2008: The Year of Auto-Tune

By now, I'm sure you're all familiar with what is referred to as the T-Pain effect, aka Auto-Tune. Indeed it seems like the filter of choice for the year 2008 when it comes to artists like T-Pain, Kanye West, and Lil' Wayne. I never did much research on the topic because when these artists first started using the effect, I asked my engineer friends and they showed me how it worked in the studio, so I always understood it as auto-tune; so when everyone started saying VOCODER, I was like...Ok...which is it? So I did some research. I went back to my engineer friend Steve Obas(who taught me a thing or two about recording back in Miami) and googled some ways to better explain this phenomenon to you.

The Antares Auto-Tune's main function is to adjust the pitch of someone's voice when someone is off key. This works great for artists who can't hold a note. There was this big issue of whether it was Auto-Tune or the Vocoder that made Cher's "Believe" a hit back in 1998, but the consensus is that they stumbled upon that sound using Auto-Tune and lots of filtering. It works for Britney (very transparently. Imagine if they would have used this on Ma$e's "Jealous Guys,"...lol..but then again I guess that song wouldn't be so hilarious to listen to.

The Vocoder (derived from Vocal Encoder) however, is best known for synthesizing vocals to make a "robot-like" sound. It doesn't adjust the actual note. One of the best examples is Daft Punk's "One More Time." Teddy Riley was known to use this effect in Blackstreet's "I'll Go Crazy." It is also what you hear in 2Pac's "California Love."




Honestly, it gets confusing when you are trying to decifer each effect in many songs at once, when in fact both effects can be used in one song. There is also something known as a Talkbox which gets thrown around a lot with VOCODER because it produces a similar sound except the Talkbox has a tube that goes in your mouth, and the VOCODER is more of an electronic input type filter. Both the Vocoder and Auto-Tune come as a piece of equipment or as a plug-in.


Click HEREto see Stevie Wonder on the Talkbox.

If you haven't already seen this, here is the funny video T-pain made making-fun of his use of the effect and all the success it has brough him.



This video will confuse you though, because the effect is really Auto-Tune and a Vocoder doesn't look anything like the machine in the video. It's still pretty funny though.

I'm sure you are probably very sick of hearing all these effects in music these days, but like every fad, it will go away eventually. Be patient, or make your own sh*t!

I want to thank Steve Obas, Google, I-meem, You-Tube, and various articles I found for un-confusing me, to un-confuse you.

;) xo