hey chris liepe here every once in a while i'll do a video on a particular singer and i'll get
some comments talking about how oh you know that guy uses auto-tune or
there and then there'll be this debate that starts with yes he does use auto-tune no he doesn't use
auto-tune and there's this general distaste i think from maybe singers maybe producers
particularly in rock music where like it's this huge
letdown if the guy uses auto-tune or he's not a real singer if he uses auto-tune or whatever
is
before we go any further autotune does not make you a better singer if you want to become a better
singer click the link below and join my free voice course and i'll work with you to develop the
fundamentals you need to fully discover your voice and all that it can do but auto-tune is a tool
and i don't want to say any more until i've let the pros talk about it here is spencer satello
and lucas magyar give me a little bit of audio to work with just track something real quick
okay so form a message in the sand yeah that sounds really good okay cool behind the stones
i think we're gonna be good let me boost your volume a little bit here i know when
we tracked before like we tracked with the tuner on or whatever do you like doing it
that way or do you like not doing it that way it doesn't really matter if you have a preference
that's fine with me okay that's cool with you yeah okay let me just find the key and then
we'll set it they'll fear me in the afterlife i'm calling their names i will haunt you endlessly
they'll fear me in the afterlife
spencer sotelo of periphery and lucas magyar of vail of maya they track with auto-tune
on they sing into it they use it as a gauge to help them understand if their voice pitch wise
and dynamics and emotionally wise is sitting in the mix if it's a good take
if you listen to a periphery record there is auto-tune on nearly every sung part spencer's
proud of that if you listen to a veil of maya uh recording lucas's stuff is the same way this is
an excerpt from a session in this studio where they were tracking an actual veil of maya song
and yes there's auto-tune on it that doesn't make lucas a horrible singer or spencer a
horrible producer this is a tool used now let's hear from another wonderful singer
ronnie radke i did a reaction to one of ronnie's songs a little while ago and so did a guy by the
name of alex hefner fantastic reactor to heavy songs and ronnie actually reacted to his reaction
so i'm going to react to his reaction of his reaction in the context of auto-tune and he has
some ronnie has some interesting things to say about autotune as well i want to explain some
of you guys that he said melodyne and i want to touch on this because i see in the comments
something too much auto-tune it's so funny i don't know okay it says that under does not understand
how auto-tune works if you have a bad voice if you are not a good singer auto tune is not going to
automatically fix your [ __ ] vocals you're going to tell you're still going to be a bad singer
so people are gonna be like okay well this guy is really hard auto tuned and i still don't like his
voice like here's a good example t-pain t-pain is a [ __ ] incredible singer but he uses auto-tune
auto-tune is literally pitch correction and what happens is most people like you everybody you
hear right now in the world that sings right now uses auto-tune period or melodyne anything pitch
correction what it is is a paint it's you took a paintbrush and you added texture to the voice
that's what people don't realize got you you can't be like a bad singer and then just use
auto-tune right literally still sounds like [ __ ] it's just gonna be in tune it's all about tonality
the people that comment like he uses too much autotune he can't really sing they're
literally just super ignorant and really dumb they have no idea how auto-tune works guys it
doesn't just work like that you don't go you're not like and then you put auto-tune on it's like
that's so straight from the mouths and practices of three current and amazing vocalists they use
auto-tune and are fine with it all the time now you might say well but you know paul mccartney
never used auto-tune and chris cornell didn't use auto-tune you know anything recorded anything real
don't do that as technology increases and more tools become available become more widely used
the standards in recordings change and auto tune is a tool that helps the vocal performance
become more engaged more emotionally engaged to the listener at the end of the day if
you're emotionally moved by something because a note was corrected or pitch corrected if you're
emotionally moved more as the listener it was good to tune that because the performance may have been
amazing but the pitch could be a little tighter it's available it doesn't make you a horrible
singer it's not cheating it's using the tools that are out there to enhance and better connect
a really great performance if used as a crutch or overused you know people misuse tools all the time
it doesn't make the tool itself something to avoid learn how to use it learn how it works with your
voice the other problem with this auto tune is bad kind of attitude is that it positions a level of
pride in you as a singer if you have this attitude or a judger of singers which you shouldn't be
anyway and it's this idea that oh you know i sung that all the way through and i didn't use
auto-tune well but was it a good performance were you emotionally engaged uh were you interesting
there's so many other things than pitch that pitch correction doesn't correct as ronnie was saying
it's not about yeah i'm the best because i didn't use auto-tune
there are great singers that use auto-tune and there are horrible singers that use auto-tune
when you're hearing a great performance with auto-tune tastefully worked into the picture
you don't care even if you say you do because there's that pride issue going well i could do
that and i wouldn't have to use auto-tune like that's just a stupid attitude so don't let pride
or this idea that like oh i'm a great singer and so i don't have to use auto-tune don't let that be
your attitude focus on emotionally engaging focus on the tools you have in front of you just like
reverb and delay or compression you wouldn't say like well i'm a great singer so i don't need to
use reverb or effects on or you know on my voice that's equally as dumb i think in today's day and
age so i want to give us an example of something that we could tighten up just a little bit
very subtly and bring the bring the performance or this area of the performance into better focus and
into better engagement for the listener so here we have this line you may have already heard it
okay not a bad performed line i'm a little whiny here at the beginning but i think that there is
actually some pitch things that i can do very subtly enhance and change that will help bring
this particularly the beginning of this line into focus a little bit better seeking over the world
i'm going to musically think about this line and i don't want to get rid of that taking that that
bluesy thing that i'm doing but that b that's a fifth taking right that b is a little bit off
you see i how i i approached it there i'm gonna tighten this up just a little bit not much i'm
going to turn the retune speed up just a little center it on the pitch i don't mind that i go
over there at the beginning it's also i'm a little under pitch on this guy here it's
so i'm going to bring this up notice it's it's auto adjusting for me i'm
going to bring the routine speed up a little bit and then it's shaking
yeah i like how i i dip down but i'm gonna center on that b again
taking over the and then that's that's a root so i'm going to really get that one
dialed in but that's all i'm going to do for now it's taking over the world and seeking over now it
tracked my little scream thing here at the end but of course you're not going to pitch correct that
that's uh taking now this sounds a bit strange
so i've left the imperfection in there that thing that happened which actually sounds
really good now that i think about it but i've tightened up very subtly some of those pitches
and it actually changed the tone of my voice and helped those notes
sit a little bit better in the mix because now they're in tune and you don't notice it
as pitch correction you just notice it as a more engaged performance listening again
versus
it's a subtle subtle thing but that opening is whiny and misplaced just a little bit
and by introducing that very subtle pitch correction we have fixed it at least to my ears
now obviously there's all sorts of creative uses for auto tune musical ways to incorporate it in
an obvious way this is a really subtle way to use it and there's a whole range in between
the point is it's a tool that can be used for greater emotional engagement for tightening things
up or for wacky obvious creativity don't run away from it because of pride or because you want to
judge other people or whatever the pros do it from engineers to amazing singers you heard from their
very own mouths and saw in the workflow again if you'd like more help with your own voice click
the link below and join my free voice course i'd love to work with you and go be creative
go experiment with some awesome challenging lines nail the emotion nail the take and then
tighten it up with a little bit of pitch correction see what happens we'll see it for more