Are they auto tuning GREAT singers? YES AND WE CAN SEE IT!

Tonight we're having a look at the vocals of Pavarotti and Dimash for tuning and pitch correction!

TIME STAMPS -
0:00 Start
3:00 Pavarotti Isolated Vocal
3:15 'Pitch Perfect' is not Perfect
3:56 *ANALYSIS GRAPH EXPLANATION*
4:43 Did Pavarotti have Perfect Pitch?
6:58 Why Auto-Tune Doesn't Like Classical Singers
9:59 The Previous Dimash Saga!
11:08 Dimash (Natural Voice)
14:16 Dimash – Best of All Time (Comparatively?)
17:42 Dimash (Auto-Tuned & Pitch Corrected)
20:36 Pitch Correction (Explanation)
22:07 Pitch Correction vs. Artistic Ethics
24:20 BRIEF ACTUAL VOICE!
27:08 Unrealistic, Unachievable Goals for the Younger Generation

[mweskamppp]

I prefer real artists like dimash or Pavarotti to be left without autotune. They really do not need it.

[WildIronLizzy]

On a pragmatic note, there is no such thing as a human voice being technically pitched accurately to that of a calibrated musical intrument. You can however find singers who have an ear for excellent pitch meaning they are able to hit very close or on spot of the desired notes more often than others hence why we say they are great singers. Audio wave forms are technical data, not opinion or one's ear. I work for an electronics design and development company in the UK and engage with our electronics design engineers. We've done many audio products so yes, data don't lie. Just our ears are not perfectly calibrated. Dimash is an absolute monster of a vocalist and I've heard him sing in a home video without music, but without a reference point, it can be tricky. But even he says he is human. He sang half of SOS without music in Kazakhstan before his 2017 explosion, at a little venue. While he was very young there, it will give you an idea of his then natural singing voice. Excellent by the way. His range is phenomenal! Problem is the studios are obsessed with autotuning that even the most fantastic singers are tampered with sadly. ☹

[robsorenson]

Ok, I think any objective viewer accepts the facts. This leads to an obvious follow up question: WHY has it become such a standard within the industry that it’s applied to an obvious vocal phenom like Dimash?

I’d love to see you interview a producer or engineer who supports the use of this technology to hear their views. Either way, Fil, this is some of the best stuff you’ve ever done. Thank you.

[jadielmontesdeoca]

Glad someone has called his music out. I knew something was off hearing his music "live". I may not be able to tell what tune is playing but I can definitely pick up when something isn't natural. It's weird but my ears can feel the sounds not just hear them. When I hear auto tune it feels like nails scratching on the chalkboard.

[Sanders-vdtp]

Oh wow! I'm kind of a Dimash fan, watched loads of reactions to him and this was the best video on him I've seen. Thanks so much for explaining all that and proving your case, as some people really live in denial ;) You also made me realized that similarly to unrealistic expectations towards bodies we also have unrealistic expectations towards voices. That's so sad.

[jinnyfisher]

As a classically trained musician, my understanding of perfect pitch is nothing to with pitching your voice perfectly -- not about about singing perfectly in tune. It's about recognising a note as e.g. A or F# or being able to pitch a named note in isolation. Someone can sing brilliantly in tune (can pitch perfectly) but be unable to sing an F# to order. And vice versa!

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[delorangeade]

It is disturbing when some people can't tell the difference between analysis and criticism, and when they uphold faith over facts.

[butIwantpewee]

I find this analysis fascinating, I'm not an engineer or musician, just a fan who over thinks everything. One of the things I've said for years is how modern music all sounds the same, and how I can't tell who I'm listening to on the radio. I'm exaggerating to be fair as they don't sound identical but as someone who grew up listening to music like Iron Maiden in the 80's something sounded off with modern musicians. After watching this, and your last video it seems obvious to me what my layman brain is trying to tell me, what my ears are reacting to is pitch correction and auto-tune and it's homogenizing effects on music. It's such a shame this has become so common.


