Michael never used auto tune, right?

Sarah_MJ

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Hi friends,

I just watched a video about the auto tune effect and immediately came to the conclusion, Michael never used that because he didn't need it. Still I would like to ask around whether anyone knows a part in a song or something where Michael used that effect?

Thanks everyone!
 
Hi friends,

I just watched a video about the auto tune effect and immediately came to the conclusion, Michael never used that because he didn't need it. Still I would like to ask around whether anyone knows a part in a song or something where Michael used that effect?

Thanks everyone!

I'm not really sure, but i think that the lasts seconds in "Is It Scary" are autotuned. If not, there's obviously a vocal effect, because it does sound kinda robotic.
 
I'm not really sure, but i think that the lasts seconds in "Is It Scary" are autotuned. If not, there's obviously a vocal effect, because it does sound kinda robotic.

You mean the part "Is it scary for you baby, ooh" or the last seconds where he just sings "uuuhmeeee"? I agree the latter sounds a bit electronic. Could be auto tune, I'm not sure.
 
I don't think he used autotune, but the end products that his songs were would've obviously been smoothed out etc. What you hear can't be 100% his raw voice, but it basically is.
 
I meant the part just before it goes to the piano outro (is it scary for you, i know the evil one is you part), his voice sounds very edited. Hope someone could tell what it could be..
 
there has been a few altered vocal sections throughout the years but what program they use is hard to say.. Generally though, you hear HIM!
 
If he did the difference between MJ and other people that use autotune is that MJ used it to give his voice some kind of cool effect whereas other people currently use it cover up a horrible voice.
 
I think Shout and privacy both used it to a degree. Probably some other small parts of songs as well.
 
what has been documented, Michael never used autotunes.. What we've heard is that Michael wanted to use Autotune in (06-08) and it did not work the way he hoped so scratched the idea...

For that being said, I'd say it's safe that specifically autotuned MJ we have not heard.. most likely! If he did not even know how it would turn out when he tried it.
 
vocoder / talkbox

If he did, it would be on the Invincible album since Autotune was invented in the mid-1990s. There's a few songs by The Jacksons that has a vocoder or a talkbox on them (ig. Different Kind Of Lady, Wondering Who). Vocoders & talkboxes are instruments that have to be played while a person is singing into them. Technically, a person doesn't actually vocalize into a talkbox though. You can easily see someone using a talkbox because they have a tube in their mouth. Acts like Zapp, Midnight Star, Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, Stevie Wonder, and Kraftwerk are known for using one or the other. Autotune is software that can change a pre-recorded voice, there's nothing to play.
 
I have heard Mikes vocal pattern changed.. ie - shortened and added in vibrato in little snippet portions of a song or two (One More Chance and Rock My World).. but that is not really what autotune is used for.. of course we know 2000 watts and threatened was digitally played with...
 
Re: vocoder / talkbox

If he did, it would be on the Invincible album since Autotune was invented in the mid-1990s. There's a few songs by The Jacksons that has a vocoder or a talkbox on them (ig. Different Kind Of Lady, Wondering Who). Vocoders & talkboxes are instruments that have to be played while a person is singing into them. Technically, a person doesn't actually vocalize into a talkbox though. You can easily see someone using a talkbox because they have a tube in their mouth. Acts like Zapp, Midnight Star, Joe Walsh, Peter Frampton, Stevie Wonder, and Kraftwerk are known for using one or the other. Autotune is software that can change a pre-recorded voice, there's nothing to play.
I go back to when Peter Frampton became famous for using that. And of course, Stevie seemed to love it. I actually always thought The talkbox and auto-tune were the same-they just realized it could alter their voices to sound in tune. Thanks for the lesson.

What did Cher use in "Believe"?
 
Re: vocoder / talkbox

What did Cher use in "Believe"?
That's autotune. Believe is considered to be the song to popularize it to the general public. I really first heard it a lot on Shackles by Mary Mary. But that song came out 2 years after Believe. I heard Cher's song first, but I didn't hear it that much because I didn't listen to stations that played it. The station that played Shackles was one that was on at a place I worked at the time and they played it a lot. Autotune isn't always used to do that T-Pain sound though. It can be used to fix someone singing a bad note or out of key and you might not notice it.
 
Re: vocoder / talkbox

I actually always thought The talkbox and auto-tune were the same-they just realized it could alter their voices to sound in tune.
A person can tell the difference if they've heard them a lot. Talkbox & vocoder has been used a lot in 1970s funk & disco and 1980s electrofunk and dance music. Here's some examples:

vocoder

talkbox (the sound is not monotone like a vocoder, less robotic)

autotune (sounds closer to their real voices than a robot)

There's also an early voice effect called Sonovox
 
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Wasn't there a note by MJ where he wrote "No Melodyne"? Melodyne is software used for pitch correction and it was invented in 2000.

So like DuranDuran said I think things like autotune or Melodyne could have only possibly been used on Invincible if it was ever used (well, not counting the posthumus manipulations with his music).

I also think it is different when a singer uses it for vocal effects (eg. Cher - Believe) than when they use it because they cannot sing to save their lives. Which was unfortunately its use a lot of times in the 2000s and why autotune got a bad rep. MJ obviously doesn't fall in that category.
 
Auto tune or melodyne should get a bad rap. Singers should be able to sing.
Using the talk box or auto tune as novelty special effects is different.
I will admit I got tired of the talk box after awhile-it should be used sparingly. They played that Peter Frampton song 24 hours a day on the radio when I was a kid. Ha.

I think it's why I kinda dislike electronic music today.
 
Roger

I will admit I got tired of the talk box after awhile-it should be used sparingly. They played that Peter Frampton song 24 hours a day on the radio when I was a kid. Ha.
So they didn't play Zapp where you live? Roger Troutman is the person who really popularized the talkbox. It's what's he's known for.
zleqsn.jpg
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Michael loved Zapp.

zapp-note.jpg


I don't know where I read it that he loved to dance to More Bounce to the Ounce.

 
I meant the part just before it goes to the piano outro (is it scary for you, i know the evil one is you part), his voice sounds very edited. Hope someone could tell what it could be..
Umm..."is it scary for you I'm tired of being abused,ya know ya scaring me to, i see the evil is true" just had to correct u :) & i think that in the "is it scary for ya baby whoooo" part maybe he had a bubble in his throat.happens to me all the time
 
Sometimes auto-tune is used not necceserily to "save" a performance but for artistic reasons. Kanye West's singing is extremely average, definitely nothing to write home about (as you can hear on FourFiveSeconds with Rihanna and Paul McCartney). However, he used auto-tune heavily on the first album after his mother's death to provoke a cold, sterile and robotic feeling to help support the themes of alienation and loss etc throughout the album.

Michael did use some audio effects on his vocals no doubt, but of course it was never to "save" his vocals. He used it more so for artistic effect.
 
Thank you for creating this thread. "You Rock My World" makes me wonder. The part towards the end of the song, where he says something that kinda sounds like "Hai-air ! Hai-air !" (before going "Hoo !"). It's one of my favorite parts, but I've always wondered if his voice was "helped" somehow. My opinion changes from time to time, I'm not sure.
 
Thank you for creating this thread. "You Rock My World" makes me wonder. The part towards the end of the song, where he says something that kinda sounds like "Hai-air ! Hai-air !" (before going "Hoo !"). It's one of my favorite parts, but I've always wondered if his voice was "helped" somehow. My opinion changes from time to time, I'm not sure.

You rock my world has melodyne on it definitely. You can tell on the acapella. I wouldn't say Michael needed it, it's on one more chance as well. He was just experimenting with it most likely. Or it was added by producers to create a certain effect. I don't think melodyne is always bad, as others have said it can be used for artistic reasons. As someone else in this thread says you're never hearing an artist's raw vocals in a song. There's always compression or eq-ing of some sort done to get them to sound a certain way, warmer, smoother in the mix, cleaner etc.
 
Roger Troutman

Michael loved Zapp.
I read somewhere that Roger worked on the original version of Smooth Criminal. It might have been at Gearslutz or Steve Hoffman, don't remember exactly. Roger is mentioned on the Bad album 'thank you' list. I've always thought the guitar riff on Superfly Sister was Roger like.
 
In Invincible album Autotune (Or some sort of corrector with vibrato!) was put on on some songs, slight or more. Notice that Autotune isn't always so powerful sounding, it can be just correcting the notes very slightly. Like "Break Of Dawn" and "Butterflies" has an effected kind of sound. The Autotune in "Speechless" and "The Lost Children" and the rest of the songs is pretty slight. And for example the song "One More Change" has a powerful Autotune effect in it. You can hear it very well on the second verse of the song. The posthumous material is all autotuned. (because of nowadays music and producers)
 
Re: Roger

So they didn't play Zapp where you live? Roger Troutman is the person who really popularized the talkbox. It's what's he's known for.
zleqsn.jpg
21bpxeo.jpg

They probably did-I do remember "Dance Floor." Even though "Disco Sucks" theoretically closed down discos, they actually still existed and we did plenty of dancing all thru the 80's. I just automatically think of Frampton and Stevie Wonder since I was a kid and that's the first time I heard it.

While I was watching your vids on YouTube, I noticed this-and didn't realize all of this went way back even before my time.



Oh, by the way, thank you for posting the Video Soul show-I have loved watching these on YouTube. I missed so much by not having cable until 95. By then, most music programs were long gone.
 
People don't use autotune really, it's mostly melodyne or some other effect. A lot of songs on Invincible do have slight melodyne processing on the vocals.
 
I thin he used melodyne/antares or some form of pitch correction on You Rock My World for stylistic eff ct


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I would not know why Michael would pretty much see if he'd like autotunes in 2008 IF he already had experience with it... He'd already know what it could do.
 
dance music

Even though "Disco Sucks" theoretically closed down discos, they actually still existed and we did plenty of dancing all thru the 80's.
Technically, disco was renamed "dance music" and "house music" in the 1980s. House was closer in sound to some disco songs, than the generic title "dance music". The 1980s is when the popularity of remixes and maxi singles picked up, more so than in the actual disco era. Most early rap songs were only released on maxi singles, not on 45s, as the songs were usually too long for a 45 single. Rappers Delight was 15 minutes long and other rap songs were on average 7 to 10 minutes. In the very early 1980s, there was less R&B and dancable music on Top 40 radio after 'disco sucks'. R&B was disco by default. It was the era of country crossover (.ig Urban Cowboy, The Dukes Of Hazzard, Oak Ridge Boys, Eddie Rabbitt, Dolly Parton) light rock (Air Supply, Christopher Cross, Billy Joel) and arena rock (Styx, Journey, Supertramp, Loverboy).
 
The most known song using Talkbox in mainstream is probably:

California Love (featuring Roger Troutman)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wBTdfAkqGU




Some of Michaels early 80s songs like P.Y.T., Say Say Say or Somebody's Watching Me include little bits of vocoder. Love those.
"Behind the Mask" also includes Vocoder (leftover from the Yellow Magic Orchestra original song).

Vocoders can sound very different, it always depends on which sound is used as carrier and what Vocoder machine is used.
The old analog ones from the 70s like Roland SVC-350 or the EMS Vocoder 2000 are some of the best.
 
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