From seismic reflections to Auto-Tune

Interesting article:
http://www.businessinside...by-oil-engineer-2014-7

"Auto-Tune has become ****y shorthand for saying somebody can’t sing," wrote The Verge's Lessley Anderson. "But the diss isn’t fair, because everybody’s using it."



Absolute rubbish! 
 
A singer sings in tune. Hitting the wrong note is an exception, and a rare one at that. 
 
Now, popular entertainers, that's a different story... 

"Well, now the singer's worried about pitch and has to focus on the intonation and the vitality and emotion are gone from their performance. "
 
In other words, we are dealing with an amateur who can't sing in tune and can't perform under relatively minor stress.
 
What the heck are they doing behind the mic if singing in tune is a source of worries? 
 
It's hard to believe how much we've lowered the bar.
 
 

Coming from a rock and heavy metal background, it's always been a given to me that vocals weren't necessarily in tune. Most of my favorite bands back then couldn't really sing their own material too well on stage. 
 
Having to handle the vocal duties myself more often than not, I tried my best to at least sing in tune - and I think I did a relatively fair job. But I never really felt in control of my voice - it was a bit like throwing the dice and hoping for the best. 
 
And I'm fully aware that there's a lot of people like me out there. Vocalists, who aren't necessarily singers. I guess Auto-tune could be of help in such cases. 
 
But what I have a problem with is that nowadays, we have everything upside down and backwards. We've let people who can't sing tell us that it's normal to sing out of tune, nay, impossible to sing in tune and that everybody's using AT. Which is BS. 
 
Because there are people who not only have a great voice but who can actually sing, and perform and convey emotion, and their standard of performance are actually quite high.
 
They have a very tight grasp on their performance so that they are absolutely consistent; they know how to breathe, they have a gift for remembering lyrics, can read a chart, have a stage presence which commands attention; they dance and act, they know how to move on a stage, have worked their diction, maintain a good stamina, can do their stage make up, and on and on and on.
 
Those people exist, and it's a joy to hear and see them. 
 
Of course, that isn't given to just anybody, and it requires dedication and lots of really hard work. But isn't that the point?

There are a lot of parallels between Seismic oil exploration and DAW technology.
 
Want a system that can record 200,000 digital channels simultaneously? PM me.

I was listening to some John McLean last night, what a golden voice. No digital correction needed there. Almost perfect pitch with just that tiny smidgen of occasional inaccuracy which makes a performance human. I also like when vocal harmonies are just that little bit out rhythm-wise. It makes it feel like a real performance instead of an effect. All things which would be immediately Melodyned out of existence by most of today's producers.

sharke
I also like when vocal harmonies are just that little bit out rhythm-wise. It makes it feel like a real performance instead of an effect. All things which would be immediately Melodyned out of existence by most of today's producers.

Indeed. Another reason why I can hardly find recent records that I enjoy - those tuned harmonies are the next worst thing after brickwall limiting.