Lies about Singing – Page 4 – Best Online Singing Lessons

Let me put this to rest before you start to read. Auto-Tune is not cheating. Its uses and the way it works are highly defined by the one who uses it. Every singer from every genre has used auto-tune and it doesn’t necessarily mean that the singer can’t sing. Auto-tune is not able to cure bad singing but it is able to tighten parts of a perfectly fine recording to be in more control. Understanding its use will go a long way to shed light on how you can manipulate it. This is probably going to be the most controversial article I think I will ever write but, my job here is to educate and not do anything else. Let’s begin. What is Auto-Tune? Auto-Tune is a virtual plug-in in a DAW (digital audio workstation). Its function is simple. It allows for notes not to go out of a certain range. Its function can be changed by the parameters that the developer might have provided for you. Most auto-tunes come with the ability to change the scale and when to intervene and how to fix if something goes off-pitch. What is a DAW? DAW stands for a digital audio workstation. In the simplest of words, it’s the software equivalent of the hardware that was used in the ages gone to record audio. Since auto-tune is a plug-in used in DAWs. It can be used on virtually anything. Including and obviously not limited to, a drum snare. Another audio file. A virtual instrument. Anything. Myths Related to Auto-Tune Auto-tune by itself isn’t a bad thing. It’s not this evil sin that people can’t use or producers only use on artists even when they are not able to sing it. Though, yes, the exception exists when it is used on bad singing but you need a really skilled mixing engineer to pull it off. This brings me to say this for sure and you should take it to heart as well. If you’re nearing any space toward the music you cannot have a closed mindset about a particular thing without first using it in the way it’s meant to be used. Auto-tune can be applied to things other than voice. You Might Be Addicted to It Too Have you heard Indian or western classical music? If you’re not fond of it there is a chance that you’re more addicted to hearing everything in tune so much that you don’t like these kinds of genres anymore. Modern pop and rock songs are so well done in production that even a professional musician might not be able to tell the difference sometimes. The moral of the story is, that if it sounds good then you won’t ask questions. You just appreciate it. It’s like sitting at a beach and watching the sunset with the clouds turning to a shade of red. You don’t wonder how those clouds are made from water and all the science behind it. You just enjoy. Why Do We Use Auto-Tune? Well, with the dawn of 21st-century technologies we are able to make everything sit where it ought to be. This means that in music production we can make any tiny cent deviation (a cent is a measurement for something being in tune or out of it) to sound like our desired pitch. It allows us to take tightly packed instrumentations and still make them sound perfect. Does using auto-tune make the product any less authentic? No. It doesn’t. According to that logic, using any instrument except for singing is cheating. They are made out of wood, steel, or any other type of metal and allow us to make more sounds than we could ever with our voices. We can’t diss on auto-tune just because it’s digital just like you can’t diss on the electric guitar just because it’s electric. The use of the tool is precise and if you know how to use it, auto-tune has actually saved thousands of dollars and even time. When working on a large-scale production, time is monumental. Auto-tune is a tool. What Auto-Tune Can’t Do It’s not an answer to everything, especially bad singing. I can give you a lot of examples but this one has to be my favorite. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uRsZhLpHtEA The chorus is auto-tuned. You have to realize that Kate is singing the right notes regardless and would sound perfectly fine in terms of pitch even if auto-tuned was missing. The thing to take away is that the fact it was used highly creatively by Adam Neely. This brings me to say this again and again if we stop seeing the tool without its proper place then we are going to lose sight of our creativity along the way. And that is never a good thing for anyone. It’s a tool. Let’s treat it like such. To hate on it and call singers out for not being able to sing is wrong. Train Your Ears The only way to call someone out for their bad singing is to have an ear that can actually discern what’s what. Some audiophiles really do have some good idea of what pitch is but you have to remember that there is a production side of things and then there is giving a performance. The performance wouldn’t have made it to the mixing stage much less the mastering stage if it wasn’t spot on. So, discerning between what a good production is and how the vocals are is a very important aspect one must consider before dismissing the use of auto-tune as an end-all statement. Train Your Voice Now you know how it works and the last thing to do on your end would be to improve your own voice. I’ve written and even the website’s name suggests it, an article about why you should be having at least one online singing course you can rely on to train your voice. You can read it here. They come at a very cheap price and it’s hard to beat the value for the money they cost. If you haven’t yet invested in one then I suggest you invest in this one as I own a copy myself of 'The Four Pillars of Singing' (affiliate link). If you're looking for the full list of courses, then you should check this out. Pick the one that fits your budget and your needs. Give yourself patience and due time to let the practice show what your voice is capable of! I know you're going to be successful!