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by habeebtc 1614 days ago
What you think of as Autotune from your examples was popularized by Cher (turning it up all the way to produce that effect).

Used sparingly it can turn people with terrible pitch into reasonably good singers. Turned up a bit more gets you a pristine sound, which sometimes pops pleasantly but often enough ends up bland and less memorable. You may have to have an ear for music a bit to notice it.

Once you notice it, it is everywhere.

1 comments

Fair point, but it still depends. Even inhumanly perfect sterile vocals can be offset by interesting instrumentals and innovative production. Really depends on what genre, or even what specific song, we're talking about. There is a lot of overproduced vapid pop (to pick a genre that might use this to a higher extent), but there is also a lot of interesting pop.
I can't disagree here about some really good music using Autotune. Even if it is not your cup of tea, Cher's "Believe" is undeniably iconic.

I am not a record producer, but I feel like Autotune is a big part of the reason that we don't have many modern classics. I would love some producers' hot takes on this article.