So much respect for singers like Karen Carpenter, Whitney Houston and Steve Perry. Their singing was not auto tuned, pitch corrected or perfect. But it was glorious to llisten to 🎵🎶🎵
Roy Hamilton, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Roy Orbison, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Jack Jones, Gordon MacRae--all the great singers before autotune and pitch correction came into being.
All I know is if I was that bad of a singer and put out a pitch corrected album you couldn't drag me onstage with a bulldozer to attempt a live performance. Miming to a recorded track in front of paying customers?? Amounts to a scam just as bad as those phone scammers.
100% !!! EVERY band/vocalist releasing material MUST display, at point of sale/broadcast, that pitch correction is being used. EVERY 'live' concert MUST display, at point of sale (including on ticket), that pitch correction is being used. Most tracking has been comp'd for many, many years - this is acceptable (within 'fair use' reason) since every re-take was always 100% live. Today's 100% gross abuse of pitch correction (Melodyne is almost always the primary culprit) is ENTIRELY different - 100% of what you hear is computer vocals (instruments commonly, too) i.e. NOT live, and almost always, the vocalist is unable to reproduce live. Any venue that allows miming needs to be called out !! Pitch correction abuse = Dehumanizer Plugin
I agree! I have seen people who had truly amazing perfect voices who would never even consider doing anything professional go unheard..and the retake talent rakes in big bucks!
@John Buchman No, we do not need any laws or rules governing art. The only way this would stop is if people stop paying for the product and I don't see that happening. Commercial music today is all about the glitz. Flashy videos and car rattling bass tracks is what it's about. Back in the day (I'm old) we all thought that the bands were actually playing the instruments on the records we listened to on the radio. Now we know that wasn't true but at least the people actually playing were all great musicians.
@@lancomedic But, it's not "art" that's the point. It's artifice. And the $men are so deceptive, most people don't even know that what they're hearing is machine -made... It's a kind of FRAUD. Unless it's disclosed UP FRONT. This is nothing to do with censorship, it's all about deceptive advertising.
Pitch correction has ruined modern music…it sells an image posing as a “singer”. I also believe it creates very lazy vocals. I refuse to use it…and maybe do a video on this idea, I use an older Digitech vocalist, which if you set the sensitivity right, it glitches the moment you deviate within a semi-tone. Stubbornly I kept singing until I could complete a verse or chorus without it glitching…this dramatically improved my singing and at 70 years of age…I still use this for practice and during my live performances I often have people come up and ask if my vocals are pre-recorded. This has been my secret weapon. Hope this benefits others as it has helped me so much over the years.
If you ever reprise this, I would like to hear the out-of-tune version, the pitch-corrected version, and then a normal performance free of manipulation. I think people will be surprised at how much better the natural performance sounds compared to the pitch-corrected version.
I think you're right - our brains have evolved over millions of years to hear/understand human voices, sense danger, etc. I think when the autotune kicks in - our brains at some low level think, "something is wrong with this..." yes it may achieve changing the voice to the correct pitch/notes - however, it isn't yet to the point where we recognize it as natural
This was sidesplitting funny!! It must have been hard to try to not hit the notes. Were you afraid that your vocal ability would permanently digress to before your learned to sing. My mother always yelled at me when I made a cross eyed face and said you do that often enough it will be stay that way. I hope you can still sing without autotune. Thanks to your tutorials, all your listeners will catch that, so you'll never get away with it. Thanks again for a well thought out, entertaining analysis!
It was so funny! Fil's expressions were the funniest! I think he purposely made the singing extra stinky (bad) to prove a point, but it was so good that it was so bad! Just so hilarious! I hope this never gets deleted! I'll have to revisit it over and over. It really does show how difficult this duet was to sing without pitch correction though, so the test was highly successful, but at poor Fil's expense. Sorry Fil, but it's just so good! 😉✌👍❤💕😂🤣❣💘💝🌸🌹💖🤘
YES!!!!! Human Creativity is dying right in front of our eyes. Between this technology, Chat GPT and AI art I'm afraid we're done for. It is not my nature to be all "doom and gloom" but I know human beings, and I know that any device that saves labor, money, or makes things easy and more accessible in any way will be eagerly adopted. They're already calling people who use AI to create art "AI ARTISTS"!!!! This phenomenon simply lowers the creative bar even further so that people with no discernible talent or skill can easily create music, art, or literature at a level of quality that the average person will gladly accept, and the technology will improve exponentially. As an animator, composer, and voice actor, I feel quite sad about this, but nothing can be done. Enjoy your channel.
The most uplifting part of this video is Fil’s sheepish grin aside his twin @ 3:31. The music business is as much as about branding as it is about musicianship. Arguably an artist with a visually appealing social media persona is more important than actual musical talent especially when notes are merely a commodity that can be created on a computer. Then if you add the power of AI to create the ideal visual human facsimiles who even needs real people?
There are a lot of youtubers posting obviously overproduced and pitch corrected performances. I find the ones posted by some of the biggest channels disturbing and they are correcting voices of very young people (teens). Nothing is learned by these young people, given all the likes and praise in the comments. This was a very important and valuable demonstration. 👍👍
@HD I agree. When some people out there who don't use pitch correction AND, who are mostly on pitch get accused of being pitchy. Also, on how they need vocal training. No one is pitch perfect.
100%. Absolutely. Yes.- (edit)- Yes, you absolutely made your voice sound realistic. Because I post my comments as I'm watching- I was kinda freaking why I wasn't hearing that snap, or insane compression of your vocals on your pitch correction. And you're right. This is scary. If they can make the machines they now use live? They'll only be putting out faces they know people will like, and no real talent at all. That will be the end of music, IF the public allows it to continue.
Plugins like Melodyne and the one Fil has here can't be used live. But the hardware version of Antares Autotune can do pitch correction on the fly, and I know it is in the live rigs of some pop singers.
@@kim_o_the_concrete_jungle Melodyne's what I have, although I rarely use it now. It's a great little program, that can add a lot of fun, variation, and even creative ideas, but I don't use it for vocal correction, save for small things that might happen during recording. What's being done today, and what looks like is coming in the future? Not music to me. The one's using it as an actual effect, very rarely? Ok. But even that's getting old now, imo.
Whether you're old enough/lucky enough to have experienced genuine, natural performances or young enough to have only been exposed to artificially corrected vocals, this is something that EVERYONE needs to see/hear to lift the veil of musical misrepresentation and understand what's really happening in the industry. Merchandised deception. This was brilliant, Fil, and very well done.
Having experienced singing, reading music and and music theory, I can only imagine what it took to purposely sing out of tune. That's difficult to to do! You benefited us all at your own expense! I've heard your songs and just singing in a reaction/analysis and I know you can't hit those off key notes. So bravo to you, Fil.
This was awesome! Simultaneously educational, funny as hell, and really disconcerting! Scary how easy this was to do once you got past the forcing yourself to sing badly part.
Once my ears stopped bleeding, I found this so informative! Thanks for giving us such a great demonstration of how pitch correction can be easily applied.
Such a fun and ear-opening video, Fil! It's truly disturbing what kind of soulless and artifical music products we can get served by the greedy music industry. Such a relief to know there are still real singers and musicians out there who are breathing and feeling their music like you do and strive to touch us with pure talent! Aloha from Germany ❤🧡💛💚💙
Although I had no idea what was going on behind the scenes, I do know that I have not enjoyed music since the 90s. I’ve said sooooo many times how this girl, or that guy, cannot sing! Something was just off. You have taught me why. Thank you for showing us what’s actually going on out there. You did an amazing job! Watching you today was incredible.😂. Thanks a million for the fun…..and knowledge. You ROCK!
@@lauraainsworth111 I grew up with many professional singers and was always in awe of them all. So I really started thinking about Fil’s question as to whether it’s their voice, or not, after pitch correction makes me say: yes, it’s still their voice, but NOT their singing. Just my humble opinion. Lol
Agree! Many of today's "singers" are not very good. There are a few here and there that are TRULY talented- but most today would not past muster in the days before auto-tune. They never would have made it.
The thing is, Fil, even when you were singing the wrong notes, you still maintained proper breathing and dynamic techniques. I'd like to see a video where you also address the computerization of those as well.
You out did yourself tonight, Fil I definitely could hear the different between the original recording and when you applied pitch correction. the original has a warmer feel to the sound. if I can't hear the original unedited version I preferred the sounds of silence over the use of pitch correction and or auto tune. this is one to watch again. 😊👍
Omg Fil..your expressions listening to the flat version are priceless! And yes, it is a big cheat. (Fake is what is wrong with life..except fake leather and fake fur that is..and those of us in tribute bands..lol) It is depressing to think as John Lennon wrote "nothing is real." I agree with commenters who say that pitch correction should be noted on albums or workingclass musicos and newbies will be frustrated comparing themselves to machines.
Thanks Fil, that was great. There are still some bands who refuse to apply pitch correction in their official live videos. Here's one example where the singer is off in the first line and in a few other places, but most of the song sounds fantastic: ruclips.net/video/nhFse5ZBlLo/видео.html . We need to support such bands, because I'm sure they lose a lot of potential fans because of their integrity.
