Caws Radio

correct me if I'm wrong...

I don't update this thing regularly anymore, although I do update my Myspace blog with "weekly inspiration" posts which are similar to what I was doing here, so if you are still interested in what I am interested in, check those out. In the meantime a few people have asked me to update this thing, so today I'll talk about pitch correction.

What is pitch correction? Wikipedia says it is "the process of correcting the intonation of an audio signal without affecting other aspects of its sound." That does a good job of explaining the specifics, although the article later makes sure to point out "It is now popularly used as a robotic effect in some styles of hip-hop music." For many, that line alone would pass as a definition. The article also mentions the origin of the effect in popular conscience; namely, Cher. I find this funny, because back when Cher released her comeback single "Believe," with it's goofy use of a pitch correction software called auto-tune, nobody thought it was cool. It seemed everyone saw it as just more evidence that Cher had lost her touch. Relying on a production technique to hit those notes? Pretty sad. But jump ahead to today and according to the state of hip hop, the world's barometer of everything trendy/gratuitous, pitch correction is the coolest effect to hit the music scene since Elvis's slap-back echo.



Of course, many in tune with hip hop will associate the effect with one man: T-Pain. In short, T-Pain gained popularity as the guy who 'sings' the heavily pitch-corrected hooks and choruses on a whole slew of terrible rap songs. Why he has a career is still a mystery; when vocals are corrected to this level, virtually anyone could attempt to sing the words and produce the same sound. But it's his obnoxious persona and idiotic appearance that have rounded out his villain, and his presence on virtually every bonehead single that is released by a major rap artist has made him an expected trademark in an already embarrassing genre which is apparently perpetuated by the question "how dumb can we make our chorus?" (But that's another issue.)

T-Pain comes off as a failure because he is so sincere in his gimmick that his output is barely more than an ad for the product he is using. However, the auto-tune/pitch correction effect can have virtue when used within context, as an option but not a trademark. The song "Maquina de Ritmo (Rhythm Box)" on Glberto Gil's new album begins as an acoustic samba but gradually transforms into electronic bossa nova, with Gil's vocals sounding corrected and streamlined by the end of the track. Of course, by this point in the song (and at this point in his career), Gil has already proven that he can sing quite well without electronic application, something T-Pain still hasn't bothered with. Momus has been using auto-tune almost frequently on his past few albums, not so much to correct his pitch as to accentuate his electronic compositions. In the song "Nervous Heartbeat," the effect still allows a few warbles and cracks that give the robotic vocal a fragile grace.


One of the best uses of pitch correction I've heard is Pop Levi's song "Mai's Space," a catchy diddy in which any natural human voice just wouldn't sound appropriate. The song is so exact, the melody so precise and synthetic, that Levi's corrected vocals - or is it a vocoder? - fit snugly between a synth and drum machine. Sadly, whatever technology Levi is using, he knows that people's attentions are more focused on those using it poorly: his tags for the YouTube video of "Mai's Space" include Flo Rida and T-Pain.