As a side note as well, I already have about 5, 000 reason why I hate modern talent shows like X-Factor but this is a big one. How some 2 pence pop singer can sit and judge some poor kid's voice while all the time knowing their own material is "augmented" is hypocrisy at it's finest.

[scottishwildcat]

Both Dimash and Pavarotti are remarkably consistent, when uncorrected. I mean, look at the evenness of those vibratos. I'm not terribly familiar with Dimash, but clearly he is a phenomenal singer. PHENOMENAL. However, your waveform illustrations are spot on. I hear no "hate" from Fil about Dimash, his voice or his singing. Fil says more than once that Dimash's and Pavarotti's pitch senses are very close. That's pretty bluidy high praise!

Great video again, Fil. OK, I'm convinced. I'm hitting the subscribe button.

[chelsea]

I can't stand an auto-tuned or pitch corrected voice. The part at 25:33, I heard it live in NY, and it was such a shocking moment, because live it sounded so rich, so powerful, so amazing. I remember exclaiming WOW, because I totally wasn't expecting that, based on the version I was used to hearing. In his solo concerts we hear his natural voice (and I prefer fancams to the finished product after). Another note is that even all the fancams and videos you can find on youtube with his unaltered voice, when listening to them it's a wonderful experience, but any speakers or headphones we may have do no justice to how MAGNIFICENT he sounds live. And one more note, he did say in an interview that he's not a fan of altered voices, and that these days anyone can become a singer. He did practice his craft from a young age, and is classically trained. It's really a shame when his raw vocals are put through autotune or pitch correction. Really such a shame! p.s. Another singer who I love, whose real voice we get to hear, is Eva Ayllon from Peru, a living legend. p.p.s. It would be so nice if you could find more unaltered performances from Dimash and include that in a video. :)

[Dancestar]

Dimash definitely doesn’t need to be auto tuned the performances are so much more emotional in natural form

[ptxdearpearsDQ]

Dimash has amazing live vocals in concerts, or just casual a capella moments behind scenes. He is always singing. 😎
I wish they would not adjust his voice in studio, because he is under-appreciated in this era of "autotune" and he has worked so hard on his craft and takes it seriously.🙄 No human pitch is truly "perfect" but he is really close....and Pavarotti is one of his inspirations.👍 His teacher identified him with "perfect pitch" at age 5 when he complained that the piano was out of tune.🤣

[janaeanne]

Wow, their voices are so beautiful without auto tune. I’ve come to the conclusion these excellent singers don’t need it. Let us hear their natural voice! Thanks Fil.

[tristanoliver]

Something I'd like to point out with regarding classical singing and Pavarotti's warm up here; In classical tenor singing we need an enormous amount of well placed breath support and airflow to be able to hit notes with full voice. While yes he was trying to hit those notes it is very likely that his goal in that exercise was moreso to get his muscles activated and get a feel of his voice during that day.

[anniebygrave]

Thank you!! An absolutely fascinating deep delve into auto tune and pitch correction (and the disservice it does to both established artists and up and coming singers). I totally agree with you that it is a great shame that a singer like Dimash gets autotuned (by others!!!) when he doesn't need it. His natural voice is beautiful and incredible enough.

We are so used to thinking that spot on note perfection is the goal, when in fact it is expression and emotional connection that most of us are searching for. Sadly many producers just don't get it. Personally I think it is due to needing a very technically oriented mind to be a sound engineer or producer. Their nature is to strive for technical perfection. Emotion is frequently ignored and vocal errors cannot be allowed. It's all ironed out.

I worked for many years with a creative as a producer and he wasn't like that. He had arguments with other producers and sound engineers over what to leave in, what to correct and what to change in a studio take. He internally 'knew'when a take was the right one, because it touched him emotionally. It was sometimes a take that others would easily have thrown out. He always said for him the perfection was in the imperfection. Everyone can sing perfectly with today's technology, so what is the difference between you and everyone else if you simply copy that? Humans are not perfect! Imperfections in the singing wake you up, they make you listen, they break through the barriers. Leave them in and connect fully.