Yes, it’s cheating. It was mind blowing when you did the pitch correcting and it showed little sharp/flat. I mean, you did it the right way: listening for the right note and sounding correct. Engineers/producers are still looking (luckily) the lines, so they ”get caught”, but when time goes by and they want to cheat more, they’ll hire someone who understands how it works and listens to right notes. Then it’s difficult to find out the reality. Great video!
Didn’t have anything that I know of back in the 60s,70s. I would call this cheating! You don’t need it cause you’ve got a terrific voice! Very Interesting! ✌️❤️
And this is just the tip of the iceberg!! There is so much about Popular music today (incl. rock, pop, country, R&B, hip hop, etc.) that is intentionally and institutionally misleading for the sake of the almighty dollar (or pound). 1. pitch-corrected vocals on recordings 2. "live concerts" that are actually lip-synched 3. "bands" (esp. the boy band genre) that can't actually play instruments, let alone at their performances 4. artist songwriters who claim songwriting credit for all music they record (because their contract says so!) Shall I go on? And it's all in the name of entertainment. Which is already understood to be "not-real." So if any part of it is found to be fake, who cares, right?? I am a music teacher who has taught students for almost 30 years, in public schools and in higher ed, anywhere with ages from 5 to 85! In those 30 years, I have seen pop culture (via reality shows like American Idol, The Voice, and others) marginalize the actual study of Music by making it all seem like a happy fortuitous accident. ("I've never had a lesson, but I just sing from my heart" type of crap!) Whereas once we looked up to our musical stars with admiration because they could do stuff we couldn't even imagine being able to do, now it has all become the stuff of celebrity hype, brand marketing, etc. - all the ancillary stuff that we only rarely concerned ourselves with. My hope is that the indie scenes in each category will be able to compete with upcoming litigation wars that are already beginning to stifle creativity from a cold and calculating legal perspective. Music (and its evolution) is once again about to become an underground, subversive artform!
LMAO Fill I didn't even know it was possible for you to sing that badly. this was definitely eye opening and sad and funny all at the same time. Your the best bro. I am going to be honest though being a singer now for over 30 yrs makes me seriously disappointed that I had to work so hard to be a good singer and these hacks today have to do nothing. I would not do anything different if I had to do it all again. there is something to be said about hard work.
1. Excellent video, very informative 2. Deliberately singing off-key has to be the hardest thing ever 3. One appropriate use of auto-tune - drunken karaoke singers
This is such a great demonstration of pitch correction. I didn’t realize it could make such a difference! With this technology, anyone could produce a recording regardless of singing ability. But I guess the key would be, how do they sound in a live performance without the technology? Were the singers of years ago simply better than today? Quite an interesting one today, Fil! Thanks for your work in putting this together.
Not only can they do this, they can also adjust the timing of the singing. Sung it a bit fast, or slow? The program can allow those things to be adjusted.
Fill, your deliberate off key singing is proof of your fabulous teaching skills & also finally removed my worries of being tone deaf as well as cracked me up😅
Fil, your un-corrected version brings to mind a musical comedy act of my all-time favourite vocalist, Jo Stafford: If you're not familiar with her work, she came to fame in the '40s as the lead singer of The Pied Pipers, a vocal quartet that sang with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra. She moved on to a solo career and sang primarily as a solo vocalist. She was often said to have perfect pitch (she denied this, saying that she merely had "pretty good" relative pitch). Her accuracy was something for which she was even sometimes criticised -- the critics occasionally described her as "cold." Her many admirers -- including celebrated musicians and fellow vocalists -- disagreed, however. Anyway, she and her pianist-arranger husband, Paul Weston, made a series of albums on which they billed themselves as "Jonathan and Darlene Edwards," a fictional husband and wife team from Trenton, New Jersey; "Jonathan" fumbled all over the keyboard," while "Darlene" sang sharp or flat at times. They once had to replace a drummer on a record session because the original one couldn't stop laughing at Jo and Paul's purposely bad performances. ... My theory is that it takes a very good singer to sing sharp or flat at will. Bad singers do it unintentionally, of course, but I think it requires great skill to deliberately sing something different from what your ear really wants to hear -- accuracy! ... I wish you would take a look at Jo's work and consider making an examination of an example of it in one of your videos. Love your channel!
Uncorrected hurts my ears! Starting at marker 2:55 Makes me wonder how much is real and how much is pitch correction and auto tune. The old music is looking better all the time. I stopped listening to "new" music for the most part around 1990. I did pick up some newer artist likes...Michael Buble, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Prince, Anita Baker...after that it was liking a song here or there...that is until happily stumbling onto you 🙂 Not only did I find music I wanted to listen to but I got to continue my music appreciation education. Thank-you Fil.
The reason it hurts your ears is because Fil is deliberately singing off key. There’s something mechanical sounding, and I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s painful, with most auto tuned songs. I think Fil avoided that when he corrected it, because his corrected version wasn’t painful to listen to (perhaps because it follows the off key version, and because he didn’t snap every note to the line). Idk, but I think those auto tuned singers need to have disclaimers on their songs (not unlike food labels).
Yikes!! I think I'll just return to collecting instrumental-only recordings again like I did about 3-4 decades ago! Fantastic demo, Fil! Thank you. 😉🤘🍺🍺
Thanks Fil for this voice pitch correction demo, it looked pretty excruciating for you to sing like that. However, watching your facial expressions was hilarious! 🎶 Laughing - ha ha ha ha ha ha 🎶 Janet from Louisiana ☮🖤🤘
Fil, you crack me up... I felt good though, because when I sing, my backups always yell out " Who sings that? , To which I reply " So and so!"...To which they come back with "Perhaps you should let them sing it." And they then all tearfully crack up laughing. Lol
I despise pitch correction. I have sang for over sixty years and believe that folks that need pitch correction should stay out of the studio. There is a reason I leave any establishment with Karaoke. S&G used the Evantide Harmonizer at the concert for Central Park. I can hear the sound change when Paul goes off key. There is this thing called practice that I would recommend for anyone.
I've not even started the video and the answer is Yes. I'm learning to sing and I've put in many many hours of hard, and tedious, practise just working on my pitch accuracy. It's not perfect but I know that with time and hard effort I'll get there. Autotune/pitch correction is like entering a motor-race in a self driving car after just passing your driving test.
Wow, great job on this video, Fil! This is fascinating, and you're right - it is kind of scary and bleak. It was quite entertaining, though, to watch you laugh at your own vocals 😄.
Thanks for doing this video it was a real eye-opener. I feel really uncomfortable with this software as it means we cannot know whether a vocal is real anymore. For me auto-tune bugs me less because that is often fairly obvious, but pitch correct I would not have a chance of spotting that in a song. The final version is not you but is a programme's version of what you should have sounded like, it feels deceitful and dishonest. It is a bit like seeing the Mona Lisa and later finding out it was just a copy, it would look right, but be conning the audience. There is a trust issue to consider now as unlike in the past when we largely trusted the vocals of songs to be by the singer and authentic, we now have lost that trust. I actually feel for any current or future talents who do not use such software as they will always be doubted because of the ones who are being pitch-corrected. Maybe it's time the industry puts vocals are enhanced label/disclaimer on all future physical and digital releases where either auto-tune or pitch correcting has been used. As to live shows, if they need backing tapes etc then it is no longer live, I don't mind the odd bum note or slightly altered songs when they are played live that's part of the appeal.
I love your videos and especially the ones analyzing great vocalists of the past and showing how naturally accurate they were. I'm a jazz vocalist, and on my albums, I make it a point to avoid Autotune and record vocals as close to live as possible. My versions of "Skylark" and "April Fooled Me" were cut live in the studio in an uninterrupted take with a solo instrumentalist. "Over the Rainbow" from my new album was actually recorded acapella in a single take as a favor to my husband, and my pianist added a little accompaniment to the vocal track in the studio later on. I'd love you to find that on RUclips and analyze it! This is important to me because I grew up surrounded by real singers, including my late dad Bill Ainsworth, who was a musical prodigy who was playing sax and clarinet for Tommy Dorsey's band at 17. He played and sang with many great big bands and Vegas showroom orchestras. By the time I came along, he was leading jingle vocal sessions. His job was to ensure every note and harmony was spot-on. He was such an ironfisted perfectionist that his nickname in the jingle industry was "The Judge." With him as a dad and all those great singers being like aunts and uncles to me, I would be horrified at the thought of cheating like this in the studio. They'd all come back to haunt me, literally! PS - Good job singing so badly! You're right that it's very hard for a real singer to do that. I was always in awe of how Jo Stafford managed to do it on the Jonathan and Darlene Edwards spoof LPs.
