PBS Auto-Tune documentary

[Céline's Blues]

Céline uses it (live and studio), too which is no surprise.

 

 

 

 

They mention her in the first half showing the vid to OH.

 

 

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6bCdZmSE7M

[Thomas]

I've never really understood how it could be used live. How does it know what note you're supposed to be singing? What about someone like Celine who changes her songs a lot and does vocal runs/melisma's? The software couldn't know what note she was going for so how could it correct it? Someone with the technical know-how please explain!

[samart]

But they didn't say she used it live, did they? 'Cause sometimes she goes flat (well, duh, even opera singers do), and you can hear that it's flat (including Taking Chances tour).

And there is an obvious difference between the AND concert itself(which is autotuned - poorly, should I say) and the backstage footage, where we can hear her without autotune(the high notes in "I surrender", for instance).

[Claudette]

I don't think you can use it like right there on the spot during a live performance... If they use it, it is obviously afterwards when they do the editing. And when they say she uses in the recording studio, don't they mean to make that funny voices like in OH and CFTF for instance...

[Céline's Blues]

They do use it live on her. She stated it even once herself in 1997... During the FIY tour she used it for correcting the long All By Myself note. She explained she just had to hit ANY not and the sound engeneer would bring it to the right pitch.

 

We're speaking here about Auto-tune as industry's secret that was well guarded for MANY years. Now you can go buy a piece of software for about $1K and do it yourself at your own home. HEnce the big interest.

[CDI]

I'd say its definitly used live, listen to her A New Day dvd, her voice sounds digitally pitched in some songs, I've always thought that but only from Vegas onwards... not before!

[Joe]

When the Miracle album came out, I remember reading somewhere that they had to correct some notes or parts digitally because Céline didn't do them quite the way the producers would have wanted. I think the particular song they referred to was either Come to Me or Baby Close Your Eyes.

[Claudette]

They do use it live on her. She stated it even once herself in 1997... During the FIY tour she used it for correcting the long All By Myself note. She explained she just had to hit ANY not and the sound engeneer would bring it to the right pitch.

 

It does not make sense... Why did she lip the big note then during the TC tour. If that was the case then they would have done the same thing during the TC tour. When you watch footage from the tour on YouTube there are times when she does make mistakes (like someone mentioned). I still say they do it afterwards when they edit the footage for the DVDs. And I hate it. When are they gonna realize people want raw. Nobody is perfect so we don't want perfect...

 

I said this before and I'm gonna say it again: Don't believe everything you see and hear on the internet. These days you see and hear a lot of CRAP on the internet. Sometimes things just don't add up... so I don't know...

Edited July 5, 2009 at 01:08 PM by Claudette

[MTJ]

I don't see any reason why they couldn't use it live. I mean, they guy who invented it says people can use it live, so I'm sure they do! I would think there's software that has premarked timing and frequencies or something like that. After watching that clip I can see that they don't flatten the entire frequency to make it perfect, they just move it up or down according to whatever spot they think needs to be changed. And Claudette, if we can't believe NOVA, what can we believe?

[Claudette]

I'm not saying that it is not possible. I just meant that there is absolutely no proof that Celine uses it live. That video said she (and Madonna) uses it in the studio, while it specifically says that that other woman (whatever her name is) uses it live. I think they mean that singers use it for special effects like in ''One Heart'' and ''Believe''. Actually, it is used a lot in dance music.

[calmar]

Some people really don't have a clue what they're talking about here. Celine used pitch correction live for the FIY tour on the All By Myself big note ?? So can you explain me why, on pretty much ANY videos or recordings of this song live from the FIY tour, the note is never perfectly on pitch ? She's always flat or sharp a bit, but rarely on the exact pitch until the music starts again.

