here’s the thing about Autotune
A buddy from college and fellow music maker sent me this article today and asked me for my thoughts. Take a second to read the article. It’s short. I’ll wait for you.
What did you think? I’ll tell you what I thought. I found myself starting to go, “Yeah, man! Autotune is crap!” because that’s the popular opinion on the subject and — let’s be honest —- it’s really easy to be lazy and outsource your thinking to the hardworking folks in the faraway kingdom of Conventional Wisdom. But then I came to my senses, thought a little harder and said to myself, “Wait a second. I know better than this. This article is idiotic.”
I’ll explain what I mean by that. First of all, you can’t say Autotune is bad without context for why it’s bad. That’s like saying you think that fish tastes good. That may be so in many cases, but I bet that in the context of ice cream it would become a false statement for you. You like fish in a normal fish context. You don’t like fish on your ice cream. The same thing applies to dislikes. You don’t like Autotune when it’s used to manufacture a performance, but can you really dismiss the technology completely just based on that? Not if you’re being fair.
Let’s step back a little bit though.
They need to add a couple words to the title of the article so that it says, “Autotune is ruining ultra-mainstream radio pop music.” Not music in general. But even with this caveat, it’s still debatable. To be honest, most of the arguments against Autotune are the same as the arguments people tried to make against samplers, synthesizers, and even the advent of stereo recordings (I know, right?) when they were new. Has music been forever ruined by the fact that recordings have a left and a right channel? Did synthesizers or samplers destroy music? Arguments trying to mark an arbitrary point in history after which new music technology became somehow bad are tenuous at best, as those types of arguments are much more likely to be exercises in bad argumentation than they are to be true. Really, to get all preachy about the downfall of society and culture at every new innovation in music creation/production, is a quick way to put yourself down in the history books as a myopic Luddite.
But I don’t want to make an ad hominem dismissal of the point being made, so I’ll humor the passionate anti-Autotune camp. I agree that many of the ways Autotune is used are unpalatable. But if it’s being used blatantly enough that someone with a relatively untrained ear can pick it out and go “o hai! I hear teh Autotunez!” then you are hearing Autotune being used in only a fraction of the ways and places that it is and can be used. I think we can all agree that there’s a big distinction between a terrible song about being excited about Friday in which they think they have us fooled that the girl can carry a tune, and the obvious, overt, loud and proud use of Autotune popularized by the likes of T-Pain. Have you considered a third category? Probably not. How about all of those times when its been used, but used tastefully and you didn’t even notice it? Or how about using it creatively or experimentally? Maybe put it on an instrument track? Have you heard Autotuned drums? I bet that would sound really cool, or at least unique and original.
All I’m saying is that there are more uses for Autotune aside from some Nashville producer using it to make it sound like Taylor Swift isn’t actually the worst singer in music history (even though she actually is). Intonation isn’t the end-all and be-all of singing. It is one aspect of it. If you sing poorly, Autotune correcting your intonation will not “make you sound good” (thus, the reason we can tell that Taylor Swift is a garbage singer).
Yes, a lot of its use is pretty gimmicky and tacky, but so were a lot of music technologies when they were new. Let’s take the extreme example again just to prove the point: stereo. When it was new it was pretty damn gimmicky. It was brand new when the Beatles were recording and they were pressured into using it on their albums so they could be modern and new. Their first 10 albums had been recorded in mono, and were designed to be listened to in mono, but their producers insisted upon mixing it in stereo, and you know what? I hate listening to any of those albums in stereo. The whole “this is new and we don’t really know what we’re doing with it yet” vibe really shines through. But have you ever listened to them in mono? They sound so much better that way.
Now at this point you may be saying, “But Jake, it sounds like you’re agreeing with us now.” Well, I am, but that only strengthens my point, which is this: even though it was gimmicky when it was new, do you ever listen to a recording now and go, “Man, this whole ‘left and right’ business is bulls**t”?? No, you don’t. It was new and gimmicky and seemingly trite when it was new, because every new technology goes through an awkward adolescence. But now you wouldn’t ever want to go back to a time when mono was the only option available to you.
Most of the arguments against Autotune are really arguments against the way that crappy mainstream pop music uses it. As I see it, there are two artistically acceptable ways to use it:
- To polish up a few scant imperfections in a vocal performance that was actually already a good performance and which actually had good intonation.
- For stylistic effect and/or creative and/or experimental purposes.
So, in conclusion, you really have nothing to worry about from the likes of Autotune. The fad of using it to try to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear will pass, and even if it doesn’t, that’s just “pop” music (which itself is a term which means less and less and takes up a smaller and smaller fraction of the music that’s out there every single day). We really have nothing to fear by embracing new technology. Does a painter complain that he had too many colors to choose from? Does a carpenter complain that he has too many tools? No. So just shut up, will ya?
I’m always shocked at just how many of my fellow twenty-somethings go straight from stretching a prolonged adolescence out as long as they can, to running full-sprint toward becoming a stodgy, dusty, stubborn, closed-minded curmudgeon. I sometimes feel like my fellow twenty-somethings aspire to become cranky old people as fast as they possibly can.
Because in the end, if you really hate music that uses autotune, it’s really not that hard to find music that doesn’t use it. Really, I promise. You simply have to reach a teensy bit farther than your radio. Because let’s be honest: the radio hasn’t played much of anything good for several decades, so get off your lazy butt and go find some good music.
I may not have convinced you, but I hope I’ve at least stifled your automatic reflex to pretentiously filibuster your secondhand opinions about the decay of society at each and every opportunity. Because let’s be honest, you’re bound to say something that will make you look stupid later.
So can we all shut up about this now? Thanks.
