Crazy messages on here about this auto-tune lark..why? He has often 'treated' his voice in the studio from the 'mommy...' in 1999, through to all the Camille tracks, it's been slowed down, sped up etc for years! IMHO Auto-tune is used in these new releases as a bit of fun & to add another variation on his vocal BUT in no way to enhance / disguise his still exquisite voice.

So, the Q...what's the problem?

Personally I have no issue with him using AutoTune. But I think a lot of people see it as a correctional tool 4 bad singers who can't find their pitch. Prince, of course, is a terrific vocalist and technically doesn't need it, but he uses it just 2 add a special effect 2 his voice like u said. I guess some people see this as degrading, but really at the end of the day, Prince is just having fun with it.

bigd74 said:

Because the Camille voice us still him singing. Autotune is a keyboard controlling the voice melody, anybody can sing with auto tune.

Auto tune is generally used for people who can't sing, that's my only issue. Plus, I think he would sound better without it. I do not like the sound of auto tune, it's as simple as that. Sometimes I don't like the Camille voice either, it just depends on wheher it's done well or not. Somtimes its super cool, sometimes not so much. To each their own. I like the song U Know, just don't care for the auto tune treatment, because I think his voice would sound better without it in this song, but he's trying to reach younger audiences, so be it.

Doozer said:

I think the underlying current is that previous studio alterations of Prince's voice have largely been done to create a different "persona" for him - a character he can use to explore different musical avenues and bend gender boundaries. Because it's widely known that auto tuning is a method that can be used to disguise vocal limitations, people wonder why Prince would touch it. Auto tuning is simply connected to artists who can't cut it in the studio on their own.

nosajd said:

Auto tune is generally used for people who can't sing, that's my only issue. Plus, I think he would sound better without it. I do not like the sound of auto tune, it's as simple as that. Sometimes I don't like the Camille voice either, it just depends on wheher it's done well or not. Somtimes its super cool, sometimes not so much. To each their own. I like the song U Know, just don't care for the auto tune treatment, because I think his voice would sound better without it in this song, but he's trying to reach younger audiences, so be it.

Back in the day he created something unique, personal, different from the mainstream, very artistic. Nowadays he follows trends to appeal to the masses. That's quite sad.

[Edited 9/8/14 6:55am]

ludwig said:

Back in the day he created something unique, different from the mainstream, very artistic. Nowadays he follows trends to appeal to the masses.

back in the day people would fall about laughing at the Camille voice!..usually gets a WTF response..whereas now rappers use it a lot...my reaction for other artists is also now WTF!!!

Behind camille there was a sexual male/female game and it was a culture theme too (think about If I Was Your Girlfriend: who is singing, a male talking about a girl or vice versa or something else).Autotune is a way to approach to younger listeners and sell more.

When I was a boy (around Parade years) I listened young-pop, and Prince was more mature than me, musically. Now many years are gone, I'm a more mature man, musically too. But Prince fails to grow with me and pretend to be an ever-boy, 'cause it is simpler and more lucrative.

There is nothing "bad" in Clouds or U Know: those are nice teen-ager songs written from a old man pretending to have the same age.

ludwig said:

Back in the day he created something unique, personal, different from the mainstream, very artistic. Nowadays he follows trends to appeal to the masses. That's quite sad.

[Edited 9/8/14 6:55am]

auto tune is the junk food of music .. every cheap piece of crap musician uses it on their crappy songs that they can't even sing .. prince does nothing interesting with it .. it's just there .. it cheapens his own music

TrevorAyer said:

auto tune is the junk food of music .. every cheap piece of crap musician uses it on their crappy songs that they can't even sing .. prince does nothing interesting with it .. it's just there .. it cheapens his own music

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

TrevorAyer said:

auto tune is the junk food of music .. every cheap piece of crap musician uses it on their crappy songs that they can't even sing .. prince does nothing interesting with it .. it's just there .. it cheapens his own music

surely it's just a bit of fun?

I find most songs that use auto tune are either bland rnb or crappy boy/girl band pop junk. So the "sound" of auto tune does not resonate well with me. When Prince did it on Incense and Candles I cringed to the nth degree. I still dont like Prince doing it, but I like U Know, I just dont think auto tune is really needed on that, or any, of his songs.

funkyhead said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

surely it's just a bit of fun?

Fun is in the ear of the listener.

funkyhead said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

surely it's just a bit of fun?

As in a Happy Meal, when your hunger is for prime rib, sort of way? I guess.

I guess I'll be echoing pretty much what others said here, but with Camille I always thought Prince used it to really great effect in adding additional layers of meaning and subtlety in his songs, and giving them a sexually ambiguous edge which made them all the more powerful. It's one of the reasons why I think If I Was Your Girlfriend is one of the greatest pop songs ever, he's giving his voice this aspect of femininity while exploring gender roles within a relationship. It perfectly compliments the theme of the song.

With autotune I don't see any of this really, I just see Prince putting on an addition vocal effect on because he can, and overall my main objection to it is that I find it asthetically unattractive. Even if he were trying to make a thematic point through its usage, like, say, artifice in the modern world, I still wouldn't like it as I find it an ugly vocal effect. It doesn't ruin U Know for me, I like the song, but it does detract from it.

