Audio effect

[ConverterCrazy]

Hello,

I have this audio file. The voice of singer has a 'twist' to it that makes it sound strange.

What effect gives the voice that eerie character?

What tool does it?

Thanks.

[abolibibelot]

That Horror is called Autotune, and is what makes 95% of contemporary pop “music” instantly sound like liquid crap... (I stopped listening to your sample after about 1.5 seconds !)
As you can read on the Wikipedia article, it was a new thing just 20 years ago when Cher released “Believe”, which was a major hit. The effect must have been deemed “eery” then, since it eventually got used and overused by thousands other talentless acts (I mean, at least Cher had some talent to begin with, she tried something new at a late stage of her career); some talented acts also used it sparingly, with a specific purpose and no shortage of irony (Radiohead on Amnesiac for instance). Interestingly, the inventor is an engineer who used to work in the petroleum industry, and conceived this as a hobby project, following a friend's remark, asking if he could come up with something to help her sing in tune. Although he's supportive of its use for mere pitch correction (making a weird comparison with his wife's make-up ), he claims that he never would have thought anyone in their right mind would use it with such extreme settings.

[JVRaines]

That Horror is called Autotune…

I agree that autotune is a horror, but in my opinion, the circumstances are precisely the opposite. Both Cher and the singer in the instant case are using it as an ornament — and let's please recall that Indian popular song is loaded with melisma and ornaments. That is art, whether you care for it or not. On the contrary, when autotune is used to give a singer perfect pitch, it robs the performance of the human element and turns it into something mechanical and synthetic, merely posing as human. And if you have good ears and musical sense, it is jarring to hear a vocal in equal temperament, like a keyboard, which is a rookie mistake often made with autotune.

[ConverterCrazy]

Thanks @abolibibelot and @JVRaines.

I learnt a great deal about this effect – more than I had asked for – the knowledge.

As @JVRaines pointed out, it is used as 'ornament' by most Indian singers who cater to non-urban populace.

Thanks to www.videohelp.com for providing such a useful forum.

[pandy]

Interestingly, the inventor is an engineer who used to work in the petroleum industry, and conceived this as a hobby project, following a friend's remark, asking if he could come up with something to help her sing in tune. Although he's supportive of its use for mere pitch correction (making a weird comparison with his wife's make-up ), he claims that he never would have thought anyone in their right mind would use it with such extreme settings.

It is quite important to mention that being geophysicist working for petroleum industry means that this guy live very well from fancy DSP as very advanced DSP is used massively by petroleum (and in general by natural resources exploration) companies. Beside military and medical diagnostic (imaging) petroleum industry is the most advanced user of DSP in commercial way. One of earliest users of supercomputers was in fact petroleum industry. And being hobbyist musician at the same time is probably best recommendation - guy had knowledge and passion. This was my two cents as at first this combination (geophysicist and musician) may look strange...

[Hoser Rob]

IMO what is often said to be Autotune is actually more like a ring modulator efffect. Those have been around for over 40 years. They often use autotune as well but don't want to discuss the fact that the vocalist cannot sing on key, which is what Autotune is actually for.

[ConverterCrazy]

Autotune is a paid software.

[Cornucopia]

IMO what is often said to be Autotune is actually more like a ring modulator efffect. Those have been around for over 40 years. They often use autotune as well but don't want to discuss the fact that the vocalist cannot sing on key, which is what Autotune is actually for.

Autotune does NOTHING like what a Ring Mod does.
Ring Mod (more rightly "balanced modulator") combines signals 1 & 2 such that the output is Freq (1+2) and Freq (1-2). It has a recognizable "ringing" or discordant effect, sometimes described as "cymbal-like" or "bell-like".
Autotune is more like a tracking filter that tracks the incoming frequency that has a Q based on a threshold value - if the threshold is just that note/freq. only, it will have an rediculously high Q and in effect will output only a single tone (which most often is preset to be only valid on 12-tone even temperament notes).

Scott

[ConverterCrazy]

Aha!

So, the Ring Mod gives that machine effect!

Thanks.

[Cornucopia]

No. As has already been stated, that is Autotune on your example clip.

Here's the wiki link for Ring Mod (look at examples in music section). https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ring_modulation

Scott

[ConverterCrazy]

Thanks @Cornucopia.

I misunderstood and took Ring Mod plug-in as a (free) substitute for Autotune (paid).