 

I'm a professional musician and sound technician, and I can pretty much assure you that Celine doesn't use auto-tune live. Don't get me wrong, Celine is an extraordinary singer, but anybody who's got perfect pitch will be able to tell you that she isn't always perfectly on-pitch live. Sometimes it's very subtle, but enough to tell that the note isn't right. That's something that would never happen if she was using on-the-fly pitch correction in live situation. And please don't tell me "Ohh noes you're SOOO wrong Celine never sings a bad note she's the best singer evaaaa !!!1! " As amazing as she can be as a singer, yes, she sometimes sings off-pitch notes, like ANY singer out there.

 

The way auto-tuning works in a live setting, is that the software will take the note you're singing, and bring it to the closest relative pitch, so you still have to somewhat be able to sing. For example, if you have to sing a note, say B, and you sing a B that is a little sharp of flat, it will bring the note the the absolute, on-pitch B. But if you're too far off the B note, the auto-tune will bring the note to the closest relative pitch, which could be A# or C, so it won't sound right. That's why you still have to be a decent singer to be able to use auto-tune live.

 

Of course, Celine sometimes uses auto-tune for her live releases or studio albums, but the voice is altered after the recording of the performance. That's why, in the Live In Las Vegas DVD, there are places you can clearly hear auto-tuning has been used, but when you listen to the behind-the-scenes footage, it doesn't sound auto-tuned. They only modified the audio track of the official performance.

 

I think some of the most obvious occurences in the AND DVD are :

IACBTMN : There were things I'd never do aGAIN but then... (You can hear the Cher's Believe effect here on the word "again")

I Surrender : The vibrato has been flatten on most of the high notes.

MHWGO : We'll stay forEVER THIS WAY... (here the notes sounds very computerized, and you can see the difference when listening to the Live in Vegas 2004 live album, where she still uses the same playback, but not auto-tuned this time)

 

So yeah, as Claudette mentionned, when Celine uses auto-tune, it's mostly for post-editing of the recorded performance, not live. I'm not saying she never used it live, but she doesn't use it on a regular basis for sure.

[Selina286]

Some people really don't have a clue what they're talking about here. Celine used pitch correction live for the FIY tour on the All By Myself big note ?? So can you explain me why, on pretty much ANY videos or recordings of this song live from the FIY tour, the note is never perfectly on pitch ? She's always flat or sharp a bit, but rarely on the exact pitch until the music starts again.

 

I'm a professional musician and sound technician, and I can pretty much assure you that Celine doesn't use auto-tune live. Don't get me wrong, Celine is an extraordinary singer, but anybody who's got perfect pitch will be able to tell you that she isn't always perfectly on-pitch live. Sometimes it's very subtle, but enough to tell that the note isn't right. That's something that would never happen if she was using on-the-fly pitch correction in live situation. And please don't tell me "Ohh noes you're SOOO wrong Celine never sings a bad note she's the best singer evaaaa !!!1! " As amazing as she can be as a singer, yes, she sometimes sings off-pitch notes, like ANY singer out there.

 

The way auto-tuning works in a live setting, is that the software will take the note you're singing, and bring it to the closest relative pitch, so you still have to somewhat be able to sing. For example, if you have to sing a note, say B, and you sing a B that is a little sharp of flat, it will bring the note the the absolute, on-pitch B. But if you're too far off the B note, the auto-tune will bring the note to the closest relative pitch, which could be A# or C, so it won't sound right. That's why you still have to be a decent singer to be able to use auto-tune live.

 

Of course, Celine sometimes uses auto-tune for her live releases or studio albums, but the voice is altered after the recording of the performance. That's why, in the Live In Las Vegas DVD, there are places you can clearly hear auto-tuning has been used, but when you listen to the behind-the-scenes footage, it doesn't sound auto-tuned. They only modified the audio track of the official performance.

 

I think some of the most obvious occurences in the AND DVD are :

IACBTMN : There were things I'd never do aGAIN but then... (You can hear the Cher's Believe effect here on the word "again")

I Surrender : The vibrato has been flatten on most of the high notes.

