Sound CheckKelly Clarkson is not a fan of Auto-Tune on her older music
While promoting her new compilation package "Greatest Hits — Chapter One," due out on Nov. 19, inaugural "American Idol" winner Kelly Clarkson reflected on what it's like listening to her songs of the past now.
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"Sometimes, I can't listen to really old school songs ... because they just use so much Auto-Tune when it's not needed that it kills me. I can't listen to it," the 30-year-old singer told CNN. "What I love about that though is on songs like 'Miss Independent,' not only was it Auto-Tuned, I just sounded different, I sounded so young. I sing that song now and it's one of my favourites out of the show."
Auto-Tune was invented in 1996 by Andy Hildebrand, who worked in the oil industry using the mathematical formula for autocorrelation to analyze seismic data, which according to the state of Pennsylvania's Department of Conservation and Natural Recourses says "is generated by using vibrations to capture a two-dimensional picture of the rock layers beneath the surface."
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In addition, "The interpretation of seismic data allows the scientist to make an estimated picture of the rocks beneath the surface without drilling or digging trenches."
With Auto-Tune, Hildebrand says, "If you set it to 10, that means that the output pitch will get halfway to the target pitch in 10 milliseconds. But if you let that parameter go to zero, it finds the nearest note and changes the output pitch instantaneously."
Time Magazine reports that the first song to utilize this technology was Cher's hit "Believe" in 1998, which was an obvious creative effect on lyrics like "I can't break through" and sounds like "she's standing behind an electric fan."
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In Clarkson's case, it seems like the engineering trick was used to correct her voice "needlessly" since she doesn't sound like Akon on the track.
Nowadays, Clarkson pairs the 2003 tune with her recent hit "Mr. Know It All" on her 2012 "Stronger" tour and performs it a little differently during the encore, closing the show with it.
(Skip to the 3:31 minute mark for "Miss Independent")
The Texas-native recently debuted a new music video for her latest single "Catch My Breath," and we're glad that this version of Clarkson is one that she might be able to stand listening to.
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"I listen to my new stuff like 'People Like Us,' 'Don't Rush' or 'Catch My Breath' on the new greatest hits [album,]" she told CNN. "I've listened to those quite a bit. One, just to learn them to make sure I know them when I'm singing them live, but also just because they're fresh."
