I'm Horrified 😮 This is aweful and annoying. Keep bringing this to light, Fil. I love your musical, sound and pitch sensitivity and your analytical brain. Your knowledge is much appreciated!
“Horrified”? There are sonically crappy records, CD’s, tapes etc. Forgetting pitch correction, they just sound bad to me. I don’t buy them or listen to them.
@@KYRIE_eleison2 some day most who care about this will all be dead. And tik tok heads will make the decisions on “music.” Life itself is degrading in many ways.
Yes, it's sacrilege! But get over it. The industry and owners of the works will do what they will with what they own. And all industries need product even if it's fake. Take food, clothes, and social media for instance. Grow your own music! 😂
I agree, the recording industry needs to stop messing up already perfect recordings. The music industry standard doesn't include, "if it isn't broken don't fix it." Its delusional message is that auto tune and pitch correction are the Mr. Fix Its and all of music is horribly broken. But as Fil has pointed out time and time again, the industry is obsessed with being directly over the line and not with how music sounds. Hence, the music industry is now a wrecking ball.
@@glamgal7106 This is illogical to say "the industry". The industry is made up of lots of mix-engineers with varying Melodyne skills! 😂 And I've witnessed the chopping and tuning and tempo changing chaos of top ten vocals happen after the talent has walked out of the studio, as far back as 2001. Usually it's done well though. But it's just how it is for the last 27 years. I'd be more worried that fake food was created in the 1950s and governs all our problems now.
@@thekeysman6760 I worked on this album and "A celebration in song". Your comment is accurate. The music industry is complete chaos. The idea that there is any coordinated effort to change people's voices is ridiculous. You do the best you can with what you have. Everyone is very paranoid about putting out a single and having some douche radio programmer give you the "the vocal isn't in to tune" excuse for not playing it. That started happening because the existence of auto tune suddenly made people pay an inordinate amount of attention to the temperment of the vocal performance rather than just deciding whether it moved them or not.
It used to be a misguided choice to do all this, but today it is obvious they are grooming a new generation to accept AI music instead of paying artists. Shameful.
honestly I think (or hope really) it will backfire. I never really had a good ear for hearing autotune before, but since AI voices are everywhere now it's actually trained me to hear the more unnatural sounding voices. I've noticed autotune/pitch correction so much more recently
@@_Angry_Potato_, I think it already backfired. A teenager killed himself over a “relationship” with a chat bot. That’s going to lead to new laws regarding AI. It’s a shame that kids are out of touch with real humans, and put their trust in an AI bot.
@@SuziQ.It's crazy I was messing around with a AI app that any kid could use and it was straight getting into sexual talk lol and I mean dirty talk lol it was blowing my mind
All I can think is they are trying to make us forget what human voice sounds like all together so that they don't have to pay artists at all. This is horrid.
Music is being dehumanised by those who run this World, to strip it of its healing properties and its magic. We have to fight against that by not listening to or even buying crap like this!
Everything is being dehumanized. Not just music. All the arts. Grooming people to be emotionless. It's sick but unfortunately it's unstoppable until the next renaissance.
@@davidplubell1869 If anything, it is the opposite - monitoring the brain to see what gives subjects "the feelz" and engineering the musical context around what does that for the average consumer in a given demographic. Like with boy bands, make sure 80% of teen girls will obsess over at least one member, so try to have enough different looks/sounds to hit as many marks while keeping some semblance of an organic band. Simon Cowell did it by insticnt, maurice Starr as well - now the process is more data driven.
I think you may find this interesting… I’m watching the new release on Netflix called “Maria” about Maria Callas the opera singer. In a scene one of her records is being played and she tells the man to “turn it off”. She never listens to her own records. The man asks her why. She replies “ because it’s perfect, , and a song should never be perfect , it should be performed in that moment differently to every other time” I heard that and thought how brilliant. That’s EXACTLY what we miss as a result of all the AI, auto tune and falseness that pervades the music we now listen to.
Singing used to be an art form. Now it seems to be just technology. I wish they would leave the older music alone. Alas, wishing doesn't make it so. An old saying that is still relevant. Thank you for this comparative analysis.