MHWGO : We'll stay forEVER THIS WAY... (here the notes sounds very computerized, and you can see the difference when listening to the Live in Vegas 2004 live album, where she still uses the same playback, but not auto-tuned this time)

 

So yeah, as Claudette mentionned, when Celine uses auto-tune, it's mostly for post-editing of the recorded performance, not live. I'm not saying she never used it live, but she doesn't use it on a regular basis for sure.

 

Agree

[Tyler1991]

I'm kinda wondering the same thing Claudette mentioned...if you can use it live, then why bother making a playback tape that will make you sound identical 131 times. Why not just sing it poorly (but differently) and let the auto-tune make it sound the way it should.

[Claudette]

What I hate about videos like that is that people take things out of context or make their own conclusions without knowing the facts. People are now going to make this a whole drama by saying that Celine can't sing for real... blah blah... They use technology to make her sound that good ... blah blah... And this is not the truth! I don't know things like this just annoys the crap out of me...

[calmar]

I'm kinda wondering the same thing Claudette mentioned...if you can use it live, then why bother making a playback tape that will make you sound identical 131 times. Why not just sing it poorly (but differently) and let the auto-tune make it sound the way it should.

Because she would still have to sing it pretty much perfectly. If she uses playbacks, I don't think that it's because she don't want to be off-pitch or sing wrong notes. It's because it's simply too hard for the voice to sing it every nights for an extended period of time. So even if she'd use auto-tune, she would still have to sing it every nights. Remember, auto-tune is not magical, you are still pretty limited when using a software like this. It will not make anything sound good.

[Lou555]

She stated it even once herself in 1997... During the FIY tour she used it for correcting the long All By Myself note. She explained she just had to hit ANY not and the sound engeneer would bring it to the right pitch.

 

Sorry I'm positive she never talked about such a thing in her life. In fact in 1997, she said time and time again that people were now expecting that note at one point in the song, that she could hear a pin drop on stage, that she tried to give her best to please them. She never really missed it but she said that sometimes it wasn't that perfect technically, but it was done the best she could at that moment. She talks about it extensively in "Un an avec Céline" as she was asked about that. Anyway they don't say that she uses it "live", they say Reba does. And we all know the woman(Reba) can sing too so... It doesn't give talent so who cares...I don't. We're always be able to know who can sing great "live" and who isn't. At the end people know, they can not be fooled and know who CAN sing and who can't.

 

During studio recordings I was under the impression that every producer(or sound engineer) were using it with every artists these days. Didn't David Foster talked about that in his book? I've read in a book extract he said only one singer he worked with(a songwriter who is not a good singer and well-knowned for never being on pitch I don't remember which one) didn't want to use it because he said that's what people liked and expected of him, not being on pitch often.

 

Anyway I agree with you Calmar all the way! and Claudette I understand what you mean here and I hate it too. Céline being such an amazing singer always makes some people wanting to bring her down anyway they can unfortunately.

Edited July 5, 2009 at 07:23 PM by Lou555

[Terre]

Pretty interesting...

[SensationalCeline]

I think they would use it more in the studio than they would a live performance because like it was stated before, she changes ranges all the time in songs..... I absolutely have no clue though.........weird, but thanks for mentioning this.

[Nando Férri]

In studio? May be! But live??? UhauHAUAHUAH

 

No! If she uses that live, there's no need to use playback. I doubt that she uses Autotunes live.

And I'm with Camar.

Edited July 6, 2009 at 12:38 AM by Nando Férri

[alvaap24]

Some people really don't have a clue what they're talking about here. Celine used pitch correction live for the FIY tour on the All By Myself big note ?? So can you explain me why, on pretty much ANY videos or recordings of this song live from the FIY tour, the note is never perfectly on pitch ? She's always flat or sharp a bit, but rarely on the exact pitch until the music starts again.

