Auto-Tune: a broken record
Today's popular mainstream music is ruled by artists who've never dipped a toe in the sea of talent yet are consumed with fame and fortune. So it begs to ask: why isn't mainstream music composed of talented musicians and sung by gifted singers who have the ability to hit the right vocal pitches? Is it because musical talent got banned in the new millennium? Nope. Is it because musical talent was abducted by aliens, therefore missing in action? No, don't worry. Is it because it's so hard to find talented musicians on this precious planet of ours? Not at all.
It's because the music industry has turned into a mob of mainstream pop, exploiting the public with untalented artists who can't sing to save their lives, and have turned them into corporate products that sell and rake in millions. Why? Because Auto-Tune, the music industry Godfather, camouflages the ear-bleeding, pitchy voices into robotic, pitch-perfect vocals so that these "product" artists can record music. Look at artists like Ke$ha, Britney Spears, T-Pain, Flo-Rida, the products of Disney's music group, and so many more sad excuses for musical artists.
Without the invention of Auto-Tune in 1997, many mainstream artists today wouldn't be able to smell the inside of a recording booth. Antares Audio Technologies invented Auto-Tune as "a program that corrects pitch problems in vocals and other solo instruments," according to the Antares official website. Apparently, it is not common sense for music industries to promote artists who actually can hit the right vocal pitches, but to find corporate product puppets and Auto-Tune the living hell out of their vocals.
When Auto-Tune was first introduced to the music world, it immediately became the biggest selling audio plug-in of all time and was hailed as the "holy grail of recording," by Recording magazine. Auto-Tune means the downfall of talented musicians and the rise of untalented artists used by the music industry as product puppets to make money and control mainstream music (and the messages that music sends out) that younger generations must listen to in order to be part of the mainstream movement.
Now anyone with a lack of singing ability can record a single using Auto-Tune, then break through as a mainstream product puppet and be loved by teenagers, who have been brainwashed by this cataclysmic mainstream music phenomenon.
Turn on KIIS FM for 30 minutes, if you can last that long. You will hear the same ten Auto-Tuned songs played repetitiously; it's as if they're trying to brainwash you with the songs, so that it's plaguing your mind until you either shut the station off, or turn into a mainstream wannabe and run home to purchase the song on iTunes.
Santa Monica College music major, Justine Miranda, 21, finds the idea of Auto-Tune singing terrible, and would never let her voice be Auto-Tuned. "I just don't want to sound as if I need help singing when I don't," said Miranda.
It's very disheartening that musicians such as, Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, The Doors, or Bob Marley have set such high standards for great, raw, live music and have been toppled down in today's music world by the likes of Justin Bieber, Britney Spears, Katy Perry, and countless other mainstream Auto-Tune addicts. Listen to a Led Zeppelin track. Robert Plant, the lead singer, didn't possess perfect pitch or a particularly technically accurate voice but it was raw and passionate and he used it in a way that made the listener feel what he was singing. Artists like Pink Floyd, music's flawless gift, will never be found again with today's disappointing musical options.
There is some hope that might topple Auto-Tune and bring back the raw talent of musicians that made us feel the music from within. Jay-Z went against Auto-Tune on his track, D.O.A (Death of Auto-Tune) because he believed that far too many artists are overusing Auto-Tune. Same with Ne-Yo, who believes singers are cheating by using Auto-Tune on every track they record. Perhaps the music industry will end this fixation with Auto-Tune for mainstream artists before they all OD on it and robotic, pitch perfect vocals, are all we'll be listening to in the future. Hopefully we can move past the Auto-Tune decade and not turn into an Auto-Tune generation.