Thanks for another informative analysis. Her natural voice would have been lovely enough for my ears. Bummer that even 2007 was pitch-edited. I find it a bit creepy to do new releases by people who have passed on.
@@SuziQ. This is not the orignal recording, but she had just recovered from cancer. Puking your guts out from chemo tends to make your voice sound weird.
@@SuziQ. You mean she doesn't sound like she did in the 1970's? The rasp that you hear was there on the raw takes. As I said. She had gone through chemotherapy in the year leading up to this. It was put out independently and I believe she thought she better just do it because she just might not get to again.
Bravo, Fil on providing a great music analysis that had my ears prickling and my mind going--lots of sensitivity was happening here. Olivia Newton-John (may she rest in peace) was among the legendary singers whose vocals DID NOT need pitch correction. As you pointed out, the mechanical sound due to applying pitch correction robbed the natural abilities and most importantly, the CONNECTION created from her natural voice to her listeners. From one musician to another musician, I appreciate your integrity and sharing your knowledge. Thanks for reminding and teaching me, Fil!
I'm sure there will be some performers left "pristine" - so long as there is a demand for such a product there will be inventory maintained to fill it.
I am reminded of this lyric from Rush's "Natural Science" Computerized clinic for superior cynics Who dance to a synthetic band In their own image their world is fashioned No wonder they don't understand
I’m a DJ Fil, Drum n Bass, UK Jungle and techno (although I am also a massive metal/rock fan too). To record my mixes I use a program called Ableton Live. It’s used for music production (MIDI) although I only use it to record analogue mixes using my extensive vinyl collection. The latest version of this program (Live 12.1) now has pitch correction within the program. So if you want to record vocals, you can pitch correct them without having to use a plug in. You’re right, pitch correction is now sadly, pretty much the industry standard. Love the channel mate, kindest regards from not so sunny Herne Bay.
Along with Karen Carpenter, Olivia Newton John is another one of my top favorite female singers! She also had a very beautiful voice as Karen did. I really do wish that the music industry would leave great singers voices alone! Auto tune and pitch correction do not do their voices justice! Thank you, Fil, for another amazing analysis! Keep on rockin'!
Sounds like she's singing from under water. What's amazing to me is that producers actually think that this sounds better than the original. Or maybe, the listening public actually likes this. Either way, it's discouraging.
My theory is abuse nostalgia and rerelease something by just modifying it so more moneys. Maybe the money goes to he foundation or something but it just doesn’t sound good
@@5IveNDlme, “They” can release anniversary issues without messing up the sound. Whoever owns the publishing rights gets paid either way. It’s cheaper *not* to hire another engineer.
@ they may have purchased full rights to do whatever they want with it. As well, they will be doing it going forward to resell the same product to new generations who down want an anniversary release - as it dates it. Will be doing it with all music. Wait and see. Once ppl die off who care about these things the Tik tok generation will be the main “buyers.” They could care less much about any of this. Sad state of music as it’s been known dying off. Will become a more outlier to make old style real music some day.
From a long time ONJ fan (since childhood) That ain’t her voice. They stole her soul right out of the song. I will stick with my vinyls of her ❤ The music industry need to stop this. We all eventually find out that their new promoted talent has none. And everything we’ve heard came out of a can.
You brought it to the point right there with what's going on with today's music! It's being dehumanised and robbed of its soul and magic by those who run this World, in order to spread darkness across the latter.
10:52 Saddest thing is that nowadays the audience are listening on their phone speaker or through the supermarket PA and they really don’t care what it sounds like.
Fil, thank you so much for taking on my suggestion to analyze. As noted in the other comments here, I am not the only one appalled. To others, see the comments on the original video - loads of people are disgusted by this.
It’s sounding like a test I ran back in 1998 to see how many Analog to digital conversions can occur before distortion becomes too pronounced and problematic.
I've been watching your videos and admiring your work for over a year now but have never commented (to my knowledge). I'm so glad you have done this. I've been a fan and have been listening to Olivia for 50 years now, since I was a little boy and my dad played her 8-tracks in the car, so I know what she sounds like--and I know that she doesn't sound like a robot (as with the new release). We live in an artificial world now and it truly sucks. We want real voices with real talent and real instruments and not this AI alt-reality. God help us.
