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Rihanna - auto-tune?


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Old 24-10-2011, 11:22
blakpat
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I've heard Rihanna quite a lot recently and love her new single We Found Love and her part in Coldplay's Princess of China. However, her voice always sounds like it's been pitched up and messed around with a computer, making it sound robotic and auto tuned. I know she has a good voice though, because I've heard her sing live. So why is her recorded voice always ruined and 'computerized'? I've also noticed the same with Katy Perry - but she sang great live on the X Factor the other week.
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Old 24-10-2011, 12:10
toanythingtaboo
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You'd be hard pressed to find someone who doesn't use vocal editing on some degree, but Katy and Rihanna definitely get a lot of help from autotune.

General rule is that if someone can't replicate the studio recording live, their vocals have been meddled with. In this case, you'll notice that neither of them can pull off the headvoice they use on track and Katy in particular tends to get a pained 'dear god please let this be on key' look on her face as she shout-belts.
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Old 24-10-2011, 12:15
Carly_Thompson
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Katy Perry is an AWFUL singer, but I didn't see her on X Factor so maybe she's improved.

Rihanna has improved in the last few years but you're right about the autotune. I think it must be because it fits that dance sort of music so well?
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Old 24-10-2011, 12:30
O.Michel
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Rihanna and autotune are an industry duo But at least her producers don't overuse it to the extent that her voice sounds robotic and annoying (unlike all the Dr Luke produced songs)

That said, 'We Found Love' by Calvin Harris featuring autotune and Rihanna is growing on me

Katy Perry is an AWFUL singer, but I didn't see her on X Factor so maybe she's improved.
Katy hasn't improved, she's always been the same.She's not awful, but her range is laughable, so she can ONLY sing specific songs (in specific keys).I think her range got even more limited after her 1st tour, so I wouldn't be surprised if it was less than 2 octaves now In the rare cases when her team give her a song in her comfort zone ('The One That Got Away', 'E.T', 'Thinking Of You') she can carry it live and sometimes she could even be labelled as good. However, I wouldn't blame people for thinking she's horrible granted that her signature song ('Firework') is completely out of her vocal range
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Old 24-10-2011, 12:40
rizzy_87g
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when she's got auto tune..it make her likeable and easy to listen too. I remember in her early days, her voice was so annoying....not a hater though x
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Old 24-10-2011, 13:08
Nobody Knows
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There's definitely pitch correction but on some songs there is autotune, like We Found Love.
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Old 24-10-2011, 14:52
Zack06
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Rihanna like Katy and Cheryl uses Melodyne software on her voice. She has used it entirely on Loud and it is very very obvious on We Found Love...

She also used it a lot on California King Bed. I love the tone of her voice, but her vocals are very processed in the studio...She isn't as bad as Katy and Cheryl though whose vocals just completely fall down with out Melodyne...
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Old 24-10-2011, 14:55
O.Michel
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Rihanna like Katy and Cheryl uses Melodyne software on her voice. She has used it entirely on Loud and it is very very obvious on We Found Love...

She also used it a lot on California King Bed. I love the tone of her voice, but her vocals are very processed in the studio...She isn't as bad as Katy and Cheryl though whose vocals just completely fall down with out Melodyne...
IF you can, could you explain the difference between autotune and melodyne?I assume that the autotune affects the pitch too, while melodyne doesn't, but I'm not sure
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Old 24-10-2011, 14:59
Zack06
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IF you can, could you explain the difference between autotune and melodyne?I assume that the autotune affects the pitch too, while melodyne doesn't, but I'm not sure
Autotune is easy to hear because it alters the pitch very sharply...and it doesn't process vibrato very well which was why viewers spotted the auto-tune mics on the X Factor auditions very quickly...

Melodyne is harder to spot because you can alter the pitch but there is no robotic side effect. This video should make things more clear, but basically, melodyne is almost undetectable to an untrained ear, but you can spot it working if you know what to listen for. With melodyne you can also alter the note and the amplitude, so a really bad singer can be made to sound decent.
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Old 24-10-2011, 15:04
little-monster
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I don't think Rihanna sounds so bad. Not robotic at all. For me personally, it isn't obvious Auto tune is used on her.

Kesha is the worst offender in terms of Female artists.
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Old 24-10-2011, 15:28
GeneralMental
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Autotune is easy to hear because it alters the pitch very sharply...and it doesn't process vibrato very well which was why viewers spotted the auto-tune mics on the X Factor auditions very quickly...

