Auto-Tune，从石油工业到音乐领域，它已成为过去二十年流行音乐中不可或缺的一部分。本文探讨了Auto-Tune的起源、发展和影响，以及它如何改变了音乐创作的方式。从Cher和T-Pain等艺术家对其的运用，到如今音乐制作中无处不在的应用，Auto-Tune引发了褒贬不一的评价。文章认为，与其将其视为掩盖音乐缺陷的工具，不如将其视为另一种乐器。同时，文章也展望了人工智能时代音乐的未来，探讨了AI音乐工具的可能性和潜在影响，并引发了对未来音乐发展方向的思考。

🎵 **Auto-Tune的起源：**Auto-Tune最初并非用于音乐领域，而是起源于石油和天然气行业，后来被应用于音频处理，并逐渐成为音乐制作的重要工具。

🎤 **Auto-Tune的普及：**从Cher和T-Pain等艺术家的运用开始，Auto-Tune迅速在音乐行业流行开来，并成为一种普遍使用的音频处理技术，几乎渗透到所有类型的流行音乐中。

🔄 **Auto-Tune的争议与价值：**Auto-Tune曾引发争议，被认为是掩盖音乐缺陷的工具，但文章认为，将其视为一种新的音乐工具，而非缺陷的掩盖，或许更能体现其价值。

🤖 **人工智能时代音乐的未来：**随着音乐制作过程的数字化和完善，Auto-Tune带来的改变将持续存在。文章探讨了AI音乐工具的可能性和潜在影响，例如Suno和Udio等工具，以及艺术家可能如何使用和滥用AI技术。

🤔 **AI音乐时代的展望：**文章最后引发了对AI音乐时代的思考，探讨了AI音乐的未来发展方向，以及它可能带来的潜在影响，并以“Believe”为例，预示着AI音乐时代的到来。

Popular music changes all the time, but there’s been one consistent element in practically everything released in the last two decades: Auto-Tune is everywhere. What started as a simple audio processing tool in the 1990s has become the dominant force in music. Artists are training to sing with Auto-Tune; songs sound like Auto-Tune. Like it or hate it, Auto-Tune is everywhere. And to be clear, most people like it.

On this episode of The Vergecast, the second installment in our series about the future of music, music journalist and Switched on Pop co-host Charlie Harding tells us the story of Auto-Tune. (Disclosure: Switched on Pop is part of the Vox Media Podcast Network, as is The Vergecast.) It starts, of all places, in the oil and gas industry. It involves artists like Cher and T-Pain, spreads like wildfire throughout the music business, and quickly becomes so utterly ubiquitous that you probably notice when Auto-Tune isn’t used more than when it is.

We’re now more than two decades into the Auto-Tune era, and Charlie makes the case that all the backlash and frustration with Auto-Tune is both overrated and misguided. Maybe, after all this time, we should think of Auto-Tune not as a way to mask our deficiencies as musicians, but just as another instrument to play. And as ever more of the music-making process becomes digitized and perfectible, the change Auto-Tune wrought isn’t going anywhere.

As we barrel toward whatever the “AI era” of music will be, we also look for clues in Auto-Tune’s story that point to what’s coming next. We talk about the distinct sound that comes from tools like Suno and Udio, how artists will use and abuse AI, and whether we should be worried about what it all means. We haven’t yet found the “Believe” of the AI music era, but it’s probably coming.

If you want to know more about everything we discuss in this episode, here are some links to get you started:

Charlie Harding on XSwitched on PopFrom Pitchfork: How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular MusicFrom Rick Beato: How Auto-Tune DESTROYED Popular MusicFrom Gabi Belle: The Problem with Autotune on TikTok

We also asked Charlie for his off-the-cuff thoughts on the ultimate Auto-Tune and vocal processing playlist. Here are a few of his suggestions, first from the pre-Auto-Tune days:

And then for some canonical Auto-Tune hits, in no particular order: