LuMax76 wrote: 
Guess you better head for the bathroom soon.  Eat more cheese.

CRAP! :-(
 

 tompoll wrote:  
Auto tune has been used in the music recording industry since the late 1990's.  I'm not sure I'd consider that "a long time" in relation to the history of recorded music.

 zipper wrote: 
Came here to say exactly this.

Yikes, first Chicane and now this...two Auto-tuned songs in a row. Make it stop, Bill! I listen to RP to get AWAY from that cheesy, pervasive gimmick!

 fredriley wrote: 
It's a tool (technically a plug-in) used in computer-based audio tools for pitch correction. Just like one can enhance photos using PhotoShop and similar tools, and a myriad of plug-ins, one can work magic (or perform hack jobs) in the digital audio realm using Pro Tools, Logic, or similar tools, and a corresponding myriad of plug-ins.

Auto Tune has been around a long time. It changes the pitch of an audio track based on a set scale or key. It changes the audio to get it to hunt closer to the closest note in the chosen scale or key. If a note is a bit sharp it'll flatten it, and vice-versa.

Its parameters can all be tweaked, including how aggressive it is in moving the audio. It can be set to make subtle changes, or to literally snap the audio to the nearest note. I personally think it's set too aggressively in this song, as I can hear his sustained notes "step" around, which I find distracting.

Fun, huh?

 zipper wrote:  Hahahahaha!!!!

Shouldn't they have a tune titled Jethro Tull?

 tompoll wrote: 
Ok, I give in. What is auto-tune? I'm not a musician, just an innocent bystander, so all this slagging off of autotune is very confusing.

Nice creepy song, perfectly expressing an unrequited teen crush, of which I had a few, so I can understand what yer man's singing about. Started as a 3, moving up the scale as I listen to it more closely.

 tompoll wrote: 

It's not too much for me in this tune.  It seems more for effect (like using a Leslie amp or a phase-shifter) than it is to "polish the vocals" to sound more professional. 

it's a drag. and it's creepy. it needs to go away.

Well.....

I love it!

9

Aqualung - Strange and Beautiful
Chicane - Autumn Tactics

As good as this segue is, both songs could be actually one!

Bill should really play more Aqualung, this is a good song and all but most people here are correct in suggesting it's over-produced and starting to sound a bit dated.  Sucks to be on a major label is all I can say to that.  

I prefer Still Life and Memory Man albums, which are hugely under-rated imho, I find it a bit strange Aqualung are represented on RP with Strange and Beautiful, their most "commercial" and mainstream song.  It's a bit like representing the Beatles through "I wanna hold your hand".....their best (selling) song. ;)

His auto-tuned warbling is distracting!

pitch control please !

meh^meh

Very nice transition from Chicane to Aqualung! 

 lewie221 wrote: 
Sure. I use AutoTune frequently in mixes to smooth out vocals. Like almost anything, it's a great tool, but it can easily be overused. Using the hard correction as a style was cute at first, but now I find it cliche and simply annoying.

A little AutoTune (very little!) is great for getting 5% more out of a strong vocal track. AutoTune or similar pitch correction is likely on most vocals you hear, it's just used judiciously and doesn't leave irritating artifacts.

 spaceman wrote: 
Hear hear.

Can anyone point out a song not rendered awful by auto-tune? My hypothesis is that there isn't one.

it sounds like elevator music slowed down...and some guy signing karaoke in that same elevator....

I have no strong feelings one way or the other...just meh.

Maybe it's because this is the first time I've heard this song while listening to the 192kbps channel, but I never noticed someone rocking out on the triangle toward the end.  Kinda weak.

Quick question: are you really "secretly falling apart" if you're singing about it?

It's blowy and sucky, at the same time.

Creepy stalker song -  it could be used as background on CSI.

Whew, for a moment I thought this might be Jethro Tull.

 old_shep wrote:  

Not that I would blame you, but you must have never heard any of N Sync's music, if you confuse it with this.

N Sync ?

 rcurrier wrote: 

Ah, Aqualung my friend, don't ya run away uneasy.........................