The Autotune Thread

[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.

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!

Take a look at David's baseball cap in the Jazz Fest photos.

[drbeachboy]

Can I ask a serious question, why is this Autotune thing such a big deal with some of you? Is it a deal breaker and that you won't go to shows? Since no one has heard it while attending shows, is the issue just that it is fucking up your bootleg concert collection? Thanks!

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

Can I ask a serious question, why is this Autotune thing such a big deal with some of you? Is it a deal breaker and that you won't go to shows? Since no one has heard it while attending shows, is the issue just that it is f*cking up your bootleg concert collection? Thanks!

I don't collect concert bootlegs (seriously, no wink and a nods). But the YouTube audience recordings, to my completely and utterly untrained ears, demonstrate the use of pitch correction on Brian's voice. I hear it in the attack, mostly, but also in the bridge of SOS. In my opinion (everything I write is in my opinion, by the way) there is also a digital sheen to the notes he holds for a little while, but maybe that is a result of bad smartphone recordings.

I agree that "autotune," when used properly, isn't a big deal. Take all the help you can get, no problem, I don't blame them. However, when it adds digital bloops and blips, which I'm relatively certain I hear-- I'm hedging, I honestly believe there's no question it's being used-- it pulls me out of the moment and makes it sound unnatural.

I think Brian's "shouty" delivery is what screws up the processing. He knows how to deliver a good live vocal. Pitchy? Sure. Fine by me. It's authentic. It's our Brian. Anything else distracts from everything that makes him a superhero.

[anazgnos]

Can I ask a serious question, why is this Autotune thing such a big deal with some of you? Is it a deal breaker and that you won't go to shows? Since no one has heard it while attending shows, is the issue just that it is f*cking up your bootleg concert collection? Thanks!

I'm still happily going to two of the shows in June.  If the autotune is still going strong it will probably detract from my enjoyment of Brian's leads, but I know there's more to the show than that, so it's not a dealbreaker at all in that sense.  Obviously my goal is to go to the shows and hear some of my favorite music in the world and have a good time.  I'll probably be a little sensitized to any weird robotic sounds coming from Brian's voice, but it's not my goal to sit there picking it apart at the show.

I wish they weren't using it.  I dislike the effect on general principle, and I think what's even worse in this case is the fact that it doesn't solve the issue they presumably want it to solve.  I love the Beach Boys and I want the world to see and hear how amazing they still are on this tour. But things like live autotune are generally treated, justifiably, as a dirty little secret.  I'd hate for this to impinge on their legitimacy or reputation if it were noticed by the media at large, or the wider body of fans.  So, I think there is value in talking about it and giving visibility to the issue here: since we're so often reminded that higher-ups do read the board, there's an outside chance somebody it could get back to somebody in the BBs organization who could recognize the problem and take steps to fix it.  Then again maybe it won't change, and nobody will really notice, and it will only ever ending up slightly irking those few of us with dog ears.  That's fine too.

I think I can speak for most of us who are hearing it on the recordings: we love the Beach Boys, we don't want to see them fail or be embarrassed, we are not just a bunch of PhilCohens chomping at the bit to find fault with whatever the BBs do.  I also understand that a number of people either can't hear it or don't care.  More power to 'em.

[Autotune]

Beach Boys fan need a sort of trainwreck theory permanently. Up until a couple weeks ago the tour would be a disaster because Jeff Foskett would be too loud in the mix. Before that, the reunion was meh without Blondie. Before that, the DIA video was fake because David had not taken part in the recording (allegedly, of course). And on and on.

Recently the live autotune thing came along.

Thank God we now have "Spring Vacation" to rant about.

[anazgnos]

Beach Boys fan need a sort of trainwreck theory permanently. Up until a couple weeks ago the tour would be a disaster because Jeff Foskett would be too loud in the mix. Before that, the reunion was meh without Blondie. Before that, the DIA video was fake because David had not taken part in the recording (allegedly, of course). And on and on.

Recently the live autotune thing came along.

Thank God we now have "Spring Vacation" to rant about.

I personally have not made any complaints about Foskett or Blondie or Do It Again.  In each of those cases, I would presume that certain people were expressing their reservations about the things they personally had reservations about, but you're acting as though it's really all the same people who can just be swept under the same rug for being perpetually aggrieved.  I'm not really convinced that this is the case.

The fact that there are numerous and varied complaints about the Beach Boys in 2012 is not actually evidence that all complaints are invalid, and that everything is perfectly swell.

[sheknowsmetoowell]

I realize that people have their different opinions, but you have to listen. Nearly 100% of the notes that Brian is singing in this video are the victim of whatever program their using to "correct" his voice. As a result, it is making it worse by trying to latch onto a bunch of different notes all within a very small amount of time, hence the wobbly sound. Let this be evidence for the naysayers.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7c0CZFno0s&feature=relmfu

[Justin]

It's a good thing you started a new thread on this. 

[Autotune]

Deleted.
Take it to the thread created for it.

[SMiLE Brian]

 

[Autotune]

Beach Boys fan need a sort of trainwreck theory permanently. Up until a couple weeks ago the tour would be a disaster because Jeff Foskett would be too loud in the mix. Before that, the reunion was meh without Blondie. Before that, the DIA video was fake because David had not taken part in the recording (allegedly, of course). And on and on.

Recently the live autotune thing came along.

Thank God we now have "Spring Vacation" to rant about.

I personally have not made any complaints about Foskett or Blondie or Do It Again.  In each of those cases, I would presume that certain people were expressing their reservations about the things they personally had reservations about, but you're acting as though it's really all the same people who can just be swept under the same rug for being perpetually aggrieved.  I'm not really convinced that this is the case.

