pitch with Auto-tune in order to create artificial harmonies layered over her own voice.
In contrast, Kanye West’s voice in his song “Only One,” a simple and sentimental song
that he wrote for his daughter, is layered over with excessive Auto-tune, which West
admitted was because he was “not a singer” and didn’t want that to get in the way of the
song.
This may be a fair argument for singers using Auto-tune. However, if anyone on
the street is able to to cover up their lack of singing ability in this way, the value of the
art of singing goes down and potentially puts truly talented vocalists out of work. The
hard work that singers put into perfecting the art no longer matters; in a world where
anyone can sing, fantastic singers have less value.
Auto-tune is used not only in the studio, but in live performances as well. The TV
show “The X-Factor,” a competition in which singers compete against one another, has
used auto-tune for its performances in order to give viewers a completely polished show.
Sure, it’s understandable that they would want the public to be amazed by the quality of
the performance, but if the vocalist is truly skilled at the craft, he or she can still manage
to wow the audience, even if a note or two is slightly off-pitch. After all, the beauty of live
music is that it’s never completely perfect. It’s raw and honest, and ultimately brings the
artist and the audience closer together.
As a musician, using Auto-tune may seem tempting. After all, who wants to do
twelve takes of a song just because you make a small mistake every take, especially when
in one move, you can smooth that mistake over? For some artists, Auto-tune can be a
motivator to sound as perfect in performance as they do in the recording. However,
many artists use Auto-tune as a means to slack off; why try to fix a bad recording
yourself when Auto-tune can? Use of pitch correction more often takes away
opportunities for a singer to improve skills by letting taking the easy way out.
When Cher introduced the use of Auto-tune in her music, she probably didn't
know she'd be creating one of the biggest controversies in the modern music industry.
While she introduced a potentially innovative tool, she also invited a decreasing quality
of vocals in pop songs. Not all hope is lost, however. Pop singer Adele is an example of
one of the many singers who are reintroducing the value of hard work and skill in the
music industry. We are entering a new era that is not so reliant on Auto-tune, and where
honesty and talent in music is more important than a flawless product.
Cosmetics Are out to Kill
by Sofia Ozambela
By the end of 2016, the U.S. cosmetic industry is projected to make $62 billion
dollars in revenue (MarketResearch.com). The question here is not necessarily whether