 

I'm a professional musician and sound technician, and I can pretty much assure you that Celine doesn't use auto-tune live. Don't get me wrong, Celine is an extraordinary singer, but anybody who's got perfect pitch will be able to tell you that she isn't always perfectly on-pitch live. Sometimes it's very subtle, but enough to tell that the note isn't right. That's something that would never happen if she was using on-the-fly pitch correction in live situation. And please don't tell me "Ohh noes you're SOOO wrong Celine never sings a bad note she's the best singer evaaaa !!!1! " As amazing as she can be as a singer, yes, she sometimes sings off-pitch notes, like ANY singer out there.

 

The way auto-tuning works in a live setting, is that the software will take the note you're singing, and bring it to the closest relative pitch, so you still have to somewhat be able to sing. For example, if you have to sing a note, say B, and you sing a B that is a little sharp of flat, it will bring the note the the absolute, on-pitch B. But if you're too far off the B note, the auto-tune will bring the note to the closest relative pitch, which could be A# or C, so it won't sound right. That's why you still have to be a decent singer to be able to use auto-tune live.

 

Of course, Celine sometimes uses auto-tune for her live releases or studio albums, but the voice is altered after the recording of the performance. That's why, in the Live In Las Vegas DVD, there are places you can clearly hear auto-tuning has been used, but when you listen to the behind-the-scenes footage, it doesn't sound auto-tuned. They only modified the audio track of the official performance.

 

I think some of the most obvious occurences in the AND DVD are :

IACBTMN : There were things I'd never do aGAIN but then... (You can hear the Cher's Believe effect here on the word "again")

I Surrender : The vibrato has been flatten on most of the high notes.

MHWGO : We'll stay forEVER THIS WAY... (here the notes sounds very computerized, and you can see the difference when listening to the Live in Vegas 2004 live album, where she still uses the same playback, but not auto-tuned this time)

 

So yeah, as Claudette mentionned, when Celine uses auto-tune, it's mostly for post-editing of the recorded performance, not live. I'm not saying she never used it live, but she doesn't use it on a regular basis for sure.

 

Agree

 

Yeah, I agree too

[Matias]

Well maybe in the studio, but live?? don't think so, watch the Millenium Concert, (specially S'il suffisait d'aimer) it wasn't a great concert techanically speaking) she sung not so very "tuned" tones that evening...

[ajguerras]

Well maybe in the studio, but live?? don't think so, watch the Millenium Concert, (specially S'il suffisait d'aimer) it wasn't a great concert techanically speaking) she sung not so very "tuned" tones that evening...

 

I could not agree more...

[ajguerras]

Some people really don't have a clue what they're talking about here. Celine used pitch correction live for the FIY tour on the All By Myself big note ?? So can you explain me why, on pretty much ANY videos or recordings of this song live from the FIY tour, the note is never perfectly on pitch ? She's always flat or sharp a bit, but rarely on the exact pitch until the music starts again.

 

I'm a professional musician and sound technician, and I can pretty much assure you that Celine doesn't use auto-tune live. Don't get me wrong, Celine is an extraordinary singer, but anybody who's got perfect pitch will be able to tell you that she isn't always perfectly on-pitch live. Sometimes it's very subtle, but enough to tell that the note isn't right. That's something that would never happen if she was using on-the-fly pitch correction in live situation. And please don't tell me "Ohh noes you're SOOO wrong Celine never sings a bad note she's the best singer evaaaa !!!1! " As amazing as she can be as a singer, yes, she sometimes sings off-pitch notes, like ANY singer out there.

 

The way auto-tuning works in a live setting, is that the software will take the note you're singing, and bring it to the closest relative pitch, so you still have to somewhat be able to sing. For example, if you have to sing a note, say B, and you sing a B that is a little sharp of flat, it will bring the note the the absolute, on-pitch B. But if you're too far off the B note, the auto-tune will bring the note to the closest relative pitch, which could be A# or C, so it won't sound right. That's why you still have to be a decent singer to be able to use auto-tune live.

