Craig Ferguson
I recently had some long discussions with Craig Ferguson about this. He plays guitar in my band and produced our latest album that will be coming out in a few months. The producer of our last album used some autotune to brighten up our vocals and save some time with extra takes. Craig said for this album he didn’t want to do that. He wanted us to sound like us. It’s not that we can’t sing our harmonies in tune or pull it off live, we can. But it changes the tone of your voice. It makes you sound like a synthesizer. For those that don’t know, autotune can be used in a recording or live performance to automatically tune any notes you sing off-key. When you hear rap stars or pop stars whose voices sound like robots, that’s the sound man cranking up the autotune to get that effect. My problem is with singers who use it to shine up their performance and the lay person in the audience doesn’t know. And EVERYBODY uses it. Bluegrass bands us it a lot for the three-part harmonies which I think sets an unrealistic bar for performances and looses the human element. I have no respect for any performer who uses it live but it can be a time saver in the studio. So the question is: since it is an industry standard, do you cave in and use it because people are now becoming accustom to that sound and expect to hear it that way? Or do you stay true to your beliefs and hope to find an audience that is still out there that appreciates “real ” singing?
My song for this week is “my Old Kentucky Home”. A traditional song with some new lyrics that were written by Randy Newman. This is an old recording, that was saved from the last cassette that I had of this album. The album is called “The Crazy Old Man’s Chorus” and features Nathan Phillips on lead vocal and rhythm guitar and myself on lead guitar, dobro and back up vocal. Nathan was about 22 years old when we recorded this and even then sounded like an 80 year old blues singer from the delta. The studio burned down and the master with it so the cassette was the only version of the album I have. Nathan and I played together in the subways of Boston for about 2 years in the mid 80′s. Though the recording quality is bad, our performance is great. Mainly because he and I played together for 5 or 6 hours a day, everyday. No autotune needed. you can download this song for free at my website. If you like this song let me know and I will post more from that album in future blogs.
cw
It is not the process that matters, it’s the end result, if it’s got soul it’s got soul. if not, then not.
The rest of it is just foolish musician pride
jj out
Comment by jjh — March 13, 2010 @ 2:56 am |
that depends on how much you use it. If it’s got soul, you don’t need it
WHEN ARE WE GOING TO PLAY FUCKING TELE’S!!!
Comment by Cliff Wagner — March 13, 2010 @ 6:39 am |
An Industry Standard could be pretty much anything…like Disco, R.I.P.. Everything shifts, and this trend will as well. Glam Rock gave way to Punk Rock which begat Hair Bands then Techno. Of course you know that Hair Bands begat Bluegrass but that’s only because you missed the Techno Bus by about an hour. I say anyone who isn’t singing in their own natural voice isn’t singing….unless you’re The Chipmunks! …and another thing, that’s a fine version of My Old Kentucky Home. Are you using an Auto-tune on that? It sounds just a little too perfect. Technology is unto itself the end of technology by way of technology. Let’s all get back to banging sticks and human bones on rocks and in the dirt.
Comment by DV — March 13, 2010 @ 4:41 pm |
Ha ha! I don’t even think we tuned our instruments. I agree to beat on bones and rocks as long as they are tube rocks and not solid state.
Comment by Cliff Wagner — March 14, 2010 @ 12:14 am |
The problem is it’s changed everyone’s ears to a lie. I finally started watching American Idol. I wonder how many of the greatest’d get ‘You’re sounding a bit pitchy’ if they went on the show. I found listening to Bill Monroe a very aquired taste back in the day. It was quite shocking how out he was, but that’s the sound. Same with Shane MacGowan, Ralph Stanley, Jagger, Ray Davies, Chuck Berry….the list is endless. Electronic tuners are a godsend in many ways but they’ve set a homogonised standard. Unfortunately I doubt if there’s any going back.
Comment by Banjo Sam — March 13, 2010 @ 11:42 pm |
Auto-tune examples/lies : Ashley Simpson and Lisa Marie Presley !! As if anyone cared during their 15 seconds of fame.
JG
Comment by Jimmy's Ghost — March 19, 2010 @ 7:22 am |
Auto-tune Schmoto-tune..what I need to know is how you Hot Musicians handle all the Wild and Crazy Poonanie that throw themselves at you every night. What kind of vitamins do you Men take!!?? It’s got to leach out a lot of nutrients after any extended road trip. xoxo
Comment by Tommy2Bad — April 15, 2010 @ 7:15 pm |