1.7K views Jul 2009
A reporter sings off-key as Auto-Tune inventors explain pitch correction, demonstrate its robotic effect, and tune his song into a smoother performance.
0:07 Our love was like a supernova. 0:13 Yeah, I sing. 0:14 In the nebula of my soul. 0:18 Okay, I'm not great. 0:20 But now I find her heart 0:25 is like a big 0:29 black 0:32 hole. 0:36 All right, I'm terrible. But here's what I'm wondering. If digitally you can remove red eye, smooth over wrinkles, make people look thinner, then why don't we have the technology to make me sing better? 0:54 We can fix Neil. 0:56 This guy invented a way to do it. 0:58 We can fix Neil's pitch. He's still gonna sound like Neil, though. 1:04 Electrical engineer and inventor Andy Hildebrand designs pitch correction software. 1:10 He calls it AutoTune. 1:12 Pitch correction, is that a euphemism for fixing bad singers? 1:16 Yes, we fix bad singers. 1:19 I visited Andy at Antares Audio Technologies in Scotts Valley, California, where he and engineer Justin Malo 1:26 Hey, Neil. 1:27 showed me how it works. 1:33 Great, there you go. You did that. 1:37 That wavy line represents the exact frequency of my voice. This line shows where a perfect A should be. 1:44 So not too bad. 1:46 He's right dead nuts on in tune. Look at that. 1:49 So how does a computer know that? 1:51 When you hear A, you're hearing 440 vibrations per second. 1:56 So somebody at the beginning of time said 440 vibrations per second is an A. 2:02 A. 2:02 Okay. 2:03 A. 2:04 So if you sing or play a pitch at 440 cycles per second, the computer calls it an A, and it rests on this line. 2:11 B flat would go on the line above it, G sharp below, and so on. 2:21 When you're out of tune, the notes don't fall so neatly on the lines of the grid. 2:26 That's awful. 2:31 Well, it's creative. It's creative, okay? 2:34 Supernova. 2:36 Those lines are me singing the word super. 2:40 Supernova. 2:41 My pitch is all over the place. If anything, it's closest to this note here. 2:46 Neil, you 2:46 Yeah. 2:47 you sang an F, which normally is okay if you're in the key of F, and we're not, so we moved your F to an E. 2:55 Supernova. 2:57 So Justin gently nudges it down to where an E would be. 3:01 Supernova. 3:04 You're changing the frequency of the sound that came out of my vocal cords. 3:08 Actually, yes. 3:10 Christmas, Christmas. 3:14 Changing pitch isn't new. You can change someone's voice by fast forwarding on a tape recorder, but you sound like, 3:22 well, a chipmunk. 3:25 Pitch correction software lets you change the pitch while keeping the essential tone of a voice the same. 3:32 And so, although few engineers are willing to admit it, pitch correction software like Auto-Tune has become an indispensable tool in most recording studios. 3:42 It's been used by a lot of people. Madonna. 3:48 Céline Dion. 3:54 Reba McEntire uses it live? 3:57 Starting over again. 4:01 You're telling me a singer can sing into a microphone, a bad note, and out the speakers comes a good note? 4:07 Yes. 4:08 Now that's, that's evil. 4:09 To mod- to modify something isn't necessarily evil. My wife wears makeup. 4:16 Is that evil? Is that okay, honey? 4:20 Evil or not, the recording industry kept Auto-Tune on the down low. 4:25 The secret popped out of the bag when Cher did Believe. 4:31 I couldn't believe it. 4:35 Rather than gradually and naturally reaching up to each note, 4:40 like this, 4:43 Cher's producer forced Auto-Tune to jump suddenly from one pitch to the next. 4:52 This is some knob that you turn. 4:53 Yes. 4:53 All right. 4:54 And we can turn this knob to zero, which means move instantaneously to the new pitch. 5:00 And so if we do that, your voice would sound like this. 5:04 But now I find her heart. 5:09 Did you plan for people to use it that way? 5:11 No. 5:12 Okay. 5:12 I didn't, I didn't think anybody in their right mind would ever use it that way. 5:16 Well, a lot of artists do. 5:25 And love. 5:26 She might be with him, but she's thinking about me, me, me. 5:32 But it's mostly used to tweak out of tune performances, a kind of cosmetic surgery. 5:39 In my case, though, more like triple bypass. 5:43 Try to change this to the key of C. 5:45 Moving the traces of my voice up in pitch or down. 5:49 Supernova. 5:51 Justin coaxes me into tune. 5:52 Supernova. 5:54 Of my 5:54 It took several hours. 5:56 Of my soul. 5:59 How well did it work? You be the judge. 6:03 Our love was like a supernova. 6:10 In the nebula of my soul. 6:17 But now I find her heart 6:23 is like a big 6:27 black 6:29 hole. 6:35 It's a lot more pleasing. 6:37 I thought the first one sounded pretty good myself. I don't know. 6:41 Kidding aside, there's no substitute for training or talent. 6:45 If the singer doesn't have a good tonality to their voice, we're not going to make that better. 6:52 Do us a favor, don't go on American Idol. 
3:26
5:28
2:56
1:44
4:12
5:23
3:33
1:50
3:50
1:10
3:08
2:43