In Defense of Autotune (Kind of)

Autotune – the very word conjures images of young pop-stars cavorting around mid dance routine, glitz, glamour and studio magic, and is about as far removed from the ‘authentic’ singer-songwriter image as you can get (by the way, if you’re interested you can see my earlier post for more on authenticity).

But more on that later… first off let’s look at what Autotune actually is, and how it works.

Autotune is designed to correct the pitch of a singer’s voice when a performance is off-key. It does this by ‘pulling’ the recorded note to the designated pitch set by the user. This is similar to a technique used in sampling and recording, which has been around for a while and is essentially playing back the sample at a different speed to change the frequency (or pitch) of the sound. Autotune is a bit (well, a lot) more sophisticated than this, but it does still have limitations. The further you need to pull the note to get it in tune, the more you lose the natural quality of the singing voice.

Auto-tune can be used to make an out of tune performance good, but there are limits to its effectiveness if you want the vocal to sound natural – especially if the original recording is way off-key.

So, this brings me to my main point – Autotune is just another tool. Studio tools such as effects (like reverb and delay) and compression (used to increase loudness and smooth out dynamic range) have been used for years to get a particular vocal sound; yet these are not demonised in the same way that Auto-tune is.

And as with most tools, Auto-tune can be (in my opinion, is) overused. I put this down to fashion – for many years, producers of pop music have been after ‘the sound’. In the 80s, it was fashionable for vocals to be drenched in reverb, in the 90s vocals are generally further forward in the mix and given quite a lot of ‘punch’ with compression. These days, we have become used to hearing tuned vocals because they are everywhere – it is the current fashionable sound.

Autotune can also be used creatively though – for example, there have been many recent YouTube video hits of spoken interviews turned into songs using Autotune. Perhaps it’s not exactly high-brow art, but it has caused people to re-think what the technology can and can’t be used for.

Personally, I don’t use Autotune on my vocals. This is a deliberate choice, and one that I’ve made for a couple of reasons: I want people to hear the natural quality of my voice – the real me, so to speak. I can usually hear the effect of Autotune, and to me it sounds ‘too perfect’ and a little forced. And, as someone who records at home, budget is a big constraint. Why spend extra cash on something that I don’t really like or need for the sake of fashion? I wouldn’t do that with clothes, so I certainly wouldn’t do that with something as important as my music.

At the end of the day, it’s mostly about the sound that you’re going for. If you want your vocals to sound polished, perfect and up-to-date, Autotune is a tool that can help you do that. But, if you want to record vocals that sound natural and ‘real’, I’d steer away from it. The choice is up to you.

What Is ‘Real’ Music Anyway?

There’s a lot of discussion among music fans about what is ‘real music’ and what’s not. Usually, it’s more a question of ‘manufactured’ versus ‘proper musician’, which can lead to some frank and pretty derogatory discussions. It is, however, a difficult question answer when you really think about it, but for what it’s worth – here’s my twopence…

When we think about ‘real’ music, what we’re really talking about is how authentic the artist appears to be. Authenticity is about two things; how the artist portrays themselves, and the strength of their musical connection with the listener. When an artist makes a positive connection through their music, they create a relationship with the listener and this is the basis of fandom; the listener begins to buy in to the music and to the artist.

When an artist is fully involved with the production of their music, and are seen to have creative control over it, the connection between fan and artist seems more direct, and thus more powerful. The artist is able to communicate effectively through their songs and through their media image exactly what they wish to portray, whatever genre or style they are working within.

‘Manufactured’ music that appears to be controlled heavily by outside influences (such as producers, additional songwriters and industry professionals) can, arguably, be less effective at creating these same strong relationships with music fans. The  relationships are more transient and changeable, often with the fans quickly moving on to the next big thing.

But the question is, does this make the music any less ‘real’? It may not have been written by the artist who is performing it, it may have snazzy production and Auto-tuned* vocals, but this is nothing new. All music has to be created by someone, be that a producer or the artist themselves. Someone has put their time and energy into writing, playing and recording the songs that you’re listening to. You might not like it, but then that’s your perogative.

