Live vs. Recorded: Comparing Apples Oranges to Get Fruit Salad
2013; Routledge; Volume: 69; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
2769-4046
Autores Tópico(s)Music Technology and Sound Studies
ResumoSEVERAL YEARS AGO my husband and enjoyed some rare video footage of singer/songwriter Don McLean performing his early 1970s hit American Pie. It was recorded in a coffeehouse setting, just him, his acoustic guitar, and a single microphone before microphones had developed into the ultrasensitive tools they have become. In fact, nothing about the sound had been processed. The performance was real, as in authentic and heartfelt. was reminded of a 2009 Time magazine article, Tune: Why Pop Music Sounds Perfect, about the use of pitch correction software in the recording industry.1 began thinking about what pitch correction software and the ever more refined ways sound production is used for recordings meant for my work as a classical and Contemporary Commercial Music (CCM) independent voice teacher.The pitch correction software Auto Tune is sometimes referenced incorrectly to describe all software programs and their production capabilities, including pitch correction. The widespread use of Auto Tune and Melodyne software-just two of the recording industry pitch correction software standards-caught the general public by surprise after the Time magazine article was published, though the software had been used to record singers regularly since Cher's 1998 popular mega-hit recording Believe.2 Actually, audio processing such as compression and equalization has been used to master and edit recordings for much longer, and was developed primarily because recording microphones became more and more sophisticated.While pitch correction software and recording production techniques are two different topics, my goal in this article is to share how important it is for voice teachers to understand how radically different recordings are from nonproduced singing performances. use the term nonproduced singing performances rather than live because Auto Tune can be used during performances. Many live performances are audio processed before being released in visual media. The recent movie version of the musical Les Miserables is an example. The actors and actresses have been billed as singing live, and while most do a very credible job, all the singing was tweaked and routed through audio processors and mixed with the orchestra. The crew credits for the movie list over forty people as part of the Sound Design Department, and twenty-three are listed in the Music Department.It is important to point that considerable skill is needed to use pitch correction software programs effectively. The programs can be used to produce and shape a panorama of acoustic effects and distortions, such as the frequent grunt or vocal fry that is often heard at the beginning of a phrase or word in some popular music. Think of Michael Jackson's recording of Billie Jean as an example of the vocal grunt. On the Exam Board of the Royal Schools of Music's website, sound engineers shared, via a forum thread tided Autotune, Is It Cheating? that software is frequently used to even out an opera singer's vibrato. It is possible to create a slightly different, virtual throat shape to make the singer's sound darker or brighter.3 What voice teachers and singers often describe as cheating, producers, engineers, and many classical and contemporary composers view as access to a virtual painter's palette.There is general agreement in the recording industry, however, that if you need to use software to cover up a lack of technique, that is a problem. Nashville recording engineer and producer Jim Frazier, who has worked with popular recording artists such as Joy Williams of The Civil Wars and SHeDAISY, said in a phone conversation with me, I can tune up and put effects around a singer, and place great instrumentalists and arrangements behind them, but cannot make the song sing. That is up to the singer.4 (As a side note, Frazier also says that he is more likely to hire a studio session singer who can sightread both written music and charts, improvise, and sing in tune, because it saves his project money and time. …
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