Nobody will ever love this delusional, overblown, talentless asshole anywhere NEAR as much as he loves himself.

I can't wait until he goes the MC Hammer route. He'll be standing in the soup kitchen or the unemployment line, still trying to bend over far enough to kiss his own ass.

MaxxLarge: Nobody will ever love this delusional, overblown, talentless asshole anywhere NEAR as much as he loves himself.

I can't wait until he goes the MC Hammer route. He'll be standing in the soup kitchen or the unemployment line, still trying to bend over far enough to kiss his own ass.

But you forget - unlike Hammer, this douchebag is actually talented and his music is somewhat enjoyable (if you're into that kind music). Hammer lost everything and couldn't get it back because he had no discernible skills or talents with which to do so. Kanye isn't similarly handicapped.

MacEnvy: this douchebag is actually talented and his music is somewhat enjoyable

Seriously?! Granted I'm a middle-aged white guy whose exposure to the rap/hip-hop world is limited, but I couldn't believe what I heard when I listened to some of his "808s" album. What a load of horsesh*t that is. Didn't that auto-tune vocal sound start and end with Cher?

He may be talented in his specific genre, but from what I heard he is a synthetic, mediocre bore.

Anyone that puts their voice though Autotune machine is a talentless hack job.

DslainteC: Didn't that auto-tune vocal sound start and end with Cher?

I believe what you are referring to is a vocoder - not autotune. These studio effects get confused frequently.

Vocoder - Kanye "Stonger" (actually a Daft Punk sample)
Talk Box - Peter Frampton (Geico commercial, "Do you feel",etc...)
Autotune - Just about every pop/country/R&B record for the past 10+ years.

Autotune is a subtle effect - some can hear it, most can't. If you can hear the effect, it's likely a vocoder - not auto-toon.

degreeless: Anyone that puts their voice though Autotune machine is a talentless hack job.

Why?

miltonbabbitt: DslainteC: Didn't that auto-tune vocal sound start and end with Cher?

I believe what you are referring to is a vocoder - not autotune. These studio effects get confused frequently.

Vocoder - Kanye "Stonger" (actually a Daft Punk sample)
Talk Box - Peter Frampton (Geico commercial, "Do you feel",etc...)
Autotune - Just about every pop/country/R&B record for the past 10+ years.

Autotune is a subtle effect - some can hear it, most can't. If you can hear the effect, it's likely a vocoder - not auto-toon.

Um, you're wrong. The programs used are Antares Autotune and Melodyne Celemony. It is an autotune function which slams the note in tune with no natural variation - it has the robotic effect you can hear.

It was long believed Cher had used a vocoder, because that's what teh studio told everyone - the autotune function in the way they used it was a trade secret at the time.

A vocoder on the other hand is used to make the voice harmonize and form chords with itself - yeah it's used to make a robotic sound too, but to anyone who's ever been near a studio in the last ten years knows the sound of autotune - and that's what Kanye's used.

DslainteC: MacEnvy: this douchebag is actually talented and his music is somewhat enjoyable

Seriously?! Granted I'm a middle-aged white guy whose exposure to the rap/hip-hop world is limited, but I couldn't believe what I heard when I listened to some of his "808s" album. What a load of horsesh*t that is. Didn't that auto-tune vocal sound start and end with Cher?

He may be talented in his specific genre, but from what I heard he is a synthetic, mediocre bore.


Yes, seriously. The guy is pompous (sp) but he IS talented. This coming from a guy that listens to everything from Vanessa Carlton to TaTu to Kanye.

miltonbabbitt:

Autotune is a subtle effect - some can hear it, most can't. If you can hear the effect, it's likely a vocoder - not auto-toon.

Cher did use a vocoder in that awful song. However, if autotune is cranked to its most aggressive and unforgiving levels, it's pretty much the Cher sound. I have duplicated it with both Antares and Melodyne (just experimenting, I would never seriously make someone sound that retarded).

And I can hear auto-tune when set to its more subtle levels. :)

LewDux: degreeless: Anyone that puts their voice though Autotune machine is a talentless hack job.

Why?

Primarily because it's used when a singer can't hit the notes. If they can't hit the notes, then why are they singing into a mic to begin with? Autotune is more a corrective tool than it is an effect, and artist/labels/producers have become waaaay to dependent on it over the past decade.

danduran:

It was long believed Cher had used a vocoder, because that's what teh studio told everyone - the autotune function in the way they used it was a trade secret at the time.

I stand corrected! I thought forever that it was awful auto-tune work until I saw them trying to blame that vocoder and I was pretty surprised that it was not Antares.



"Cher's 'Believe' (Dec 1998) was the first commercial recording to feature the audible side-effects of Antares Auto-tune software used as a deliberate creative effect. The (now) highly recognisable tonal mangling occurs when the pitch correction speed is set too fast for the audio that it is processing and it became one of the most over-used production effects of the following years.

In February 1999, when this Sound On Sound article was published, the producers of this recording were apparently so keen to maintain their 'trade secret' process that they were willing to attribute the effect to the (then) recently-released Digitech Talker vocoder pedal. As most people are now all-too familiar with the 'Cher effect', as it became known, we have maintained the article in its original form as an interesting historical footnote."


Regardless, it sounds idiotic in any use.

He used autotune on this album as an effect.

Since when is anything about Kanye West considered "cool"?

danduran: to anyone who's ever been near a studio in the last ten years knows the sound of autotune - and that's what Kanye's used.

Actually that's not true either...I've been around studios for the past 20 years, but have never had to use nor had the desire to use an autotuner. Vocoders and talk boxes? I use them often.

danduran:
It was long believed Cher had used a vocoder, because that's what teh studio told everyone - the autotune function in the way they used it was a trade secret at the time.

Really? It was already heavily used in some trance/dance songs when I heard that Cher tune.

She killed it though, I haven't heard that effect in underground music since then, and THANK YOU, Cher. That effect was bloody annoying.

Vocoder - Kanye "Stonger" (actually a Daft Punk sample)
Daft Punk used Autotune for this effect - they took a monotone vocal delivery and fed in MIDI note info, which forces Autotune to shift the incoming audio to match the pitch of the MIDI notes. I won't dis anyone who says this is a vocoder, though - the effects are similar. The original Daft Punk track has a kick-ass guitar-solo like part at the end that always makes my day :)

A "real" vocoder takes two signals in, a carrier (usually a synth) and a modulator (usually a voice), then measures the harmonic content of the modulator input and filters the carrier to match. Think Kraftwer, Cylons, and "Mr. Roboto".

Talk Box - Peter Frampton (Geico commercial, "Do you feel",etc...)
Check out Chromeo to see someone still using this today...this is literally just a tube piping the audio from a guitar, keyboard, etc into your mouth, which the player then "shapes" with mouth/tongue movements just like you would "shape" the tones from your vocal chords. That audio is then picked up by the vocal mic.

Autotune - Just about every pop/country/R&B record for the past 10+ years.

Blame Cher's studio engineers for overusing its "overdrive" settings to create a cliche, but it's ubiquitous in the modern pop/country-pop studio for subtler pitch correction. There's even a rackmount version that gets used a lot in live shows.

Auto tune for anyone who cares.

You know, it's funny to learn about gear on Fark. Cool, but mostly odd as there are so many other places I go to get the info from. As a producer/engineer, I tend to only learn what I need to know from one project/purchase to the next. I simply have never had a desire to learn anything about autotuners in spite of all the electronic music I've produced over the years.

The vocalists I've worked with sing in tune and I have plenty of other effects to choose from when needed. When I have a gear budget, I'd much prefer to buy a new synth, preamp, compressor, or guitar pedal.

After this thread, however, I've found myself curious enough to at least start pricing autotuners *shudder* as an effect tool. I feel so dirty now. I need a bath.

rekoil: Vocoder - Kanye "Stonger" (actually a Daft Punk sample)
Daft Punk used Autotune for this effect

Do you know the make and model? Analog or digital? Curious...I've got a couple of vocoders that have gotten close...

I'm probably in a very small minority, but I like Kanye and his new album.

sensai: I'm probably in a very small minority, but I like Kanye and his new album.

I'm in the small minority too, I guess.

As for Kanye himself, I can't decide whether he's just really confident (he knows a considerable # of people like his music anyway, in spite of 'his haterz') or he's just got an ego the size of China and is being an arsehole.

'S long as he can back his shiat up with his hits, though.

/still bumpin' to "All Falls Down"

I bought the new Kanye cd the day it came out, uploaded it to iTunes and it's been in my car CD player ever since then. I've heard each song so many times, and they just get better. I may be in the small minority, but at least the small minority has good taste.

who la gan: I bought the new Kanye cd the day it came out, uploaded it to iTunes and it's been in my car CD player ever since then. I've heard each song so many times, and they just get better. I may be in the small minority, but at least the small minority has good taste.

you know what they say about the minority right?


they are all idiots

Did anyone actually watch all 40 minutes of the press conference?

Kanye is an artist.

Even though he's using autotune for his singing, he's using it as an effect. On purpose.

Again, he's an artist. He's doing what he wants, and hell, he's making money off it.

More power to him, I wish I made money from doing the art I do.

and he also knows what he's doing.

"Love Lockdown" is definitely my song for the summer (I live in the southern hemisphere. sorry, if it's snowing where you are now)

And if Kanye were into white chicks, man would I be at the front of the line ...

dominic.arenas: Did anyone actually watch all 40 minutes of the press conference?

Kanye is an artist.

Even though he's using autotune for his singing, he's using it as an effect. On purpose.

Again, he's an artist. He's doing what he wants, and hell, he's making money off it.

More power to him, I wish I made money from doing the art I do.

Kanye?

At least he's able to articulate himself in a way that I can understand vs. every other hiphop "artist" who simply love the smell of their own shiat. I think he actually understands what it is that makes himself so successful and it's hard to explain that without sounding like a self-obsessed pompous ass.

Yeah, I don't care for his music either, but to discount it as trash or not "art" makes you just as presumptuous as you're claiming him to be. I think if anyone is able to tap into what people like, and push that idea forward in one's own style, that's something to give credit for. Kanye takes the reigns for most of his work (as opposed to labels), and to conquer that and not be held down by the expectations of the almighty label, is success, pure and simple.

If you can't at least acknowledge that this guy knows what the fark he's doing, then you don't understand the "genius" he is.

I can't believe that so many farkers like Kanye.
I love rap, and I'm not an underground snob either. I listen to Dre, Eminem, Snoop as well as more underground stuff like Roots, Atmosphere, Common and most stuff in between. However I can't stand Kanye. The only catchy songs he's ever put out were Diamonds are Forever and Stronger, and they're both rip offs of OTHER songs. And he sounds like T-Pain in his new album. If you sound like T Pain then you are automatically a no talent hack.
/God I hate T Pain.

Kanye's first album was the only good one. I have been disappointed with everything since.

I don't get why this Joker can pump out an album a year and we can't get a damn sequel to the Method Man / Redman blackout album.

And so I did what I had to did
Cuz I had the kid
Duh oh duh oh duh oh

Yeah. Genius.

http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/472302

Pretty much sums it up...