This album has gone down like a chocolate fireguard with fans - and rightly so. This isn’t even the worst-affected song on the set! She deserves better than this treatment.
@@corybarnes2341, On tape. Speeding up a tape doesn’t leave robotic sounding artifacts, echoes, and note flips. Those methods should not be deemed equivalent.
Ugggh...they have seriously destroyed her original vocals! I cannot stand AI-fake vocals. Last night, I was watching 'The Voice,' here in the US, and they actually put AI autotune over Sting's vocals...insane!!!
@@trekkiejunk I’ve been producing for decades and there’s no way that degree of destructive artifacts is caused by a simple tempo change. Something else is going on, maybe with how the vox were isolated from the music.
Hi Phil, great channel and eye opener. I was going through some Radiohead videos and came across an acoustic recording of Street Spirit. It was for a Japanese TV show. I have never heard Thom perform so well. I would love to hear your take in this amazing performance.
Phil, If the audio is speeded up, it's pitch rises consistently throughout. So its pitch needs to be artificially lowered throughout to get back into tune. No need for 'manual' pitch correction, but the pitch of the whole piece needs dropping consistently. Merry Christmas, and Happy, Peaceful new year. 🎅🎉 ☮
@@dmacnet Thank you for replying. I don't doubt that. However, it's an extra piece of processing operating within that step. Simply speeding up the vocals alone doesn't give the entire result we hear and see. The original has also had pitch adjustment applied as part of creating the new release. So pitch adjustment was not restricted to the original. Merry Christmas. ☮
That only works while it is still possible to identify with the naked ear/eye, which is already impossible to do for a lot of people who aren't musicians/audio engineers/artists etc. I think the unfortunate reality is that there won't be enough people who can tell the difference, and as the use of AI becomes more normalised with the upcoming generations, not enough people who will even care.
Betting the music industry doesn’t care and is moving forward with blinders on. Somehow, what they have done and will, has financial benefits and the common masses have only speculation of their motives.
@@5meoand… I believe, one of the ways that the new generations is being led down this path and AI being normalised is by auto tuning real vocalists. … it would be harder to tell the difference between an AI vocal and an auto tuned real vocal… groom and normalise
They keep doing this! I can't stress enough that they did a re-recording of "Your Love is My Love" by Whitney Houston, and they COMPLETELY ruined her voice! It didn't even sound like her!
@@Tinuvielthefair What a shame. Personally i also like the new jolly instrumentation of 'Angels in the snow" as well as the original one....but that voice should have been left there as it was.Human.I find it rather disrespectful if not kinda blasphemous to 'throw' the voice of someome who has passed in a "proccesssed machinery"...As for Whitney...no i don't even want to listen to any 're-recording".I insist to her original,her supreme purity.Period.
@alexioverdo5225 it's a sped up techno version, much like this version, I'm guessing, I wouldn't be apprised if they sped up her vocals as well, but it's HEAVILY processed, which no one should ever do to her voice. It's really a shame. I almost didn't recognize the voice it was that processed.
Olivia’s magnificent voice needed no correction in the first place. That said, I would sure be interested in seeing a side-by-side comparison of a re-release/remaster where the original pre-dated pitch correction
Question, did you mention speeding up a vocal is not a good practice as it disconnects the audience from the singer? Well, what about Strawberry Fields? Weren't parts Of John Lennon's vocals sped up? It was an artistic choice, and you can hear it on the record too. Anyway, good video as usual.
Anyone else just want to cry? That they even did pitch correction to her while she was alive is so disturbing. I grew up with Olivia, Karen, Linda et al. That this was done so recently is so sad. I mean the 2007 pitch correction on top the sped it up also. Just wow. From the current lot, and a bit of a switch. Anyone here listen to Silent Night by the Thomas sisters? Am I the only one hearing robotic voices, I mean like crazy? So many positive reactions it’s so sad. I can’t say this anywhere else, I’ll get my hear handed to me. I’ve asked Fil to look/listen. I know he looked in the beginning of the year. You’d think they’d stop, but no.
"Sadly, nowadays it's an industry standard to put everything through a pitch correction." Yes, it is very sad. This remind me of how it's become common practice to put just about every photo you see online through one of those auto enhancing filter apps. They alter facial features at times and make people look plastic.
Thanks for your great content! I'd have a bit broad question and surely the answer can vary depending on the example. Anyways, When I listen old classic recordings, say on Spotify, I might often choose the 'remastered' version of the album instead of the original release. I have always thought remastering is basically cleaning up the original, but not to change e.g. the vocal pitch. Am I correct?
It’s sad that even the 2007 version was pitch corrected (she didn’t need it), but that at least sounded like her! This dreadful new cd is truly a disaster! She have never sounded so bad in her lifetime!
That new version sounds so not human. If I came up with something in audacity that ended up like that I'd bin it. Who'd think it's a good idea to release it as something?
I'm 32 and I really don't listen to much music from the 2000s and on, to me it became pretty clear when they started running everything through pitch correction. I just got really heavy into Steely Dan this year and Donald Fagen's voice has so much character, could you imagine if they would have dulled it by putting it through pitch correction? It would ruin it! Lol. There are some great modern bands though. Fleet Foxes, Tame Impala, Thundercat, they do exist thankfully, just with pitch correction which I can handle in those cases
My conspiracy theory is that they are conditioning listeners to get used to pitch correction until it seems natural to them. And THEN, soon enough, not only will songs almost exclusively be written by AI, but so will AI be doing all the performances. Same goes for movies. Has anyone ever seen the Albert Finney movie Looker?
I haven’t seen Looker. I’ll (see myself out) look for it. There’s an ad that drives me crazy angry, and I finally figured out why- the actors are fake.
As I've posted before- They're trying to make AI the "standard tuning" everyone hears as "normal", in order to put out the artists THEY control, and who will carry a narrative/agenda to "We The People", of THEIR choosing, and not have to worry they'll go off the rails, and lose control. It's not only costing fans the joy of TRUE music, it's EVIL, meant to manipulate and deceive.
One thing I'd like to point out if it hasn't been mentioned is that they are using digital means to speed up the vocal, not simply increasing the sample rate (the digital equivalent of varispeed on analog equipment) otherwise the pitch wouldn't be the same in both versions (as they are). So using an algorithm to digitally speed up as opposed to adjusting the sample speed to speed it up certainly makes it sound more robotic. Thank you, Fil, for continually pointing out this terrible practice of mixing with the eyes, rather than the ears. Who in their right mind would have thought that the re-release sounded good? It's not an improvement by any means.
forget “Parental Warning” stickers on albums, I want warning stickers indicating that what I’m buying is a vocal or backing track from a decade ago or has been pitch corrected or is an A.I. bastardization of some kind!!! 😡 This makes all my old vinyl, cassettes and CDs even more precious to me!
Speeding up the tempo of a recording also requires pitch correction, in order to maintain the original pitch. You can think of it as "global" pitch correction, rather than the targeted, note-specific pitch correction used in auto-tune, but it uses the same technological principles.
Yes! If you speed up a recording by simply playing it faster it will rise in pitch and vocals will sound chipmunky. Speeding up the tempo at constant pitch means cutting out minuscule bits from the original sound to make it shorter without going sharper. And this is what makes the smooth vibrato turn into an edgy, tremulous bleat - if you snip out small bits from a smooth curve you cannot but end up with stepwise changes and spurious "corners" that sound like a mix of yodelling and vocal fry or hoarseness. Happens with any vocal track when you play it at 1.5x speed in TH-cam (where a very simple but typical "global speed-change" algorithm is used).
Just cannot win. In the old days, out of tune used to drive me crazy. Then once autotune started, the artifacting was obvious to my ears. I find now any tuning issues from the old recordings is preferable to this remastered AT garbage today.
