The musical technology that I chose to write about in this blog is Auto-Tune. Auto-tune is a software that was created by Antares Audio Technologies in 1997. It was originally created to fix pitch and tone problems in singers voices but now it has taken over the music industry. It uses a proprietary device to measure and change the pitches in the artist’s voice. The software processor slightly shifts the pitches in the musical recording to its desired pitch. One of the first people to use this musical technology is Cher in her 1998’s hit “Believe”. Auto-tune was used to purposely distort the singers’ voice in the song instead of adjusting the pitches. From then on, auto-tune has been used in every genre of music. It is now used throughout every genre from Rock to Hip-Hop and many others.
The only experience that I have with this technology is that it is used in most of the music that I listen to, which is Rap and Hip/Hop. Auto-tune has been embraced in today’s music and it has changed our perspective on it as well. Artists were once judged for using auto-tune in their songs, but now it is normalized and people actually enjoy the distortion of voices.
In the song Butterfly Effect by Travis Scott, auto-tune is used throughout the entire song. Travis Scott’s vocals are auto-tuned to sound spacey and abstract for his recent albums. His use of auto-tune also makes his music unique from other rappers.
Auto tune is one of my technologies in music, it’s been making bangers since I’ve been alive, from T-Pain all the way to Travis now. The way people have found so many ways to create their sound over the years is amazing and I love seeing what new things people can do with it.
Auto- tune has definitely been seen in different perspectives over the years. Either way I appreciate artist’s using this tool to manipulate the pitch of their voices in some instances, and in others I rather listen to an a cappella performance. Travis’s use of auto tune in this song is nothing but fire.
Auto tune is a very common musical technology that is used in this time period. I agree that because of auto tune, music has been changed and is created in a very melodic way. you see rappers such as Travis Scott and Future and their music will never be as good If they never used auto tune.