What is Auto-Tune?

Last February at the Grammys, indie rock outfit Death Cab for Cutie sported blue ribbons in order to “raise awareness of auto-tune." This was probably the first time that the ribbon method has been used to raise awareness about anything other than disease (discounting the “bringing our soldier’s home” ribbons which aren't seeming to work).

But what is auto-tune, and why do we have to become aware about it? What is important enough in the music industry to wear ribbons for?! Isn’t auto-tune that effect that T-Pain uses, and if so, what’s the problem with that?

Well, it is important to first distinguish that there are two main forms of auto-tune. The type that T-Pain uses to make his voice sound all wavy is known as “The Cher Effect."

In 1998, Cher released her twenty-third studio album Believe. Trying to steer in a different direction (her prior album It’s a Man’s World consisted of mostly southern covers), she met with many Eurodisco producers’, one of which was Mark Taylor. For the title track of the album, Taylor experimented with changing the settings in the Auto-Tune program, and processed it in such a way that the program had to catch up to the vocal track, creating an interesting effect that Cher took a liking too. After hearing it, she demanded that the original track be deleted; only leaving the new Auto-Tune effect in place.

Since “Believe” went on to become a huge hit, many artists have taken this approach to using Auto-Tune in order to produce this creative effect. Before long Kid Rock was using it, as well as dance groups such as Eiffel 65. But like most trends, it burnt out, and it was thought to stay that way.

But before long, the effect cam back with vengeance, this time with the hip-hop and R&B Community. T-Pain is mostly credited with this resurgence. He used the effect heavily in his albums Rappa Ternt Sanga and Epiphany, and in doing so brought the effect back into the mainstream. The effect still remains popular today, and has recently gotten an extreme boost from Kanye West, whose album 808s and Heartbreak used the effect almost exclusively.

But “The Cher Effect” is not why Mr. Ben Gibbard is wearing a ribbon. Mr. Gibbard and his Death Cab crew are protesting the traditional use of Auto-Tune – using the program to correct pitch in singers and instruments rather than for creativity.

The vast majority of musicians now-a-days use the program do to just that. A famous quote about the program was said by an anonymous Grammy-winning award engineer, who said  "Let’s just say I’ve had Auto-Tune save vocals on everything from Britney Spears to Bollywood albums. And every singer now presumes that you’ll just run their voice through the box.”

Artists also use the program live, to ‘ensure’ good performances, relying on it to save the show when the artist naturally goes off pitch. Is this okay? Is it okay that what we are listening to through our headphones and at our concerts isn’t just people playing music, but rather people playing music with the aide of a machine? Artist like Death Cab for Cutie and Garth Brooks think not – not only refusing to use it but openly protesting it. Even though the music we listen to is filtered through hundreds of machines, it is interesting to note that when the vocals in those songs are being altered people start to take notice.