Melodyne: The *real* death of Autotune

We have all heard Jay-Z's song "Death of Autotune" and from that are at least vaguely familiar with what Autotune does.  I have always been more than slightly nauseated to know that people with zero singing abilities are still major musical superstars, which is exactly what that program allows and encourages. 


Tonight in my NYU Audio Recording class we learned about another program that producers and engineers have had at their disposal for the last couple years called Melodyne...

Melodyne is basically a super-genius version of Autotune with about a million more features. We watched this video (below) in class tonight and I wanted to share. 

The geeky side of me was amazed at the technology, but the musician side of me (and the much more dominant side) was somewhat disturbed.


Prepare to have your mind blown:

 




It's so strange to think that in the not-so-distant-future a musician will be able go into the studio and just play a couple notes one time, regardless of quality, pitch or talent, and a producer will be able to create an entire song off of those notes. 


Granted, musicians will save a lot of money on studio time - and not to mention all those hours they won't have to spend rehearsing and practicing their instruments(!!) - but something still just doesn't sit right with me about that idea.

Britney Spears for one owes Peter Neubäcker (German man in the video) a huge "Thank You", that's for sure...sorry I tried to control myself and not name names, but wow. Yes she lip syncs her live shows for a reason.

Now, Melodyne and Autotune can understandably be great assets to musicians, if used sparingly and not to replace a solid musical performance. Tweaking one note here and there is a great thing as long as the talent and integrity of the performance is not compromised, but we all know that this will not be the case in every situation.  I dread the day when artists get addicted and severely dependent on Melodyne to be their security blanket.  

I think anyone that watched Taylor Swift's performance at the 2010 Grammys (OUCH!) now know what her producers use to make HER sing in tune on her albums.


Just in case you need a reminder of that train wreck.

*~*~*~*

PS: If you're entirely sure exactly what Autotune does, this video explains it pretty clearly, with a direct comparison to just a small sample of Melodyne's capabilities: