WEBVTT - How Auto-Tune Works 0:00:01.000 --> 0:00:04.440 Welcome to Stuff you Should Know from House Stuff Works 0:00:04.480 --> 0:00:13.160 dot com. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh 0:00:13.280 --> 0:00:18.200 Clark to Charles W. Chuck Bryant. Yep, there's Jerry and 0:00:18.280 --> 0:00:24.200 this is Stuff you Should Know. That was great, Thanks man. 0:00:24.440 --> 0:00:26.840 Do I sound like Share? Have you sound like T 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:31.360 paying T Josh T Josh or Snoop Dogg? Does he 0:00:31.440 --> 0:00:34.520 do the auto to? He factors into this big time 0:00:34.600 --> 0:00:37.279 later on? Oh well, I don't even know about that, 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:42.440 so I've got some of my lead. This is kind 0:00:42.440 --> 0:00:44.479 of fun. I don't know how much we're gonna do 0:00:44.520 --> 0:00:49.840 that because people are probably like, stop it right now. Oh, Chuck, 0:00:49.920 --> 0:00:54.880 I think we should do it a lot. Are you done? Yeah? 0:00:54.920 --> 0:00:59.760 I'm done. Um, we could have just auto tuned this 0:00:59.800 --> 0:01:03.120 whole thing. Yeah, you know, maybe we should. Maybe we 0:01:03.160 --> 0:01:05.560 should maybe from this moment, Flore, we should just started 0:01:05.600 --> 0:01:09.520 tune the rest of the episode starting now. Let's sabotage 0:01:09.600 --> 0:01:15.280 our careers. Uh, you've got an intro for this, fancy intro. 0:01:15.680 --> 0:01:18.520 I think we just did it, buddy. Okay, well, let's 0:01:18.520 --> 0:01:20.559 get in the way back machine then, my friend, Okay, 0:01:20.640 --> 0:01:22.039 we don't have to go back that far because I 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:23.679 know where we're going, it's gonna be a short trip. 0:01:24.240 --> 0:01:36.760 Let's go back to Oh Summer Boom. I'm you and 0:01:36.760 --> 0:01:39.199 Iron the club. We're hanging out, we're drinking the rum 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:42.040 and coke. You can find us in the club and 0:01:42.280 --> 0:01:45.160 uh we're we're dancing, We're getting down and grooving too. 0:01:45.319 --> 0:01:49.800 Uh to share his latest jam, Believe Believe. It's a 0:01:49.800 --> 0:01:53.480 hot jam, a hot, hot, hot jam that's released in 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:56.040 the summer. It's summertime. As you can tell, it's hot 0:01:56.040 --> 0:01:58.520 in the club. Cheat, and I've got on my my 0:01:58.520 --> 0:02:00.960 my short pants. I'm us like I'm out for a 0:02:01.080 --> 0:02:07.320 night at the Rocks. I'm wearing a shirt. So I noticed, Actually, 0:02:07.640 --> 0:02:09.959 how did you not? Well? Yeah, the third nipple really 0:02:09.960 --> 0:02:15.400 stands out. So we're in the club where jamming and 0:02:15.480 --> 0:02:19.040 share song is on, and uh, something happens at about 0:02:19.040 --> 0:02:21.560 thirty five seconds into the song, and you and I 0:02:21.600 --> 0:02:25.079 are just like, whoa daddy? Did you just hear that? 0:02:25.240 --> 0:02:27.919 It changes everything. It changed the whole tone of the club, 0:02:28.000 --> 0:02:31.040 Like the club was like okay, and now it's banging 0:02:31.320 --> 0:02:37.760 yek Yeah, because of a little something called auto tune. Uh, 0:02:37.800 --> 0:02:42.720 what sounded like a little electronic glitch was very purposeful 0:02:43.280 --> 0:02:46.200 and it was the first time the auto tune had 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:50.160 been used in this way. So what Josh is auto 0:02:50.200 --> 0:02:55.120 tune was quite a set up? Uh, can we do 0:02:55.160 --> 0:02:57.960 the rest of the episode in the club? Yeah? Why not? Okay, 0:02:58.080 --> 0:03:02.560 just keep those rumbings cokes coming. Okay, that's cool. Um, 0:03:02.639 --> 0:03:06.120 So let me let me stop you for a second. Right, 0:03:06.520 --> 0:03:08.720 because the way you described it, you made it sound 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:12.520 like everybody was like, oh, Share just used auto tune. No, no, 0:03:13.080 --> 0:03:17.840 everybody said what was that? That was awesome? Although some 0:03:17.880 --> 0:03:20.240 people were like, what was that? Don't ever do that again, 0:03:20.880 --> 0:03:24.000 but most people were like, wow, Shared just released her 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:25.919 biggest hit of her entire career, and it was a 0:03:25.919 --> 0:03:29.320 pretty long career. She just came back like that just 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.760 established her comeback was this track, and it actually became 0:03:32.800 --> 0:03:36.080 one of the greatest best selling singles of all time. Yeah, 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.520 and I think, I mean, it would have been a 0:03:38.600 --> 0:03:42.240 probably a big song anyway, but I think most definitely 0:03:42.280 --> 0:03:45.040 auto tune kicked it into the stratasy, gave it just 0:03:45.080 --> 0:03:48.760 the extra something. It became part of the talking but 0:03:48.760 --> 0:03:51.320 everyone was talking about it. So everybody went to her 0:03:51.360 --> 0:03:54.840 producer and said, dude, how did you do that? We 0:03:54.880 --> 0:03:58.360 want to know how to do that, and he was like, vocoder. Yeah, 0:03:58.360 --> 0:04:01.600 he lied, He lied, He lied big time. He lied 0:04:01.680 --> 0:04:06.240 in person to other producers, he lied in interviews, he lied, lied, 0:04:06.320 --> 0:04:10.040 lied about how he made that track because he wanted 0:04:10.080 --> 0:04:13.080 to keep it to himself because it was so huge, 0:04:13.120 --> 0:04:16.159 and it became so huge, Chuck that at first Auto 0:04:16.200 --> 0:04:19.400 Tune was called the Share Effect. Even the company that 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:23.400 produced Auto Tune and Terry's, which we'll talk about in 0:04:23.400 --> 0:04:27.240 a minute, called it in their instructional book, the Share Effect. 0:04:27.279 --> 0:04:29.599 They probably still do, don't they. They don't mention it 0:04:29.640 --> 0:04:34.200 any longer. Yeah, um. But the so it was, it 0:04:34.279 --> 0:04:36.480 was a huge deal, and this guy lied and kept 0:04:36.480 --> 0:04:39.920 it under wraps, and for many years it was very mysterious. Yeah. 0:04:39.960 --> 0:04:42.280 Let's actually, if you live under a rock, let's go 0:04:42.320 --> 0:04:45.680 ahead and play that clip of the very first thirty 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.839 five seconds into that song where Share says I can't 0:04:48.880 --> 0:05:00.960 break through. Yeah, right there, boom right there. Music changed 0:05:01.040 --> 0:05:05.080 from that point forward. So what what this guy, what 0:05:05.160 --> 0:05:10.120 her producer was saying was vocoder. Vocoder is something that's 0:05:10.120 --> 0:05:11.800 been around for a very long time. If you've ever 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:15.120 listened to any Pete Frampton, Peter Frampton and he things, 0:05:15.880 --> 0:05:19.240 do you feel like we do that whole long guitar 0:05:19.320 --> 0:05:23.159 solo or whatever. He's breathing into a tube connected to 0:05:23.240 --> 0:05:27.760 his guitar, which is electrifying his voice. Vocoder had been 0:05:27.800 --> 0:05:31.200 around for a very long time, but there's different ways 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:34.600 of doing it. That That was definitely the tube effect 0:05:34.960 --> 0:05:37.920 through the guitar, but you can also just use it to, 0:05:38.160 --> 0:05:41.760 you know, make your voice robotic like Beck to turn 0:05:41.839 --> 0:05:46.839 tables in a microphone or Mr Roboto with sticks, But 0:05:47.080 --> 0:05:49.960 all different ways to use it. This thing, this sounded different, 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:53.160 the share effect. It was a little different, sure, And 0:05:53.240 --> 0:05:57.920 I wonder how this guy talked his way out of Yeah. 0:05:58.000 --> 0:06:00.440 I mean like if if if a producer like, okay, 0:06:00.480 --> 0:06:03.080 well show me how you did it on vocoder, if 0:06:03.080 --> 0:06:05.360 he was like over here and then just like ran 0:06:05.400 --> 0:06:06.960 out of the room, I don't. I don't think he 0:06:07.120 --> 0:06:08.920 talked out of it. I think he was just another 0:06:09.080 --> 0:06:13.080 line music producer and he was just like okay, well busted, okay. 0:06:13.120 --> 0:06:18.440 So um, Apparently along the way people figured out here 0:06:18.520 --> 0:06:24.320 there what this guy did believe and they started using 0:06:24.320 --> 0:06:27.880 it themselves, but very very sparsely. All right, So, Josh, 0:06:28.240 --> 0:06:32.440 what is auto tune? All right? I'll answer your question 0:06:32.680 --> 0:06:35.599 because I'm gonna keep asking it, all right. So auto 0:06:35.600 --> 0:06:41.680 tune is a plug in originally released for the audio 0:06:42.120 --> 0:06:47.520 editing software pro tools. Yeah, it's a software piece that 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:51.360 allows you and the original UM intent and how it's 0:06:51.360 --> 0:06:56.760 still mostly used is to pitch correct UM singer's voice. 0:06:57.240 --> 0:06:59.560 So when you, when you or I go into the 0:06:59.600 --> 0:07:02.320 studio to record those albums that will never release, but 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:05.720 we just record for fun. Um we hit flat notes 0:07:05.760 --> 0:07:08.039 here there. Oh not me. I have perfect pitch. I 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:11.880 hit flat notes here there, perfect um, and everybody does. 0:07:11.920 --> 0:07:16.320 It's a normal thing. Sure for most of eternity. UM 0:07:16.560 --> 0:07:21.880 music producers would say, blue Eyes chairman, I need another take. 0:07:22.160 --> 0:07:23.760 That was a great take, but you had a couple 0:07:23.800 --> 0:07:26.280 of flat notes. Give me another take just like that one. 0:07:26.440 --> 0:07:29.320 And Frank would finish his scotch, put out a cigarette 0:07:29.840 --> 0:07:36.720 and say you get one more shine hood. What was 0:07:36.760 --> 0:07:39.160 the Joe? Oh you didn't even see spinal tap, did you? Yeah, 0:07:39.760 --> 0:07:42.320 you finally saw it, finally, Okay, But I don't remember 0:07:42.320 --> 0:07:44.840 any Frank Sinatra t Yeah there was. When Bruno Kirby 0:07:44.880 --> 0:07:49.560 is the Limo Drivers, He's talks about Sammy Davis's book, 0:07:49.680 --> 0:07:51.680 Yes I can, and he says what they should have 0:07:51.680 --> 0:07:53.840 called it is. Yes, I can as long as Frank 0:07:53.880 --> 0:07:55.880 says it's okay, because Frank called the shots. For all 0:07:55.920 --> 0:07:59.920 those guys, I do remember that. Um So, Frank would 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:03.000 one more take, and this could be like take twelve 0:08:03.240 --> 0:08:07.120 or fifteen or twenty, depending on like how how much 0:08:08.720 --> 0:08:10.960 how much the person was feeling at The singer was 0:08:11.000 --> 0:08:13.120 feeling it at the time and would be happy to 0:08:13.160 --> 0:08:15.800 hang around the studio whatever was keeping the singer there 0:08:15.880 --> 0:08:19.080 at the studio. As long as that was around the singer, 0:08:19.240 --> 0:08:22.080 the singer was happy to give it one more try, 0:08:22.120 --> 0:08:26.080 one more try, right, drugs maybe, um or if they 0:08:26.120 --> 0:08:29.000 had like a really good candy bowl, who knows, I 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:32.559 gotta stay for the skittles. Um So. The editor then 0:08:32.800 --> 0:08:35.040 or the music producer would then take all of these 0:08:35.080 --> 0:08:38.760 different tracks and would go through and I can't imagine 0:08:38.760 --> 0:08:42.160 how awful this would be. Take the best part of 0:08:42.200 --> 0:08:44.760 this track and edit it together with the best part 0:08:44.760 --> 0:08:48.160 of that track, and like we're talking like pre digital air, 0:08:48.280 --> 0:08:51.800 so like they're spicing together tape from what I understand, 0:08:52.360 --> 0:08:56.199 right to get the best possible complete take piece together 0:08:56.280 --> 0:08:59.760 from many different takes. Right, So Okay, that's that's what 0:08:59.840 --> 0:09:03.960 they did. All of a sudden, there's this new software 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:08.760 that just runs through a take and says, oh, well, 0:09:08.800 --> 0:09:11.800 I see what note or what key the singers singing in, 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:15.200 But this this particular notes just a little out, so 0:09:15.360 --> 0:09:18.400 I'm going to nudge it into the key that the 0:09:18.440 --> 0:09:21.040 singer was going for. And