The Autotune Thread

[SG7]

I hear it on You're So Good to Me. Cringe worthy.

[b00ts]

This is the most blatant example of the auto tune: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQNj9WQUHsc

If you can't hear something very strange about Brian's voice here well....you never will. It is is clear that it is being digitally pushed to hit the notes.

In all seriousness if they keep this up it is only a matter of time before the media catch on and Brian and the Beach Boys are a laughing stock. Someone has got to get rid of this. Brian has never needed it before.

Wow, you can really hear it in the "Sunny down snuff" solo vocal. Brian's voice is being pushed all over the place, and there is audible digital stepping.

It must make it hard to sing when your voice is being mangled like that. It is an insult to Brian that they are making him  sing with autotune.

If it's being used, it's certainly not being fed back at him through his monitors.

Ah, of course. Fairly obvious - I should have known.

[desmondo]

I hear it on You're So Good to Me. Cringe worthy.

I think you are hearing things

[desmondo]

City                                     Autotune?
------------------------------------------------

Tuscon, AZ                         Yes
Grand Prairie, TX                 Yes
New Orelans, LA                     ?

I thought at first that maybe B-Pain took the night off for the TX show, but then I realized I based that off of about 3 notes I heard in Good Vibrations (when he sang the extra "Ooh Bop Bop" super low in the mix).

Then I heard "The Little Girl I Once Knew".   

This might be a permanent thing guys. Here's hoping they killed it during tonight's show.

Can't hear it sorry and I do a lot of listening

[seltaeb1012002]

Can't hear it sorry and I do a lot of listening

Good on u bro. Be grateful that u can't hear it.

[EgoHanger1966]

I hear it on You're So Good to Me. Cringe worthy.

I think you are hearing things

She isn't.
It's not a big deal to me, but there's no denying the fact it's there.

[SG7]

I hear it on You're So Good to Me. Cringe worthy.

I think you are hearing things

She isn't.
It's not a big deal to me, but there's no denying the fact it's there.

Ha! That's funny considering I've seen him live for the past eight years. I would like to think I know Brian's voice live by now!

[desmondo]

I hear it on You're So Good to Me. Cringe worthy.

I think you are hearing things

She isn't.
It's not a big deal to me, but there's no denying the fact it's there.

Ha! That's funny considering I've seen him live for the past eight years. I would like to think I know Brian's voice live by now!

Me too and to be honest he was getting better and better - still not convinced this is all auto tuned by the long shot

[RONDEMON]

You can hear it very subtly on this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTLX3Elt4F8&list=UUpzE-BoSEkaeK0Dct2JPkRQ&index=2&feature=plcp

For those unfamiliar with subtle "tuning" it IS very hard to here.
I'm an audio engineer and I can definitely hear it on some of the end of BW's lines and when he pushes certain notes.
Oh well! Can't wait to see them in June!! Love the new single too.

[Aegir]

Ten years from now this'll be funny.

[endofposts]

I don't want them to turn Brian into Mae West in "Sextette" and "Myra Breckinridge."  He doesn't need the audio equivalent of facial tape and Vaseline on the lens. He did without it before on his solo tours, or at least it was done in a way that wasn't obvious if it was.  I realize a lot of artists may employ it in their concerts, but it shouldn't draw attention to itself.  I also find it odd that he's pushed up so high in the mix on some songs when Mike and the others aren't.  That may be what's sounding as odd as any autotune employed.  He sounds best on the circulating video of  "In My Room," where he's softer in the mix but you can hear him, and I don't notice autotune so much or it's not being used as obviously, if at all.

[FatherOfTheMan Sr101]

You can hear it very subtly on this clip.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTLX3Elt4F8&list=UUpzE-BoSEkaeK0Dct2JPkRQ&index=2&feature=plcp

For those unfamiliar with subtle "tuning" it IS very hard to here.
I'm an audio engineer and I can definitely hear it on some of the end of BW's lines and when he pushes certain notes.
Oh well! Can't wait to see them in June!! Love the new single too.

I agree, it's hard to hear if you don't work in the audio industry.

[stack-o-tracks]

I don't think working in the "audio industry" has anything to do with being able to hear the effects on his vocals.

[Ron]

I agree, it's hard to hear if you don't work in the audio industry.

I bought a guitar tuner (so now I'm in the music industry) and held it up to the speakers while I was playing the youtube videos.  Brian's voice made the guitar tuner peg to "in tune" on each note.... so I hear it now!  Now I can hear the autotune! 

Can't believe they're doing this.  BTW who's playing the whoo whoo machine to make all this happen?  Did they ressurect Roger Troutman?  Did they hire DJ Quik? 

[RONDEMON]

If you don't hear it on THIS clip then you need your hearing checked.

You can really hear it in the bridge section of Sail on Sailor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X6gLxS9Cw8&feature=relmfu

Compare it to to this 2001 Letterman clip of BW singing SoS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BakwE9cjSc

[b00ts]

If you don't hear it on THIS clip then you need your hearing checked.

You can really hear it in the bridge section of Sail on Sailor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X6gLxS9Cw8&feature=relmfu

Compare it to to this 2001 Letterman clip of BW singing SoS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BakwE9cjSc

Yeah, you would have to have a cloth ear to not hear the autotune in the first one. I have a tin ear, and I was able to hear it...

[Autotune]

If you don't hear it on THIS clip then you need your hearing checked.

You can really hear it in the bridge section of Sail on Sailor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X6gLxS9Cw8&feature=relmfu

Compare it to to this 2001 Letterman clip of BW singing SoS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BakwE9cjSc

Yeah, you would have to have a cloth ear to not hear the autotune in the first one. I have a tin ear, and I was able to hear it...

Voice may be processed (it better be), but the performance is ptichy anyway. Besides, he'll sing a good note, and  when he has to sing it again he'll do it badly. In other words: it's inconsistent enough. The same goes for every Brian performance circulating of this tour.

We've had episodes like this before in this board: fans arrive at a certain conclusion that is accepted as gospel, only to be tumbled by reality. The latest one possibly being when the DIA video appeared: dozens of posts appeared stating that the video was fake because David was not at the session. Reality put them in their place and people had to swallow their words.

[LostArt]

If you don't hear it on THIS clip then you need your hearing checked.

You can really hear it in the bridge section of Sail on Sailor.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5X6gLxS9Cw8&feature=relmfu

Compare it to to this 2001 Letterman clip of BW singing SoS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BakwE9cjSc

Yeah, you would have to have a cloth ear to not hear the autotune in the first one. I have a tin ear, and I was able to hear it...

Voice may be processed (it better be), but the performance is ptichy anyway. Besides, he'll sing a good note, and  when he has to sing it again he'll do it badly. In other words: it's inconsistent enough. The same goes for every Brian performance circulating of this tour.

We've had episodes like this before in this board: fans arrive at a certain conclusion that is accepted as gospel, only to be tumbled by reality. The latest one possibly being when the DIA video appeared: dozens of posts appeared stating that the video was fake because David was not at the session. Reality put them in their place and people had to swallow their words.

Exactly.

[Autotune]

Another piece of recent fan gospel that was tumbled by reality: "they will NOT play Fender".

Check all tour photograhps and videos, please.

Snowball effects are constant here. And when these gospel staements are proven wrong, few of its former supporters are around to take the blame. The same thing is happening with the autotune crap.

[guitarfool2002]

Another piece of recent fan gospel that was tumbled by reality: "they will NOT play Fender".

Check all tour photograhps and videos, please.

Snowball effects are constant here. And when these gospel staements are proven wrong, few of its former supporters are around to take the blame. The same thing is happening with the autotune crap.

The Fender-Gibson thing has not been explained, and for the life of me I don't know why that obscure issue is "off limits". Some topics, yes - not for public broadcast, understood. But obviously something was going on with the band and Gibson, and the band (Al, mostly) and Fender, but ultimately after Gibsons in rehearsals and at the Grammy awards we see them playing Fenders on the actual shows.

Is rumor and innuendo better than just telling the truth and ending it? Hey, I posted that same thing in the Fender-Gibson thread!

[b00ts]

Another piece of recent fan gospel that was tumbled by reality: "they will NOT play Fender".

Check all tour photograhps and videos, please.

Snowball effects are constant here. And when these gospel staements are proven wrong, few of its former supporters are around to take the blame. The same thing is happening with the autotune crap.

You are correct good sir, but I have to say that autotune is pretty obvious on Brian's (and only Brian's) voice. Anecdotal evidence: I was watching a video and my girlfriend (casual fan, not a musician, can't typically pick out elements of a mix) heard it from across the room - it was one of the sustained notes in "Please Let Me Wonder" where the formant and pitch goes way out for a split second, in a non-human way. She commented to me about it, with no prompting.

Of course, Brian's bum notes are still audible, so it makes the live pitch correction doubly ridiculous and useless.

 

[seltaeb1012002]

Another piece of recent fan gospel that was tumbled by reality: "they will NOT play Fender".

Check all tour photograhps and videos, please.

Snowball effects are constant here. And when these gospel staements are proven wrong, few of its former supporters are around to take the blame. The same thing is happening with the autotune crap.

Bah. Just spent way too much time writing a long ass response, but nevermind.  All is perfect in the world of The Beach Boys. Even Brian's perfectly out of tune vocals.

[Stegibo]

lol Dr. Lenny maybe you're the one who is wrong?

[RONDEMON]

Listen to those videos I posted. There's tuning. There's a popular Billy Joel video of him singing the national anthem at an outdoor baseball game and there's very obvious live tuning on him too so maybe compare the two and hear the similarities.

It's a bummer but maybe it's part of their contract with whoever is financing the whole tour.

Perhaps they think his voice is a risk for potentially bad reviews and for casual fans who don't necessarily know Brian as a household name, nor have seen/heard any of his solo tours/records - he's a pretty odd character on stage and don't know what he goes through etc.
Just a thought.

I'm still going to be at the Boston show and will buy the new record on the release date.

[b00ts]

Listen to those videos I posted. There's tuning. There's a popular Billy Joel video of him singing the national anthem at an outdoor baseball game and there's very obvious live tuning on him too so maybe compare the two and hear the similarities.

It's a bummer but maybe it's part of their contract with whoever is financing the whole tour.

I think you hit the nail on the head about their contract possibly requiring it. Like you, I am going to enjoy the sh*t out of the show I am going to, and I will purchase the CD on day 1.