 

Of course, Celine sometimes uses auto-tune for her live releases or studio albums, but the voice is altered after the recording of the performance. That's why, in the Live In Las Vegas DVD, there are places you can clearly hear auto-tuning has been used, but when you listen to the behind-the-scenes footage, it doesn't sound auto-tuned. They only modified the audio track of the official performance.

 

I think some of the most obvious occurences in the AND DVD are :

IACBTMN : There were things I'd never do aGAIN but then... (You can hear the Cher's Believe effect here on the word "again")

I Surrender : The vibrato has been flatten on most of the high notes.

MHWGO : We'll stay forEVER THIS WAY... (here the notes sounds very computerized, and you can see the difference when listening to the Live in Vegas 2004 live album, where she still uses the same playback, but not auto-tuned this time)

 

So yeah, as Claudette mentionned, when Celine uses auto-tune, it's mostly for post-editing of the recorded performance, not live. I'm not saying she never used it live, but she doesn't use it on a regular basis for sure.

 

Agree

 

Yeah, I agree too

 

 

I agree 100%...

 

Where can one download this software and what is it all about...

[Brody-Celine]

yeah i agree with everyones opinions here lol , To be honest i think every singer there is uses Some sort of touch ups in there albums ... I asked my sisters friend who is studying music in university why singers use playbacks and she said to me " well i think its because they have so many technical touchups done in the studio that when they sing live they dont always sound the same as on the album " And Really i think thats a true fact , everyone obviously sounds different when they sing it live so that just proves that its tweaked Abit in the studio lol. but we dont care we still love Celine

[Krys]

Where can one download this software and what is it all about...

 

Google it under the name Antares Autotune. you should be able to find it

 

and ditto Calmar. i actually used Autotune for a test run one day and it really is difficult to use it while singing live. its just nuts...

[Celinex]

I'm also a fan of Kylie Minogue and I know she alway's sings live.Here is a video from the Homecoming Tour live in Manchester and she forget's the words and stats laughing.She sings notes different on each night as well.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ue3HLwtkmPI...feature=related

 

Here is another video live from Lisbon.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzitjRnpaHI

Edited July 6, 2009 at 07:24 PM by Celinex

[Céline's Blues]

She stated it even once herself in 1997... During the FIY tour she used it for correcting the long All By Myself note. She explained she just had to hit ANY not and the sound engeneer would bring it to the right pitch.

 

Sorry I'm positive she never talked about such a thing in her life. In fact in 1997, she said time and time again that people were now expecting that note at one point in the song, that she could hear a pin drop on stage, that she tried to give her best to please them. She never really missed it but she said that sometimes it wasn't that perfect technically, but it was done the best she could at that moment. She talks about it extensively in "Un an avec Céline" as she was asked about that. Anyway they don't say that she uses it "live", they say Reba does. And we all know the woman(Reba) can sing too so... It doesn't give talent so who cares...I don't. We're always be able to know who can sing great "live" and who isn't. At the end people know, they can not be fooled and know who CAN sing and who can't.

 

During studio recordings I was under the impression that every producer(or sound engineer) were using it with every artists these days. Didn't David Foster talked about that in his book? I've read in a book extract he said only one singer he worked with(a songwriter who is not a good singer and well-knowned for never being on pitch I don't remember which one) didn't want to use it because he said that's what people liked and expected of him, not being on pitch often.

 

Anyway I agree with you Calmar all the way! and Claudette I understand what you mean here and I hate it too. Céline being such an amazing singer always makes some people wanting to bring her down anyway they can unfortunately.

You haven't heard that cuzz you're not a real Céline fan! That is a FACT!

 

Here you are!!!!