I applaud you for the courage it took as a musician to DO this! I love this for a weird reason..I have sung my entire life..great pitch ear..plus I am primarily a harmonist..when after 50 years of doing this…I got hit vocally from a genetic connective tissue that leaves you in a mess vocally! My brother who is a brilliant guitarist…started tuning about 4 different “ ranges or keys” my voice naturally hits! I am VERY picky and beat myself up pretty good if I am not up to scratch! So I have retired from gigs..I use muscle memory when I am practicing scales..but I keep up those skills because my slightly floppy vocal chords somehow stay pretty straight and vibrate the right way! As a child I sang descant..as a teen first soprano..when I had my first child at 21 my Dad brought me a Patsy Cline tape because I was so upset at yet another change.. and said “ this could be your new range” he had me spot on! I relearned that range..now I find I can really nail harmonies if my voice is fresh! I will post a link to a girl ironically named Mandy who has the same condition..it is the same as what Celine Dion suffers from..just to give you an idea of the trouble I have lived through…and all musicians if they are true artists will challenge themselves constantly to avoid the embarrassment of a non successful performance! I really love the guts it took to be so transparent! ❤
This is definitely why some of today's music/musicians don't need to work hard to sound good. Yes, cheating, selling out, phoning it in, cutting corners, bamboozoling, ok out,of synonyms for cheating. I am all for technology and using it to learn whether one is hitting the notes correctly, but not to replace someone's voice. I believe a lot of technology keeps people from having to work hard on their voices or to be creative.
Fil, what a brave man you are! To sing so badly when we know that's not what you sound like. It must be hard to sing badly when you can actually hold a note. When I heard the corrected version first, I didn't feel anything about it as it did sound "robotic". There was no feeling in the delivery. If a vocalist can't perform with passion, I completely turn off. I'm not the slightest bit interested in the music 'created' today as I grew up with the genius George Michael, Queen, Cliff Richard - who inspired the previous two and many more who never needed this technology to make them sound 'okay'. I remembered that day it was raining at Wimbledon and Cliff stood up in his seat and performed to the crowd and started a sing-a-long. How many vocalists would be capable of doing something like that now? The list would be mighty short. Thanks so much Fil for enlightening us on how far these producers will go for the almighty dollar. It's such a shame that true talent is now overlooked for image.🇦🇺🎶🕊
My sister saw Crosby, Stills and Nash live around 1968, and said it was the worst harmony she ever heard! They couldn't harmonize live very well at all. Her words. Weird, huh? Love your continuous smile Fil!
Fil! Really enjoyed this one. It's so disheartening to know that today's technology can make someone's voice angelic when they actually can't carry a tune in a bucket. It does feel like the fans are being shortchanged. Call me old-fashioned, but I want my favorite vocalists to be talented singers in their own right without the aid of computer software. You did a great job on that last, off-key "sounds of silence." That note set my teeth on edge. 😖😄I'm still hoping, at some point, you'll find the time to do another album.
Fil - Your adjustments made your singing sound natural. I think it would be interesting to go through the process one more time and snap everything right to the lines like someone would do in the studio. You could then compare that to the corrections made with your musicians ear.
If all they were fixing was one or two notes in a long session, to save a otherwise "perfect" take, I'd be all right with it. But you know it wouldn't stop there.
I don't need to even listen to the video -- a big fat YES!! Man, I thought lip syncing was bad. I did see your video of Simon & Garfunkel. Good god, let this video go viral!! Your so great Fil, authentic and that's what I want in life...thanks!! I love that your smiling at yourself..hugs and ROCK!!
Thank you Mary. I have spent so much time arguing with Kanye fanboys on the Kanye v. Freddie videos, who insist he "won out over Freddie Mercury's vocal" in his live performance when he was so horribly flat (aside from his other notable nonmusical flaws). To me a tweak or two sparingly is 1 thing, but if it is all over a tune, maybe you should train more or choose a song that is less challenging for your range. Cheers.
@@IMeMineWho Your 100% correct (stop waisting your time as nerve wracking as it is, especially the example you gave, goodness I am at a loss for words with these people, and there are those in our day to day lives who'd joke and say, "I can't carry a tune" and they really couldnt at all, yet if I thought because of the look of the person is what the industry wanted & he/she got a record deal or just more gigs then me in my day, I'd be so &*$# pissed off. I am 74yrs old,, so whoo hoo, I grew up hearing the real deal of many singers: having my mother loving Sinatra, Holliday, Fitzzgerad, Bennett, older brother & sister, loving doo woop, Elvis, & myself then having thier music flow into British Invasion, Joplin, Hendrix, so now with health issues and not having sung in ages, I cannot wait to try and just get out there and busk..vocals not in the best of shape, I can sing. So, keep on rocking and rolling acid queen!!🌿🎉🎶☮
@@marysalvi242 Mary, you are ahead of the game. My dad, although not his main gig, sang with a famous folk singer on occasion and he was proud of his pitch as he could play other instruments. Most of the time in his older years he was still in tune, but occasionaly was offkey and it annoyed him but he bragged his swing phrasing and character made up for it! And on those few occasions, it did! So strive for the perfect pitch but if you cannot get it 100, then learn to utilize the blue notes and phrasing! And here are a couple tips from Roger D (verified by Tom Kiefer of Cinderella): Sleep is super important and the lack of it you can hear! In fact, I have noticed a marked difference between what I sound like if I have slept and when I have not. Stress is the same way! Roger Daltrey as you may know has one of the best rock voices, but he has also been criticized when he has been sick or has insomnia. Sometimes performing with lack of sleep or ill (like George Harrison's Dark Horse tour) cannot be helped. But try to structure practice when you are feeling well and have slept! Cheers!
@@IMeMineWho Oh, love love love who you are and your dad 💞~ expressing oneself honesty and being authentic in life will or hopefully shows up in all that you do, xoxo to your dad's spirit & living as true as one can & I'm sure he was great!! I've written a short story with my reply, so took out a lot and for me 12:23 am I'm going to bed which is early...usually 4:00am. I know,🙄great having this connection, there are more of us then those others, cheers and peace love & light ~
@@marysalvi242 Oh Mary..ty so much for the sweet reply! Tbh I am currently mourning him, but proud of the mark he made on folk and rock history! Your comment means so much today as I was feeling rather low and lost. Funny how connection can restore one's will! Good on ya for the commitment to the rest and relaxation! And thank you for the beautiful words again!💜💜 Means a lot to me!
You did an awesome job with not hitting the notes. It made my skin crawl. This is the effect that sing out of tune is for me. This video was torturous but highly educational. You are an awesome dinner with and equally awesome voice. For me it's better for a person to put in the work to make their voice more accurate. Pitch correction and auto tune are like cheating. However the music industry does this to everyone one so they are the ones that are cheating you. It's better to do things through your ears because that is what is going to taking in the final product for lack of a better word. Music is art and messing withe voice is messing with the art and artist. It would be awesome to hear you sing the whole version of this epic song.
I can see a place for pitch correction/auto-tune, and that would be for aging performers doing live concerts; as while they have the desire with performing on stage, their vocal chops have diminished. I have family in Las Vegas, and they have informed me of a lot of aging performers, of Pop and Rock genres, from the 1960s ~70s ~ 80s, will perform at places like the the South Point, Golden Nugget, or the Fremont Street Experience. And while those performers still have the spirit, their singing is just not up to what it was a half-century ago. I can see where auto-tune, or pitch correction, for live performances, can smooth over the deficiencies with their singing voices.
Oh my goodness, Fil this was such a fun and interesting video thank you so much. I know it is so difficult to sing wrongfully. Great job for this demonstration. Be safe. StayWell! P. S. AN ARTIST THAT WOULD USE THE TECHNOLOGY THAT YOU JUST DEMONSTRATED. WOULD SAY YES THAT IS MY VOICE. BUT THE TECHNOLOGY IS THE TALENT.
Loved this vid Fil! When I married Matt in Sept of 2012, thats when I learned he was also a recording engineer on top of many other things, and he had mixed and produced his own recordings, besides other peoples from home. At first his computers were running Windows XP, and he was using Cool Edit as his recording software. I assisted and learned a bit how to record his music after that time. We would add hertz and make the recording sound better than if it was a store CD. He also showed me how he could change pitch if he wanted to, but in his case it wasnt necessary, but we played around with it to get some laughs... I think Cool Edit came out in the early 2000s. It didnt change pitch digitally like your software did. In this case, it would have a line on a graph, and with your mouse, you could drag that line at any point, to change pitch up or down. Matt still used Cool Edit when Win 7 and 10 came out, but some functionality was lost in Win 10. So as a Christmas present, I purchased Personus software, which was Win 10 compatible.. Its too bad that Matt passed away before he could start playing around with it... I will at some point... But another thing I wanted to say, and I hope Im not gonna burst anyones bubbles here... Matt was good friends and played in bands in the 70s and 80s with the cousin of Jack Douglas, the producer of John and Yokos album Double Fantasy. His name is Dave. In any case, Dave had spoken to Jack Douglas, his cousin, to listen to some of Matts demos. Jack invited them to come over his house and spend the day. This was in 1982. Matt and Dave went to Jacks house in Nyack, NY, as it was only about 2 hours away. In any case, Jack played the original, unmixed cassette from Double Fantasy for them both. When Matt told me this story, he said that Johns voice was just horrible, and that even Yoko sounded better than John! And believe me, Matt was no Yoko fan! He told me Jack had to do a lot of work to make John sound as good as he did in the final release of the album. So, Im not sure what Jack used in 1980, but there must have been some kind of way in the studio back then, to fix this... And I can confirm this whole story is true, because I had to notify Dave when Matt died via email... I had never met him... But I did ask if what Matt relayed to me was true regarding their visit to Jack Douglas in 1982. He confirmed it. So there must have been some way to do pitch correction even back in 1980.
