Autotune has become an intrinsic part of modern pop music, whether it's used subtly or whether it's heaped on with a T-Pain shaped ladle; it's been correcting inaccuracies for a long time.
But what's brought it back? And where did it come from in the first place? Let's ask some questions...
What is it exactly?
I suppose this is the best place to start - Auto tune was initially created by Antares Audio Technologies - First brought into the DAWs of producers in 1997, the Plug-in revolutionised the industry. It also brought to light a new effect that artists could use on their voice. One of the first to do so was...
Cher and the Birth of AutotuneMany people still call auto-tune the "Cher Effect" after Cher used it on her 1998 single "Believe" which brought the effect into the public's eye. This was the first time that the effect had been used so prominently and people wanting to know what the effect was were told by the sound engineers they'd used a vocoder - they were trying to keep auto tune a trade secret!
But as with most big secrets, they aren't kept for long...
The Decline of Autotune
For the next few years the charts were hit by artists using the effect. The Pop music industry eventually stopped using the effect quite as prominently as Cher had previously, but still used it subtly to correct vocals and even to add harmonies to existing vocal lines without having to re-record the vocals (companies like Melodyne brought new industry standards to auto-tuning software...)
The ReBirth of Autotune
2005 rolled round and a little known rapper from the amusingly titled group "Nappy Headz" was noticed by popular artist "Akon". This rapper had dreams of being a singer and his dream came true - T-Pain graced the charts with his hit songs "I'm Sprung" and "I'm N Luv (Wit a Stripper)". What he lacked in tact for song titles, he made up in auto-tuned vocals. This hit the pop music world hard, with ripples hitting rappers who wanted to be singers from Snoop Dogg with his single "Sexual Eruption" to Lil Wayne's "Lollipop" to Kanye West with "Love Lockdown".
It wasn't just rappers either - the effect has been used by popular singers with the same quick-correction technique since then. It's got to the point where some people think it's too much - Jay-Z went so far as to make the single "Death of Autotune" as an expression of his distaste at the overuse of the effect.
But this hasn't stopped the wave of artists using it. Everyone from Britney Spears to Country singers has used the technique - it is now a vital part of pop music and it doesn't show any sign of stopping.
The Future of Autotune
Melodyne has recently released their "DNA" software for beta testing. DNA in this case stands for "Direct Note Access" - basically, it allows for tuning individual notes within an audio recording of multiple notes - for instance, a guitar chord can now have just one of the notes within it changed.
Does this spell a whole new era of re-using existing audio? Theoretically, all you need is one guitar chord and you can make any guitar riff you want now - especially with the advent of mind-boggling time stretching techniques with the new wave of audio sequencers. It won't just be voices being manipulated; session musicians are going to have a hard time getting studio work if this plays out. Or maybe the industry will go into a decline again? After the auto tune effect has been used so heavily, perhaps it's time for an artist to step up to the plate and advocate the use of authentic vocals, or at least go back to the early 2000s where there was a more subtle use of the effect.
Either way, chances are auto tune will stick around in one way or another - with technology such as DNA pushing it even further, I guess you have to ask yourself - do you want to be authentic with your audio or will you harness the power of these boundary-pushing plug ins?
