overactive imagination, and in any case I'm getting way off topic.
Anyway, on the other hand, this sort of robot love can also seem very empowering, as though love is this entity that transcends even the need for a biological existence. Craig Minowa's sentiments are not lost even though they are conveyed through this soulless machine--the sentiments are actually amplified strictly by virtue of their remaining intact in this transition from a human voice to a cold, calculated string of ones and zeros that get shuffled around and then somehow spat out of a speaker.
"Computer Love" isn't the only avenue for "serious" use of autotune, though; sometimes it can be used effectively just as an additional instrument in a song. On Sufjan Stevens' most recent album The Age of Adz, the record's conclusory track, the sprawling 25 minute "Impossible Soul", exhibits some really tasteful autotuned vocals among a musical landscape where autotune is probably the last thing you'd expect to hear, but it works. Stream it here; the autotune comes in around 10:35, though I'd recommend listening to the whole thing, both for the context in which the autotune is cropping up, and because the song (while maybe a little overblown) is really cool.And while some props have to go to Imogen Heap for her Hide and Seek, for me there is no question that the best example of autotune's capability as a vehicle for musical expression is Justin Vernon's "acapella" tune "Woods" from Bon Iver's Blood Bank EP; if anything proves that there can be a soul in autotune, it's this:
Credit goes to Dominick for getting me seriously thinking about autotune lately.
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