Good analysis. I’ve never heard this. And yes it’s not very good. I don’t think Olivia would like it either. That’s one of many reasons why I don’t listen to remake of songs. From Olivia or anyone else.Glad that I missed this song. I’m not missing anything.If I want to hear Olivia I just listen to her songs from the past.😕Hopefully these fools stop doing things like that. Especially from Olivia fans.And maybe her friends and family.👎
I'd like to see you analyze Maria Callas singing the 'Queen of the Night' aria from Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' because some of her singing in it was almost inhuman in its accuracy. Other opera singers also performed the aria flawlessly but Callas is the one I remember the best. Maybe a comparison of different singers doing it. Maybe add in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra 'Queen of the Winter Night' version. Might be interesting. Though as good as some of the TSO singers were it isn't not really fair to compare them to professional opera singers when it comes to vocal technique.
This sounded so weird, and I don't think I would have realized it was from speeding it up, but you're right, the vibrato sounds odd. So, they sped up the vocals, and then pitch corrected everything back down to the previous pitch corrected level, because the speeding up would have raised the pitch, right? That seems like a lot of work, but maybe it isn't. But WHY?? Why even do it? It makes no sense.
Forgetting ONJ being the singer, the producers of this have created a sound that I would refuse to listen to even to the point of leaving the theater or TV area to get away from it. Now when I consider that it is now twice removed from ONJ’s voice I heard for decades…I am at the point of losing any respect for music producers and sound engineers working today. This is a travesty that is disrespectful to the vocalist, original production staff and of course the fans of an artist known the world over. I do not applaud this trend that debases the recorded art even if it has been pitch corrected already. For me, this is a disgrace. Unions, guilds, etc., for the industry should excommunicate from their membership such producers that pervert recording artists’ creations in this manner. Unacceptable.
Sad what they did to Olivia’s voice. Sounds so echoey! Just like you said Fil, sounds like it’s coming from a loud speaker. Not an improvement, for sure.
That gated delay also makes it sound more modern and fake. The original has lush reverb with a moderate large room size but the new one has a small room reverb and gated delay. Plus they probably have a send to a track that is blending in a touch of distortion or fuzz making it sound more gritty and rough. It’s just crappy modern production to a T.
For me the issue is that they are capitalizing on her name! This song could have been redone by many others and there would be no issue! So I'm all for boycotting this but only as it uses her name in what I consider an abusive way and is not a true representation of her works!
What I want to know is when will Fil do an analysis of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits & Leonard Cohen to see if they were using auto tune or pitch correction? And what about Tiny Tim & Yoko Ono? I smell a cover up here.
Imagine one of the most magical voices since decades before pitch correction sounding almost robotic because technology is awesome, so disrespectful and sad.
Leave our classic vocalists alone. Olivia does not require any correction.
She had just recovered from cancer when this album was recorded.
@@corybarnes2341,
She didn’t have throat cancer, and this sounds like crap. The engineer should be ashamed for ruining her voice.
@@SuziQ. Yes Suzi 💖❤️
She isn't being "corrected", merely repackaged for a contemporary audience.
@@corybarnes2341 She had been autotuned in 2007.
I'm Horrified 😮 This is aweful and annoying. Keep bringing this to light, Fil. I love your musical, sound and pitch sensitivity and your analytical brain. Your knowledge is much appreciated!
“Horrified”?
There are sonically crappy records, CD’s, tapes etc. Forgetting pitch correction, they just sound bad to me. I don’t buy them or listen to them.
Changing a vocal of someone posthumous is a disgusting practice and a greed grab... Shameful. 😡
I agree. This is horrible.
@@KYRIE_eleison2 some day most who care about this will all be dead. And tik tok heads will make the decisions on “music.” Life itself is degrading in many ways.
voicerape
@ 😂
@@5IveNDlme When the fanbase dies off, the legacy of a performer falls into the hands of the historians, for whom the critics write the first draft.
The recording industry needs to stop messing up recordings that are perfect as they are!!😢
No chance. Same with movies and redoing classics. To paraphrase Dire Straits "Get your mew music for nothin', get your new flicks for free".
