How Auto-Tune took over the music industry

Popular music is always changing, but there’s been one consistent element in almost everything released over the past 20 years. The thing is, Auto-Tune is everywhere. What started as a simple audio processing tool in the 1990s has become a dominant force in music. Artists are training to sing with Auto-Tune. sing sound Like auto-tune. Like it or not, Auto-Tune is everywhere. And to be clear, most people like it.

to this episode Verge CastThis is the second article in a series about the future of music, music journalists and music journalists. I turned on the pop Co-host Charlie Harding tells the story of Auto-Tune. (expose: I turned on the pop Part of the Vox Media Podcast Network. Verge Cast.) It starts, first of all, with the oil and gas industry. The following artists participate: share and T-painIt spread like wildfire throughout the music business and quickly became so completely ubiquitous that you’ll know when Auto-Tune isn’t being used any more than it is being used.

Now, more than 20 years have passed since the Auto-Tune era. Charlie argues that all the backlash and frustration with Auto-Tune is overrated and misguided. Maybe now we should think of Auto-Tune as just another instrument we can play, rather than a way to cover up our shortcomings as musicians. And as more and more of the music production process becomes digital and perfected, the changes brought about by Auto-Tune are unlikely to go away.

As we head towards whatever the “AI age” of music is, we look to Auto-Tune’s story for clues that point to what comes next. We talk about the unique sounds coming from tools like Suno and Udio, whether we should be worried about how artists might use and abuse AI, and what that means. We haven’t found the ‘Believe’ of the AI ​​music era yet, but it’s probably coming.

If you’d like to learn more about everything discussed in this episode, here are some links:

We also asked Charlie for his off-the-cuff thoughts on the ultimate Auto-Tune and vocal processing playlist. Here are some of his suggestions from before Auto-Tune:

Then, in no particular order, for some standard Auto-Tune hits: