The music industry is one of the largest and fastest-growing sectors of the entertainment industry. The music industry is not just culturally, but also methodically diverse. Unlike many decades ago, the songwriting process is no longer just a guitar riff and some lyrics. Creating and nurturing ideas in the studio with a bounty of technological tools to aid the process has ensured that music has come a long way in just a short span of time.
Until a few years ago, it seemed to be a popular notion that using such tools to make music was largely seen in the genre of electronic music. However, musicians and producers soon realised that the power of the up and coming musical technologies in the market was not to be belittled. The advent of the technological revolution bridged the gap between the shortcomings of human ability and the infinite possibilities of musical creativity. Auto-Tune technology is one such marvel.
Dr Andy Hildebrand an engineer who was developing acoustic tests for interpreting seismic data when he realised that it could be used to alter the pitch. His friend once jokingly commented on a woman’s singing, wondering if there was a “machine that could make her sing in tune”. This sparked an idea in Andy’s head and he began working on this idea. Within a month, he had developed the technology. Auto-Tune alters the pitch of a singing voice to make the voice sound perfectly in tune. Before Auto-Tune, studios would do pitch correction by having the singer repeat a phrase over and over and over. They would do 100 takes and then patch them together to make one piece of music that sounded in tune. When used properly, autotune was subtle enough that it couldn’t be detected. Andy did not expect much from this invention.
But then- in a groundbreaking moment in musical history- Cher’s music producers decided to do something never thought of before. They cranked up the autotune and produced the now-familiar effect that is part human synthesizer, part robotic voice. Thus the “Cher effect” was born, and ‘Believe’ became one of the biggest hits of the 1990s.
Nobody had ever done anything of this sort before, autotune had never been used for anything other than the product’s intended purpose. In just a matter of about 2 years, all the major studios in the industry had purchased this technology.
Some popular songs that incorporated this new trend are Daft Punk’s ‘One more time’ , Rihanna’s ‘Disturbia’, Kanye West’s ‘Heartless’ and many more trending hits from the 2000-2014 era.
Musicians have, however, had a love-hate relationship with Auto-Tune. The jury is still out on whether Auto-Tune was a boon for the music industry or a disaster: in 2010, Time magazine included it in the list of The 50 Worst Inventions, calling it “a technology that can make bad singers sound good and really bad singers sound like robots.”. Indie band Death Cab for Cutie showed up at the 2009 Grammys wearing blue ribbons to “raise awareness against Auto-Tune abuse”, and fervent Auto-Tune critic Jay-z released a song in 2009 entitled D.O.A. – Death of autotune.
It’s clear that in more ways than one, Auto-tune changed the way musicians and listeners perceive music. Tools like this allow artists to explore beyond the limits of human ability and dive deep into the world of endless music possibility. It gives an artist the power to tell their stories like never before. It is inevitable that once such a product comes up in the market, there will be some negative critiquing. All in all, musicians and inventors that create such technologies remain, perhaps, some of the most influential people in the music world today.
Written by Crew Member – Liza Mathew
Artwork by Crew Member- Simran Uchil
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