Buy U a hit single: How Auto-Tune changes music

Baby are you down down down down down. Dooowwn. Dooooown. Instead of paying attention to Jay Sean’s stupid dance moves in the “Down” music video, listen to the way Jay Sean sings the word down at the end of the chorus. Yes, it’s a very catchy tune, one that we’ve all gotten used to singing at Hundo, but there’s something odd about it: Auto-Tune.

Auto-Tune isn't as new as you might think. When Cher made us believe in life after love, she simultaneously showed us the unique powers of this technology. When she tweaked some of the settings in the Auto-Tune software, Cher got that jumpy tune in the word “believe” that’s been stuck in our heads ever since 1996.

For aspiring singers who can’t hit their pitches perfectly, Auto-Tune provides them with a tool to easily sound professional. Thus, with the help of a hundred dollar technology, Average Joe Shower Singer can transform into Billy Joel or Ne-Yo. This is why so many of the songs we hear on the radio sound so good and are sung by people we’ve never heard of before. Jason DeRulo — the guy who sings that "Mmm whatcha say" song — uses Auto-Tune heavily. So does Cobra Starship in "Good Girls Go Bad." Auto-Tune has leveled the playing field when it comes to pop music.

Critics of Auto-Tune argue giving everyone the ability to sing is detrimental to the music industry, because it takes away from the people who actually do have the natural gift of singing in tune. Rap blogs have linked singers using Auto-Tune to baseball players using steroids. One article on MSNBC.com even linked the use of Auto-Tune with a woman getting fake breast implants. Unfortunately, everyone in baseball uses steroids and everyone in Hollywood has implants. So it comes as no surprise that everyone in pop music uses Auto-Tune.

I don’t have a problem with Auto-Tune. Yeah, sometimes producers take it too far and make an entire song sound robotic (just listen to any T-Pain song), but you still have to be a decent singer to avoid having your voice sound like a computer. Also, Auto-Tune can be used for more than just pitch correction. For example, Kanye West used Auto-Tune in his most recent album to reinforce the painful emotions underlying his music. According to an LA Times review of the album, “Auto-Tune masks and distorts his voice in ways that play up how alien such self-doubt and regret seem, coming from a blustery hip-hop star."

Ultimately, Auto-Tune gives amateur musicians a chance to sound professional. No longer is perfect pitch saved for the elite class of people with vocal chords straight from the heavens. Anyone can now realize their dreams of hearing their own songs on the radio when they drive to work — even me. Over the summer my best friend and I put together a bunch of songs with the only a keyboard, a computer and Auto-Tune. Don’t believe me? Check us out at starsnmars.tumblr.com. Let me know what you think — or just wait till you hear us on the radio.

Weinberg junior Naveen Kumar can be reached at naveenkumar2007@u.northwestern.edu.