Part II: Live vs. Auto Tune…Comparing Apples to Oranges to Get Fruit Salad
Posted in WVC on May 4th, 2009 by admin – 3 CommentsThis is the second part of a two-part post on how Auto Tune and various computer-generated effects are shaping the way we hear.
1. If a singer was born after 1980, chances are good that they have grown up spending more time listening to technologically-enhanced recordings and watching polished music videos that actually singing.
This means that often their whole singing concept has been shaped by listening to and imitating Perfect Recordings rather than the unparalleled experience of actually daily singing and being part of live music–making as a participant or listener. Almost always, the singers have little physical connection to their singing, although their hearts are in it
2. The Perfect Recording syndrome affects classical singers, too. Before personal recording devices became common, you listened to great singers to become inspired, for emotional release, to develop a tonal ideal and learn repertoire. Now singers regularly listen to their voices recorded on devices that were never meant to capture the complete acoustics of singing–think old audio cassette recorders, digital cameras and simple computer mikes and this aural feedback becomes part of a singer’s vocal identity. These are often the singers who have lost the simple joy of singing
3. An equal challenge is the singer who hears herself as if she is the Perfect Recording. Anyone can record themselves and put it on the Internet. I can not tell you the number of singers I have tried to listen to on MySpace Music or YouTube where the singing was dismal. They are the singers who expect that their producers and sound engineers can fix anything and everything. (See Jim Frazier’s quote in the first post.) They are often the ones who hear from their boyfriend, Senator Whoever, ‘wow you are as good as the recording!’ And they are the ones who are surprised to find out that turning talent into a craft takes effort
These are just some of the things I’ve observed about how the evolution of the recording industry has effected people’s concepts of live singing. We just have to remember that they are two different art forms, and that what we listen to affects our whole being.
Cate Frazier-Neely
www.catefrazierneely.com
