When T-Pain and his synthesized vocals made their debut with the songs “I’m Sprung” and “I’m N Luv (Wit A Stripper)” three years ago, most people dismissed the hits as novelties and expected the ...

Explore the fascinating evolution of the vocoder, talkbox, and Auto-Tune, tracing their journey from Bell Labs through World War II to their influence on Daft Punk in this episode of Version History.

* Photo: Joseph Maida * From Lil Wayne's cyborg-slick singing on "Lollipop" to the Twiki-tweaked vocals of T-Pain, use of the voice-enhancing software Auto-Tune has reached a fever pitch. But it turns ...

Let’s get the album title out of the way first. T-Pain indeed started out as a rapper. His hip-hop cover of Akon’s hit single “Locked Up” led to a record deal. But T-Pain decided to transition to ...

Twenty years ago, a pop star on a downswing took a chance on a brand-new piece of recording software to do the unthinkable: taking her voice, her most recognizable asset, and robotizing it almost ...

There are few musical technologies that are as ubiquitous, maligned and misunderstood as Antares’ Auto-Tune. What was conceived in 1997 as a discrete tool for cleaning up vocals and optimizing the ...

Linda Diaz and Arthur Buckner uncover how Auto-Tune became THE in-demand tool for studios. Thanks to artists like T-Pain, Cher, and Kanye West, Auto-Tune went from being an industry secret to an ...

Typically, the music-streaming public remains at arm’s length when it comes to tricks and tips that artists use in the recording studio — it’s too nerdy, too complicated, and only useful to obsessives ...