[ronb]

The most valuable part of perfect pitch is the ability to identify a note by hearing it. For a musician this is "context". If some singer is having an amazing singing performance and suddenly swallows some spit i do not mind a pitch touch up, but as you say it's not probable that anyone can hit every note precisely in a whole piece. One of the comments was also quite valid that it's a disservice to the singer who is really close but some ambitious engineer or producer decides it needs to be perfect. This is the same quandry that presents itself when drums are "dead on". It ruins the humanity of it all. Great piece Fil. Sorry you'll get some abuse for this but...they just don't "feel" the music like some of us do. Cheers!

[facetoface-withGod]

As a major fan of Dimash, thank you for your video. I must say: I heard Dimash live in NY and he was SPECTACULAR - with unmatched range, beauty of voice, quick recovery between songs, etc. - a vocal powerhouse - who greatly impressed my friend who had never heard him before. People should realize that good producers use every tool in their arsenal to 'polish' a product EVEN when it's unnecessary. As a painter EVERY printer I used ALWAYS tried to 'polish' reproductions of my paintings by 'upping' this color or that - according to their liking, industry standards, etc. The only way to completely control your product from beginning to end is to be both the 'originator' AND the 'producer'. Usually impossible. Dimash has great producers - who mostly get their 'calls' right - but maybe sometimes they overdo autotune. But at Dimash's concerts (without autotune) thousands of his fans go absolutely wild over his beautiful singing. No matter what - he's the greatest. (And yes - that's my opinion.)

[matthewv]

One thing to keep in mind is that classical musicians, especially singers and string players, tend to gravitate toward what is know as “just intonation” for the given key they are in. This means certain notes (mainly 3rds, 6ths, etc., though not octaves or 5ths generally) are mathematically more in tune for that key, but would be more out of tune than usual in the context of some other key. Pitch meters are almost always measuring the compromise of equal temperament (which modern pianos are typically tuned to), in which every scale or key is equally out of tune. So when a pitch meter says someone is out of tune, sometimes the pitch meter itself is just wrong, because it’s expecting the note to be slightly out of tune, and will say it’s off when in fact it is perfectly in tune within the context of a given scale.

A second thing is that not all pianos and particularly not all orchestras tune to A=440. So if everything is sharp or everything is flat, it could be that the pitch meter just wasn’t calibrated to the pitch center the music is being played at.

Similarly, singers and instrumental soloists may intentionally exaggerate pitch fluctuations (particularly sharpness) to produce emotional effects. That said, nobody is perfect, and particularly in quick notes or big leaps, accuracy is often pretty spotty. But it might still sound in tune because the pitch isn’t actually staying the same, there are slides, glissandos, portamento into or out of a note. So at some point in there it may go through the correct pitch, and in combination with vibrato, it may sound correct even if very little of the time actually hits the pitch.

While you’re right that it would be terrible to pitch correct something that a singer can almost never hit, the reality is usually more like correcting some of the natural fluctuations and mistakes in a given take. Meaning notes which the singer hits 9 out of 10 times perfectly, but happened to miss in this particular take. The usual alternatives would be to do 100 takes until one is absolutely perfect from beginning to end, or else record a few takes, then edit them together to remove any flaws from the main take by replacing those bits with that part of some other take where that mistake didn’t occur. Sometimes a bit of pitch correction is quicker and easier and more seamless than editing in the note from another take or recording 50 more takes.

[jmorris]

Wow - your explanation of Dimash's autotuned recordings really, really hit home with me! I always felt his voice is too mechanical. But your explanation of how autotune is used in his recordings made me explore more of his live performances, and now I see how wonderful he is. What a shame that these engineering tools are abusing singers' talents.

[mpineda]

I'm a Dimash fan and love your explanations, it's always good to learn something, in this case, how things work in a studio. And forget about the negative comments and abuse. It's sad but there are some 'Dearzillas' around who don't represent him or the rest of us. Good job mate!