Slowing down or speeding up tape was one of the ways of altering pitch but the whole signal would change not just part of that signal which is what pitch correction can do!
@@wingsofpegasus Thanks for explaining that Fil! I really was wondering. I so love all you teach us, and it reminds me about the things Matt would teach me also, as he taught voice and piano, played all over the NYC metro area on his own and in several bands, and did all the work to get his music perfected and on CDs. He was seriously a musical genius! I was getting back to piano and guitar, and asked him to teach me to learn how to sing much better. And in return, I was teaching him guitar. Thanks so much for all your hard work Fil, and your desire to teach others how sounds, and different things used in the music we listen to, actually get accomplished! Im like a sponge with this stuff! 🤟🤟💛💚💙
Is it possible to have some device that detects pitch corrected songs that appear on Social Media sites and can revert the song back to what it was before being pitch corrected to hear the actual, original recording? I think that would scare a lot of singers.
Great demo, as always. You’re right about one thing: you can’t stop people from messing with recordings and making them more perfect. I’d only ask that the music publishers disclose the manipulation. Tell people what they’re buying. Otherwise the artists who CAN actually sing (hit the proper pitches) are not receiving proper credit for being the real thing. Thanks. You do great work and you are a credit to the music business.
Wholly unfair to anyone who can actually sing. If I were an poor artist with a robot that could support my hand and guide it to paint a stunning painting, using my hand but via robotic AI, am ia great artist. Same idea. My hand but robotically adjusted. Anyone's hand would do. It's cheating. I'm worried about the music industry and now I'll wonder, with every new artist I hear, how much of that great sound is organic, how much was yanked into being in tune. Thanks for an amazing lesson in what's "under the boot,' in today's music. (You'd make an excellent music instructor in university, students would love your classes.)
The comparison between you as a musician doing the pitch correction and a producer doing it was very interesting. This was really fun to watch as you tried to sing badly. I guess I could say good job because you were successful. Thank you for doing this video. I especially liked your facial expressions at the end of the recording.
Even before pitch correction and auto tuning you were never sure just how good a vocalist was until you heard them sing live. In the studio multiple takes could produce a much cleaner and better performance than the artist could ever do live. So in some ways I've never thought that much about it, especially for particular types of artists. I think of this work being a simplified version of what they did in the past to clean up a vocal line for a song. What bothers me is the idea that they now will portray something that is corrected as live. I'm OK if they want to correct for an album, like I said they've been doing that for years. But I don't like the idea of them pretending something is live when it is not, or even doing correction of a live performance.
also, until they went in for all the orchestral stuff and various studio-required effects, the Beatles were the perfect example of a band that was at least as good live as on vinyl
Yes and no. Many songs were invented while recording, and some parts, which only exist on tape than must "learned" by the artist first. Happened for guitar parts too: i've forgotten, which Player told something like: "...before the Tour i had to listen to the Album, to hear the Version the Crowd knew about...." I think, it was Steve Lukather
That is why i listen more to live albums of artists or i watched them ( actual, you tube ) as case maybe for their real voices. In the case of simon and garfunkel, i do not mind them so much because it was records executives who corrected them AND THEY SING LOVELY during concerts
Fil, thank you for using your voice and for taking the time to explain how the process of pitch correction works. You did a great job and it's unfortunate that this is what is going on now in the music industry.
This was a very funny, thought provoking analysis. Singing off pitch purposely can be hard to do if you're a trained singer, but is usually good a laugh. Your purposely off pitch singing reminded of the Florence Foster Jenkins movie. I think using this technology to profit as a singer speaks to that artist's integrity. Thank you for making this video, Fil! I'm thinking of using the uncorrected version as my new ringtone! 🤣🖤🤘
@@julzy3 I kept going back to that bit too where he's making fun of himself having the nerve to give the thumbs up after that performance. And then his reaction at 23:20 at the end of the bad version, "Okay guys, we've nailed it in one...that's lunch," just did me in. I've got the video paused at that spot right now, and I just can't with that goofy look on his face as he's giving the thumbs up. 🤣🤣🤣 I know he made the video to highlight a serious issue within the music industry, but I don't ever remember laughing this hard at one of his videos.
@@Terri_MacKay Right! That's lunch!🤣 He should make a fictional Fil-toon reenactment of this video (where Fil is the producer so he can say that's lunch!!) Talk about a guff fest!
Dear Fil: I appreciate your courage to "intentionally sing the wrong notes" (and I am still chuckling)! This absolutely confirms your perspective on pitch correction for someone like me that is not a musician. I am so glad that my musical heroes of the past were "legitimate"! However, I recall the controversies associated with "non-credited" musicians performing the recorded "back-ups" for so many artists and we just didn't know. The documentary on the "Wrecking Crew" made that point so well and gave appropriate credit to a wonderful group of studio musicians. Thank you and I would love to hear your "unaltered voice" covering this amazing song!!
Stunning, and it caused me to think it over for a while, and here’s my conclusion: Why not invent a labeling system similar to the regulations for the food industry: any of the ingredients have to be indicated - the real stuff (fruit, vegetables, meat, salt, pepper, herbs) and all synthetic additives with only a technical purpose, such as preservatives, emulsifiers, acidity regulators, antioxidants. In accordance to that, any music product would carry a label with all voices and instruments used, and in addition to that with all the studio gadgets like autotune and pitch control. And for those who use neither of that, we could invent a special „Organic Music“-label. Wouldn’t that be fine? I consider this to be a thousand times more useful than any idiotic parental advisory sticker.
Hello , Fil..! These démonstrations are instructives ..and funny.! I love your voice ,Fil.!same out of the tune..!!! Sweet kisses ,good night for you.!👑🌹🎸
... and the pain that was planted in my brain, still remains
😂😂😂
So much respect for singers like Karen Carpenter, Whitney Houston and Steve Perry. Their singing was not auto tuned, pitch corrected or perfect. But it was glorious to llisten to 🎵🎶🎵
Yep. And Linda Rondstat, Juice Newton and many others.
With Karen,I'd go with perfect haa,jus like Fil!
Roy Hamilton, Elvis Presley, Tom Jones, Roy Orbison, Frank Sinatra, Perry Como, Jack Jones, Gordon MacRae--all the great singers before autotune and pitch correction came into being.
Karen carpenter? Dreary as hell.
@@bramleydragon That's because rainy days and Mondays always got her down.
All I know is if I was that bad of a singer and put out a pitch corrected album you couldn't drag me onstage with a bulldozer to attempt a live performance. Miming to a recorded track in front of paying customers?? Amounts to a scam just as bad as those phone scammers.
Any label publishing "tweaked" vocals UNLESS CLEARLY LABELLED AS SUCH should be made to shut their doors!
100% !!!
EVERY band/vocalist releasing material MUST display, at point of sale/broadcast, that pitch correction is being used.
EVERY 'live' concert MUST display, at point of sale (including on ticket), that pitch correction is being used.
Most tracking has been comp'd for many, many years - this is acceptable (within 'fair use' reason) since every re-take was always 100% live. Today's 100% gross abuse of pitch correction (Melodyne is almost always the primary culprit) is ENTIRELY different - 100% of what you hear is computer vocals (instruments commonly, too) i.e. NOT live, and almost always, the vocalist is unable to reproduce live. Any venue that allows miming needs to be called out !!
Pitch correction abuse = Dehumanizer Plugin
I think that would be all labels.
I agree! I have seen people who had truly amazing perfect voices who would never even consider doing anything professional go unheard..and the retake talent rakes in big bucks!
@John Buchman No, we do not need any laws or rules governing art. The only way this would stop is if people stop paying for the product and I don't see that happening. Commercial music today is all about the glitz. Flashy videos and car rattling bass tracks is what it's about. Back in the day (I'm old) we all thought that the bands were actually playing the instruments on the records we listened to on the radio. Now we know that wasn't true but at least the people actually playing were all great musicians.
@@lancomedic But, it's not "art" that's the point. It's artifice. And the $men are so deceptive, most people don't even know that what they're hearing is machine -made...
It's a kind of FRAUD. Unless it's disclosed UP FRONT.
This is nothing to do with censorship, it's all about deceptive advertising.
Yes, it is definitely cheating! Thank you for breaking this down to help us better understand how pitch correction works!
Me listening to pitch corrected FIL: wow, nicely done!
