Despite tension over Jay-Z's single, 'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune,' T-Pain seems to really want to get on the hip-hop vet's good side. After dissing him, then apologizing later for it, the auto. Five years ago during the album promotion for Blueprint 3, Jay Z was on a mission to make a statement on hip-hop's reliance on Auto-Tune.His first single from his 11th studio LP was 'D.O.A. Jay-Z Kills Auto-Tune; T-Pain Picks Worst Possible Weekend to Buy Big-Ass Chain. By Lane Brown. By decree of the Jiggaman, Auto-Tune is dead! On Friday night, Hot 97’s Funkmaster Flex premiered the first street single from Jay-Z’s upcoming Blueprint 3, “D.O.A.
According to Antares, more than 90 percent of its Auto-Tune units are in the hands of hobbyists; amateur musicians and producers looking to smooth out their latest basement recording [source: Matson]. As hundreds of T-Pain copycats began permeating the airwaves, homemade Auto-Tune creations began exploding across the Internet.
One of the most prominent became 'Auto-Tune the News,' a YouTube series that uses Auto-Tune to turn news clips into pop songs. Produced by Brooklyn soul band the Gregory Brothers, the videos coaxed Auto-Tuned performances out of Barack Obama, Hugo Chavez and even Winston Churchill. Their biggest hit, however, was 2010's 'Bed Intruder Song.' The brothers took local news footage of Hunstville, Ala., resident Antoine Dodson delivering colorful warnings to a neighborhood intruder and Auto-Tuned it to create a catchy hit that reached No. 89 on the pop charts [source: Peters].
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Advertisers also threw their hat into the Auto-Tune ring. In 2009, Wendy's aired their 'Frosty Posse' commercial featuring a gang of office workers belting out Auto-Tuned rhymes while break dancing down the street to grab a cup of soft-serve ice cream. Watching the commercial from his Manhattan apartment, rapper Jay-Z suddenly realized that Auto-Tune had finally gone too far.
Enraged by the ad, the rapper soon penned 'D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune),' a vicious musical attack on the digital craze. 'I know we facin' a recession, but the music y'all makin' gonna make it the great depression … get back to rap, you T-Painin' too much.' In interviews, Jay-Z claimed Auto-Tune was becoming a musical crutch that was spoiling otherwise good tracks. 'I just think in hip-hop, when a trend becomes a gimmick, it's time to move on,' he told a Chicago radio station [source: Reid]. Other musicians chimed in with their own Auto-Tune displeasure, most notably Death Cab for Cutie, who showed up to the 2009 Grammys wearing anti-Auto-Tune blue ribbons [source: Cross].
![Death Of Auto Tune T Pain Death Of Auto Tune T Pain](https://mondrian.mashable.com/2012%252F12%252F04%252Fcd%252Fthedeathofa.cia.jpg%252F950x534.jpg?signature=qrAdY5P5pW-kAXjyIe4Hh2cqQNY=)
Hildebrand has declared his innocence in the Auto-Tune fight, saying it's akin to blaming General Motors for inventing car crashes. Lmms plugins download. But, in response to Jay-Z, his company did publish a cheeky press release with a picture of an Auto-Tune box declaring 'the reports of [its] death have been greatly exaggerated.' Despite all the hype, the Cher Effect has never made much money for Antares. Most of its Auto-Tune units continue to be purchased by studios and musicians looking to use the software for its intended purpose: smoothing out the vocals in music tracks.
Even if the Cher Effect disappears entirely from the music world, as long as singers are making mistakes, it looks like Auto-Tune is here to stay.
T Pain Auto Tune Software
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Sources
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- Antares Audio Technologies. 'A Brief History of Antares.' (Feb. 24, 2011)http://www.antarestech.com/about/history.shtml
- Berthelson, Brandy. 'Auto-Tune: Music's Dirty Little Secret.' Sept. 23, 2009. (March 8, 2011)http://joonbug.com/national/frequency/Auto-Tune-Musics-Dirty-Little-Secret/wBONVRNZ0V3
- Cross, Alan. 'The History of the Scourge That Is Auto-Tune.' Jan. 17, 2011. (Feb. 24, 2011)http://exploremusic.com/show/the-history-of-the-scourge-that-is-auto-tune/
- Diaz, Joe. 'The Fate of Auto-Tune.' Oct. 29, 2009. (Feb. 24, 2011)http://ocw.mit.edu/courses/music-and-theater-arts/21m-380-music-and-technology-contemporary-history-and-aesthetics-fall-2009/projects/MIT21M_380F09_proj_mtech_3.pdf
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It's been months since Jay-Zdropped his controversial 'D.O.A. (Death Of Auto-Tune)' track, but it's still making waves.
Ask regular Auto-Tune user Lil Wayne about the program's vitals and he'll tell you it's alive and well. In a recent interview with BBC's Tim Westwood, he said the Auto-Tune effect isn't going to die any time soon if he has any say.
'I was starting to think about naming my album--I got a new album coming out.. After The Rebirth one--we gonna name it Rebirth 2: Rebirth of Auto-Tune,' Weezy said jokingly.
The tension over Auto-Tune hit a boiling point when T-Pain took offense to Jay's 'D.O.A.' First Pain dissed him in Vegas, then he clarified his comments saying he was frustrated. He even dropped an apologetic freestyle.
'There's no such thing as 'Death of Auto-Tune.' T-Pain is my dude,' Lil Wayne told Westwood. 'He's on everybody single, he's been on everybody single, and he had auto-tune on every single one of them. So, every song I do with him, he better have auto-tune on it.'
Wayne continued, 'I love it. Keep your Auto-Tune popping. Auto-tune ain't dead, you got the whole game using that. Don't talk about the music I've heard [out in the UK], everybody is using Auto-Tune out here too. So, no death of Auto-Tune. I've heard songs [out in the UK]. You know at home, everybody got auto-tune. You can't find a song without Auto-Tune,' he continued.
Jay-z Death Of Autotune
According to the rapper, there's nothing wrong with using the vocal tuner, even if the market is being saturated by it.
Death Of Autotune
'I say 'If you know how to use it right--nah, if the song sound nice, do it.' Why not?' Wayne said. 'Auto-tune is like dollars. They didn't make Auto-Tune to say 'You can't use it.' Use it.'