Autotune: To Use or Not to Use? The Pros & Cons Revealed | #DrDan 🎤

Dr Dan discusses the pros and cons of using AutoTune in music production. He first highlights the benefits of AutoTune, including efficiency, accessibility, and its ability to add artistic effects to recordings.

However, he also discusses the dark side of AutoTune, including its often poor implementation by inexperienced engineers, the challenge of maintaining pitch accuracy during live performances, and the disingenuous use of AutoTune to alter voices beyond recognition. Dr Dan invites his viewers to share their thoughts on the use of AutoTune in music production in the comments section.

⏰ TIMECODES ⏰
0:00 Controversy
0:12 Time & Money
1:17 Accessibility
1:55 Stylistic Effect
2:35 Poorly Implemented
3:23 Widespread Use
4:00 Perfect Voices
5:00 Intentional Misuse

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[jake]

I agree, Autotune is a great time saver and perfecting tool. But it should be used like sauce on something that's already fantastic to enhance the flavor, not to cover up the fact that you accidentally overcooked it and it's all dried out! 😀

Really appreciated your thoughts on how it creates unrealistic expectations for live performances!

[-_A-_-I-_-T-_-O-_-R]

Well said! I like to use auto tune as a sort of finishing polish. I tend to use it sparingly and only once a take is good enough on its own. At that stage I’ve found that it adds a little extra shine, especially with layered vocals.

[JimsAddiction]

I'd never really thought about the time / money saving aspect of autotune. It makes sense though. In general I'm trying to do one take of a song as it's for myself to be able to sing it in one go. It's also why quite often I check out live versions of songs just to see how good the singers are (I also know we can all have bad days). Quite a few versions of songs will be sung lower live though it'll depend on the genre of music as well ... I would guess it doesn't happen in pop music so much. When singing high notes I won't lie it's very tempting to do something with them. If it were for production I suspect I would go ahead and try to do a little more but for the most part I'll just stick to a bit of reverb on the track to flesh things out :)

[belindatm]

A very fair and balanced take on it; one with which I fully agree. Thanks, Dan. :)

[mcarelaine]

I have never thought about this sense of disappointment after a live concert being connected to excessive use of exposure to autotunned voices… makes all sense!

[kinkin]

I think music producers or singers uses auto-tune because they want a perfect outcome to be presented to the listeners or to the audiences because human voice does flip I mean imperfect like having bit of chromatic issues like a small bit of sharp/flats in the voice which is very audible specially to those people that have a trained ear. I mean auto tune can make sound more presentable and clean that is required professionally in the recordings.

[BogoGog]

What do you think about singers who use autotune during live performances, like those mics that have autotune built into them?

[scotjohnson]

Interesting points Dan. I would add, and I wonder if this is auto tune since you did not mention it, but voices sound fake to me today. I miss real sounding voices!

[bretparkhill]

I was pretty disappointed when I saw Bob Dylan live in the late 80s. Auto tune may have been a welcome improvement in that case.

Can you use auto tune for yourself as a “Coach” so that you are made aware of your misses?

[williamwueppelmann]

Everything about a studio recording is artificial in the sense that it is assembled from many different pieces and is tuned and tailored using a wide variety of tools and techniques. Using pitch correction software is no different from patching together multiple takes, having singers provide their own vocal doubles, recording each part independently and mixing them together later, or any of the other techniques used to make polished-sounding music.

A studio recording is a different kind of art from a live performance, just like a movie is a different kind of art from a live play. As long as the final product sounds good, it is good. And as long as the artist isn’t passing off a constructed recording project as though it were a natural live performance, I don’t see any integrity issues either.

[DA-xhtw]

auto tune is no good. there should be a truth in recording standard. essentially misleading an audience to the true talent level.