Wings Of Pegasus - Pitch Correction, Auto Tune

Community Hub 🗨 Just Chatting
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A shoutout to a very interesting and informative channel on Youtube that centres around vocal analysis.

The host, Fil Henley, is a professional guitarist and singer. He’s also an experienced music producer, and a bit of an expert on vocal analysis.

To round it off, Fil’s a genuine, all-round nice bloke, with a very personable nature.
Fil’s channel centres on analysing vocals of various artists, from Joni Mitchell, Barbara Streisand,Freddy Mercury, Karen Carpenter, to modern artists, from topline performers to vocal coaches.

He mainly chooses his subject based on requests from his subscribers, and his presentations utilise on screen software that explains it all very clearly. It really is quite fascinating.

A common theme among his videos is the widespread use of pitch correction in music, something he’s not too fond of; also analysis of artists’ miming, including bands like The Eagles, and a popular vocal coach. There’s no malice or judgement from Fil in his videos; just solid, data based analysis.

I certainly did not realise that pitch correction is now a standard in modern music; which explains alot. Even older musicians music is being re-released pitch corrected. Sad.

Some recent videos that I’d recommend are his analysis of Celine Dion’s performance at the Paris Olympics ( mimed), and my favourite, his analysis of perhaps the greatest concert performance of all time; Queen’s 22 minutes at the Live Aid Concert in 1985. This one in particular, apart from Freddy’s phenomenal performance, showcases the unbelievable level of precision and professionalism by Queen underlying it all. Highly recommended.
Enjoy.

Cheers, Shane

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Great channel, enjoyed many myself. Good shout-out, Shane. Worth watching one or two if you never have.

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Shane @sclay
As you say a very interesting channel I have been a subscriber for quite a while. Music now is like photographs you can’t believe what is real and original anymore.
Michael

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@sclay @MAT1953 Ah. . .the joys of living in the “post truth” world. . . :smirk:

I’m afraid that I hate the culture of present day, mainstream popular music. . and the H word is not one I use lightly. . .autotune is not a thing I agree with. . .and you should hear my wife on the topic. . .as a vocalist she finds it. . .let’s just say we don’t discuss it much. . .

Will have a look Shane as this is a new one to me. As one who likes to make noises through my mouth whilst strumming the guitar, I will hopefully find it enjoyable.

If your previous recommendations are anything to go by I am in for a treat! Cheers!! :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Thanks for the recommendation, Shane :slightly_smiling_face: Something interesting to listen to at work since I dislike autotune and pitch correction with a passion.

The latest video already…What? They dared to pitch-correct Freddy Mercury?!? It cannot be true… Who would think that he sounds better pitch corrected? Why?

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Yeah, the Freddy Mercury one is pure insanity; and really highlights how misinformed and out of touch some of these “professional” producers are.

It is not an overstatement to say to say they are literally killing the music.

Imagine some keen young lad, or lass, in the near future, being introduced to Freddy Mercury via one of these pitch corrected rubbish re-releases. It is not Freddy’s voice at all; the pure magic, the uniqueness, has all been sucked out of it. Its a travesty.

Cheers, Shane

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It’s a real shame, yes. Music has to live, it has to breath and all these little inaccuracuries, quirks, peculiarities etc. are so important for that.

Where is the taste for corrected pitches and autotune coming from, I wonder? Because it’s easier to listen to? Because many people don’t seem to really want to really listen anymore even? Because it’s easier to sell such manipulated music that can be consumed on the go?

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Fil is great, his work on Pitch correction and the rest of his interests is top notch!
I had the good fortune to meet him and also Daisy Pepper (the Bassist) last year when I went to see The Warning, they’re both interesting characters! While I spoke to Fil I asked him about AI in music, his opinion was basically what I have found that I can now spot it easily, and you can confirm it by running it through a Spectrum analyser, everything is too accurately pitch corrected - there are no real nuances, it’s almost sterile.

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Thanks for that recommendation, Shane! Will take a deep dive the next days and weeks for sure.

Being not that fond of autotune and pitch correction myself, too. It just takes out what makes music relatable, emotionally touching, human… and yeah, just being music. :frowning:

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One, because they can, due to technology, and two, it turns a not so great singer into a passable one, meaning ‘stars’ can be, have been, and are being literally manufactured in the studio.

Cheers, Shane

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I’ve seen a few of Fil’s videos, and I’m sure I seen one where he was talking about bands from three early 70’s and 60’s , anywhere from Beatles to the likes of slade and sweet and many more bands . They had to be able to hit the note and be well rehearsed because studio time and tape was so expensive. What annoys me is street buskers who use electronic wizardry ! Is it because they don’t have the ability to play without it ? What ever happened to buskers who just turn up and bang out a good tune.
Don’t get me wrong, as I understand that it is indeed a talent in its self being able to use wizardry , but you also still need to be able to do the job without it.
I know my own home recordings on GarageBand aren’t great but I don’t want them to sound highly polished anyway.
Sorry folks I seem to have gone off on a rant. But it’s a big subject.
Keep on strumming :blush:

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