 

Bellamy!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Matias]

I think we all agreed Celine is a Hell of a singer and those who saw her live can agree with me...And if she used it, well maybe it was to "correct" some minors flaws

[GoldenLeaf]

Some people really don't have a clue what they're talking about here. Celine used pitch correction live for the FIY tour on the All By Myself big note ?? So can you explain me why, on pretty much ANY videos or recordings of this song live from the FIY tour, the note is never perfectly on pitch ? She's always flat or sharp a bit, but rarely on the exact pitch until the music starts again.

 

I'm a professional musician and sound technician, and I can pretty much assure you that Celine doesn't use auto-tune live. Don't get me wrong, Celine is an extraordinary singer, but anybody who's got perfect pitch will be able to tell you that she isn't always perfectly on-pitch live. Sometimes it's very subtle, but enough to tell that the note isn't right. That's something that would never happen if she was using on-the-fly pitch correction in live situation. And please don't tell me "Ohh noes you're SOOO wrong Celine never sings a bad note she's the best singer evaaaa !!!1! " As amazing as she can be as a singer, yes, she sometimes sings off-pitch notes, like ANY singer out there.

 

The way auto-tuning works in a live setting, is that the software will take the note you're singing, and bring it to the closest relative pitch, so you still have to somewhat be able to sing. For example, if you have to sing a note, say B, and you sing a B that is a little sharp of flat, it will bring the note the the absolute, on-pitch B. But if you're too far off the B note, the auto-tune will bring the note to the closest relative pitch, which could be A# or C, so it won't sound right. That's why you still have to be a decent singer to be able to use auto-tune live.

 

Of course, Celine sometimes uses auto-tune for her live releases or studio albums, but the voice is altered after the recording of the performance. That's why, in the Live In Las Vegas DVD, there are places you can clearly hear auto-tuning has been used, but when you listen to the behind-the-scenes footage, it doesn't sound auto-tuned. They only modified the audio track of the official performance.

 

I think some of the most obvious occurences in the AND DVD are :

IACBTMN : There were things I'd never do aGAIN but then... (You can hear the Cher's Believe effect here on the word "again")

I Surrender : The vibrato has been flatten on most of the high notes.

MHWGO : We'll stay forEVER THIS WAY... (here the notes sounds very computerized, and you can see the difference when listening to the Live in Vegas 2004 live album, where she still uses the same playback, but not auto-tuned this time)

 

So yeah, as Claudette mentionned, when Celine uses auto-tune, it's mostly for post-editing of the recorded performance, not live. I'm not saying she never used it live, but she doesn't use it on a regular basis for sure.

You're totally right! Thanks for this great explanation!

Edited July 7, 2009 at 02:05 AM by Calypso

[samart]

I'm a professional musician and sound technician, and I can pretty much assure you that Celine doesn't use auto-tune live. Don't get me wrong, Celine is an extraordinary singer, but anybody who's got perfect pitch will be able to tell you that she isn't always perfectly on-pitch live. Sometimes it's very subtle, but enough to tell that the note isn't right. That's something that would never happen if she was using on-the-fly pitch correction in live situation. And please don't tell me "Ohh noes you're SOOO wrong Celine never sings a bad note she's the best singer evaaaa !!!1! " As amazing as she can be as a singer, yes, she sometimes sings off-pitch notes, like ANY singer out there.

 

The way auto-tuning works in a live setting, is that the software will take the note you're singing, and bring it to the closest relative pitch, so you still have to somewhat be able to sing. For example, if you have to sing a note, say B, and you sing a B that is a little sharp of flat, it will bring the note the the absolute, on-pitch B. But if you're too far off the B note, the auto-tune will bring the note to the closest relative pitch, which could be A# or C, so it won't sound right. That's why you still have to be a decent singer to be able to use auto-tune live.

 

From a technical point of view there might be another option. If you've worked with Autotune you probably know that it works better when you set the key of a particular song. So, there might be a sound engineer who's responsible for watching that, so even if it's an A, but it simply can't be an A in the given key, it get you straight to a B. I think it's possible (just as an option).