Smashing Pumpkins Syndrome

What are we calling him these days? Yeezy, Ye? Since those are non-names, I shall use Kanye West. I made the claim to 
abrahamKim
that the song Gold Digger is his masterpiece. Sir Abe suggested it's one of his masterpieces, so I asked for other ones. He suggested the album 808s and Heartbreaks, and I just gave it a listen for the first time.

I have coined the phrase "Smashing Pumpkins Syndrome" for bands/artists that produce music with excellent instrumentation and melodies that are ruined by the vocals. Sadly, the album 808s and Heartbreaks has Smashing Pumpkins Syndrome for one very specific reason--Autotune.

Autotune showed up in 1996, and has been used by artists  to correct the pitch in recordings. Early use was subtle, and most people probably couldn't even detect it. This all changed in 1998 when Cher released the song Believe, which had Autotune cranked all the way up resulting in an unnatural, robotic voice. This song ushered in the post-Autotune era when artists began using it unabashedly to alter their voices for ostensibly artistic reasons.

I grew up listening to music in the pre-Autotune era. I don't have perfect pitch, so I don't notice when a singer is off-pitch unless he or she is really off-pitch. Great singing voices naturally convey emotions that connect to human beings. Some voices, like those of Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, Whitney Houston, Adele, and Bono, are clean and pure. Other voices like those of John Fogerty, Melissa Etheridge, Bruce Springsteen, and Rod Stewart are infused with an unreproducible timbre that would be difficult, if not impossible, to match artificially.

I realize that the younger generations have grown up listening to music that has been predominantly auto-tuned, and so they consider that sound normal.  Do I think every song with Autotune is bad? No. It is a tool we have now that can be used in various ways. But if you have a great voice, why use Autotune to excess?

It's an old-school approach, but my test for any great artist is to evaluate how they sound a capella or with minimal instrumentation, such as an acoustic guitar or a piano. Maybe there are great artists who are great because of their use of all the tools and technology currently available. My ears and musical taste have not been tuned to that frequency. 


Autotune is just another instrument that manipulates voice. The fact that in today's music is overused to the point we hear mostly autotune and take it to be the 'norm' for vocalists and voice singing .. that's wrong. Autotune is an instrument. Listen to Kanye's album Yeezus. it's mostly autotune, but he took it to the next level. It's all about the effect, if that delivers a cooler twist, a heavier deeper vibe, then autotune it.

But you know, the discrepancy between autotune voice and real voice becomes obvious in other situation, and I have a song in mind a collab. between. two romanian rappers, one OG who NEVER put his voice out there autotune and another one who does mostly autotune voice in everything he releases. Well, in that song, the autotune rapper is so fake. like a fucking toy. 
2022-10-08 12:27:25
The sad thing with always using autotune is that you never get to make a true impression. It's a missed opportunity most of the time. Some rappers never put their real voice out there
2022-10-08 12:30:25
Wow you don't like 
Smashing Pumpkins
?

I learn something new every damn day!

Nedzen
i said this same thing : "Autotune is just another instrument that manipulates voice" lol

I've just come to terms that people like different things. like i don't like eating poop but some dogs like eating poop. some people don't like eating pineapple and don't think 
autotune
 is an instrument.
2022-10-09 02:54:10
I'm sure you guys can't wait for artificial AI voice songs to come out. 
2022-10-09 12:50:00
yeah and 
AI
friends and also 
VR
 + AI worlds so we never have to do anything! Waiting for that cube so we can just go in there and consume virtually delivered experiences until we die!
2022-10-09 13:20:09