Originally Posted by Maliblue
People keep ranting about autotune, but Joni Mitchell and all our favorite rock and pop stars relied on plenty of "aid" in the studio. It does not take computers to hide off-key moments and other screw-ups and make a vocal take sound flawless when it wasn't. In fact, if the average fan of 60's-70's music were aware of how many of their heroes' songs were Frankensteined together to create something that sounded good, they'd be appalled. Some of the most famous and wealthiest singers of the 60's and 70's could barely stay in tune at your neighborhood karaoke house.
Some methods that were frequently used by almost any pop or rock star in the 60's-90's include: assembling one track from fragments of multiple takes, double-tracked vocals, fixed punch-ins, analogue pitch correction, strategically placed backup singers, use of echo and reverb, added compression, use of guide vocals, and many other improvised or studio standard techniques. These were used on almost any 60's or 70's pop or rock album you care to name. The only reason why Autotune (and Melodyne; a lot of listeners probably can't tell the difference) is prevalent now is that it is cheaper and less labor-intensive to use than the 60's methods of covering up bad singing.
I prefer Joni Mitchell to Taylor Swift too, but it must get to be a real drag for Millennials to have to be constantly lectured about how their pop singers all suck and have no talent, unlike grandpa's pop singers, who were flawless geniuses with talents that have vanished from the face of the earth. Especially when grandpa's singers were just as flat and out-of-tune before studio magic was applied.
Here's a little story; if this is getting too long, feel free to skip it. I was at an audiophile forum not too long ago, one that is populated mostly by smug, narrow-minded, unadventurous, timid middle-aged to just-turned-senior men who fancy themselves experts in audio equipment and music (actually, the two are entirely different things). Scoffing at Taylor Swift and her peers is something they do all day, year in and year out. One thing they love is their old Beatles albums; the really edgy ones might even play Cream on a particularly wild night.
I had innocently made the point that there actually is good music that has been recorded after 1979, which is always a minority opinion among such people (not that any of them had ever bothered to look), and even went so far as to claim the best music of today is just as good as the best music of any era. That was more than they could stand, and in addition to being berated by one and all, I was also lectured about how Taylor Swift and the rest all use autotune, so they suck. I wasn't even thinking of Taylor Swift; my point was mostly about indie rock music, but missing the point is what such people do a lot. Then, as they often do, they got sidetracked into talking about the Beatles again, and they started crowing about how great Paul McCartney sounded on his Live in New York City album. "Even at his age, he relies on just his own talent. Autotune need not apply!!" was a direct quote from one of those blowhards. Of course, a cursory listen revealed the recording to be saturated in Melodyne (Autotune's main competitor), to the point of making McCartney sound like a robot in places. Which is understandable, the man is elderly and had been losing his voice steadily since the 80's. Yet, none of these so-called audiophiles had the ears to even detect the Melodyne dripping from all the songs. I pointed out the irony of this, and their subsequent posts were the equivalent of sticking one's fingers in one's own ears and shouting "na-na-na-na-i-can't-hear-you-na-na-na"
Which makes me think that part of it is just being older and not understanding the priorities of young people. Taylor Swift is popular because no matter how vapid she may sound to Grandpa, she nonetheless produces catchy music, and that music and her image speak to people on some level. Maybe her message is not Joni Mitchell's (and even Mitchell's fans don't listen to her dreary post-70's albums much anyway, which used plenty of studio gimmickry including digital pitch correction), but she isn't Joni Mitchell and never claimed to be.
At any rate, studio sweetening of vocals goes way back and was used by everyone. It isn't just the kids today...
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