I don't even care. I have zero problems with it, it's not like he can't sing so it's clearly a creative choice.

RaspBerryGirlFriend said:

I guess I'll be echoing pretty much what others said here, but with Camille I always thought Prince used it to really great effect in adding additional layers of meaning and subtlety in his songs, and giving them a sexually ambiguous edge which made them all the more powerful. It's one of the reasons why I think If I Was Your Girlfriend is one of the greatest pop songs ever, he's giving his voice this aspect of femininity while exploring gender roles within a relationship. It perfectly compliments the theme of the song.

With autotune I don't see any of this really, I just see Prince putting on an addition vocal effect on because he can, and overall my main objection to it is that I find it asthetically unattractive. Even if he were trying to make a thematic point through its usage, like, say, artifice in the modern world, I still wouldn't like it as I find it an ugly vocal effect. It doesn't ruin U Know for me, I like the song, but it does detract from it.

You pretty much summed it up. Add to that it just doesn't sound good, and the Camille vocal does.

Problem is: Prince's use of auto-tune doesn't add anything to the actual musical experience. He's way too old school.

funkyhead said:

HatrinaHaterwitz said:

surely it's just a bit of fun?

no it is not fun .. it ruins what could be fun music .. it's like pouring ketchup on your salad .. and don't call me shirly!

I don't really like how it sounds. It just makes everything sound thin and lifeless. It's just a digital pitchshifter that sounds like it's all over the place tonally, even if it's supposed to correct the pitch. I don't like it when it's used extensively and I don't even like it when it's used subtly.

Sure, the "Camille" voice is just the voice being pitch-shifted and Prince probably uses just a digital plugin for the purpose these days, but I think he manages to introduce a lot of energy to his songs when he uses it ("Dance 4 Me", "$" and others benefit greatly from it).

The way he used autotune on "Boom" was ok though.

paisley2002 said:

Personally I have no issue with him using AutoTune. But I think a lot of people see it as a correctional tool 4 bad singers who can't find their pitch. Prince, of course, is a terrific vocalist and technically doesn't need it, but he uses it just 2 add a special effect 2 his voice like u said. I guess some people see this as degrading, but really at the end of the day, Prince is just having fun with it.

I have no problem with prince using effects on his voice if it's creative and he has used all kinds

of effects in the past but he is not being creative with auto tune.He is following what the so called

"sound of today" is.Look at songs like "Boom" and "Silicon",that's creative.I bet "U Know" would sound just as good if not better without auto tune imo.

It's one thing to use a special effect to make something sound a certain way you want it to sound. You can use effects on voices - Peter Frampton's squawkbox, Roger from Zapp's vocoder etc. It's another thing to use technology to re-draw a waveform to make a bad singer sing in tune. I just don't like it. I'd rather hear someone's voice bending up to meet the note, sharpen just a hair as it gets more intense, do the natural things a human voice would do.

In the same way, I like the sound of a drum machine but I don't like to hear them imitate the tone of real drums.

paisley2002 said:

Personally I have no issue with him using AutoTune. But I think a lot of people see it as a correctional tool 4 bad singers who can't find their pitch. Prince, of course, is a terrific vocalist and technically doesn't need it, but he uses it just 2 add a special effect 2 his voice like u said. I guess some people see this as degrading, but really at the end of the day, Prince is just having fun with it.

I agree.
... but leave it to Jay-Z who raps about it, saying death to autotune because of its abuse.

bigd74 said:

Because the Camille voice us still him singing. Autotune is a keyboard controlling the voice melody, anybody can sing with auto tune.

No, it isn't that at all.

Autotune CAN be used that way. Prince is not using it that way and neither are most abusers.

Autotune can be quite subtle if the singer is good. It can be set to adjust notes that are a little off. It is used a lot in the industry in ways that most folks don't notice.

Prince is clearly using it for an effect since his singing ability and the effortless nature therein renders autotune pointless as a crutch. The reason you can HEAR it when Prince uses it is because he WANTS you to hear it. If if were there to correct anything he could get close enough to the note that all but the most trained ear couldn't even detect it. I promise.

This is the same bullshit argument about everything new. When I started playing guitar at the ass-end of the 80s my grandfather would constantly be complaining about me using distortion. He felt I was only using it to cover my mistakes. Autotune is no different.

It's an effect NO DIFFERENT than the Camille voice because it is Prince singing. If you turned off the autotune on the track it would sound like a normal, IN-TUNE, Prince vocal. He has the settings to the extreme so you can hear it.

The old timers complained about distortion on guitars. Jimi Hendrix's first record came with a sticker on the front warning the buyer that the distortion was intentional and that the record was not damaged.

As a creator of music, I find autotune interesting. I don't personally use it, but I've though many times that it could be used to create some unnatural soundscapes. Not just on the voice, either.

The reason it is so hated today is because it was used as a crutch for people who look good, dance well but can't sing. For a creative person with skill autotune, (like every other piece of technology) can be a valuable resource if used that way.

To sum it up - Prince is a great singer. He doesn't need autotune. Using it occasionally as he does is an aesthetic choice, not a failure to sing.

Personally, I think he just about got away with the Auto-tune in U Know, there is kind of a thin line with the use of it, most push it too far and it sounds stupid. I hate the fact most pop songs these days contain it (Will-i-am, Kanye est etc...)