Melodyne is harder to spot because you can alter the pitch but there is no robotic side effect. This video should make things more clear, but basically, melodyne is almost undetectable to an untrained ear, but you can spot it working if you know what to listen for. With melodyne you can also alter the note and the amplitude, so a really bad singer can be made to sound decent.
Melodyne is god awful with artifacts lol! It's not even the case that you can manipulate the vocal a bit more than in autotune anymore what with the latest version of autotune.
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Old 24-10-2011, 15:34
Zack06
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Melodyne is god awful with artifacts lol! It's not even the case that you can manipulate the vocal a bit more than in autotune anymore what with the latest version of autotune.
Yeah that's the side effect but I still prefer it to auto-tune evo...its just more accurate in general imo...
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Old 24-10-2011, 15:35
O.Michel
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Autotune is easy to hear because it alters the pitch very sharply...and it doesn't process vibrato very well which was why viewers spotted the auto-tune mics on the X Factor auditions very quickly...

Melodyne is harder to spot because you can alter the pitch but there is no robotic side effect. This video should make things more clear, but basically, melodyne is almost undetectable to an untrained ear, but you can spot it working if you know what to listen for. With melodyne you can also alter the note and the amplitude, so a really bad singer can be made to sound decent.
Thanks for the link.It's much clearer for me now
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Old 24-10-2011, 16:57
TheChicagoBaron
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She does use a lot of melodyne, but pretty much everyone does. Even people like Adele. I don't see how that's a problem unless she can't replicate it live. Which she can't, but I'm just saying.

She doesn't use auto-tune that much though, certainly not to the extent of Ke$ha.
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Old 24-10-2011, 17:25
toanythingtaboo
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Seņor Buble is a melodyne abuser too isn't he?

You can hear it on Adele's Set Fire To The Rain I think, too.

But yeah, it's all about whether you can sing it in the first place.
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Old 24-10-2011, 17:27
Zack06
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Seņor Buble is a melodyne abuser too isn't he?

You can hear it on Adele's Set Fire To The Rain I think, too.

But yeah, it's all about whether you can sing it in the first place.
Ohhhh yes. :sleep:
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Old 24-10-2011, 17:58
TheChicagoBaron
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But yeah, it's all about whether you can sing it in the first place.
This is true. People seem to think melodyne can make anyone sound like Mariah Carey instantly, which simply doesn't work. It only improves vocals to an extent before it sounds unnatural.
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Old 24-10-2011, 19:27
Maccles
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What about Brandon Flower's vocals from the Killers? Any Killers fans here? What about the radical changes he has on all The Killers albums, is that naturally his voice or was some work done?
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Old 24-10-2011, 19:36
Eric_Blob
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I think it's good when artists use vocal effects on their voices. It makes the songs sound better (well, I'm stating the obvious here, if vocal effects made the songs sound worse, they wouldn't apply them).

Especially on electronic songs, it makes sense to use vocal effects.

Some artists like Ke$ha and the Black Eyed Peas use it on purpose, and do it in an obvious way, on purpose. Tik Tok and Boom Boom Pow would've been so boring without the millions of computer effects they used tbh.
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Old 24-10-2011, 22:08
Mick_Swagger
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What about Brandon Flower's vocals from the Killers? Any Killers fans here? What about the radical changes he has on all The Killers albums, is that naturally his voice or was some work done?
There was some autotune on Hot Fuss, but Brandon has said that they'd never use it again and he had some singing lessons before Day & Age was released.
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Old 24-10-2011, 23:18
Rooftopcowboy
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I think it's good when artists use vocal effects on their voices. It makes the songs sound better (well, I'm stating the obvious here, if vocal effects made the songs sound worse, they wouldn't apply them).

Especially on electronic songs, it makes sense to use vocal effects.

Some artists like Ke$ha and the Black Eyed Peas use it on purpose, and do it in an obvious way, on purpose. Tik Tok and Boom Boom Pow would've been so boring without the millions of computer effects they used tbh.
If an artist that can sing live is using Auto-Tune to create an 'electronic' sound that that is fine with me.

it is when hopeless singers use it to 'cheat' their way to fame is when it gets annoying.
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Old 25-10-2011, 00:18
Maccles
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There was some autotune on Hot Fuss, but Brandon has said that they'd never use it again and he had some singing lessons before Day & Age was released.
What about during some songs on Sam's Town like When You Were Young and For Reasons unknown? How does he get his voice to sound like that?
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Old 25-10-2011, 00:45
Harper_Milne
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Do you really need to put a question mark with Rihanna, and autotune? Lmao.
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