Me listening to no pitch correcting: ooooh, yeah... Time for me to become a rock star! ⭐
We would also enjoy hearing you do that in your real singing voice.
Pitch correction has ruined modern music…it sells an image posing as a “singer”. I also believe it creates very lazy vocals. I refuse to use it…and maybe do a video on this idea, I use an older Digitech vocalist, which if you set the sensitivity right, it glitches the moment you deviate within a semi-tone. Stubbornly I kept singing until I could complete a verse or chorus without it glitching…this dramatically improved my singing and at 70 years of age…I still use this for practice and during my live performances I often have people come up and ask if my vocals are pre-recorded. This has been my secret weapon. Hope this benefits others as it has helped me so much over the years.
If you ever reprise this, I would like to hear the out-of-tune version, the pitch-corrected version, and then a normal performance free of manipulation. I think people will be surprised at how much better the natural performance sounds compared to the pitch-corrected version.
I think you're right - our brains have evolved over millions of years to hear/understand human voices, sense danger, etc.
I think when the autotune kicks in - our brains at some low level think, "something is wrong with this..."
yes it may achieve changing the voice to the correct pitch/notes - however, it isn't yet to the point where we recognize it as natural
This was sidesplitting funny!! It must have been hard to try to not hit the notes. Were you afraid that your vocal ability would permanently digress to before your learned to sing. My mother always yelled at me when I made a cross eyed face and said you do that often enough it will be stay that way. I hope you can still sing without autotune. Thanks to your tutorials, all your listeners will catch that, so you'll never get away with it. Thanks again for a well thought out, entertaining analysis!
It was so funny! Fil's expressions were the funniest! I think he purposely made the singing extra stinky (bad) to prove a point, but it was so good that it was so bad! Just so hilarious! I hope this never gets deleted! I'll have to revisit it over and over. It really does show how difficult this duet was to sing without pitch correction though, so the test was highly successful, but at poor Fil's expense. Sorry Fil, but it's just so good! 😉✌👍❤💕😂🤣❣💘💝🌸🌹💖🤘
Absolutely cheating. I am learning so much from you!! Love your personality 😊
Yes, yes and thrice yes! Not only 'cheating' but also denying us of true musical performances and original artistry.
YES!!!!! Human Creativity is dying right in front of our eyes. Between this technology, Chat GPT and AI art I'm afraid we're done for. It is not my nature to be all "doom and gloom" but I know human beings, and I know that any device that saves labor, money, or makes things easy and more accessible in any way will be eagerly adopted. They're already calling people who use AI to create art "AI ARTISTS"!!!! This phenomenon simply lowers the creative bar even further so that people with no discernible talent or skill can easily create music, art, or literature at a level of quality that the average person will gladly accept, and the technology will improve exponentially. As an animator, composer, and voice actor, I feel quite sad about this, but nothing can be done. Enjoy your channel.
Oh goodness! Thank you for temporarily sacrificing your beautiful voice to show us just what pitch correction can do. It is such a pity.
The most uplifting part of this video is Fil’s sheepish grin aside his twin @ 3:31. The music business is as much as about branding as it is about musicianship. Arguably an artist with a visually appealing social media persona is more important than actual musical talent especially when notes are merely a commodity that can be created on a computer. Then if you add the power of AI to create the ideal visual human facsimiles who even needs real people?
That’s the part that cracks me up the most! That thumbs-up grin..as he calls himself, One-Take Fil! Omg..I’m STILL laughing about it!! 😂
They already airbrush performers.
Painted? I always thought it was “ planted”.
@@Caperhere Fil's singing planted.
I like Fil's smile.
When he smiles we all know it's pretty good!
There are a lot of youtubers posting obviously overproduced and pitch corrected performances. I find the ones posted by some of the biggest channels disturbing and they are correcting voices of very young people (teens). Nothing is learned by these young people, given all the likes and praise in the comments.
This was a very important and valuable demonstration. 👍👍
@HD I agree. When some people out there who don't use pitch correction AND, who are mostly on pitch get accused of being pitchy. Also, on how they need vocal training. No one is pitch perfect.
Well..there we have it!!
Pitch correction is the new definition for cheating, in the music industry!
I had to do a radio ad years ago where I had to sing off-key. OMG, it's so hard to do when you've trained to sing properly.
100%. Absolutely. Yes.- (edit)- Yes, you absolutely made your voice sound realistic. Because I post my comments as I'm watching- I was kinda freaking why I wasn't hearing that snap, or insane compression of your vocals on your pitch correction. And you're right. This is scary. If they can make the machines they now use live?
They'll only be putting out faces they know people will like, and no real talent at all. That will be the end of music, IF the public allows it to continue.
Only they faces as well will be fake AI.
Plugins like Melodyne and the one Fil has here can't be used live. But the hardware version of Antares Autotune can do pitch correction on the fly, and I know it is in the live rigs of some pop singers.
@@kim_o_the_concrete_jungle Well that sucks then.
@@kim_o_the_concrete_jungle Melodyne's what I have, although I rarely use it now. It's a great little program, that can add a lot of fun, variation, and even creative ideas, but I don't use it for vocal correction, save for small things that might happen during recording.
What's being done today, and what looks like is coming in the future? Not music to me. The one's using it as an actual effect, very rarely? Ok. But even that's getting old now, imo.
Whether you're old enough/lucky enough to have experienced genuine, natural performances or young enough to have only been exposed to artificially corrected vocals, this is something that EVERYONE needs to see/hear to lift the veil of musical misrepresentation and understand what's really happening in the industry. Merchandised deception. This was brilliant, Fil, and very well done.
Having experienced singing, reading music and and music theory, I can only imagine what it took to purposely sing out of tune. That's difficult to to do! You benefited us all at your own expense! I've heard your songs and just singing in a reaction/analysis and I know you can't hit those off key notes. So bravo to you, Fil.
This was awesome! Simultaneously educational, funny as hell, and really disconcerting! Scary how easy this was to do once you got past the forcing yourself to sing badly part.
Wow. Last time I was this early, people recorded at home using a Fostex 4-track tape recorder. :)
Or a TASCAM !
Once my ears stopped bleeding, I found this so informative! Thanks for giving us such a great demonstration of how pitch correction can be easily applied.
Hey I’m a 60 year old woman and I’m listening to this whilst ironing
Very entertaining,
I’m going to subscribe 👍
Thanks!
Such a fun and ear-opening video, Fil!
It's truly disturbing what kind of soulless and artifical music products we can get served by the greedy music industry. Such a relief to know there are still real singers and musicians out there who are breathing and feeling their music like you do and strive to touch us with pure talent!
Aloha from Germany ❤🧡💛💚💙
Although I had no idea what was going on behind the scenes, I do know that I have not enjoyed music since the 90s. I’ve said sooooo many times how this girl, or that guy, cannot sing! Something was just off. You have taught me why. Thank you for showing us what’s actually going on out there. You did an amazing job! Watching you today was incredible.😂. Thanks a million for the fun…..and knowledge. You ROCK!
Couldn't agree more. As a singer myself, these processed robot vocals make me cringe.
@@lauraainsworth111 I grew up with many professional singers and was always in awe of them all. So I really started thinking about Fil’s question as to whether it’s their voice, or not, after pitch correction makes me say: yes, it’s still their voice, but NOT their singing. Just my humble opinion. Lol
Agree! Many of today's "singers" are not very good. There are a few here and there that are TRULY talented- but most today would not past muster in the days before auto-tune. They never would have made it.
"What would you do if I sang out key, ... would you stand up & walk out on me?"
".....Or would you wait for the producer to auto-correct it?"
Fantastic demo. Thanks for putting yourself out there like this. You are one brave man.
The thing is, Fil, even when you were singing the wrong notes, you still maintained proper breathing and dynamic techniques. I'd like to see a video where you also address the computerization of those as well.
Thought it was funny that while trying to sing the wrong notes Fil kept them correctly pitched!
You out did yourself tonight, Fil I definitely could hear the different between the original recording and when you applied pitch correction. the original has a warmer feel to the sound. if I can't hear the original unedited version I preferred the sounds of silence over the use of pitch correction and or auto tune. this is one to watch again. 😊👍
Omg Fil..your expressions listening to the flat version are priceless! And yes, it is a big cheat. (Fake is what is wrong with life..except fake leather and fake fur that is..and those of us in tribute bands..lol) It is depressing to think as John Lennon wrote "nothing is real." I agree with commenters who say that pitch correction should be noted on albums or workingclass musicos and newbies will be frustrated comparing themselves to machines.
Thanks Fil, that was great. There are still some bands who refuse to apply pitch correction in their official live videos. Here's one example where the singer is off in the first line and in a few other places, but most of the song sounds fantastic: ruclips.net/video/nhFse5ZBlLo/видео.html . We need to support such bands, because I'm sure they lose a lot of potential fans because of their integrity.
