Autotune vs. Melodyne

Autotune vs. Melodyne

Has singing Become a lost art?

Artists such as T-Pain, Cher, Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Black Eyed Peas, Rihanna, Akon, Aphex Twins, Chris Brown, Miley Cyrus, The Dream, Jason Derülo, Jamie Foxx, Jeremih, Ke$ha, Sean Kingston, Avril Lavigne, Lil Wayne, Drake, Madonna, Maroon 5, Nicki Minaj, New Boyz, Owl City, P. Diddy, Daft Punk, Taio Cruz, B.o.B, Jennifer Lopez, Colby O’ Donis, Sugar Land, Justin Timberlake, FAR EAST Movement, LMFAO, Pit Bull, Timbaland, Usher, Rebecca Black, Natasha Bedingfield, Kanye West, Faith Hill, Alice Cooper, Billy Joel, R. Kelley, Rascal Flatts, etc. use Autotune to their advantage (Ason). As you can see, Autotune makes millions of dollars in various genres of music.

Nowadays, there are stories circulating around the music industry that many recording artists can’t sing. Since the invasion of Autotune, many artists have relied solely upon its automatic pitch correction parameters to make superstars. Well, I am here to dispel that myth. There is actually a sister tool, Melodyne by Celemony, which auto corrects artists that can sing but may be slightly off pitch. It is a hidden gem in the industry. However, I have been using both for many years. Each has its own distinct characteristics. Simply put, Autotune the News, are adjunct instruments. One must still be able to manipulate parameters or presets in order to get desired effect. There are also many spoof videos such as the Gregory Brothers Autotune the News, which has penetrated into YouTube’s popular culture with over 385 million hits (Youtube). They definitely understand how to connect with their target audience.

Albeit, the artist must have some form of talent. If one cannot sing at all, it would be very difficult to fix. In fact, Autotune works better on an artist that sings slightly flat. Bottom line, a song has to be catchy before it can become a hit-Love it or hate it. Fact still remains; the song must come before the artist.

 Autotune vs. Melodyne Pt. 1

Autotune vs. Melodyne Pt. 2

                                                                              

Gregory Brothers. Autotune the News. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=hMtZfW2z9dw

Jones, Ason. (January, 2012). Rate Your Music.com Retrieved from  http://rateyourmusic.com/list/Thrashisawesome/artists_who_have_used_auto_tune

Mic Courtesy of MXL