So when the latest hit by whomever is topping the charts comes on the radio for the millionth time it’s very easy to dismiss it as manufactured, even when you understand the work that goes into making it. But the truth is, what’s happening there is simply the listener not connecting with the music that they are hearing. Even a self-confessed music snob like me can find examples of pop productions that I enjoy.

In the end, I think, it boils down to two types of music – that which you as a listener can find a connection with, and that which you can’t. You could call this ‘good’ and ‘bad’ if you like (and yes, we all often do!), but really it’s about music you like and music you don’t. It’s all down to taste.

*More on Auto-tune in a future post me-thinks

My Essential Festival Checklist

It’s nearly festival time!

2000trees campsite, 2010 (I think)

The first ‘proper’ festival that we’re attending this year is TwoThousandTrees near Cheltenham. It’s a great little festival and I am definitely looking forward to it, despite the doom and gloom forecast by our friends at the Met Office.

Hubby and I have been to a fair few festivals together over the years, so we like to think that we’ve got the preparation part down to a fine art (through learning experiences like that time we forgot both matches and lighter so we couldn’t light our camping stove…).

So, in the hopes of helping out first time revellers and in excitement for this momentous weekend coming, I thought I’d share my list of festival essentials for the prepared and happy camper:

• Tickets – Seems pretty obvious, but don’t forget your tickets! And not just your festival tickets – make sure you have your travel or parking tickets sorted too.
• Money – There’s usually a cash machine somewhere on a festival site, but there’s also usually a massive queue. Bring enough to keep you going, but keep it safe.
• Tent and sleeping bag (of course) – Your home for the duration. Check that your tent and bedding are still ok before going if you haven’t used them for a while. Or, if you’ve got a shiny new tent, make sure you know how to put it up. Ever tried to put up an unfamiliar tent when it’s pouring and all your stuff is getting soaked? Believe me, it’s not fun.
• Emergency phone – Note the word emergency there.. It is a most sensible thing to have a phone with you, especially if you’re with a group. But please, please don’t spend your whole time texting when you’re watching bands. It’s annoying for the people around you, and it’s more fun for everyone if you let yourself get into the music (sorry, personal bug-bear!).
• Waterproofs – If you’re out in a field for a few days with only a tent for shelter, it’s bound to rain at some point – this is Britain! And with the summer being as wet as it has been this year, forget your waterproofs at your peril….
• Wellies and comfy welly socks – Wet ground gets pretty churned up with thousands of people treading on it, so wellies are a definite must. It always amazes me how often you see people wandering around sporting the ‘soaked trainers with ineffective plastic bags over the top’ look.
  
  The welly socks are a must for me to help stop my always-very-cold feet getting very cold. It won’t work, but I’ll try anyway. Thick socks also keep your feet comfy when you have to walk around a lot between stages.
• Suncream and Shades – It’s unlikely to be sunny for 2000Trees this year (boo!), but even wet days can have sunny spells. Don’t forget to protect yourself from the sun as you can get burnt much more quickly than you expect, especially if you’re fair-skinned like me.
• Torch – Guy ropes are hard enough to see in the daytime, let alone at night. Sites normally have lighting round the stages, but getting through a mess of tents without a torch (and after a few drinks) is very, very tricky.
• Wipes and Loo Roll – Toilet wipes and wet wipes/baby wipes. Baby wipes are good for general hygiene/cleaning up. Toilet wipes and toilet paper for any nasty surprises in the cubicle… put them in your bag or pocket so you’re not caught out! I don’t normally recommend specific products on this blog, but Method Flushable Wipes are pretty good and are environmentally friendly too.
• Snacks – There’s some pretty tasty food stalls at festivals these days, but the cost of buying ALL your food on site adds up. Hubby and I normally take snacks and some emergency tins of beans etc. And tea. Because I run on tea.
• Camping Stove and Pans – To heat up said emergency beans. Washing up gear is useful too, but bulky – hubby and I tend to take a sponge and then use our bigger pan as the bowl… a tea towel is also helpful when you don’t have anywhere to put wet pans. Oh, and don’t forget the lighter…
• Prescription Medicines/Minor Injury Kit – If you have to take medicines regularly then you’ll probably automatically pack them, but it’s easy to forget everyday remedies like hay fever medicine (might just be me…!). Take some plasters, antiseptic wipes/cream and some insect bite cream for those minor mis-haps, and take note of where the medical tent is so you know where to go on the off-chance that something more serious happens.
• Clothes – Take clothes that layer well together. Being a comfort-over-fashion kind of girl, I am definitely an advocate of bringing plenty of warm comfy clothes, which is a challenge when trying to pack lightly. However, even if you’re a proper fashionista, layers are still a good idea – then you can look good and be warm.
  