now, all of a sudden, 0:09:21.360 --> 0:09:25.880 one take is all it takes. Yeah. I mean what 0:09:25.920 --> 0:09:28.200 it did was it cut down on studio time, which 0:09:28.200 --> 0:09:31.080 is super expensive, which was very appealing because now you 0:09:31.080 --> 0:09:34.880 could churn out songs that are more rapid rate and 0:09:34.960 --> 0:09:38.120 a cheaper rate. And uh, it was it was a 0:09:38.120 --> 0:09:41.280 little sort of a secret tool that they didn't intend 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:43.480 to like get out to the public. I don't think 0:09:43.480 --> 0:09:46.240 they wanted everyone to know this stuff. No, it was 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:49.760 meant for professionals. Yeah, And basically it was just it 0:09:49.880 --> 0:09:56.079 was the musical audio equivalent of cosmetics. Yeah. Doctor. It 0:09:56.120 --> 0:10:00.880 was invented by Dr Harold Andy Hilda Brand, and he 0:10:02.040 --> 0:10:04.960 likened it to make up and the New Yorker likened 0:10:05.000 --> 0:10:07.520 it to um, like getting rid of a red eye 0:10:07.520 --> 0:10:11.440 and a photograph. It was just you use it just 0:10:11.600 --> 0:10:13.440 enough so that you can't tell it's there, but it 0:10:13.480 --> 0:10:19.280 makes for a more pleasant um overall composition. Right, what 0:10:19.440 --> 0:10:22.120 Share had done, or what shares producers had done, is 0:10:22.200 --> 0:10:25.640 take this thing and used it to the nth degree. Yes, 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.400 supposedly it was just a joke, and Share was like, 0:10:28.480 --> 0:10:31.280 I love that, but that's like I don't know if 0:10:31.280 --> 0:10:33.160 that's an urban legend, ear if that's fact. Well, from 0:10:33.200 --> 0:10:36.360 what I read that her producer, she was she wanted like, um, 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:39.840 she had heard like some telephone effect that she was 0:10:39.880 --> 0:10:43.200 interested in using, like she wanted something and I guess 0:10:43.240 --> 0:10:47.120 the producer had stumbled upon that and UM played it 0:10:47.160 --> 0:10:49.280 for but it was like you're not gonna like this, 0:10:49.280 --> 0:10:52.320 but listen to this weirdness and she was like that 0:10:52.600 --> 0:10:55.720 I want that. Nice, that's what I read. Well, I 0:10:55.720 --> 0:10:58.280 think that it's due to her giving it the green light. 0:10:58.320 --> 0:11:02.960 Then that was truly like uh, foresight, like a masterful 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:06.160 move by Share. You know, well, Share has a lot 0:11:06.200 --> 0:11:08.840 of ForSight. You know, they say, don't don't doubt Share 0:11:09.080 --> 0:11:13.040 and Share has a lot of foresight. Never bet against Share. Yeah, Um, 0:11:13.200 --> 0:11:15.800 so when you did make that decision, it changed, like 0:11:15.840 --> 0:11:18.560 you said, it changed everything. And well, well, I I 0:11:18.880 --> 0:11:20.920 we can't talk enough about this, but we're going to 0:11:21.040 --> 0:11:22.719 take a break and then come back and talk more 0:11:22.760 --> 0:11:42.720 about it right after this, all right, josh, Uh. What 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:46.840 I found most interesting about this while researching what UM 0:11:47.120 --> 0:11:51.520 was what Andy Hildebrand did before he did this. He 0:11:51.600 --> 0:11:55.880 was a musician. He was played flute professionally since he 0:11:55.960 --> 0:11:59.680 was a young teenager. Even went to University of Illinois 0:12:00.160 --> 0:12:04.560 go Fighting a Line I on a music scholarship. Yet 0:12:04.640 --> 0:12:09.000 he chose to work for Exxon Mobile for seventeen years 0:12:09.400 --> 0:12:16.400 looking for oil. Yeah, the two weren't too terribly far apart, right, well, 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.520 as we will find out. So he's a professional floutist, 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:22.800 classically trained flout is a good one from what I understand, 0:12:22.840 --> 0:12:26.760 flouting his flute, yes, um. And he went to college 0:12:26.760 --> 0:12:30.720 to get an electrical engineering degree, I think. And basically 0:12:30.720 --> 0:12:32.840 when when he went to work for the oil companies, 0:12:32.880 --> 0:12:37.000 it was an oil exploration and he figured out a 0:12:37.000 --> 0:12:42.240 programmer he designed to software UM that when you set 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:48.080 off an explosive charge underground, it measured the pitch of 0:12:48.200 --> 0:12:51.640 stuff of the sound waves that that were created. Right, 0:12:52.000 --> 0:12:54.840 So as they traveled through rock, different types of rock, 0:12:56.000 --> 0:12:59.719 just the pitch basically, and this software like analyzed the 0:12:59.720 --> 0:13:03.400 pitch that was coming through and could create a subsurface 0:13:03.520 --> 0:13:07.200 map of the rock below, and oil companies have long 0:13:07.240 --> 0:13:09.600 known that this type of rock is associated with oil, 0:13:09.720 --> 0:13:12.280 and this type of rock is not maybe a'll financial 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:14.400 guess and this type of rock. So with this guy 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:20.720 creating an audio visual map of the subsurface area, oil 0:13:20.760 --> 0:13:23.520 companies no longer had to just drill and drill and 0:13:23.720 --> 0:13:26.920 hope that they found um oil. He would say, this 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:29.880 is a pretty pretty great place to drill because this 0:13:29.960 --> 0:13:33.360 kind of rock is there. That's right. It's called auto correlation. 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:37.120 And it saved Exxon a lot of money and he 0:13:37.360 --> 0:13:39.599 somehow made a lot of money. I thought it was 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:41.880 gonna be one of those things where like XN was 0:13:41.960 --> 0:13:44.679 just like thanks, you work for us, you wint here's 0:13:44.720 --> 0:13:49.319 yours a year. But apparently he UM earned enough money 0:13:49.320 --> 0:13:51.640 to retire by the age of forty thanks to this 0:13:52.320 --> 0:13:56.760 innovation and UM in the early he got out of 0:13:56.760 --> 0:14:00.040 the oil business and found it like it's just a 0:14:00.040 --> 0:14:04.760 popularity content. Yeah. Uh. He founded UH in Terrorists Audio 0:14:04.800 --> 0:14:09.480 Technologies and UH kind of near Silicon Valley in Scott's Valley, California. 0:14:09.880 --> 0:14:12.080 And I think still they only have about ten employees. 0:14:12.080 --> 0:14:15.160 I think it's a pretty small operation. It's all centered 0:14:15.160 --> 0:14:18.319 around him and his ideas, and he is the main 0:14:18.360 --> 0:14:20.880 inventor um. One of the first things he invented was 0:14:21.200 --> 0:14:24.560 something called Infinity, which is a program that where you 0:14:24.560 --> 0:14:28.960 could loop samples um over and over and over, like seamlessly. 0:14:29.480 --> 0:14:31.960 Apparently that was a necessary thing. I didn't know that. 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:35.400 Oh yeah, think about it. We're talking like early nineties. 0:14:35.680 --> 0:14:39.560 That was like the oh eight acid house revolution. Yeah, 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.160 but I just didn't realize. I guess he made it easier, 0:14:42.200 --> 0:14:45.520 probably is my guess. Yes, I think he enabled it. 0:14:45.640 --> 0:14:50.360 He enabled technos the impression I have, Oh yeah, interesting 0:14:51.240 --> 0:14:54.960 looping samples together seamlessly. Well, but you could already do that. 0:14:55.040 --> 0:14:56.760 What I'm saying is is he clearly found a way 0:14:56.800 --> 0:15:01.040 to do it better and more efficiently. He didn't invent looping, No, 0:15:01.320 --> 0:15:06.440 he made it better, Yeah, exactly. Another thing he did 0:15:06.520 --> 0:15:10.720 was invented the microphone modeler. Modeling is a big thing 0:15:10.760 --> 0:15:14.600 in music. You can get um guitar amplifiers that model, 0:15:15.360 --> 0:15:19.440 uh basically means imitate other amps. I have a modeling 0:15:19.440 --> 0:15:22.120 amp which I don't use anymore because it's uh not 0:15:22.200 --> 0:15:25.600 very good, but it models. There's like twelve different classic 0:15:25.600 --> 0:15:30.720 amps models supposedly, but he inventled the modeling microphone, which 0:15:30.760 --> 