Kenny Vaughan Talks About Auto-Tune

Kenny Vaughan shares some wisdom about the problems with Auto-Tune.

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[mattpossbandmusic]

Kenny played on my first official album, and the engineer (who I dearly love and is a good friend of mine) kept messing with the effects. Kenny came in over the talk-back mic saying, "We're trying to sound cool, like Flatts and Scruggs here...not Rascal Flatts." We were on the floor laughing, but those were fighting words to my engineer, and the producer, RS Fields, had to hold engineer back from going in to have a word with Kenny. Creative tension...it was funny that day. Kenny's a legend. He's such a good story tellet too. Keep 'em coming, Otis!

[ChadBorgenMusic]

I love ...."For country music it just sounds dumb." I couldn't agree

[friendlier]

I love that Kenny can appreciate how amazing it could sound on a synth pop record. The man has wide-open ears. But also the good taste to know when something just "sounds dumb".

[GrumblingGrognard]

The "No Singer Left Behind Box" ;)

[Dave-mbkb]

Kenny is much kinder about auto-tune than me. I hate it for the sound itself as much as for how it destroys the soul of everything it's used on

[mateoh.]

Just saw The Black Crowes a few weeks ago and was blown away by how good Chris Robinsons voice sounded. May not be pitch perfect but at 55 he’s still killing it.

[GT-ywue]

Otis thanks for introducing me to Kenny I had never heard of him I’m from Scotland. He’s an amazing guitarist and seems a really cool guy.

[nealhitchcock]

My daughter is a choral instructor at a high school and has sung opera with various companies. She adjudicates singing competitions periodically. Sometimes performances are submitted virtually and other times it's live. She encountered a student who submitted an auto tune performance which she immediately recognized as such. Not sure if she'd encountered it before but after hearing Kenny, I guess it is distinctive enough for a trained ear to recognize.

[Randysax]

Sad that we can't even hear the real voices. The commercial industry is insane...

[Jerrylumdegaard]

Kenny is such an incredible artist and seems like such a kind, down to earth guy. Auto tune has got to be such an alien concept to a guy like him who speaks through his instrument so well. I can listen to him talk for hours. Love to meet him some day just to say THANKS!!

[arlington-ph]

Yep. Kenny is spot on. That stuff is fine for say, Owl City, but not Country or Rock.

[bobaldo]

The same thing goes for rhythm. If you get a bunch of musicians playing in the studio, and establishing a solid groove, the mix will sound and feel perfect. If you take that recording and line up every micro beat precisely according to the software on a damn machine, it will lose its natural "feel".
What you have then is robot music IMO.

[scottkidwellmusic]

Amen, Kenny!
I'm not a fan of auto-tuned vocals, and it's a big part of why I don't listen to much popular music. It's a bad look for country/ roots/ blues/ folk/ Americana...

Thanks, Otis! 🙏

[rogerwilliams]

One of the many worst things that happened to country music. Goes along with a roomful of yuppies and hipsters with a thesaurus and a rhyme book writing "songs" daily that they never lived and never related to.

[CharlesCornettFL]

I spoke to a young contestant that we had in a regional contest here, as I heard her literally emulating autotune in her vocals. She was amazing, and the extra "color" was limiting her. She just wrapped a tour opening with a group that *lives* by autotune. I have failed.

[JohnLeePedimore]

It's all frosting and no cake. Ask yourself this. How far would Johnny Cash get on American Idol? Bob Dylan? If those guys started today they would laugh them off the stage. Most of my music heroes wouldn't make it past the first round.

[Mandoslicer]

Lol! Priceless! Kenny is coming to my town with Marty soon. I cant wait to thank him for the belly laugh. “Just sounds…dumb.” Lololololol! Awesome.

[RobertFairweatherMusic]

It's part of the modern vocal landscape. I use the it for some stuff. I will use it at the gig tomorrow too.

[sayeager]

Just watched the Lucinda williams ACL episode. Kenny is such a pro on stage.

[christophertheiss]

As a musician I'll only ever pretend to accept auto-tune when the robots finally take over the planet... but only to save my own life and that of my nomadic tribe.