Autotune... why?

[Dudester]

So i am being called a liar. 

I am an experienced musician and I know what I hear with my own ears.  I know what sounds good and what does not, what is and what is not authentic.

The enemy of art is the absence of limitations.

Music today has no value because it is too easy to create and it is available for listening at the push of a button.  Nobody cares about it or works at it or struggles for it except the few.

I will agree that most music today is easy to produce. This guy, Andrei, who has a stable of limited range, very easy on the eyes girl singers in Romania, uses this easy to produce music and cuteness of the girls to make money on Youtube. With that said, in this thread I have lauded BABYMETAL. There is genius in so many aspects of BABYMETAL. Among those aspects is the lyrics of the songs, when mixed with the choreography of the singer/dancers that front the group put on an amazing show. Many, who have watched the Road of Resistance (Live in Japan) video get emotional, even though they don't speak a word of Japanese, because the music is so powerful. An experienced musician can sit down in front of a crowd with an acoustic guitar and create beautiful music, or likewise with a piano, can create incandescent music, but can they fill a venue, and then go on a world tour? It is so very hard to make a buck in the music world today. When the pandemic hit, it hit BABYMETAL hard because they only make money when they are touring. When the restrictions began to ease in November 2022, BM began touring, and with the exception of a month here, and a month there, they have been continuously touring. With the amount of countries that they have been in, they have probably filled one passport with stamps and have seriously filled in another.

[MissBarbara]

And if you don't have a good voice, and/or you're not able to sing a note, maybe you shouldn't sing. 

Neil Young would disagree with that. And so would I.

[MissBarbara]

Does Barry Gibbs have a good voice?  It is not natural but for the Bee Gees, was profitable and popular.

The Bee Gees were a successful pop/rock band before they re-invented themselves, began singing in falsettos, and began writing and performing disco songs.

Barry Gibb had a very good voice. Head over to YouTube and listen to songs like "Massachusetts," "To Love Somebody," and "New York Mining Disaster."

Singing is with a falsetto is not unnatural. It's still his voice, unaffected by electronics, and it's his natural voice.

I agree 100% with your assertion that music is "successful" if it is profitable and popular.

[Dudester]

Singing is with a falsetto is not unnatural. It's still his voice, unaffected by electronics, and it's his natural voice.

[/b]

No, but it is difficult. I sang in a large choir for nearly twenty years. Dave always insisted on singing next to me. His voice was much better and more fuller than mine, however, EVERY singer has at least one funky note in their range. One of Dave's two funky notes was in falsetto. He had a better voice, but I had a wider range.

[Rainwater]

And if you don't have a good voice, and/or you're not able to sing a note, maybe you shouldn't sing. 

Neil Young would disagree with that. And so would I.

Allow me to put this in context, since nobody else seems to be able to do so.

Neil Young, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, etc... there are many brilliant songwriters that are not known for having great voices, however their voices are part of their signature, and most of them can carry a tune.   

When I stated that maybe certain people shouldn't sing, perhaps I should have stated the point more clearly.  The vocalists today who are unable to perform without pitch correction.  I think Neil Young is fine just the way he is.  You see, he is actually an artist with talent. 

If someone like Neil Young showed up at a major record company today for an audition, they'd send him on his way, laughing behind his back.  They sell candy to children.  They are not concerned with artists who play real music or who say anything.

[Dudester]

And if you don't have a good voice, and/or you're not able to sing a note, maybe you shouldn't sing. 

Neil Young would disagree with that. And so would I.

Allow me to put this in context, since nobody else seems to be able to do so.

Neil Young, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, etc... there are many brilliant songwriters that are not known for having great voices, however their voices are part of their signature, and most of them can carry a tune.   

When I stated that maybe certain people shouldn't sing, perhaps I should have stated the point more clearly.  The vocalists today who are unable to perform without pitch correction.  I think Neil Young is fine just the way he is.  You see, he is actually an artist with talent. 