0:15:33.440 means you could mimic like classic microphones or like a 0:15:33.520 --> 0:15:37.440 harmonica mike and vintage mics like the Elvis Presley that 0:15:37.480 --> 0:15:41.200 cool looking mike. Sure that was on there? Oh? Is 0:15:41.200 --> 0:15:44.840 that the silver kind of rounded rectangular one. Noel's got 0:15:44.840 --> 0:15:48.600 one on his desk. Yeah, yeah, that's associated with Elvis Presley. Well, 0:15:48.640 --> 0:15:51.080 I mean just the music of that time. But I 0:15:51.120 --> 0:15:53.480 always picture Elvish. Yeah, you know what I mean, I 0:15:53.520 --> 0:15:55.720 can see that. Yeah, have you ever seen his grandson, 0:15:55.800 --> 0:15:59.520 by the way, quick sidebar? No, his name is quick sidebar, 0:16:00.320 --> 0:16:04.520 quick sidebar Pressley. It's weird name, but you know, Lisa 0:16:04.600 --> 0:16:09.760 Marie was his mom, So yeah, um, that was very funny. 0:16:09.800 --> 0:16:13.720 By the way, he uh, just look him up. I 0:16:13.760 --> 0:16:16.360 think what's his name. I can't remember his name. His 0:16:16.480 --> 0:16:21.560 last name is the father's name for Lisa Marie's first husband, 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:24.400 is who she had him with. Uh yeah, just look 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:29.400 at Elvis Presley's grandson. It is creepy. Dude looks exactly 0:16:29.440 --> 0:16:33.640 like Elvis at that age, like scary, scary, eerily similar 0:16:35.160 --> 0:16:38.720 that I don't know, doesne that I do know? If 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:41.600 he sings, he probably use his auto tune probably because 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.760 of singers. Apparently his auto tune its hem even higher 0:16:45.800 --> 0:16:50.640 than that. Really, how about that? Admit it? You know? Yeah, 0:16:50.720 --> 0:16:55.400 there's the thing about auto tune where, um, you deny 0:16:55.560 --> 0:16:58.080 that you use it even though you're totally aware that 0:16:58.160 --> 0:17:02.840 everyone uses it. Um. I read an article where apparently 0:17:03.360 --> 0:17:08.320 this one producer said that he's worked with two artists 0:17:08.359 --> 0:17:11.240 that have haven't used it everyone else has, and it 0:17:11.320 --> 0:17:14.359 was Nico Case and Nellie for Tato. And then apparently 0:17:14.640 --> 0:17:17.080 later after that, Nelly for Tato released a single that 0:17:17.160 --> 0:17:21.320 had tons of auto tune on it. She may be 0:17:21.480 --> 0:17:25.080 the only artist in the world who hasn't used auto tune, 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:30.280 either subtly or um to the nth degree. Well, that's 0:17:30.280 --> 0:17:33.440 certainly not true. I think there are plenty of indie artists. 0:17:33.440 --> 0:17:36.160 But if you're talking, you should read this Verge article. 0:17:36.160 --> 0:17:39.680 It basically lays it out like, no, everyone uses this 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:44.240 even if so. Apparently producers don't even necessarily tell the 0:17:44.320 --> 0:17:47.159 band that it's being used right then, because there's a 0:17:47.200 --> 0:17:51.680 live function, so that the monitors or the headphones that um, 0:17:51.800 --> 0:17:55.879 the band is hearing is being run through auto tune, 0:17:55.920 --> 0:17:59.360 so what they're hearing is already corrected, so they think 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.159 they just did a perfect take. Yeah, I'm just wary 0:18:02.240 --> 0:18:06.000 of anytime someone says out of twenty million singers, one 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:09.679 person doesn't that's just very dubious claim. I don't know, 0:18:09.720 --> 0:18:13.320 we're talking music industry here, especially when a lot of 0:18:13.320 --> 0:18:16.720 people are making their own music in their own homes. Well, 0:18:16.720 --> 0:18:18.879 that's another thing. They're not a part of the pop machine. 