  It’s a good idea to keep a spare set of clothes in your tent that do not leave it. That way you’ve always got something dry to put on. Trust me, it can make a heck of a difference after a couple of hours in the rain.
• Scissors and String – It’s really surprising how often you need a pair of scissors when you don’t have any to hand. And string is useful for lots of festival things: stringing up a banner so you can find your tent easily, bodged tent repairs, tying stuff to your rucksack to make it easier to carry home – the list goes on.


Main stage, 2000Trees 2009 (not sure who’s playing, sorry)

• Your sense of fun – Seeing as most of this list is full of sensible advice about being prepared, it’s worth remembering that festivals are about fun, music and letting yourself go a bit. So enjoy!

I’ve probably forgotten something – but hopefully this list will help you be festival-ready, especially if it’s your first time. Let me know in the comments if you think I’ve missed something important, or if you have any of your own tips for festival survival. I love hearing from you!

The Favourite Song List

It started with a challenge: Make a list of your thirty favourite songs, he said. As if that was easy.

I should have said ‘no’. I would have said ‘no’, if I’d known just how difficult and all-consuming it would become.

For the past two weeks or so, this list has always been at the back of my mind if I haven’t been consciously thinking about it. It has kept me up late. It has distracted me from work. It has taken over my life and forced me to choose between songs that are loved for different reasons, but loved equally and well.

Today, we sat in the pub and shared what we had compiled. Neither of us could come up with a definitive list, as our opinions changed constantly. And we both tried to limit the number of songs per artist to one… which made it easier to share the broader range of our taste, but more difficult to choose between specific songs.

And now, I’m sharing the list with you, dear reader – in no particular order, I might add.

• Feeder – Comfort in Sound
• Muse – Sing for Absolution
• Gemma Hayes – Back of My Hand
• Counting Crows – Angels of the Silences (acoustic version)
• Radiohead – Street Spirit
• Frank Turner – A Decent Cup of Tea
• Bob Marley – No Woman No Cry
• Beatles – Day in The Life
• Foo Fighters – Hey Johnny Park
• Nirvana – Heart Shaped Box
• Garbage – The Trick is To Keep Breathing
• The Postal Service – The District Sleeps Alone Tonight
• Ben Marwood –  It’s Harder Now To Break Your Stupid Heart
• Dresden Dolls – Girl Anachronism
• Nine Inch Nails – Something I Can Never Have
• Hell is for Heroes – I can Climb Mountains
• Idlewild – In Remote Part
• Biffy Clyro – Who’s Got a Match
• REM – Losing My Religion
• Tim Minchin – If I didn’t Have You
• Kate Bush – Hounds of Love (see also: Futureheads version)
• The Holloways – Generator
• Maximo Park – Girls Who Play Guitar
• Editors – All Sparks
• The Levellers – One Way
• Jim Lockey and The Solemn Sun – Morning Wake Up
• Dive Dive – Ape Like Me
• Sleeper – Factor 41
• Nina Simone – Feelin’ Good
• Van Morrison – Bright Side of the Road

It’s hard to articulate why these are my favourites, and no doubt you will agree or disagree at your leisure.

