bleh, who cares as long as we get to see her belly button, her rack and her ass...HAHAHAH

It seems as if everything coming out of Nashville these days is auto tuned. I don't much care for it. Take for example "Diamond Rio's "What a Beautiful Mess", the auto tuning is so obvious that it distracts from how good a song it is, at least for me. I can't watch the CMT without my auto tune radar on anymore. Pro Tools is really starting to bug me..On another note, did Mutt Lange record this one? I thought they split up. I saw / heard the video on CMT yesterday and it seemed to me to have a different production sound that her previous releases. Every time I see one of her videos I think of all that cash that is pouring into L. Ron Hubbard's pocket..... Fats

The press reports that she and Mutt co-wrote the songs, he [produced and they have a recording studio in their Swiss chalet. I haven't seen any exact credits, however, as to where it was actually recorded.

I like auto tune as an effect (Cher) but prefer real singing.

Just as we have a "Dolphin-Safe" sticker on a tuna can, maybe we need an "Auto-Tune-Safe" sticker on a CD.

Just as we have a "Dolphin-Safe" sticker on a tuna can, maybe we need an "Auto-Tune-Safe" sticker on a CD.

Ah ha ha ha ha . I Love it! Mrs. Fats loves it too! What a great idea...sort of like the warning label on the side of a pack of cigarettes...Warning, prolonged listening may skew your ability to discern any level of talent
......Fats & Mrs. Fats.

That said, making a pop single today has little to do with the performer's talent. Let me explain.

If I was recording a symphony orchestra for a classical session, I would attempt to capture EXACTLY what the group was playing, along with the acoustical effects of the room or auditorium. I want to bring the listener an exact copy of the performance. If the music is bad, it's not my fault.

With a pop single, I want to create sounds that do not exist in real life. I want to double, triple and whatever track vocals, auto-tune to distraction and edit each and every transient to exactly the perfect meter. I want to create not a photograph but an artistic impression of the song. Surrealist or impressionist, I don't care as long as it's good.

I am a terrible singer, a moderately bad keyboard player and a lousy drummer. But I am a good editor and I could raise my poor musical talents several magnitudes higher.

That said, if we take a good and stylist singer like Shania, we can make her magical. The production on her new single is exceptional. Her last album sold 20 million. I bet this one will too.

And that's the goal.

The producers are on a POWER TRIP with this one. "Talent sucks but I'm so hot I can make it sound good." The reason the record companies love this is; it gets them out from behind the 8 ball when negotiating with talent. It works for people who are too young to remember what talent sounded like. Yes it sells 20 million and that too is a problem...bean counters running the record companies instead of guys with soul like Jerry Wexler and Tom Dowde. Why do you think everyone still raves about the Beatles? I think that all the studio tricks are cool but they shouldn't be a replacement for talent. Last thing, it doesn't fool me. It might fool the person who hasn't got a clue what they're listening to but I can hear auto tuning. It's plastic, it's fake and it sucks (unless it's used as an effect). The radio in my car is welded to the classic rock station. Fats

I find myself listening to a lot of unprocessed stuff as well:
the new Sun Records 50th anniv 2 CD set
Charlie Parker live at the Royal Roost
Earl Scruggs from 1959-61 live
Brian Wilson's new Beach Boys compilation
new Stones SACD reissues
Simon & Garfunkle new '66 live Carnagie Hall
Sam Bush
Leon Russell's first solo album

It all sounds natural & relaxed

Originally posted by Cedar Flat Fats:
I think that all the studio tricks are cool but they shouldn't be a replacement for talent.

yup :tu:

I like auto tune as an effect (Cher) but prefer real singing.

FTR, the 'Cher' effect was done with a Korg vocoder foot pedal, and a lot of hand editing.

Yes, it sounds just like the autotune plugin though.

I read somewhere, the producers of the song said that it was auto tune, not the Korg. Evidently they told a reporter that to see if he "Believed" them just to rattle his chain.....Fats