Didn't expect a link to Gacharic Spin -nice
Yes, it’s cheating. It was mind blowing when you did the pitch correcting and it showed little sharp/flat. I mean, you did it the right way: listening for the right note and sounding correct. Engineers/producers are still looking (luckily) the lines, so they ”get caught”, but when time goes by and they want to cheat more, they’ll hire someone who understands how it works and listens to right notes. Then it’s difficult to find out the reality.
Great video!
Absolutely cheating and also real musos, purposefully choose to sing things with imperfections
@@Dancestar1981 Yes!
Didn’t have anything that I know of back in the 60s,70s. I would call this cheating! You don’t need it cause you’ve got a terrific voice! Very Interesting! ✌️❤️
And this is just the tip of the iceberg!! There is so much about Popular music today (incl. rock, pop, country, R&B, hip hop, etc.) that is intentionally and institutionally misleading for the sake of the almighty dollar (or pound).
1. pitch-corrected vocals on recordings
2. "live concerts" that are actually lip-synched
3. "bands" (esp. the boy band genre) that can't actually play instruments, let alone at their performances
4. artist songwriters who claim songwriting credit for all music they record (because their contract says so!)
Shall I go on? And it's all in the name of entertainment. Which is already understood to be "not-real." So if any part of it is found to be fake, who cares, right??
I am a music teacher who has taught students for almost 30 years, in public schools and in higher ed, anywhere with ages from 5 to 85! In those 30 years, I have seen pop culture (via reality shows like American Idol, The Voice, and others) marginalize the actual study of Music by making it all seem like a happy fortuitous accident. ("I've never had a lesson, but I just sing from my heart" type of crap!) Whereas once we looked up to our musical stars with admiration because they could do stuff we couldn't even imagine being able to do, now it has all become the stuff of celebrity hype, brand marketing, etc. - all the ancillary stuff that we only rarely concerned ourselves with.
My hope is that the indie scenes in each category will be able to compete with upcoming litigation wars that are already beginning to stifle creativity from a cold and calculating legal perspective. Music (and its evolution) is once again about to become an underground, subversive artform!
Quite amazing how badly off key you managed to sing that. That is a talent in itself.
LMAO Fill I didn't even know it was possible for you to sing that badly. this was definitely eye opening and sad and funny all at the same time. Your the best bro. I am going to be honest though being a singer now for over 30 yrs makes me seriously disappointed that I had to work so hard to be a good singer and these hacks today have to do nothing. I would not do anything different if I had to do it all again. there is something to be said about hard work.
1. Excellent video, very informative
2. Deliberately singing off-key has to be the hardest thing ever
3. One appropriate use of auto-tune - drunken karaoke singers
Yes, it is. It's cheating.
Fil, thanks for doing this video. It's very enlightening.
You rock! 🖤🤘🏽
Yes, if he was playing a guitar which I know what to listen for I would think it’s terrible. Same with this back up. Ouch.
This is such a great demonstration of pitch correction. I didn’t realize it could make such a difference! With this technology, anyone could produce a recording regardless of singing ability. But I guess the key would be, how do they sound in a live performance without the technology? Were the singers of years ago simply better than today? Quite an interesting one today, Fil! Thanks for your work in putting this together.
Not only can they do this, they can also adjust the timing of the singing.
Sung it a bit fast, or slow? The program can allow those things to be adjusted.
There are always going to be singers that really can sing. I and most of my family are among them.
Very informative, this was dramatic and comical at the same time. I think most people learned how producers think nowadays in the music business.
Fill, your deliberate off key singing is proof of your fabulous teaching skills & also finally removed my worries of being tone deaf as well as cracked me up😅
Fil, your un-corrected version brings to mind a musical comedy act of my all-time favourite vocalist, Jo Stafford: If you're not familiar with her work, she came to fame in the '40s as the lead singer of The Pied Pipers, a vocal quartet that sang with the Tommy Dorsey orchestra. She moved on to a solo career and sang primarily as a solo vocalist. She was often said to have perfect pitch (she denied this, saying that she merely had "pretty good" relative pitch). Her accuracy was something for which she was even sometimes criticised -- the critics occasionally described her as "cold." Her many admirers -- including celebrated musicians and fellow vocalists -- disagreed, however. Anyway, she and her pianist-arranger husband, Paul Weston, made a series of albums on which they billed themselves as "Jonathan and Darlene Edwards," a fictional husband and wife team from Trenton, New Jersey; "Jonathan" fumbled all over the keyboard," while "Darlene" sang sharp or flat at times. They once had to replace a drummer on a record session because the original one couldn't stop laughing at Jo and Paul's purposely bad performances. ... My theory is that it takes a very good singer to sing sharp or flat at will. Bad singers do it unintentionally, of course, but I think it requires great skill to deliberately sing something different from what your ear really wants to hear -- accuracy! ... I wish you would take a look at Jo's work and consider making an examination of an example of it in one of your videos. Love your channel!
Uncorrected hurts my ears!
Starting at marker 2:55
Makes me wonder how much is real and how much is pitch correction and auto tune.
The old music is looking better all the time. I stopped listening to "new" music for the most part around 1990. I did pick up some newer artist likes...Michael Buble, Whitney Houston, Celine Dion, Prince, Anita Baker...after that it was liking a song here or there...that is until happily stumbling onto you 🙂
Not only did I find music I wanted to listen to but I got to continue my music appreciation education. Thank-you Fil.
The reason it hurts your ears is because Fil is deliberately singing off key.
There’s something mechanical sounding, and I don’t know how to describe it, but it’s painful, with most auto tuned songs.
I think Fil avoided that when he corrected it, because his corrected version wasn’t painful to listen to (perhaps because it follows the off key version, and because he didn’t snap every note to the line). Idk, but I think those auto tuned singers need to have disclaimers on their songs (not unlike food labels).
A reason I stopped listening to modern music. Thank you for showing us what is going on.
Yikes!! I think I'll just return to collecting instrumental-only recordings again like I did about 3-4 decades ago! Fantastic demo, Fil! Thank you. 😉🤘🍺🍺
Or music pre 1990s
U R a HOOT! It's good entertainment watching YOU! Great job... Great illustration.
I really enjoyed this! Fortunately for us vocalists, there is more than pitch to our voices...😁
Amen.
I'm so sick of fakers, lies and no integrity in every realm. Cheaters for sure.
Thanks Fil for this voice pitch correction demo, it looked pretty excruciating for you to sing like that. However, watching your facial expressions was hilarious! 🎶 Laughing - ha ha ha ha ha ha 🎶 Janet from Louisiana ☮🖤🤘
Fil, you crack me up... I felt good though, because when I sing, my backups always yell out " Who sings that? , To which I reply " So and so!"...To which they come back with "Perhaps you should let them sing it." And they then all tearfully crack up laughing. Lol
I despise pitch correction. I have sang for over sixty years and believe that folks that need pitch correction should stay out of the studio. There is a reason I leave any establishment with Karaoke. S&G used the Evantide Harmonizer at the concert for Central Park. I can hear the sound change when Paul goes off key. There is this thing called practice that I would recommend for anyone.
I've not even started the video and the answer is Yes. I'm learning to sing and I've put in many many hours of hard, and tedious, practise just working on my pitch accuracy. It's not perfect but I know that with time and hard effort I'll get there. Autotune/pitch correction is like entering a motor-race in a self driving car after just passing your driving test.
Wow, great job on this video, Fil! This is fascinating, and you're right - it is kind of scary and bleak. It was quite entertaining, though, to watch you laugh at your own vocals 😄.
Thanks for doing this video it was a real eye-opener. I feel really uncomfortable with this software as it means we cannot know whether a vocal is real anymore. For me auto-tune bugs me less because that is often fairly obvious, but pitch correct I would not have a chance of spotting that in a song. The final version is not you but is a programme's version of what you should have sounded like, it feels deceitful and dishonest. It is a bit like seeing the Mona Lisa and later finding out it was just a copy, it would look right, but be conning the audience. There is a trust issue to consider now as unlike in the past when we largely trusted the vocals of songs to be by the singer and authentic, we now have lost that trust. I actually feel for any current or future talents who do not use such software as they will always be doubted because of the ones who are being pitch-corrected.
Maybe it's time the industry puts vocals are enhanced label/disclaimer on all future physical and digital releases where either auto-tune or pitch correcting has been used. As to live shows, if they need backing tapes etc then it is no longer live, I don't mind the odd bum note or slightly altered songs when they are played live that's part of the appeal.
I don’t like either of the programs
Good job! It must have been very difficult and awkward for you!
I love your videos and especially the ones analyzing great vocalists of the past and showing how naturally accurate they were. I'm a jazz vocalist, and on my albums, I make it a point to avoid Autotune and record vocals as close to live as possible. My versions of "Skylark" and "April Fooled Me" were cut live in the studio in an uninterrupted take with a solo instrumentalist. "Over the Rainbow" from my new album was actually recorded acapella in a single take as a favor to my husband, and my pianist added a little accompaniment to the vocal track in the studio later on. I'd love you to find that on RUclips and analyze it!
