Mumbai, Aug 12 — Playback singer Sonu Nigam has shared that he also isn’t untouched by the auto-tune, and spoke about using the tool sparsely to get it right.
The singer said it’s the demand of time, and in times of digitisation, the raw voice sounds a bit off unless it is treated to blend with the song.
He said on trade expert Komal Nahta’s podcast, ‘Game Changers: The Music Series’, “The era of auto-tune has certainly brought a lot of changes. People say a lot of bad things about it but I say ‘Jo bhi hua hai aacha hua hai’. In earlier days, you had to sing without auto-tune, and we are lucky to ‘riyaaz' without it, and now we don't need it. But still, I would say I use auto-tune in certain songs of mine. Everything now is so 440, previously everything was live. We had live ‘sarangi’, live stings, so somewhere our pitch didn't have to be perfect”.
Sonu Nigam, who is known for his rigorous classical training and legendary live performances, has spent decades ruling the charts with his soulful voice and flawless pitch. He has witnessed the music industry transform from the era of live orchestral recordings to the modern digital age.
“Everything now is digitised, everything is going in a straight line and your voice will sound off if it's raw. Previously, with live music, we used to adjust according to the live music, but now your song will stand out. However, it's our responsibility that we don't use the resources to fix the voices of those who can’t sing. You give your 99% and bring it to 100% with auto tune. Many actors use auto-tune for their songs and it's absolutely fine if they use it to enjoy their dreams. But they cannot replace singers”, he added.