But what I’ve learnt from this little experiment, what I’ve really truly learned, is that if someone challenges you to list your favourite songs, or films, or paintings, or other cultural artifacts that are easy to love and difficult to quantify… just say no.

6Music’s Milkshake

I love BBC 6Music – not least because they interviewed the lovely Barry Dolan (a.k.a. Oxygen Thief) and played his single Mestle and Porter the other night… But I love them mostly because they play a variety of music that is constantly different, interesting and, most importantly, good.

Nevertheless, I was still a little surprised yesterday morning to hear Andrew Collins play Radiohead’s Idioteque followed swiftly with Milkshake by Kelis. Even on a station as eclectic as 6, that’s a big jump in style.

Image from Wikipedia

But, as I was dancing round my bedroom while trying to find suitable work clothes, I was struck by something just a little odd in the lyrics. And because I am pedantic (or pendantic, as Shaun Keaveny would say) I thought I’d point it out.

The lyrics are (as if you didn’t know):

My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, And they’re like, It’s better than yours; Damn right, it’s better than yours,  I can teach you, But I have to charge

I know you want it, The thing that makes me, What the guys go crazy for.
They lose their minds, The way I wind, I think its time.

La la-la la la, Warm it up,
La la-la la la, The boys are waiting

Wait a second? Warm it up?!

I thought we were making milkshake here… Seriously, who warms up a deliciously cold ice cream and milk-based beverage?

Warm milkshake? No thank you, Kelis. No, thank you.

Why Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ Makes Everyone Cry – WSJ.com

One for my fellow music geeks out there: – I recommend a look at this interesting article on the psychology of Adele’s Someone Like You.

Why Adele’s ‘Someone Like You’ Makes Everyone Cry – WSJ.com.

For me, this confirms what I knew all along – music makes you feel awesome. So, I suppose it makes sense that a particular type of audio stimulation causes your body to release dopamine.

Which is a cue for me to crowbar in this joke: Yay!

Serotonin and Dopamine (source toothpastefordinner.com)

 

P.S apologies for the short post today – it’s the start of a busy weekend, you know. Next weeks posts will be longer, I promise.

Are Albums Really a Dying Artform?

The word ‘dying’ is bandied around a lot when talking about music and how the way we consume it is changing. I had a rant about this a while ago – I forget what sparked it, but my point was that music itself will always have cultural value (as it has for hundreds of years), regardless of the state of the industry around it.

This argument however, as much as I believe that it is true, doesn’t address the way that new technology has had an effect on how we as music fans actually go about listening to music: We are told that albums are in decline, and that consumers these days will only ever download the particular tracks that they want to listen to, and will disregard the rest.

Physical album sales are on the way down, digital sales are on the way up;  ergo, albums are dying.

Everybody knows that, right?

Except, I think that this under-estimates the modern music fan, and how much they care about the music of their favourite artists.

More casual fans may well download just the tracks that they like or have heard on the radio, and not be bothered about checking out the rest of the artist’s work. Dedicated fans who feel that they have a connection with a particular artist, however, are likely to seek out as much material as possible – both new releases and back-catalogue – and the feeling of ownership over the music remains whether it is obtained via digital download or through the purchase of a physical release.

This kind of fan wants to understand the concepts that the artist is trying to put across and are prepared to dedicate valuable time to the listening experience.

Now, let us consider the album itself for a moment. Back in the day, the length of a record was defined by the physical medium on which it was printed. Early recordings were limited to 3 minutes, giving us the classic ’3 minute pop song’. As technology moved on, artists were able to add more songs to their records, giving us the now traditional album format.

Over time, and with the advent of new technology and innovative approaches, the album has, in my opinion, become an art form and not just a format. They can tell stories, explore a theme or concept, or link several themes together through the music and the cover artwork; they are  not just a collection of tracks, but a piece of work as a whole.