This is important to me because I grew up surrounded by real singers, including my late dad Bill Ainsworth, who was a musical prodigy who was playing sax and clarinet for Tommy Dorsey's band at 17. He played and sang with many great big bands and Vegas showroom orchestras. By the time I came along, he was leading jingle vocal sessions. His job was to ensure every note and harmony was spot-on. He was such an ironfisted perfectionist that his nickname in the jingle industry was "The Judge." With him as a dad and all those great singers being like aunts and uncles to me, I would be horrified at the thought of cheating like this in the studio. They'd all come back to haunt me, literally!
PS - Good job singing so badly! You're right that it's very hard for a real singer to do that. I was always in awe of how Jo Stafford managed to do it on the Jonathan and Darlene Edwards spoof LPs.
So sad that this is being done and how easy it is to do. Thanks, Fil.
Spectacular! Fil is analysing Fil. So charming!
I applaud you for the courage it took as a musician to DO this! I love this for a weird reason..I have sung my entire life..great pitch ear..plus I am primarily a harmonist..when after 50 years of doing this…I got hit vocally from a genetic connective tissue that leaves you in a mess vocally! My brother who is a brilliant guitarist…started tuning about 4 different “ ranges or keys” my voice naturally hits! I am VERY picky and beat myself up pretty good if I am not up to scratch! So I have retired from gigs..I use muscle memory when I am practicing scales..but I keep up those skills because my slightly floppy vocal chords somehow stay pretty straight and vibrate the right way! As a child I sang descant..as a teen first soprano..when I had my first child at 21 my Dad brought me a Patsy Cline tape because I was so upset at yet another change.. and said “ this could be your new range” he had me spot on! I relearned that range..now I find I can really nail harmonies if my voice is fresh! I will post a link to a girl ironically named Mandy who has the same condition..it is the same as what Celine Dion suffers from..just to give you an idea of the trouble I have lived through…and all musicians if they are true artists will challenge themselves constantly to avoid the embarrassment of a non successful performance! I really love the guts it took to be so transparent! ❤
This is definitely why some of today's music/musicians don't need to work hard to sound good. Yes, cheating, selling out, phoning it in, cutting corners, bamboozoling, ok out,of synonyms for cheating. I am all for technology and using it to learn whether one is hitting the notes correctly, but not to replace someone's voice. I believe a lot of technology keeps people from having to work hard on their voices or to be creative.
Fil, what a brave man you are! To sing so badly when we know that's not what you sound like. It must be hard to sing badly when you can actually hold a note. When I heard the corrected version first, I didn't feel anything about it as it did sound "robotic". There was no feeling in the delivery. If a vocalist can't perform with passion, I completely turn off. I'm not the slightest bit interested in the music 'created' today as I grew up with the genius George Michael, Queen, Cliff Richard - who inspired the previous two and many more who never needed this technology to make them sound 'okay'. I remembered that day it was raining at Wimbledon and Cliff stood up in his seat and performed to the crowd and started a sing-a-long. How many vocalists would be capable of doing something like that now? The list would be mighty short. Thanks so much Fil for enlightening us on how far these producers will go for the almighty dollar. It's such a shame that true talent is now overlooked for image.🇦🇺🎶🕊
My sister saw Crosby, Stills and Nash live around 1968, and said it was the worst harmony she ever heard! They couldn't harmonize live very well at all. Her words. Weird, huh? Love your continuous smile Fil!
As far as I know, no one has ever said, sing as if you've been pitch corrected.
Tammy nailed it. Anyone can buy a computer to play music basically. Real Singers rock.
Fil! Really enjoyed this one. It's so disheartening to know that today's technology can make someone's voice angelic when they actually can't carry a tune in a bucket. It does feel like the fans are being shortchanged. Call me old-fashioned, but I want my favorite vocalists to be talented singers in their own right without the aid of computer software. You did a great job on that last, off-key "sounds of silence." That note set my teeth on edge. 😖😄I'm still hoping, at some point, you'll find the time to do another album.
Fil - Your adjustments made your singing sound natural. I think it would be interesting to go through the process one more time and snap everything right to the lines like someone would do in the studio. You could then compare that to the corrections made with your musicians ear.
Great illustration.
Love your videos! One of the BEST channels on RUclips!
Hi Fil. Great demo of pitch correction. I had no idea how much difference this technology makes.
I am not a singer, but I always love to hear your analysis of vocals. I have such an appreciation for music and vocals.
Interesting! Thanks for the demonstration! This does bring up some issues, for sure.
If all they were fixing was one or two notes in a long session, to save a otherwise "perfect" take, I'd be all right with it. But you know it wouldn't stop there.
And it doesnt
@@Dancestar1981 exactly.
It most have been hard for you to sing that bad Great job and thanks for the laugh. Keep on doing what you do love these and your lives
I don't need to even listen to the video -- a big fat YES!! Man, I thought lip syncing was bad. I did see your video of Simon & Garfunkel. Good god, let this video go viral!! Your so great Fil, authentic and that's what I want in life...thanks!! I love that your smiling at yourself..hugs and ROCK!!
Thank you Mary. I have spent so much time arguing with Kanye fanboys on the Kanye v. Freddie videos, who insist he "won out over Freddie Mercury's vocal" in his live performance when he was so horribly flat (aside from his other notable nonmusical flaws). To me a tweak or two sparingly is 1 thing, but if it is all over a tune, maybe you should train more or choose a song that is less challenging for your range. Cheers.
@@IMeMineWho Your 100% correct (stop waisting your time as nerve wracking as it is, especially the example you gave, goodness I am at a loss for words with these people, and there are those in our day to day lives who'd joke and say, "I can't carry a tune" and they really couldnt at all, yet if I thought because of the look of the person is what the industry wanted & he/she got a record deal or just more gigs then me in my day, I'd be so &*$# pissed off. I am 74yrs old,, so whoo hoo, I grew up hearing the real deal of many singers: having my mother loving Sinatra, Holliday, Fitzzgerad, Bennett, older brother & sister, loving doo woop, Elvis, & myself then having thier music flow into British Invasion, Joplin, Hendrix, so now with health issues and not having sung in ages, I cannot wait to try and just get out there and busk..vocals not in the best of shape, I can sing. So, keep on rocking and rolling acid queen!!🌿🎉🎶☮
@@marysalvi242 Mary, you are ahead of the game. My dad, although not his main gig, sang with a famous folk singer on occasion and he was proud of his pitch as he could play other instruments. Most of the time in his older years he was still in tune, but occasionaly was offkey and it annoyed him but he bragged his swing phrasing and character made up for it! And on those few occasions, it did! So strive for the perfect pitch but if you cannot get it 100, then learn to utilize the blue notes and phrasing! And here are a couple tips from Roger D (verified by Tom Kiefer of Cinderella): Sleep is super important and the lack of it you can hear! In fact, I have noticed a marked difference between what I sound like if I have slept and when I have not. Stress is the same way! Roger Daltrey as you may know has one of the best rock voices, but he has also been criticized when he has been sick or has insomnia. Sometimes performing with lack of sleep or ill (like George Harrison's Dark Horse tour) cannot be helped. But try to structure practice when you are feeling well and have slept! Cheers!
@@IMeMineWho Oh, love love love who you are and your dad 💞~ expressing oneself honesty and being authentic in life will or hopefully shows up in all that you do, xoxo to your dad's spirit & living as true as one can & I'm sure he was great!! I've written a short story with my reply, so took out a lot and for me 12:23 am I'm going to bed which is early...usually 4:00am. I know,🙄great having this connection, there are more of us then those others, cheers and peace love & light ~
@@marysalvi242 Oh Mary..ty so much for the sweet reply! Tbh I am currently mourning him, but proud of the mark he made on folk and rock history! Your comment means so much today as I was feeling rather low and lost. Funny how connection can restore one's will! Good on ya for the commitment to the rest and relaxation! And thank you for the beautiful words again!💜💜 Means a lot to me!
Your smile is so frigging contagious Fil. I couldn’t help but smile too.
You did an awesome job with not hitting the notes. It made my skin crawl. This is the effect that sing out of tune is for me. This video was torturous but highly educational.
You are an awesome dinner with and equally awesome voice. For me it's better for a person to put in the work to make their voice more accurate. Pitch correction and auto tune are like cheating. However the music industry does this to everyone one so they are the ones that are cheating you. It's better to do things through your ears because that is what is going to taking in the final product for lack of a better word.
Music is art and messing withe voice is messing with the art and artist. It would be awesome to hear you sing the whole version of this epic song.
Lot to ask maybe, just saying. If you want the not-correct version 🤔😅
I can see a place for pitch correction/auto-tune, and that would be for aging performers doing live concerts; as while they have the desire with performing on stage, their vocal chops have diminished.
I have family in Las Vegas, and they have informed me of a lot of aging performers, of Pop and Rock genres, from the
1960s ~70s ~ 80s, will perform at places like the the South Point, Golden Nugget, or the Fremont Street Experience. And while those performers still have the spirit, their singing is just not up to what it was a half-century ago. I can see where auto-tune, or pitch correction, for live performances, can smooth over the deficiencies with their singing voices.
Thank you for sacrificing your talent Fil👌👏👏. Fascinating ❤️
Oh my goodness, Fil this was such a fun and interesting video thank you so much. I know it is so difficult to sing wrongfully. Great job for this demonstration. Be safe. StayWell!
P. S. AN ARTIST THAT WOULD USE THE TECHNOLOGY THAT YOU JUST DEMONSTRATED. WOULD SAY YES THAT IS MY VOICE. BUT THE TECHNOLOGY IS THE TALENT.
My objection is Singers who use this Live.
Thanks for sharing this comparison. I prefer no auto tune, but it's unfortunate that it is used so much in music these days. Cheers, Fil! ✌️
Loved this vid Fil! When I married Matt in Sept of 2012, thats when I learned he was also a recording engineer on top of many other things, and he had mixed and produced his own recordings, besides other peoples from home. At first his computers were running Windows XP, and he was using Cool Edit as his recording software. I assisted and learned a bit how to record his music after that time. We would add hertz and make the recording sound better than if it was a store CD. He also showed me how he could change pitch if he wanted to, but in his case it wasnt necessary, but we played around with it to get some laughs... I think Cool Edit came out in the early 2000s. It didnt change pitch digitally like your software did. In this case, it would have a line on a graph, and with your mouse, you could drag that line at any point, to change pitch up or down. Matt still used Cool Edit when Win 7 and 10 came out, but some functionality was lost in Win 10. So as a Christmas present, I purchased Personus software, which was Win 10 compatible.. Its too bad that Matt passed away before he could start playing around with it... I will at some point... But another thing I wanted to say, and I hope Im not gonna burst anyones bubbles here... Matt was good friends and played in bands in the 70s and 80s with the cousin of Jack Douglas, the producer of John and Yokos album Double Fantasy. His name is Dave. In any case, Dave had spoken to Jack Douglas, his cousin, to listen to some of Matts demos. Jack invited them to come over his house and spend the day. This was in 1982. Matt and Dave went to Jacks house in Nyack, NY, as it was only about 2 hours away. In any case, Jack played the original, unmixed cassette from Double Fantasy for them both. When Matt told me this story, he said that Johns voice was just horrible, and that even Yoko sounded better than John! And believe me, Matt was no Yoko fan! He told me Jack had to do a lot of work to make John sound as good as he did in the final release of the album. So, Im not sure what Jack used in 1980, but there must have been some kind of way in the studio back then, to fix this... And I can confirm this whole story is true, because I had to notify Dave when Matt died via email... I had never met him... But I did ask if what Matt relayed to me was true regarding their visit to Jack Douglas in 1982. He confirmed it. So there must have been some way to do pitch correction even back in 1980.
Slowing down or speeding up tape was one of the ways of altering pitch but the whole signal would change not just part of that signal which is what pitch correction can do!
@@wingsofpegasus Thanks for explaining that Fil! I really was wondering. I so love all you teach us, and it reminds me about the things Matt would teach me also, as he taught voice and piano, played all over the NYC metro area on his own and in several bands, and did all the work to get his music perfected and on CDs. He was seriously a musical genius! I was getting back to piano and guitar, and asked him to teach me to learn how to sing much better. And in return, I was teaching him guitar. Thanks so much for all your hard work Fil, and your desire to teach others how sounds, and different things used in the music we listen to, actually get accomplished! Im like a sponge with this stuff! 🤟🤟💛💚💙
Is it possible to have some device that detects pitch corrected songs that appear on Social Media sites and can revert the song back to what it was before being pitch corrected to hear the actual, original recording? I think that would scare a lot of singers.
Great demo, as always. You’re right about one thing: you can’t stop people from messing with recordings and making them more perfect. I’d only ask that the music publishers disclose the manipulation. Tell people what they’re buying. Otherwise the artists who CAN actually sing (hit the proper pitches) are not receiving proper credit for being the real thing. Thanks. You do great work and you are a credit to the music business.
Wholly unfair to anyone who can actually sing. If I were an poor artist with a robot that could support my hand and guide it to paint a stunning painting, using my hand but via robotic AI, am ia great artist. Same idea. My hand but robotically adjusted. Anyone's hand would do. It's cheating. I'm worried about the music industry and now I'll wonder, with every new artist I hear, how much of that great sound is organic, how much was yanked into being in tune. Thanks for an amazing lesson in what's "under the boot,' in today's music. (You'd make an excellent music instructor in university, students would love your classes.)
The comparison between you as a musician doing the pitch correction and a producer doing it was very interesting. This was really fun to watch as you tried to sing badly. I guess I could say good job because you were successful. Thank you for doing this video. I especially liked your facial expressions at the end of the recording.
Even before pitch correction and auto tuning you were never sure just how good a vocalist was until you heard them sing live. In the studio multiple takes could produce a much cleaner and better performance than the artist could ever do live. So in some ways I've never thought that much about it, especially for particular types of artists. I think of this work being a simplified version of what they did in the past to clean up a vocal line for a song. What bothers me is the idea that they now will portray something that is corrected as live. I'm OK if they want to correct for an album, like I said they've been doing that for years. But I don't like the idea of them pretending something is live when it is not, or even doing correction of a live performance.
watch the video of David Crosby and Graham Nash doing "Suite: Judy Blue Eyes" - perfection! (it's here on RUclips)
also, until they went in for all the orchestral stuff and various studio-required effects, the Beatles were the perfect example of a band that was at least as good live as on vinyl
Yes and no. Many songs were invented while recording, and some parts, which only exist on tape than must "learned" by the artist first. Happened for guitar parts too: i've forgotten, which Player told something like: "...before the Tour i had to listen to the Album, to hear the Version the Crowd knew about...." I think, it was Steve Lukather
The real thing is always the best 👌
That is why i listen more to live albums of artists or i watched them ( actual, you tube ) as case maybe for their real voices.
In the case of simon and garfunkel, i do not mind them so much because it was records executives who corrected them AND THEY SING LOVELY during concerts
Fil, thank you for using your voice and for taking the time to explain how the process of pitch correction works. You did a great job and it's unfortunate that this is what is going on now in the music industry.
This was a very funny, thought provoking analysis. Singing off pitch purposely can be hard to do if you're a trained singer, but is usually good a laugh. Your purposely off pitch singing reminded of the Florence Foster Jenkins movie. I think using this technology to profit as a singer speaks to that artist's integrity. Thank you for making this video, Fil! I'm thinking of using the uncorrected version as my new ringtone! 🤣🖤🤘
Very specifically, your ringtone has to be that last note. As if the rest wasn't bad enough, that last note had me in tears. 🤣
@@Terri_MacKay I know right, I keep going back to the video starting at 22:39 to hear it again and again 🤣 It's so bad it's good! (intentionally)
@@julzy3 I kept going back to that bit too where he's making fun of himself having the nerve to give the thumbs up after that performance. And then his reaction at 23:20 at the end of the bad version, "Okay guys, we've nailed it in one...that's lunch," just did me in.
I've got the video paused at that spot right now, and I just can't with that goofy look on his face as he's giving the thumbs up. 🤣🤣🤣
I know he made the video to highlight a serious issue within the music industry, but I don't ever remember laughing this hard at one of his videos.
@@Terri_MacKay Right! That's lunch!🤣 He should make a fictional Fil-toon reenactment of this video (where Fil is the producer so he can say that's lunch!!) Talk about a guff fest!
@@julzy3 This would be perfect for a Fil-toon...and all the characters would be Fil. 🤣🤣
You're awesome FIL. That interesting, informative and fun!
Thanks Fil! Amazing! You really made this understandable and clearer. Great video
Dear Fil: I appreciate your courage to "intentionally sing the wrong notes" (and I am still chuckling)! This absolutely confirms your perspective on pitch correction for someone like me that is not a musician. I am so glad that my musical heroes of the past were "legitimate"! However, I recall the controversies associated with "non-credited" musicians performing the recorded "back-ups" for so many artists and we just didn't know. The documentary on the "Wrecking Crew" made that point so well and gave appropriate credit to a wonderful group of studio musicians. Thank you and I would love to hear your "unaltered voice" covering this amazing song!!
Stunning, and it caused me to think it over for a while, and here’s my conclusion: Why not invent a labeling system similar to the regulations for the food industry: any of the ingredients have to be indicated - the real stuff (fruit, vegetables, meat, salt, pepper, herbs) and all synthetic additives with only a technical purpose, such as preservatives, emulsifiers, acidity regulators, antioxidants. In accordance to that, any music product would carry a label with all voices and instruments used, and in addition to that with all the studio gadgets like autotune and pitch control. And for those who use neither of that, we could invent a special „Organic Music“-label. Wouldn’t that be fine? I consider this to be a thousand times more useful than any idiotic parental advisory sticker.
Hello , Fil..! These démonstrations are instructives ..and funny.! I love your voice ,Fil.!same out of the tune..!!! Sweet kisses ,good night for you.!👑🌹🎸
Hi Fil - thank you for this video!