By Zachary Crockett
Priceonomics.com
October 24, 2017 — Scotts Valley, CA
(Photo above: Andy Hildebrand, inventor of Auto-Tune, lives in Scotts Valley. Source: priceonomics.com)
Hildebrand built the Auto-Tune program over the course of a few months in early 1996, on a specially-equipped Macintosh computer.
Auto-Tune — one of modern history’s most reviled inventions — was an act of mathematical genius.
The pitch correction software, which automatically calibrates out-of-tune singing to perfection, has been used on nearly every chart-topping album for the past 20 years. Along the way, it has been pilloried as the poster child of modern music’s mechanization. WhenTime Magazine declared it “one of the 50 worst inventions of the 20th century,” few came to its defense.
But often lost in this narrative is the story of the invention itself, and the soft-spoken savant who pioneered it. For inventor Andy Hildebrand, Auto-Tune was an incredibly complex product — the result of years of rigorous study, statistical computation, and the creation of algorithms previously deemed to be impossible.
Auto-Tune had been around for a minute before T-Pain came along. Invented by mathematician Andy Hildebrand, it was was released to the public in 1997 and employed to dramatic effect on Cher’s. Season: 6 Episode: The Mafia Andy Bernard, disguised as an Auto Mechanic, does his best to help a lady in distress by giving her a jump-start.
The secret that Auto-Tune inventor Andy Hildebrand is referring to, one still tightly guarded by the recording industry, is that Auto-Tune is generally subterfuge. It’s a clever trick of signal. For two decades, Auto-Tune has stood alone as the worldwide standard in professional pitch (and more recently, time) correction. Now, with Auto-Tune 8, the introduction of Flex-Tune establishes a new standard of natural real-time pitch correction. Also, with Auto-Tune 8, it's virtually impossible to know that Auto-Tune had been used on a track. About Press Copyright Contact us Creators Advertise Developers Terms Privacy Policy & Safety How YouTube works Test new features Press Copyright Contact us Creators.
Hildebrand’s invention has taken him on a crazy journey: He’s given up a lucrative career in oil. He’s changed the economics of the recording industry. He’s been sued by hip-hop artist T-Pain. And in the course of it all, he’s raised pertinent questions about what constitutes “real” music.
Andy Hildebrand was, in his own words, “not a normal kid.”
A self-proclaimed bookworm, he was constantly derailed by life’s grand mysteries, and had trouble sitting still for prolonged periods of time. School was never an interest: when teachers grew weary of slapping him on the wrist with a ruler, they’d stick him in the back of the class, where he wouldn’t bother anybody. “That way,” he says, “I could just stare out of the window.”
After failing the first grade, Hilbrebrand’s academic performance slowly began to improve. Toward the end of grade school, the young delinquent started pulling C’s; in junior high, he made his first B; as a high school senior, he was scraping together occasional A’s. Driven by a newfound passion for science, Hildebrand “decided to start working [his] ass off” — an endeavor that culminated with an electrical engineering PhD from the University of Illinois in 1976.
Continue reading article here: https://priceonomics.com/the-inventor-of-auto-tune/
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Tagged Auto-tune
Auto-Tune 8
Building on 20 years as the overwhelming choice of professional musicians, producers and engineers, Auto-Tune 8 is the new generation of genuine Auto-Tune pitch and time correction.
New in Auto-Tune 8 is Antares’ revolutionary new Flex-Tune real-time pitch correction technology. While providing the seamless, natural pitch correction and audio quality that Auto-Tune is known for, Flex-Tune correction gives singers unmatched freedom to exercise their vocal creativity.
In addition to the option of Flex-Tune, Auto-Tune 8 features a new Low Latency Mode for use during tracking or for live performance, along with a variety of workflow enhancements designed to let you address your pitch and time correction tasks with a maximum of creativity and a minimum of frustration.
Andy Bernard Auto-tune
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Wondering what the differences are? Click here to compare the key features of Auto-Tune EFX 3, Auto-Tune Live and Auto-Tune 8.
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Auto-Tune 8 Automatic Mode (click for full size)
Auto-Tune 8 Graphical Mode (click for full size)
Press and Reviews
The New Yorker examines Auto-Tune's dramatic impact on the music industry in an article by pop-music critic Sasha Frere-Jones.