The Blog-Auto-Tune

The more contemporary music I listen to the more I wonder where all the creativity is going! It seems that, more than ever, the same basic models for a commercial release are just being cloned from other efforts. I don’t care which genre you’re listening to. It’s amazing how un-original the productions are and I swear if you’re not listening too closely you can’t even tell one from the other. Thank goodness there is indie music out there because that’s where a lot of the creativity is going. People are actually trying new things although, alas, there is some “playing it safe” going on there, too.

So, that brings me to the subject at hand: Auto–Tune”. It is without a doubt a phenomenal technology that is at work in these software apps that let you fix bad vocal or instrument intonation problems after the fact. The thing that drives me absolutely nuts though is hearing cut after cut with the same over-use of Auto-Tune. It’s like a cold that everybody catches. We are all out here trying to make great recordings and promote our projects, but leaning heavily on gizmos, gadgets and gimmicks is just sort of phoning it in and not really swinging out creatively. I know we can do better.

I say let folks see what you’ve got. Use the tools you have when they you really want and/or need them. Not as part of a formula for making a “hit record”. Lyrics, melody, arrangement are the keys!

P.S. In the early sixties, my Dad used to say “let’s go down to Greenwich Village and be non-conformists like everyone else.

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