The fact that there are numerous and varied complaints about the Beach Boys in 2012 is not actually evidence that all complaints are invalid, and that everything is perfectly swell.

My point is that live autotune is the trainwreck fan theory of the week.

[Mikie]

Isn't there another thread dedicated to this subject?  And it was discussed on a couple of other threads before that, right?

Who gives a shiiit anyway?

[bgas]

Isn't there another thread dedicated to this subject?  And it was discussed on a couple of other threads before that, right?

Who gives a shiiit anyway?

You do. ALOT. Otherwise you wouldn't have posted....

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

Beach Boys fan need a sort of trainwreck theory permanently. Up until a couple weeks ago the tour would be a disaster because Jeff Foskett would be too loud in the mix. Before that, the reunion was meh without Blondie. Before that, the DIA video was fake because David had not taken part in the recording (allegedly, of course). And on and on.

Recently the live autotune thing came along.

Thank God we now have "Spring Vacation" to rant about.

I personally have not made any complaints about Foskett or Blondie or Do It Again.  In each of those cases, I would presume that certain people were expressing their reservations about the things they personally had reservations about, but you're acting as though it's really all the same people who can just be swept under the same rug for being perpetually aggrieved.  I'm not really convinced that this is the case.

The fact that there are numerous and varied complaints about the Beach Boys in 2012 is not actually evidence that all complaints are invalid, and that everything is perfectly swell.

My point is that live autotune is the trainwreck fan theory of the week.

Go to hell. I am not here to bitch and complain. I'm here to learn more about my favorite band. I'm going to a show to hear my favorite band perform live. I am mildly critically about a decision somebody made. Have you never criticized anything before? I'm sick of your tone, your obnoxious assumptions and your dismissive attitude. Go to the Blueboard if you want to blindly worship Brian Wilson. I'm allowed to express my opinion on a message board IN A THREAD DEVOTED TO THIS TOPIC without your bull merda. I love this band and I want to see them perform to the best of their abilities. Apparently, the only thing BB fans like more than bitching about the BBs is bitching about other BB fans. You don't hear it? Fine. That's not our fault. I don't care. Enjoy it, and go foda yourself.

[Mikie]

Nope.  But I know you can't spell very well and your grammar sucks.

[b00ts]

Nope.  But I know you can't spell very well and your grammar sucks.

Hee canne spelle bettir than eye kan

[MarcellaHasDirtyFeet]

Hey, no one listen to bgas! He forgot to put a space between "a" and "lot." Clearly, his opinions are less valid than Mikie's. Besides, his attitude isn't nearly as sparkling and pleasant as Mikie's charming demeanor.

[Mikie]

True dat, Evangeibel!

[Runaways]

i care enough to come and also say,

WHO GIVES A sh*t.

[TV Forces]

i care enough to come and also say,

WHO GIVES A sh*t.

Put me under the "care less" category.  These guys are 70 years old.
Let's get outraged over something IMPORTANT.

[SBonilla]

Beat the livin' crap out of it man! Sounds good from here. I detect a little ThwacKorrektor on it, though.

[drbeachboy]

The trouble is, is that it isn't mildly critical. It has taken over every reunion concert thread. You are right in one respect, if we are going to talk about it, this is the thread to do it in.

[Steve Mayo]

jon had a thread about the new orleans show. no autotune is being used.

[I. Spaceman]

Beach Boys fan need a sort of trainwreck theory permanently. Up until a couple weeks ago the tour would be a disaster because Jeff Foskett would be too loud in the mix. Before that, the reunion was meh without Blondie. Before that, the DIA video was fake because David had not taken part in the recording (allegedly, of course). And on and on.

Recently the live autotune thing came along.

Thank God we now have "Spring Vacation" to rant about.

That may be true, but it is also true that there is a certain type of Beach Boys "everything they do is wonderful" fan/apologist that must always have someone's differing, negative opinions to harp upon. Which ends up being just as negative, if not more so.

[I. Spaceman]

Beach Boys fan need a sort of trainwreck theory permanently. Up until a couple weeks ago the tour would be a disaster because Jeff Foskett would be too loud in the mix. Before that, the reunion was meh without Blondie. Before that, the DIA video was fake because David had not taken part in the recording (allegedly, of course). And on and on.

Recently the live autotune thing came along.

Thank God we now have "Spring Vacation" to rant about.

I personally have not made any complaints about Foskett or Blondie or Do It Again.  In each of those cases, I would presume that certain people were expressing their reservations about the things they personally had reservations about, but you're acting as though it's really all the same people who can just be swept under the same rug for being perpetually aggrieved.  I'm not really convinced that this is the case.

The fact that there are numerous and varied complaints about the Beach Boys in 2012 is not actually evidence that all complaints are invalid, and that everything is perfectly swell.

My point is that live autotune is the trainwreck fan theory of the week.

Go to hell. I am not here to bitch and complain. I'm here to learn more about my favorite band. I'm going to a show to hear my favorite band perform live. I am mildly critically about a decision somebody made. Have you never criticized anything before? I'm sick of your tone, your obnoxious assumptions and your dismissive attitude. Go to the Blueboard if you want to blindly worship Brian Wilson. I'm allowed to express my opinion on a message board IN A THREAD DEVOTED TO THIS TOPIC without your bull merda. I love this band and I want to see them perform to the best of their abilities. Apparently, the only thing BB fans like more than bitching about the BBs is bitching about other BB fans. You don't hear it? Fine. That's not our fault. I don't care. Enjoy it, and go foda yourself.

Right on.