Auto-Tune (1997)

About the Software

Auto-Tune is an automated pitch-correction and audio-processing software created by Antares Audio Technologies, introduced in 1997.

At first, Auto-Tune was primarily used as a subtle way to cover the mistakes of a vocalist off their game; smoothly sliding the pitch to the correct note.

Then, in 1998, Cher’s single Believe came out. People had heard vocoders in the past, but this was different. Cher’s voice snapped from one pitch to the next, as if her vocal chords had been quantized, causing people to ask, “What’s that effect?”

It was Auto-Tune, used excessively, to distort the tonal features of the voice.

Auto-Tune Spreads Online

With the expense of the Antares Auto-Tune plugin and the relative lack of social networking sites at the time, Auto-Tune remained something of a trade secret among many record producers who simply wanted to save time in the studio.

But as social communities, user-generated content, video tutorials, and open-source software development proliferated online in recent years, so did the availabilty, usage, and experimentation of Auto-Tune.

In 2005, rapper T-Pain made his debut with the album Rappa Ternt Sanga. The album used Auto-Tune heavily, on every song; giving T-Pain his signature sound. His first single Sprung can be viewed here, although embedding has been disabled.

2007, Auto-Tune Gains Momentum

According to Google Insights for Search 2007 marked the beginning of the public’s curiosity about Auto-Tune.

Many would call it a gimmick, and many would be right. But regardless, T-Pain’s followup 2007 album Epiphany debuted at #1, bringing the “always on Auto-Tune” artist to the masses.

2007 was also the year Portal was released, featuring the song “Still Alive” written by Jonathan Coulton and sung by Ellen McLain as GLaDOS.

The popularity of T-Pain, Portal and similar use of the effect by other popular artists such as Rhianna and Kanye West would cause many more to again ask “What’s that effect?”

Videos

On Youtube, many a “How to get the T-Pain effect” video was made. The conversation started between aspiring audio techs, but because of the versatility of the “just add Auto-Tune” formula, the conversation spread from serious projects, to silly ones.

Crying T-Pain Baby

Auto-Tune the News

On February 9th, 2009 The Lonely Island and T-Pain’s video I’m on a Boat was released. The video would attract over 21 million views.

Auto Tuning from Casey Donahue on Vimeo.

Rap Chop

Winston Churchill Backed By Band from the Future

With both the mainstream media and a large chunk of user generated content now saturated in Auto-Tune, it seems that we’ve reached critical mass.

Controversy soon arose surrounding Auto-Tune, involving vocalists who use auto-tune, and those who feel that Auto-Tune is a ripoff.

On June 5th, 2009, Jay-Z’s D.O.A. (Death of Autotune) was released online. Auto-Tune had obviously become saturated in both mainstream media and user generated content, and the anti-Auto-Tune movement now has a spokeman.

On July 8th, 2009, legendary rapper KRS-ONE made his own Anti Auto-Tune video featuring underground rapper Buckshot.