Autotune. A word so familiar, yet one whose meaning is unknown. Is it what hides the atrocious voices of Tik Tok stars who have no singing abilities, but their parents are too nice to say so? Or is it simply pitch-correcting software that we have taken massive advantage of?
Developed in 1997, autotune is a vital component of music production in almost every genre of music. It was a must-have in the pop hits of the 2000’s beginning with just one line, 36 seconds into Cher’s 1998 song “Believe”. A pitch correcting software, autotune was and has remained a tool with immense creative potential rather than the negative perception it has recently garnered.
The initial intent was to repair flawed vocals to create a more natural sound inconspicuously on recordings. Before its inception, hundreds of recordings had to be taken, and the best sections in each were snipped together to create the songs that were later produced. The intense manual labour could have resulted in a piece where even each word was from a different take. Auto-tune simplified this process dramatically, taking its place in the music industry.
The crucial shift in autotune came in the 2010s when artists actively used it to change how their voice sounded during the recording process rather than later to clean up scarce messes. Some producers maintain a raw copy of the songs, but as artists pushed the boundaries of Autotune, many songs, even in their most simple and original form, are autotuned. This can be most glaringly observed in the rap of that decade, where autotune is a part of the song as much as any other instrument.
It is no surprise that autotune has settled itself into our society. Something so perfect sounding and good fits right in with our digital, hyper-edited social media images presented. Despite providing sounds that gave a futuristic, aesthetic, and angelic feeling, today, they are used as web-shooters for the spidermen called our rappers and singers. Now, we need to see whether Autotune will return to its original intentions or will we find more creative ways to mutate our voices to give it an edge?