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:23.160 They don't have stats on that, you know. Yeah, I'm 0:18:23.200 --> 0:18:25.200 just I'm just saying that's that sounds like a load 0:18:25.200 --> 0:18:27.879 of garbage to me. I'm sure more than one person 0:18:27.960 --> 0:18:33.840 doesn't just one. Um. So auto tune came about, apparently 0:18:33.960 --> 0:18:38.960 this is the tail because of a dinner that Hilda 0:18:39.000 --> 0:18:41.119 Brand was at. He was having lunch with a sales 0:18:41.160 --> 0:18:44.160 rep and the wife said something funny like, hey, Andy, 0:18:44.200 --> 0:18:46.679 can you once you invent something to make me sing 0:18:46.720 --> 0:18:53.080 in tune? And he went, no, great idea that we 0:18:53.080 --> 0:18:56.720 should have auto tuned, that maybe we could maybe maybe 0:18:56.720 --> 0:19:00.240 it was maybe it just happened. Uh. And so he said, 0:19:00.280 --> 0:19:03.760 you know what, Uh, if I can tell Jed Clampitt 0:19:03.840 --> 0:19:06.400 where the oil is, then I can make you sing 0:19:06.600 --> 0:19:09.760 in tune. And he did, and he did. He created 0:19:09.840 --> 0:19:14.919 auto tune and um we've kind of mentioned how it works. Basically, 0:19:15.560 --> 0:19:20.119 it takes a it takes that take of a singer's song. 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:25.000 It takes the vocals of the song, and you select 0:19:25.040 --> 0:19:28.560 what key you're singing in, and then auto tune goes 0:19:28.600 --> 0:19:31.760 through and makes this map of this of that audio 0:19:31.960 --> 0:19:34.640 of the vocal track, and it goes through and says 0:19:34.640 --> 0:19:37.720 that this one's a little flat, this one's a little low, 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:41.880 or whatever, um and it just nudges these things into 0:19:42.240 --> 0:19:45.000 tune into into the key that it's supposed to be in. 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:49.000 So all all of the notes that the singer hits 0:19:49.040 --> 0:19:52.560 and that take are within the correct key, meaning that 0:19:52.600 --> 0:19:55.560 they all sound great. It's a perfect take, right well, yeah, 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:57.520 and the the key there is it's in the original 0:19:57.560 --> 0:20:01.040 tone and inflection of the artist, so you can't tell 0:20:01.119 --> 0:20:03.600 it's happening. No. And there's actually if you look, if 0:20:03.640 --> 0:20:08.680 you look at the um uh Auto Tune product demo videos, 0:20:09.440 --> 0:20:14.040 it's amazing. So there's a there's an um an automatic 0:20:14.160 --> 0:20:17.240 version where like it just you select the key and 0:20:17.320 --> 0:20:19.119 like auto tune do its thing, and it does a 0:20:19.119 --> 0:20:21.760 pretty great job. One of the one of the ways 0:20:21.800 --> 0:20:25.760 that it does this is um it adds like millisecond 0:20:26.240 --> 0:20:30.880 pauses in between notes. There's little spaces between notes, which 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:35.840 gives it a natural feel. Um. There's other selections that 0:20:35.920 --> 0:20:39.200 you can make, like throat length. You can select grow 0:20:39.520 --> 0:20:42.560 how long the singer's throat is uh, and you can 0:20:42.600 --> 0:20:45.880 do that note by note um, so you can make 0:20:45.920 --> 0:20:48.360 the whole thing even more natural. Until basically, what you've 0:20:48.400 --> 0:20:54.760 done is taught auto tune how to simulate a particular 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:59.600 singers singing style and voice so that when it when 0:20:59.720 --> 0:21:03.119 a us that no, it doesn't within the same exact 0:21:03.240 --> 0:21:05.159 range that the singer would have done had they hit 0:21:05.240 --> 0:21:09.280 it correctly. It's pretty amazing and advanced stuff totally. What 0:21:09.880 --> 0:21:12.439 when when normal people think of auto tune, like you 0:21:12.520 --> 0:21:15.719 and me who are not in the music biz um, 0:21:15.800 --> 0:21:20.000 we we think of this thing that's called the zero function. Yes, 0:21:20.119 --> 0:21:21.600 and you know what, let's take a break and we 0:21:21.600 --> 0:21:24.080 will explain what the zero function is right after this. 0:21:34.880 --> 0:21:44.480 Stop all right, the suspense is kidling me. You're gonna 0:21:44.640 --> 0:21:51.480 kid let's kid alright. Zero function. That was essentially what 0:21:51.760 --> 0:21:56.760 the share effect was, Okay, right, yes, go ahead no 0:21:56.760 --> 0:21:58.280 no, no no go ahead, no, no go ahead. You just 0:21:58.320 --> 0:21:59.680 sat up in your chair like you were about to 0:21:59.760 --> 0:22:02.359 arm kind I've been Do you go ahead? Do you 0:22:02.400 --> 0:22:05.480 talk about it? Well, what auto tune does in the 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:09.800 in terms of the zero function is it gets rid 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:14.560 of all of that space and when shares voice changes, 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:18.719 it's immediate. Yeah, all of those notes go right up 0:22:18.720 --> 0:22:22.520 against each other, and it creates this robotic sounding voice. Yeah, 0:22:22.560 --> 0:22:25.560 there's no like rise, it's there's it's not like a 0:22:27.080 --> 0:22:30.439 what's the word I'm looking for? It's uh. It's not 0:22:30.480 --> 0:22:33.800 like a normal vibrato that you would get because in 0:22:33.800 --> 0:22:37.719 the normal vibrato there's there's pauses, there's space in between 0:22:37.720 --> 0:22:41.240 the notes. With this, it's note note all pressed up 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:44.720 against each other, compressed way, and that zero function, um 0:22:45.280 --> 0:22:49.159 is what what It takes any spaces out between the 0:22:49.200 --> 0:22:51.640 notes and creates that robot sound. Yeah, because I think 0:22:51.680 --> 0:22:54.720 auto tune has has a range of numbers to make 0:22:54.720 --> 0:22:56.719 it flow more seamlessly. And when they took it all 0:22:56.720 --> 0:22:58.800 the way down to zero, which means there's nothing there, 0:22:59.119 --> 0:23:00.639 it created that weird I act that they were like, 0:23:01.119 --> 0:23:04.560 share your listen to this, it's weird. Yeah, and she's like, 0:23:04.600 --> 0:23:08.600 I like weird. It's great, baby, I hear number one 0:23:08.680 --> 0:23:16.720 hit in my future. No, you gotta wrot. It's great, baby, No, 0:23:16.960 --> 0:23:22.640 that was that was Jack from Will and Grace. Oh 0:23:22.760 --> 0:23:24.399 do you remember when he thought he was talking to 0:23:24.480 --> 0:23:29.040 a share impersonator. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah yeah, And he's like, no, 0:23:29.600 --> 0:23:34.280 if I could turn back to turn. He was teaching 0:23:34.280 --> 0:23:36.960 her how to say it, sing it correctly. I thoroughly 0:23:37.000 --> 0:23:42.879 enjoyed Will and Grace. It was great. Agreed, All right, 0:23:42.880 --> 0:23:45.800 where are we? Well? You were talking about the share effect, right, 0:23:46.440 --> 0:23:48.359 and that's what it was called again and Tari has 0:23:48.400 --> 0:23:51.240 called this zero function the share effect for many years 0:23:51.960 --> 0:23:55.200 and um and over time, remember her producer just kept 0:23:55.280 --> 0:23:59.280 lying and lying and lying. Over time, other producers independently 0:23:59.320 --> 0:24:01.280 figured out why he had done that. He had used 0:24:01.280 --> 0:24:07.040 the zero function, which is a really obscure tool on 0:24:07.920 --> 0:24:13.640 a software suite that not everybody knew about. Right, So 0:24:13.800 --> 0:24:16.680 it took some some brainpower and some experimentation, but little 0:24:16.680 --> 0:24:19.720 by little some producers figured it out. This one producer 0:24:19.920 --> 0:24:22.960 um did a remix of a j Lo song and 0:24:23.080 --> 0:24:25.439 used it, and he I think was the second person 0:24:25.520 --> 0:24:30.320 to use it, um publicly and uh for a brief time, 0:24:30.320 --> 0:24:33.240 it became known as the Jal effect. Of course, anybody 0:24:33.240 --> 0:24:36.080 who used this without fessing up to it. At first 0:24:36.119 --> 0:24:38.800 in the early two thousands, it was called the whatever effect. 0:24:39.440 --> 0:24:43.200 And there's this producer rapper down in Florida named T Paine, 0:24:44.359 --> 0:24:48.440 and T Paine heard this JL effect. He went on 0:24:48.600 --> 0:24:51.960 a mission to figure out what this was, and he 0:24:52.080 --> 0:24:55.280 finally apparently took him years to figure it out. He 0:24:55.400 --> 0:24:58.040 finally figured out that it was the zero effect on 0:24:58.640 --> 0:25:02.760 this pro tools plug in UM and he started using 0:25:02.760 --> 0:25:06.199 it and just went crazy with it. Like up to 0:25:06.240 --> 0:25:08.439