Robot Voice Must Be Stopped
I can’t take it anymore. Every cheesy pop song for the last several years is using that grating “robot voice”. Make it stop. Can’t these musicians/producers see that robot voice is the very thing we will be mocking about the music of the 2000′s in a few years? Sure, using Robot Voice is a way to hide the fact that one can’t sing but I can’t take it anymore. Robot Voice must go.
(Feel free to add links to songs that are egregious Robot Voice offenders in the comments…)
November 11, 2009 in Music | Comments (25)
Daft Punk is the only one allowed to use auto tune, folks. FACT.
Comment by Susan M — November 11, 2009 @ 12:25 pm
“FACT”
Susan FTW!
Comment by Geoff J — November 11, 2009 @ 12:32 pm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGoi1MSGu64
Comment by Clark — November 11, 2009 @ 12:57 pm
Hehe. Nice pull Clark. A fine example of acceptable use of (human generated) robot voice.
Comment by Geoff J — November 11, 2009 @ 1:03 pm
t-pain can use it, too, but only when he’s trying to be funny.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITT6bYYGVfM&feature=youtube_gdata
also see lonely island’s “i’m on a boat,” which i can’t link from my phone.
Comment by makakona — November 11, 2009 @ 1:16 pm
How about this one then?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDn2lbIltHM
Comment by Clark — November 11, 2009 @ 1:24 pm
No way Clark. The Frampton talk-box is definitely not the Robot Voice that must be stopped. We need more talk box and Wah-wah pedals these days, not less.
Makakona — great link.
Comment by Geoff J — November 11, 2009 @ 1:29 pm
I’m not exactly sure what you mean by “robot voice,” but auto tune really bugs me. I mean, I guess I can understand why they would auto tune a child actor like Miranda Cosgrove to try to launch the popstar songstress part of her career when she really can’t actually hold a tune. But what about someone like Rhianna? Isn’t she supposed to have a good voice? Why should she need to be auto-tuned?
Comment by BTD Greg — November 11, 2009 @ 1:36 pm
I’m with Greg. Auto-Tune is sort of ridiculous, as Jimmy pointed out in makakona’s link. But I do approve of its use for humor, such as the body of work of the Gregory Brothers.
Comment by Ben Pratt — November 11, 2009 @ 1:58 pm
Yes I mean Auto-Tune. I call it Robot Voice because I can’t bring myself to call it anything that is not derisive.
Comment by Geoff J — November 11, 2009 @ 2:00 pm
Interestingly, Wiki blames first Cher, then T-Pain for the auto-tune craze.
Comment by BTD Greg — November 11, 2009 @ 2:13 pm
BTD Greg: I always suspected it was Cher. Do you believe in love? I know I do.
Comment by BrianJ — November 11, 2009 @ 2:17 pm
Yeah that hideous Cher song was an early example. Seems like Shania Twain did an early robot voice song too.
As you mentioned, now it is the official voice of every child actor with their obligatory craptastic pop song offering.
Comment by Geoff J — November 11, 2009 @ 2:20 pm
That Cher song is the worst thing that ever happened to music … and it is the perfect example of the odious quality to which Geoff J. is referring.
Comment by danithew — November 11, 2009 @ 2:25 pm
How can you hate the Cher song? I can feel something inside me say “I really don’t think you’re strong enough, no.”
Comment by BrianJ — November 11, 2009 @ 2:33 pm
How about this one?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SzLyG-cwxGU
Comment by Clark — November 11, 2009 @ 2:33 pm
Jay-Z says the robot voice will destroy Hip-Hop and R&B. I don’t know if he meant that as a good thing or a bad thing. I only know how I took it (good).
Comment by jjohnsen — November 11, 2009 @ 3:57 pm
LOL. If ever there was a style that needed re-invention it is hip hop. They’ve been repeating the same thing over and over again for years.
Comment by Clark — November 11, 2009 @ 4:16 pm
This cracks me up:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUSIIgt7uAg
Comment by Susan M — November 11, 2009 @ 4:25 pm
Har! That is classic Susan.
Comment by Geoff J — November 11, 2009 @ 4:45 pm
I think one of the most recent egregious offenders is Leighton Meester. If you don’t mind scrubbing off your retinas later, you can watch her new video on the CW website, or she’s also featured in Cobra Starship’s “Good Girls Go Bad.”
Comment by Heather P. — November 11, 2009 @ 6:58 pm
I know I’m a geek, but I kind of like those “Symphony of Science” ones that are done on Sagan, Feynman, and Hawking’s talks. Though autotuning Hawking might lead to some bad feedback effects. You’ve got to be careful there.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGK84Poeynk
Comment by peetie — November 12, 2009 @ 12:46 pm
Robot voice (i.e. Cylons, Daft, etc…)
http://www.vintagesynth.com/misc/ems_vocoder.php
Pitch correction that Geoff is probably refering to:
http://www.antarestech.com/products/auto-tune-evo.shtml
Apples and Oranges.
Comment by jm — November 12, 2009 @ 1:07 pm
It’s so cool how, once again, Geoff J and Jay-Z are right there on the same wavelength.
Comment by MCQ — November 12, 2009 @ 10:14 pm
So, is Owl City in or out? (I love it!)
Comment by FHL — November 13, 2009 @ 1:38 pm