Why are they using autotune on Glee?

[Greatwhiteway3]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 11:44am

Aren't most of these people professional
singers?

And does Lea Michelle's nose get bigger every week??

[TimesSquared]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 12:13pm

re: nose

Maybe she should get it fixed and become a Hollywood clone. It worked out well for Jennifer Grey.

[chinto1984]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 12:28pm

They are professional singers now. A lot of them don't have incredibly strong seasoned or full voices. Totally studio enhanced

[NotYourMemories]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 12:29pm

I haven't watched much of Glee - is the use of auto-tune obvious, with the distorted effect often heard on hip hop, or have you just heard that it's being used? You would be amazed how much auto-tune is used, I have no doubt that many Broadway cast albums have solved little problems with otherwise great takes with a little pitch correction.

When you're in a big hurry to get a lot of material recorded (something which must be the case at Glee) two seconds "auto-tuning" a flat note wins out over 10 minutes doing a punch-in every time.

[THDavis]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 12:30pm

Well they sounded great when they were performing live on Oprah. I have to assume that wasn't lip-synching, but then again it wouldn't be that surprising.

[wdwfreak]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 12:41pm

Most of them are really good live. Cory just sucks

[Wishing Only Wounds]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 12:47pm

NotYourMemories, I don't really watch Glee either, mainly because of how bad the auto-tuning is, it is extremely obvious and each episode I see clips of, Lea sounds more like a pop singer.

[Greatwhiteway3]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 1:05pm

The most recent episode had alot of
auto tune. Even the Graff kid

[BrianS]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 1:27pm

Notyourmemories, while there is error-correction used when recording albums to save cost and time, the end goal is to have the singer's voices sound like the singer's voices. It should work in the background, completely unnoticed.

For some reason, the creators of Glee (a show that supposedly celebrates singing) have decided to overuse the effect to the point where the voices deliberately sound synthesized. It is especially baffling as many in the cast can actually sing quite well. One of the few times I've seen the cast was on the Oprah appearance where they sang "live" and sounded absolutely amazing.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 1:34pm

I've been watching this season and I wasn't put off by it. I just figured they were going for a particular sound - more of a directorial decision than any comment on the ability of the cast.

[[tos]fan999]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 2:25pm

I noticed it being used more in the first 13 episodes than in these last 9 episodes. The only person I can think of who sounds "robotic" recently is Jane Lynch during Vogue and Physical.

[chinto1984]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 2:31pm

Listen to Defying Gravity with Lea and Chris. SO obvious

[ljay889]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 2:32pm

I think you can also autotune live vocals. So I wouldn't be surprised if they use it live.

I can't watch the show, the autotuning is way too distracting for me.

[chinto1984]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 3:14pm

What bothers me sometimes is that lea will contort and be overly dramatic and her voice doesn't match.

[NotYourMemories]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 3:14pm

Apparently then someone at Fox thinks that's what contemporary music should sound like. I noticed the vocal overprocessing on the last "High School Musical" movie, although I'm sure part of that has to do with singers who can't hold pitches. I personally cringe everytime I hear that robotic quality, and my guess is that this nonsense is a fad that will shortly pass, at which point any obviously auto-tuned vocal recordings will sound hopelessly dated.

From what I understand the original designers of the Auto-Tune process never intended for it to become this sort of audible effect. The sound we hear all the time would be considered "quantization errors". Subtle pitch correction will still be used long after the chirping robotic Ke$ha craze has faded away.

[Brick]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 3:18pm

Some of them can sing very well, and some can't They use autotune because not only do audiences not care, but it is a sound that is actually popular right now.

And it drives me crazy. Yes, sometimes in a great dance song it's acceptable, but most often it make the vocal sound so cold and removed, passionless.

[wonderwaiter]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 3:24pm

And what's with Lea Michelle's O-face in the BWW TV ad?

[chinto1984]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 3:28pm

her faces bother me at times. It's phony emotion. I liked it when she sings ballads that slowly build

[jpbran]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 4:20pm

Agreed-- it seemed much more pronounced in the first "Fall" set of episodes. Guess they listened to viewer and reviewer feedback. Still there, but less so now.

Also, the show is more of a "musical" now. More actual "musical" scenes that exist away from the "performance" scenes. I'd assume they were hesitant with the first batch not knowing how it would go over with audiences, and are more "empowered" now knowing people eat it up.

[winston89]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 4:24pm

I was watching some clips of the Glee cast on Youtube when they were performing at The White House. This was the only time that I saw them perform live and it was clear when I was listening to them that they were not using autotune during that performance. Yes, some of the cast are better singers than others. However, it is not like there are any members of the cast who cannot sing at all to the point where they need autotune to make it sound like those who cannot sing can. It is indeed a sound that is popular right now and I think it is used on the show, more as a stylistic choice then anything else.

[binau]

Posted: 5/8/10 at 6:15pm

"Some of them can sing very well, and some can't They use autotune because not only do audiences not care, but it is a sound that is actually popular right now. "

Exactly - do any of you guys listen to the 'popular' radio stations these days? It's fashionable.

[Greatwhiteway3]

Posted: 5/9/10 at 3:14am

It's fashionable because most of these hip hop people can't sing

[phslaxmidi102]

Posted: 5/9/10 at 1:36pm

The "auto-tune" thing IS something that is used live quite often. The vast majority of the extremely popular (usually meaning less talented) pop stars are using the auto-tune at their live performances.

I've spoken to some Broadway produces and it is being said that there are some Broadway shows that dabble with auto-tune during shows...especially during difficult muti-harmony parts.

Sadly, it's becoming part of the music industry and is being seen as an acceptable standard.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 5/9/10 at 10:44pm

If they are going to use it, they should use it all the time. A couple of weeks ago, Finn was singing a song and he was horribly off pitch and I thought "Where's the autotune?"

Updated On: 5/9/10 at 10:44 PM

[TonyVincent]

Posted: 5/9/10 at 10:53pm

Is it ever more blatantly obvious the difference between a real, trained singer (Groff) and the guys they just picked because they fit the role and look hunky to teenage girls (Finn and Puck) than when all three sung the same line in "Total Eclipse of the Heart" in succession? I was visiting my mother and we watched the show, and she, with little musical background, immediately turned to me and said "it's amazing how much better he is than the other two!"
Updated On: 5/9/10 at 10:53 PM