Maybe the exact technology was not the same, but Roger Troutman (Zapp) used a tube in his mouth to distort his voice on his songs, and this was in the late 70s early 80s, before Cher.

Once was enough.

pps - ok momentarily can be used like that in american english (according to Fowler's). apologies

PS the use of momentarily is annoying - John uses it and I see it here in the comment response - it means FOR a short while, not IN a short while

The problem is overuse - it can work with particular songs. An early equivalent was by Godley and Creme on 'I pity inanimate objects' where it seemed to fit; and even Brian Eno used it to good effect on (I think) the title track to 'Anotehr day on earth'.
But when you keep hearing it in single after single it loses it's power

The show made no sense. The Cher effect, is not open to ethical debate. Either you like that effect, or you don't, on songs. You made it sound like an ethical debate. Were you trying to have an ethical debate on pitch correction? The show was a mix of nonsensical illogical threads by some hungover sounding dudes.

I am pleased that my comments have gotten such strong reactions from #19 and #30. My comment about my audience is a statement of fact and anyone who sees an implied comparison is projecting not just insecurity and it's quite understandable. After 18 years of being a college deejay, I think I know who my audience is and who it is not. I recently attended a concert by Africa's greatest living korafola and the audience was 90% white. This is typical for African concerts and African music on radio. As for the music of Morocco, Algeria and Northern Nigeria, the connection is that they all use audio tone. Northern Nigeria has a burgeoning fake Bollywood motion picture industry and in order for their female playback singers to sound like the helium induced Bollywood singers, they use audio tone. Finally, my audience is not missing out on Moroccan or African hip hop. These are people who flee from the banality and vacuousness of pop on corporate Clear Channel radio. Like them, I can not abide rap and my dislike for it is not ameliorated by language; I don't care it it is rapped in Hindi, Zulu, Mandarin, Wolof, Sinhala, Quechua or Esperanto. That's just a statement of taste, nothing to take personally as I don't take your comments personally either.

I disagree with your comparison to reverb, editing, etc. Reverb and editing are modifications and alterations that are done on purpose to achieve a musical goal. Auto-tune when it is used to slightly correct voice is a real cheat. It means that a lack of performance ability is compensated by a digital trick. The annoying problem is that no matter how subtle it is and how powerful the software is (don't get me wrong I love digital edition), auto-tuning is ALWAYS noticeable by a trained/musician ear. To me, auto-tuning is like using a digital guitar amplifier to imitate valve amp. There will never be any perfect imitation to a valve amp. In the end, it all comes down to what is your level of tolerance for artificiality.

Using strong auto-tune as an effect is a different question.

I think the ability to like and dislike what ever music you like should be the way to go. I dislike Radiohead which seems to get way too much mention and play on this station (barely a day goes by without the group being mentioned) Never the less I keep an open mind to the band.Let Artists be free to experiment without censure or intimidation, weather they "jump on a bandwagon" or not.

As a musician, i am familiar with all the studio tools. this one is being used unconventionally, which is the way to go, but it sounds terribly popish and overused, one song should have done it and move on. the best part about music technology is Misuse! Throw away the manual and make some noise! lets hear guitars, drums, bass, or horns or feedback even through this thing. All effects should eventually be picked up by the next wave and corrupted. its formula now, need to break the formula and go Punk.

Whoa, i just noticed comment #1. Glad to hear that your "older, white (?)" audience listens to your African music show, firstworldmusic. Maybe their "more sophisticated, discerning tastes" aren't able to discern that Morocco and Algeria's musical traditions have next to nothing in common with Nigeria's. Rai has used strange, cheesy electronic instrumentation and effects for many years...its part of the canon since Cheb Hasni (RaHmuhu Allah) and Autotune is just the next iteration. I'm not saying that I always like the way it sounds, but if you completely rule out any music with this effect, you're unjustly excluding a whole range of contemporary North African music from Moroccan hip-hop to talented singers like Mohamed Lamine and Reda Taliani.

People who object to pitch correction software may as well object to voice training (i.e. How is it their "real voice" if someone else has changed how they use it) or make-up for that matter.

It is ridiculous to object to a medium or tool, as proliferation of tools allows artists greater ability to express themselves.

Hi. I'm all for Autotune (and its equivalents). But I'm not at all convinced that "everyone" uses it. Indeed I'm sure that many people don't. It can certainly be overused and the sound overhyped. So it's a tool AND a toy. No big deal.

Kids in the choir are using Autotune are you serious? Who is this guy?

No one is using background vocals? That statement is too broad.

It seems that the obvious application of autotune is applied more to the males than the females. Perhaps it is the male counterpart to what I call the Mariah-tron approach to recording the female voice, resulting in the deluge of recorded performances of hyperacrobatic melissma-ed fembots.

If people don't like Autotune, then they should vote with their wallets and not buy musician's albums that use it as an effect. It's like anything else, if you don't like the music don't listen to it. I, personally am not a fan, and therefore will not go out of my way to listen to music with the effect. I do, however, like swedish death metal, which uses effects i.e. distorted guitars, growling vocals, etc. that most people can't abide.

