If you’re more Shakti Kapoor than Shakti Kapoor, technology can now give your voice the X-factor like Sonu Nigam.
ITV was criticised in 2010 for ‘auto tuning’ contestants’ voices on The X Factor singing audition programs. The technology is employed to tweak dodgy vocals into the polished sound we now expect on TV, but how does it work? Auto-Tune is the brand-name of the pitch-correction software from Antares.
Once the key and scale of a recording are set (by the sound editor or by the software), Auto-Tune analyses every note for deviation from target notes in the required scale. For off-key notes, the frequency of the output signal is altered so the pitch is corrected but the recording retains the voice’s characteristics.
This technology is now used in most commercially recorded music and used well, it’s undetectable. Bad auto-tuning can be heard as bubbly or jagged changes in pitch. Best results are achieved by only tuning obviously off-key notes, rather than the whole recording. Now, if only they could work out how to add the software to karaoke machines…
This Makes me understand why 3 out of every 10 Punjabi are making a career in singing. :D :D :D
