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I'm very curious how autotuned/melodyned vocals are not "real vocals", but vocals that have had EQ applied to them, or have been compressed or flanged or post-p

I'm very curious how autotuned/melodyned vocals are not "real vocals", but vocals that have had EQ applied to them, or have been compressed or flanged or post-process reverberated or delayed, are "real vocals". Perhaps there is also a standard mic for Vocal Realness. I assume it must be a SM58; it is, after all, well-known that having a low-pass switch on the microphone lowers the industry-calibrated Realness Score by at least 250 mSpr(ingsteen). More if it's on. edit: A friend also pointed out to me the inherent Springsteen ceiling of computer-reproduced audio. And you know, he's right, I'm going to go find a chamber and hire some monks for the true realness that only an authentic Gregorian chant can provide. Denon sells them in twelve-packs, you know.

coldtea 4y ago
>I'm very curious how autotuned/melodyned vocals are not "real vocals", but vocals that have had EQ applied to them, or have been compressed or flanged or post-process reverberated or delayed, are "real vocals". It's not based on some technical argument or law of physics. People either get why, or they don't. If you want some kind of technical justification, those effects you mentioned just add some sparkle (flanger) or fixes the balance (often just to make a recording, which begins deader in a sound-treated studio, sound closer to real life environment (reverb) and dynamics (compression). Autotune, on the other hand, changes the pitch and vibrato, you know two of the main things a singer is supposed to produce. And if overdone as "effect", it also fucks the timbre. And let's be real, nobody says this about some singer using autotune to fix a flat note or two. It's the autotune-as-effect (whether T-pain levels or more subtle) that people complain about.
- eropple 4y ago
  I think you may have missed what I'm getting at here. I very much "get" why people don't like it, and most of the music I listen to regularly goes light on autotune/melodyne. And I am not saying that one has to like those vocals at all. But the idea that they're not "real vocals" is an attempt at shitty gatekeeping that has no place in music. This wannabe arbiter does not get to decide what "real" is or what "art" is. It's gatekeeping bullshit.
  - deleted 4y ago
    [deleted]
  - coldtea 4y ago
    I like gatekeeping. It means people see value and lack of value, as opposed to considering everything the same.
    - eropple 4y ago
      There is value in art done honestly, "bad" or not. And neither autotune nor melodyne have intrinsic characteristics that affect either honesty (unless you extend that to all forms of audio engineering that changes the voice) nor quality. Put frankly: your take is a small one. It's one that weakens the idea of art, and, no less importantly, is cruel and sabotaging to people. You should change your mind, but you're kind of glorifying in that cruelty and that smallness throughout this thread (which is gross!) so I will not be holding my breath for it.
      - coldtea 4y ago
        Doesn't have to have 'instrictic characteristics'. Just tendency and majority of real-life application being shitty is enough. Except if you thought that when complaining about autotune being bad, we were talking about some rare band that uses it as a creative tool, and not about the millions that use it as a clutch or for the 1000000th recreation of the same BS sound...
      - FeepingCreature 4y ago
        Let people like what they like. Let people want what they want.
      - WhiskeyChicken 4y ago
        > There is value in art done honestly, "bad" or not If I think it's "bad" then it has _zero_ value to _me_. Why does this bother you or anyone else?
        4y ago

coldtea 4y ago

>I'm very curious how autotuned/melodyned vocals are not "real vocals", but vocals that have had EQ applied to them, or have been compressed or flanged or post-process reverberated or delayed, are "real vocals". It's not based on some technical argument or law of physics. People either get why, or they don't. If you want some kind of technical justification, those effects you mentioned just add some sparkle (flanger) or fixes the balance (often just to make a recording, which begins deader in a sound-treated studio, sound closer to real life environment (reverb) and dynamics (compression). Autotune, on the other hand, changes the pitch and vibrato, you know two of the main things a singer is supposed to produce. And if overdone as "effect", it also fucks the timbre. And let's be real, nobody says this about some singer using autotune to fix a flat note or two. It's the autotune-as-effect (whether T-pain levels or more subtle) that people complain about.

eropple 4y ago
I think you may have missed what I'm getting at here. I very much "get" why people don't like it, and most of the music I listen to regularly goes light on autotune/melodyne. And I am not saying that one has to like those vocals at all. But the idea that they're not "real vocals" is an attempt at shitty gatekeeping that has no place in music. This wannabe arbiter does not get to decide what "real" is or what "art" is. It's gatekeeping bullshit.
- deleted 4y ago
  [deleted]
- coldtea 4y ago
  I like gatekeeping. It means people see value and lack of value, as opposed to considering everything the same.
  - eropple 4y ago
    There is value in art done honestly, "bad" or not. And neither autotune nor melodyne have intrinsic characteristics that affect either honesty (unless you extend that to all forms of audio engineering that changes the voice) nor quality. Put frankly: your take is a small one. It's one that weakens the idea of art, and, no less importantly, is cruel and sabotaging to people. You should change your mind, but you're kind of glorifying in that cruelty and that smallness throughout this thread (which is gross!) so I will not be holding my breath for it.
    - coldtea 4y ago
      Doesn't have to have 'instrictic characteristics'. Just tendency and majority of real-life application being shitty is enough. Except if you thought that when complaining about autotune being bad, we were talking about some rare band that uses it as a creative tool, and not about the millions that use it as a clutch or for the 1000000th recreation of the same BS sound...
    - FeepingCreature 4y ago
      Let people like what they like. Let people want what they want.
    - WhiskeyChicken 4y ago
      > There is value in art done honestly, "bad" or not If I think it's "bad" then it has _zero_ value to _me_. Why does this bother you or anyone else?
      - 4y ago