This is why I don’t believe that the form will ever really die off completely: people like the experience of listening to a ‘whole’ work. I know I do: I love opening up a CD or record for the first time, looking through the artwork and turning up the volume, sometimes listening again and again until I know the order off by heart. It’s all part of the listening experience for me. I would never consider myself a ‘fan’ of an artist unless I owned at least one of their albums.

Perhaps in the future the market for albums will become a more specialist, but I suspect the album itself will be with us for a while yet. Whether it will still be on disc or another physical or digital format in years to come I don’t know – there are already plenty of creative artists pushing the boundries of what an album is and how it is available – but I think it’ll be fun finding out. Remember, changing isn’t nesessarily the same as dying.

So, that’s my opinion – now I’d like to hear what you think. Let me know in the comments!

What I did on my blogging holidays…

OK, so this post is a little over-due. It’s been ages since I put my blog on hold while I was busy during late August and early September, and I haven’t really talked about what I did in that gap. But I did promise an update, and we all know that keeping promises is important…

So, I’ll start with TreeFest, because that was first.

Jon and I, under our 4014 Project alter-egos, were asked to provide heaps of local music for the TreeFest Festival at Westonbirt Arboretum. We stage-managed the Royal Oak Marquee for the weekend with help and support from the events team at Westonbirt, and our lovely volunteers who apparently had nothing better to do that weekend… and very glad we are that they didn’t too!

Grubby Jack headlined on Saturday and got everyone's toes tapping

Friday night headliners Jim Lockey and the Solemn Sun abandon the stage for an intimate in-crowd performance

I’ll not go into too many details about the event, but suffice to say we consider it a great success, and once again I want to thank everyone who appeared on our line up and everyone who helped out. It was a fab weekend of hard work, lots of laughs, wonderful music, and many a bad pun about loitering-within-tents.

And the good news is that the 4014 Project has been asked back for next year… already plans are a-foot.

If you are interested, check out the 4014 website for more details, a gallery of more TreeFest pics and loads more.

Feeling like we deserved a holiday after all that excitement, hubby and I jetted off to Ibiza to get a well-earned rest. And by rest I mean doing lots of walking and swimming, eating lots of Mediterranean food and drinking lots of wine…

Ibiza is a lovely island if you avoid clubbing (I have nothing against Ibiza club culture, but it’s just not me) and we had great fun exploring the rock pools on the beaches and wandering up the path by the river in Santa Aurelia. Hubby got very excited about all the little lizards running around; gleefully pointing them out to me with cries of  ‘Look! Tiny little dinosaurs!’. Yes, he is in his 30′s now… but that’s no excuse for not being silly.

We spent far more time trying to capture pictures of these little critters and the beautiful views than we did of ourselves doing touristy things; as you can see from the selection here (we even tried out some night photography… ooh, arty!):

So there you go – now everyone knows where I disappeared to for those few weeks of not blogging.

Singer’s Brain vs Guitarist’s Brain: Are They Different?

I wish I could consider myself an excellent all-round musician, but seeing as I’m more a of a realist (Pessimist? No, definitely realist), I know that I am a singer first and foremost, while my instrument skills are essentially just about ‘good enough’ (if there is such a thing) to accompany my voice. I am always trying to get better at guitar, but there’s a bit of a stumbling block that I come across a lot when learning new songs: guitar tab.

For those of you not in the know; guitar tablature, or tab, is a way of documenting guitar music using lines to represent the strings of the guitar and numbers to represent the which note should be fretted. There are heaps of great tabs online, and they are really very useful for learning new songs.

Guitar Tab for 'These Wooden Ideas' by Idlewild (from ultimate-guitar.com*; tabbed by Greame)

The thing is, when you learn a song from a singer’s point of view, you learn the melody. You learn the shape of it and how it flows through the structure of the song. You learn the lyrics and how they fit with the chords. Essentially, you learn the song as a whole.

This isn’t usually the case with guitar tabs – they are often broken down into phrases, licks or verse and chorus sections, often without the lyrics as a reference point (or, as in our example here, just the first line). Which is fine – it makes sense when playing guitar to learn in sections, to get one riff down and then move onto the next and string them together according to the structure of the song. This seems to be how a guitarist’s brain works.

