Auto-Tune

Missing the Note

Few singers are perfect. Sometimes, their vocal pitch slightly misses the exact note they are trying to hit. If they are a little out of tune, the vocal track can still be rescued - or ruined, depending on one's point of view. The pitch of the note depends on the sound wave's frequency. The A above middle C is usually defined as 440 Hz. Therefore, frequency manipulation can produce a different note or hit an exact one from slightly off-key noise. Musical scales are divided into 12 pitches, each separated by a semitone—the difference in note between two adjacent keys on a piano or frets on a guitar neck.  

Pitch Correction

Pitch correction aims to retune a slightly higher or lower note to the nearest semitone. In the system usually used by MIDI instruments, the pitch is assigned a number, with 440-Hz A being 69 and each semitone increasing or decreasing the pitch number by 1. It is related to frequency F by a simple formula. So, using a computer to correct the frequency back down or up would ensure that the recording sounds in tune. Nevertheless, sound engineers can't simply change the frequency itself. The sound duration would vary, too- that's why sped-up tapes sound chipmunk-like. This is because the wave's frequency is related to its speed via wavelength. Today, producers can alter the frequency without changing the speed by going digital.

Auto-Tune

Auto-Tune has become embedded in popular culture as a standard description or generic term. It describes audible pitch correction in music. Andy Hildebrand is the engineer who created Auto-Tune. Hildebrand developed methods for interpreting seismic data. He realized the technology could detect, analyze, and modify the pitch in audio files. Antares Audio Technologies first developed Auto-Tune effects. This effect uses a proprietary device to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental music recordings and performances. Initially, it disguised or corrected off-key inaccuracies. It allows vocal tracks to be perfectly tuned even though they are initially slightly off-pitch. The processor slightly shifts pitches to the nearest true, correct semitone (to the exact pitch of the closest tone in traditional equal temperament). Additionally, producers often use the Auto-Tune effect to distort the human voice.  

Commercial Use

The earliest commercial use of Auto-Tune as a vocal effect in a popular song was Roy Vedas's Fragments Of Life on August 17, 1998, and later in Cher's "Believe" and Eiffel 65's "Blue (Da Ba Dee)." The effect differs from a vocoder or the talk box. For example, in an early interview, the producers of "Believe" claimed they had used a DigiTech Talker FX pedal. ''Sound on Sound'' editors felt this was an attempt to preserve a trade secret After the success of "Believe." So, the technique became known as the "Cher Effect." Initially, engineers designed Auto-Tune to correct imprecise intonations discreetly. However, Cher's producers used it to "exaggerate the artificiality of abrupt pitch correction." This technique soon became widespread in live performances and pop recordings throughout the first ten years of the 21st century. Modern-day examples of artists known for using Auto-Tune are T-Pain, Lil Wayne, Future, Migos, Travis Scott, and Lil Uzi Vert.  

Additional Resources & Source Texts

• Auto-Tune