When I think of Autotune I think of Cher’s Believe (Cher, 1998).
The vocal performance was like nothing I had heard before. And it marked the beginning of a sound in Music Production that can still be heard today. Autotune can be used to subtly correct vocal performance but what makes Believe stand out was its use as a creative effect.
Another artist that has done similar is T-Pain. In the series “Watch the Sound” Mark Ronson speaks with T-Pain to find out how he found Autotune but also why, as a good singer, he wanted to use it (Ronson et al., 2021). His response was that while he can sing, he wanted to sound different to everyone else.
Charlie XCX also utilises Autotune as a creative effect, utilising it both in the studio and live. When using it, she comments that when making mistakes whilst using Autotune it can create happy accidents that she would not have otherwise done (Ronson et al., 2021).
So, how did Autotune, probably one of the most defining sounds in music of the last 20 years, come about?
Autotune was created by Andy Hildebrand, a mathematician who had worked on autocorrelation (used to help map the earth’s surface using sound waves). He applied his work on autocorrelation on mapping how the throat works and how it affects pitch. However, it was in 1995 Andy was asked at a lunch “Why don’t you make a box that will let me sing in tune?”. The idea stuck with him and in 1996 Auto-Tune was shown at NAMM to cheering crowds (Fitzmaurice, 2018). And in 1997 the first version of Auto-Tune was released.
References
Cher (2018) Cher – believe [official music video], YouTube. Available at: https://youtu.be/nZXRV4MezEw (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
Fitzmaurice, L. (2018) Great moments in auto-tune history, Vulture. Available at: https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/great-moments-in-auto-tune-history.html (Accessed: 13 May 2023).
Ronson, M. et al. (2021) ‘Auto-Tune’, Watch the Sound With Mark Ronson. Apple TV+.