Autotune, Invented By Andy Hildebrand

Introduction

Music has always been one of the most popular art forms, but until recently it was made without the use of autotune and computerized beats. Before technological advances were made to where autotune was possible, music was made by recording instruments and vocals for hours until getting the best take possible. Although autotune has made the recording process easier for artists, it is important to question whether the invention has actually improved the quality of the music.

How autotune is used

In 1996, autotune was invented by Andy Hildebrand. Autotune uses pitch correction to fix singers voices to make sure they are in key with the song. Autotune acts as a way to improve a singer's vocal performance, it can take a good performance and turn it into a flawless one. The level at which autotune is used varies, “There have been some albums I've worked on where virtually none's been used, and there have been some where pretty much every note has been checked and adjusted” (Holmes & Core, “Pitch

For example, heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold have been able to write and record their newest album without the use of autotune or computerized beats,“There's no drum samples on there, there's no vocal tuning, there's none of that stuff” (Epstein, “Avenged Sevenfold Talk Wild New AI-Themed LP”, rollingstone.com, 2016). Despite the vocals not being altered whatsoever, the album still managed to debut at number 4 on the Billboard 200, which is considered to be a huge achievement for many bands in the metal genre. Unfortunately, many artists are not able to achieve the same level of success while writing their own material and refusing to use autotune. For example, Taylor Dayne refused to let people write material for her and her album sales plummeted (Rich, “Hit Charade”, theatlantic.com,