With comments towards auto tune like "it's not real", what's to be said about Electronic music which is almost always totally 100% electronically produced? Is it also not real? As an avid House music fan, I know many tunes deeply touch my soul. Music is art. I feel the obvious Auto tune use is purely being used as a fad induced effect, and I guess you can't be mad at that.

I loved Kanye on SNL -- those songs are so vulnerable and his rendition without the autotune was almost heartbreaking.

Anybody remember the sound of the 70's? Anybody remember doo wop for goodness sakes?
It is the sound of the day, relax.

I think Autotune is just another vocal effect like Vocoders and Talk Boxes are another vocal effect. Vocoding your vocal was a huge trend in the 80's that eventually burned out from over saturation. I think Autotune will end the same way.

(PS - O Superman does not use Autotune, it's much too old. I believe Laurie Anderson used a Ring Modulator)

OK so it's been around for over 25 years, it will go back behind the scene in less than 5.

"Most of the listeners to my African music show are older, white and more sophisticated and discerning in their tastes." as opposed to the "younger, black, latino, and white ethnics who are NOT discerning? The subtle racism of the anti autotune crowd is apparent in their distaste for pop and R&B in general. They alwasy jump at the chance to sling their crappy attitudes and opinions about anything that is not their "artsy" crap. An electric guitar dosnt have the subtle natural ness of an accoustic instrument.. but these idiots have no problem with that. Artists do and should do and use what ever tools that they want to to do what ever they want. If you cant deal with it then keep your negativity to yourself.

I don't usually like the sound when it is used full blast (there are exceptions, like They Might be Giants' "So Loud in here") but at least then it is clear that it is being used.

Its more offensive to me when singer's present themselves as being able to sing when they really can't. Blink 182 for example sounds fun on a record, but live the singer's inability to actually sing on pitch makes me cringe.

I've noticed this has become much more common with rock in recent years, where the live performance is a mere shell of the studio recording, and it is very frustrating

If you can sing you can sing, if you can't you can't and you won't be able to hide behind auto-tune your entire career. Relax people we will be on to the next "tool in the box" very shortly.

grr

it is NOT like distortion on the guitar.

first listen to jimi at woodstock (painfully human and expressive)...then listen to britney and kanye (cheap disposable fake crap).

notice a correlation?

how do you separate when it's used as art and when it's used as a replacement for talent?

ex. "o superman" vs. "love lockdown"

Yes, this over-distorted has now been over-used across the industry, it is starting to sound pretty dated, like those over-hyped massive 80's drum effects. Another over-used current sound is that digitally created clap/ percussive sound effect used in so much rap and r&b music. Isn't it time for something that sounds more sophisticated with all of the great mixing technology out there?

(I'm sick of people making excuses for Kanye's current lame songwriting and singing; autotune off or on has NOTHING to do with it).

Autotune as an effect, an "artistic" choice fine... but unfortunately it's become a style/gimmick.

ok. let's just cut out all the careful parsing.

autotune is some lame silly junk.

it simply does not pass the "artistic sniff test". it sounds like plastic digital junk.

it is not comparable to multi track recorders which have infinite artistic uses. we have been enjoying the results for decades.

autotune is NOT just "another tool".....it destroys the soul of a singing performance. it neuters it. it squeezes the humanity from the music and allows singers who cannot sing in tune sound like they can.

enough already.

Auto tune is just another tool in the box. Granted, I can understand disappointment at how unauthentic it can seem for someone who wants to hear singing but pop music isn't exactly where you go to hear trained voices.

Algerian pop (rai) singers have been using autotune for years...Maghribi Arabic actually sounds really interesting with the robot voice.

Algerian pop (rai) singers have been using autotune for years.

Not sure what all the hostility is about. This is just another form of artistic creativity in music.

I am really sick of people making excuses for Kanye's current lame songwriting and singing- autotune has nothing to do with it.

Auto tune used as an effect, ok fine that's an artistic choice.

It's the continuing dumbing of America, the equivalent of the "my kid beat up your honor student" bumper sticker! Enough already!!

has anyone heard the new bon iver song with auto tune? how about the sufjan christmas song with auto tune? strange how this "instrument" has infiltrated all avenues of pop music.

die, auto-tune, die!!! be gone, and torture us no longer!

Wow. Apparently, I haven't been paying attention. I listen to music all the time, but I don't listen to the radio nearly as much these days.

Now when I think of it, this must be the effect used in Daft Punk's "One More Time." I guess.

Death to Auto-Tune! When used as an effect, it simply makes the music sound ridiculous (see: Britney Spears), and if you actually need it in order to make your singing sound marginally acceptable, you shouldn't be singing on a recording in the first place (see: Britney Spears).

Most of the listeners to my African music show are older, white and more sophisticated and discerning in their tastes. Audio Tone is being abused in contemporary pop music from Algeria, Morocco and Northern Nigeria. Comments to my blog about this particular studio gimmick makes it a impossible for music with this kind of sound to appear on my playlists. The consensus among my listeners is that this is a faddish studio gimmick that will make the music sound as dated as the music that employed the electronic Tom, most of which, when reissued, mixes this sound out.