“Thomas Green

ENGL 2010
Draft
2/15/20

Auto-Tune: The Question of Wrong or Right

Today in the music world, a lot of the music has or is completely Auto-Tune. Some

people use Auto-Tune in their music to correct little mistakes here and there, others use

Auto-Tune to the max making their entire song solely with Auto-Tune, and then there are those

that are in between: People that use Auto-tune a little more than just editing small mistakes,

using it for a good majority of their songs. But some people argue that It is dishonest to use

Auto-Tune, they argue that people want to hear the artist because of how well they can perform

with or without making mistakes. So this begs the question: Is it morally right, or honest, to use

Auto-Tune? In Lessley Anderson’s “Seduced by ‘perfect’ pitch: How Auto-Tune Conquered Pop

Music” she brings up a lot of views on the Auto-Tune debate. She brings up positive and

negative views of the essay and ends her article with her view on Auto-Tune as it being alright

and that she would use it. Would it be possible to use Auto-Tune and still be considered morally

right or okay in the eyes of the music industry?

Anderson talks a lot about how Auto-Tune is a negative thing in her article, so why

would Anderson, in her article, say “If I were a professional musician, would I reject the

opportunity to sound, what I consider to be, ‘my best,’ out of principle? The answer to that is

probably no.” In other words, Anderson says that If she was an artist, she would use Auto-Tune.

This is interesting because throughout her article, she shows many examples of people using

Auto-Tune that are viewed as morally wrong and/or dishonest artists. She gives the example of
Taylor Swift singing a duet with Stevie Nicks at the 2010 Grammys. During the duet, Taylor

sings “...terribly off-key...” and it made people wonder if she was actually good at singing or if

she uses the help of Auto-Tune for her music. Although Anderson’s article has more negative

examples than not, she still tells us that she would use Auto-Tune. Even though this is the case, I

still feel that she is totally right in her idea about how she would use Auto-Tune to fix up her

music, that is, if she was an artist.

Anderson complicates her main argument in her article when she writes, “Hanging above

the toilet in San Francisco’s Different Fur recording studios — where artists like the Alabama

Shakes and Bobby Brown have recorded — is a clipping from Tape Op magazine that reads:

“Don’t admit to Auto-Tune use or editing of drums, unless asked directly. Then admit to half as

much as you really did.” This piece from the Tape Op magazine suggests to the recording studio

that you shouldn’t admit to using Auto-Tune. I believe that Anderson puts this in her article

because she is trying to show all these examples of people thinking that Auto-Tune is bad and

that she is really trying to get her audience to critically think about the topic that she is writing

about. I believe that though it is wise to not admit to using Auto-Tune, for the prevention of any

negative feelings toward your reputation, it shouldn’t be something that makes or breaks an artist

or studio’s reputation. But authenticity does play a major role in why people do or do not listen

to artists’ music.

Though Auto-Tune, I believe, shouldn’t be something that will ruin your “appetite” in an

artist, it does make you critically think about the studio and the artist that produce the music you

listen to. Auto-Tune is something that almost every artist uses, even if the artist wants to use it or

not. Anderson gives the example in her article: “I’ll massage a note every once in a while, and
often I won’t even tell the artist,’ says Eric Drew Feldman, a San Francisco- based musician and

producer...” Sometimes, like in Taylor’s instance, you will find artists that aren’t as good at

singing as you thought they were and it kind of ruins the authenticity of her music. If someone

can just make some lyrics, sing into a microphone and then auto-tune it to make it sound good

then anyone could become famous. That is why Auto-Tune is so trivialized. Once again, it can

make or break an artist’s authenticity. For example, Auto-Tune “made” T-Pains authenticity

because he uses it to the max. And it works so well for him that he told DJ Skee, “It’s makin’ me

money, so I aint about to stop!”

If you listen to music, which I’m almost certain that you do, I strongly encourage you to

think about what you are listening to and ask yourself, “Do I like this?” And if you answered yes

or no to that question, then you don’t need to worry about whether or not the use of Auto-Tune

was involved. On the contrary, you might like the music because of its authenticity, and if that is

the case, then you can go ahead and worry. Overall, it should be perfectly alright for an artist or

studio to use Auto-Tune in their production. I believe this because Auto-Tune is a tool, it is

meant to help someone accomplish something. In the case of music, Auto-Tune is used in just

the way that it was made. And adjusting a note here-and-there really is better and more efficient

than spending more time and money for more retakes.

 Work Cited

Anderson, Lessley. “Seduced by 'Perfect' Pitch: How Auto-Tune Conquered Pop Music.” ​The

Verge​, 27 Feb. 2013, www.theverge.com/2013/2/27/3964406/seduced-by-perfect-pitch-

how-auto-tune-conquered-pop-music.