If someone like Neil Young showed up at a major record company today for an audition, they'd send him on his way, laughing behind his back.  They sell candy to children.  They are not concerned with artists who play real music or who say anything.

The music industry has changed vastly in the past 40 years. In the 1980's, rock bands filled arenas and anyone could get a decent seat for 20 bucks because the BIG  money was in record sales and arena tours were just one form of publicity.

Nowadays, completely different paradigm. Rock bands play in much smaller venues and you'll be lucky to get a ticket at only 100 bucks. Rock bands only make money when they play live. Speaking of which, in 2002, Shannon Doherty was in a documentary (Bubblegum Babylon) in which she spoke of how the recording industry takes advantage of young attractive singers. I have spoken of BABYMETAL at great length here. From 2010 to 2013, the girls in the band used to meet with the public, shake hands, sign autographs and thank fans for their adoration. Since then, there has been a wall built between the girls and the fans. In addition, the girls aren't allowed to have social media accounts and what young person today doesn't have a social media account? 

Being easy on the eyes matters greatly nowadays and auto tune (and other audio tricks) have become so commonplace that fans actually expect that. If you are a singer/songwriter you can create your own career, but it is a much harder road to drive if you're not signed to a recording contract. With that said...

Earlier tonight I watched an interview with The Warning. Presently, the three girls (all sisters) range in age from 19 to 24. They spoke of the fact that they never learned to ride bikes and they have no romances (and haven't ever experienced that).

[MissBarbara]

And if you don't have a good voice, and/or you're not able to sing a note, maybe you shouldn't sing. 

Neil Young would disagree with that. And so would I.

Allow me to put this in context, since nobody else seems to be able to do so.

Neil Young, Tom Waits, Bruce Springsteen, Lou Reed, Bob Dylan, etc... there are many brilliant songwriters that are not known for having great voices, however their voices are part of their signature, and most of them can carry a tune.   

When I stated that maybe certain people shouldn't sing, perhaps I should have stated the point more clearly.  The vocalists today who are unable to perform without pitch correction.  I think Neil Young is fine just the way he is.  You see, he is actually an artist with talent. 

If someone like Neil Young showed up at a major record company today for an audition, they'd send him on his way, laughing behind his back.  They sell candy to children.  They are not concerned with artists who play real music or who say anything.

And if a band like Nirvana, or even the Beatles, showed up in a recording studio today, they, too, would be sent packing.

You're making the relatively common mistake of assuming that all music recorded and performed today is processed pop. While that type of music is the most popular music today, it's by no means the only music being produced today. What people refer to is "classic rock" is no longer popular, but that does not mean that great music -- in every imaginable style -- is not being produced today. You're basing your assertions on one segment of the music industry, and there's tons of great music out there today that you'll never hear on pop radio stations or topping the "bestseller" lists on Spotify and Apple Music.

You're also making the classic mistake of confusing "I don't like it" and "it's not good." Whether or not a given singer or band is "good" in your (or my) opinion is aggressively irrelevant. Staci put it perfectly: If it sells and if its popular, it's resonant.

[Pornhubby]

You're also making the classic mistake of confusing "I don't like it" and "it's not good." Whether or not a given singer or band is "good" in your (or my) opinion is aggressively irrelevant. Staci put it perfectly: If it sells and if it’s popular, it's resonant.

And musical styles are constantly evolving and changing. My grandmother was born in 1905. I remember her standing over the stove cooking while she sang “A Bicycle Built for Two.“ Billy Idol was on the top of the charts at the time. My grandmother did not know who Billy Idol was. She had never heard a Billy Idol song. And she was perfectly happy. Her music was Irving Berlin and Bing Crosby. She thought Frank Sinatra was “a kid,“ and she more or less stopped listening to music when Elvis Presley came along. So it has always been this way, and it always will be this way.  100 years from now, no one will remember the artists that we thought were extremely relevant in our youth. They’ll just be some recordings on a server at the archives.

[MaceAce]

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