« Do it if you feel it. | Main | Tumble on »

February 08, 2009

Do you beee-LEEAVE in love, etc.?

I think it's funny how the internets have become aware of the so-called "Auto-Tune phenomenon" in recent months, primarily due to Cher, T-Pain & Kanye, I guess:

Gizmodo riffs on Auto-Tune

The three dudes above (and MANY others, from what I hears on the ol' timey radio) are using the software to create a kind of faux-vocoded sound, which has become a pretty trite pop production trick over the years. The thing that strikes me is that I can't think of another software plug-in that has ever become known by name and referenced everywhere from the New Yorker to Giz to the Washington Post. Antares (developers of Auto-Tune) even capitalized on this press saturation by introducing a stripped-down version of AT that offers none of it's subtleties, just the T-Pain robot wackiness. They basically took a scalpel and marketed it as an axe. Which is fine, if that's what yr looking for (although I can guarantee a production backlash within less than a year).

I remember Pro Tools getting lots of attention as the analog vs. digital wars were fought in the 90's, but that's a DAW, and was often referenced not as a specific instrument or tool, but rather as a method, i.e "That song sounded sooo Pro-Tooled." I wonder if other nearly-ubiquitous, but as yet nameless software plug-ins will have their fifteen minutes of fame at some point in the future. Like the abundance of beat-repeat/instant glitch plugs - they've already become a serious cliche in the electronic music world, but what happens when Kanye gets his stutter on?

Hm. Interesting stuff, at least to me. It's weird when the tools get the spotlight, as opposed to the artist, or the art - see: Photoshop.

Anyway, I fixed the blog - gave up on a Moveable Type 4 upgrade. Ain't broke, don't fix, etc.

YR FRIEND,
DANA

posted by dana at February 8, 2009 12:50 PM

comments

That's all very interesting, no really it is.... but it reminds me: I had the dubious honor of re-viewing Cher's "If I Could Turn Back Time" video on VH1 the other night - and can someone explain to me why that outfit of hers was OK? It's SO not OK! That little black ribbon being the only thing that separates us from ... how does one describe ... her awful truth? But the song is pre-auto-tune. So no relevance whatsoever.

Totally true, though, about 'Photoshopping' or something being 'Photoshopped' - it's a shame when the method eclipses the creative intent and becomes a crutch.

posted by: Andi [TypeKey Profile Page] at February 15, 2009 11:12 AM


post a comment

Thanks for signing in, . Now you can comment. (sign out)

(If you haven't left a comment here before, you may need to be approved by the site owner before your comment will appear. Until then, it won't appear on the entry. Thanks for waiting.)


Remember me?