Yearly Archives: 2011

Autotune has slowly become the bane of my musical experience. The original purpose of the audio processor was to correct pitches in vocal and instrumental works. But, music, and art in general,  for me, is finding beauty in the imperfections. The musicians may not be perfectly in tune, but that gave them a human quality, knowing that those were their real voices and the amount of emotion they put into their songs.

Auto-tune Program

I will admit when I first heard auto-tuned, I found it appealing. Actually, I did not even know it was auto-tuned. Remember, Cher’s 1998 song, “Believe?” That song was one of my favorites from the ’90s. The auto-tune craze, however, did not catch on until T-Pain released his first single, I’m Sprung, in 2005.

Immediately when I heard T-pain’s nasally, electronic voice, I thought of the Zapp Band, a soul and funk band from the ’80s who were known for their use of the talk box vocal distortion device. If you are not familiar with who they are, listen to “Computer Love,” “I Want To Be Your Man” or Tupac and Dr. Dre’s “California Love”.

However, what separated singers like Roger Troutman (the Zapp Band), Cher, and even T-pain, from some “singers” of today is that they did not use vocal effects as a crutch. They can sing without it; for example, listen to T-pain without the auto-tune. Auto-tune is only used as a tool, for a vocal effect that sounds interesting.

Several of today’s most popular musicians do not have great voices and use auto-tune often to disguise them, or to hide their voices in order to jump on the bandwagon. Do I need to remind you of the Rebecca Black catastrophe? In addition to that, there are rappers who use it to pretend to be singers when they should obviously stick to rapping. Yes, I am looking at you, Drake!

Seriously, I would prefer someone singing in their natural voice over singing with auto-tune, even if they did not have the most stunning voice. Using technology is not wrong, but if there is no artistry to back it up, what is the point?

The crowded 6 train on any given day.

Cramming into a subway car full of tired commuters during the bleak rush hours to and from school or work, the last thing I want is to be disturbed. Unless engaged in conversation, I like my quiet down time during the ride, whether by curling up with a book or the New York Times app or dozing to my current favorite playlist. Either way, I like to drown out the noise and try to relax. That’s next to impossible when the rider beside me thinks I’m just itching to hear whatever he or she’s listening to these days. I don’t know about you but as far as I know, the subway isn’t about blasting your musical tastes.

It’s downright frustrating when I’m forced to hear scratchy rock or hip-hop second hand from somebody else’s too loud mp3 player.  How difficult is it to keep the volume low? Just high enough so that only one person can hear it–the one who’s wearing the headphones?

Do you like Florence and the Machine? Yes? No? Maybe so? Ah, well, I'll keep the volume to a minimum anyway.

I have a personal rule for this: If you can still hear the whir of the train and the announcements fairly clearly, you’re not unreasonably loud. Double check the decibel level by removing the headphones for a moment to make sure you can only hear it from close contact. It’s not an exact science but it’s simple enough.

I’m not the only one complaining; there’s even an online forum on the topic with other advice. Its users’ odd solution: earplugs. Their most sensible one: better quality IEM headphones. Not a bad investment. Think about it, you hear your music with better sound quality, and I don’t hear it at all.

Trying to catch a nap on the way home at a quarter to 11 pm is a little difficult when some guy a few feet away is blaring Spanish music from somewhere on his person. I don't even see the device but I assume it's coming from a phone tucked safely in his pocket. (I couldn't inconspicuously take a photo of him without giving away my cover of playing a very serious game on my phone.)

But, again, therein lies the rub. There are those who forgo the headphones entirely. Ah, the kind and selfless individuals who are generous enough to play the music straight off of their android phones at an unruly volume that I’ve never seen a good Samaritan argue against.

Why, when the spaghetti debacle a few weeks ago seemed to stir up so much debate about subway etiquette, does this go ignored?

True, the subway is a public place. But unless you’re performing live, I really don’t mind if you keep your music to yourself. It’s not your private bedroom, so turn the volume down, please!