So, the problem for me is that my singer’s brain takes over – it wants to know how the song goes as a whole, how the whole thing flows together before I’ve managed to get the first bit sorted. I also find that when I listen to songs to work out guitar parts my ears get distracted and start listening to the vocal parts… but that might just be me!

So there we go:

Singer’s brain – learns words, melody and how the song flows.

Guitarist’s brain – learns sections and puts together for structure

Guitar tabs naturally tend to lean towards the ‘guitarist’s brain’ way of learning. I mean, of course they do – they are designed for guitarists.

So, how does a singer get round this? Well, to be honest I tend to learn new songs from chord sheets and not tabs. This gives you the structure of the song at a glance, and you have the lyrics to reference where the chord changes are. This helps combine my singer’s way of learning with playing the guitar, but does not give you the full picture of a guitar part, just the essentials.

A bit of a cop-out? Perhaps.

So, by trying to understand the differences between how guitarists and singers learn, I am hoping to combine both ways of thinking into my practice sessions. Let’s see how it goes!

*By the way – if you are looking for guitar tabs ultimate-guitar.com is a good place to start.

It’s Just A Little Crush…

Hello – I am back! I’ve been busy lately, but instead of an update about what I’ve been up to while I’ve been out and about in the real world, I thought I’d re-start my blogging with a random question that has been bugging me:

Is a ‘music crush’ the same as a normal crush?

Frank Turner - yes, we all know I looove him (Image from Wikipedia)

I’ve had quite a few crushes in my time, because once I was a teenage girl… But despite what ‘they’ (whoever they are) seem to suggest, you can still get crushes as a grown up (although you are more likely to get the proverbial taken out of you – see the definition of Twilight Moms at Urban Dictionary).

But here’s the thing – most of the crushes I’ve had have not been completely about looks.

When I was at school I had a thing for Liam Gallagher. Yes, I am utterly embarrassed to admit it now, but at the time I was besotted with him. Not so much because of how he looked – even I could see he wasn’t (isn’t?) as classically good-looking as the neatly-turned-out Boyzone lads that my friends were all mad about – but because I loved Oasis and their music. These days I realise that was because their music sounded like The Beatles re-hashed, and I grew up listening to the Beatles… but I digress.

By the time I hit college, I had out-grown my Oasis obsession and was looking for something new. I didn’t know what I liked really – I listened to punk, metal, rock, acoustic and all sorts of music trying to find my place among them.

Matt Bellamy (image from Muse.mu)

And so I found new crushes: Tori Amos, Adam Duritz of Counting Crows, Shirley Manson of Garbage, and (belatedly, unfortunately) Kurdt Cobain,  – followed later by Dave Grohl,  Muse guitarist Matthew Bellamy, and more recently Tim Minchin (yes, he is a comedian but also a brilliant pianist/songwriter) and Frank Turner.

You’ll notice that some of those in the list are women – which kind of illustrates my point, seeing as I fall largely* into the straight, white, lower middle-class English female group. I admire the people I listed above, not just for how good-looking they are/were (and they are good-looking, in my opinion) but for the passion, the emotion and the skill that they put into their craft.

Tori Amos (image from ToriAmos.com)

You see, it was the songs that I fell in love with before the people – I don’t remember it ever happening the other way round with the musicians that I have had/do have crushes on. And to me listening to these songs, and watching the videos that accompany them is a more intense emotional reaction than the one I have to say, seeing the lovely David Tennent on TV, despite his obvious acting talent.

I’d like to hear what you think – am I being silly, and a crush is a crush however you look at it? Or, is there a special place in your heart for the musicians you admire? Does something else entirely float your boat? Am I just trying to justify the shallow adoration of pretty people? Let me know in the comments, I love to hear from you.

*I say largely because although I’ve never had a same-sex relationship, the idea isn’t totally off-limits to me – but I am married, and as such it’s unlikely to happen! Especially not with someone like Tori Amos, heh!