Auto-tune
Auto-Tune running on GarageBand
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| Original author(s) | Andy Hildebrand (as an Exxon employee) |
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| Developer(s) | Antares Audio Technologies, Andy Hildebrand (Exxon) |
| Initial release | Spring 1997 |
| Stable release |
8
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| Operating system | Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X, Linux |
| Type | Pitch correction |
| License | Proprietary |
| Website | www |
Auto-Tune is an audio processor created by Antares Audio Technologies which uses a proprietary device to measure and alter pitch in vocal and instrumental music recording and performances. It was originally intended to disguise or correct off-key inaccuracies, allowing vocal tracks to be perfectly tuned despite originally being slightly off-key.
The processor slightly shifts pitches to the nearest true semitone (to the exact pitch of the nearest tone in traditional equal temperament). Auto-Tune can also be used as an effect to distort the human voice when pitch is raised or lowered significantly, such that the voice is heard to leap from note to note stepwise, like a synthesizer.
Auto-Tune is available as a plug-in for professional audio multi-tracking suites used in a studio setting and as a stand-alone, rack-mounted unit for live performance processing. Auto-Tune has become standard equipment in professional recording studios. Instruments like the Peavey AT-200 guitar are seamlessly using the Auto Tune technology for real time pitch correction.
Auto-Tune was initially created by Andy Hildebrand, an engineer working for Exxon. Hildebrand developed methods for interpreting seismic data and subsequently realized that the technology could be used to detect, analyze, and modify the pitch in audio files.
The earliest commercial use of Auto-Tune as a vocal effect in a popular song was Kid Rock's "Only God Knows Why" in 1998 and later on in Cher's "Believe" and Daft Punk's "One More Time". The effect is not to be confused with a vocoder or the talk box, devices referenced by producers of these songs when they were new to hide their use of Auto-Tune from music audiences. For example, in an early interview, the producers of "Believe" claimed they had used a DigiTech Talker FX pedal, in what Sound on Sound’s editors felt was an attempt to preserve a trade secret. After the success of "Believe" the technique became known as the "Cher Effect". Originally, Auto-Tune was designed to discreetly correct imprecise intonations, but Cher's producers used it to "exaggerate the artificiality of abrupt pitch correction." This technique soon became a widespread technique used in live performances and in pop recordings throughout the first ten years of the 21st century.
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Wikipedia