Yes, it's sacrilege! But get over it. The industry and owners of the works will do what they will with what they own. And all industries need product even if it's fake. Take food, clothes, and social media for instance. Grow your own music! 😂
I agree, the recording industry needs to stop messing up already perfect recordings. The music industry standard doesn't include, "if it isn't broken don't fix it." Its delusional message is that auto tune and pitch correction are the Mr. Fix Its and all of music is horribly broken. But as Fil has pointed out time and time again, the industry is obsessed with being directly over the line and not with how music sounds. Hence, the music industry is now a wrecking ball.
@@glamgal7106 This is illogical to say "the industry". The industry is made up of lots of mix-engineers with varying Melodyne skills! 😂 And I've witnessed the chopping and tuning and tempo changing chaos of top ten vocals happen after the talent has walked out of the studio, as far back as 2001. Usually it's done well though. But it's just how it is for the last 27 years. I'd be more worried that fake food was created in the 1950s and governs all our problems now.
@@thekeysman6760 I worked on this album and "A celebration in song". Your comment is accurate. The music industry is complete chaos. The idea that there is any coordinated effort to change people's voices is ridiculous. You do the best you can with what you have. Everyone is very paranoid about putting out a single and having some douche radio programmer give you the "the vocal isn't in to tune" excuse for not playing it. That started happening because the existence of auto tune suddenly made people pay an inordinate amount of attention to the temperment of the vocal performance rather than just deciding whether it moved them or not.
It used to be a misguided choice to do all this, but today it is obvious they are grooming a new generation to accept AI music instead of paying artists. Shameful.
honestly I think (or hope really) it will backfire. I never really had a good ear for hearing autotune before, but since AI voices are everywhere now it's actually trained me to hear the more unnatural sounding voices. I've noticed autotune/pitch correction so much more recently
@@_Angry_Potato_,
I think it already backfired. A teenager killed himself over a “relationship” with a chat bot. That’s going to lead to new laws regarding AI. It’s a shame that kids are out of touch with real humans, and put their trust in an AI bot.
Music streaming platforms are (mostly) welcoming AI music on their platforms. We need to have human only platforms.
Yeah I can only imagine music in 20 years it'll be disgusting
@@SuziQ.It's crazy I was messing around with a AI app that any kid could use and it was straight getting into sexual talk lol and I mean dirty talk lol it was blowing my mind
it is a massive shame what the music industry is doing with the natural singers voice, I prefer to hear the unfiltered version songs
All I can think is they are trying to make us forget what human voice sounds like all together so that they don't have to pay artists at all. This is horrid.
Music is being dehumanised by those who run this World, to strip it of its healing properties and its magic.
We have to fight against that by not listening to or even buying crap like this!
Everything is being dehumanized. Not just music. All the arts. Grooming people to be emotionless. It's sick but unfortunately it's unstoppable until the next renaissance.
@@davidplubell1869 If anything, it is the opposite - monitoring the brain to see what gives subjects "the feelz" and engineering the musical context around what does that for the average consumer in a given demographic. Like with boy bands, make sure 80% of teen girls will obsess over at least one member, so try to have enough different looks/sounds to hit as many marks while keeping some semblance of an organic band. Simon Cowell did it by insticnt, maurice Starr as well - now the process is more data driven.
Not to forget but to prefer the computerized voice over the human voice (with it's imperfections).
Soros Schwab hand rubbing intensifies
I think you may find this interesting…
I’m watching the new release on Netflix called “Maria” about Maria Callas the opera singer.
In a scene one of her records is being played and she tells the man to “turn it off”. She never listens to her own records. The man asks her why. She replies “ because it’s perfect, , and a song should never be perfect , it should be performed in that moment differently to every other time”
I heard that and thought how brilliant. That’s EXACTLY what we miss as a result of all the AI, auto tune and falseness that pervades the music we now listen to.
Singing used to be an art form. Now it seems to be just technology. I wish they would leave the older music alone. Alas, wishing doesn't make it so. An old saying that is still relevant. Thank you for this comparative analysis.
You can always buy the old media though. I’d highly recommend it. Modern producers enjoy ruining more than just the vocal track.
Thanks for another informative analysis. Her natural voice would have been lovely enough for my ears. Bummer that even 2007 was pitch-edited. I find it a bit creepy to do new releases by people who have passed on.
Producer : "Can we pitch correct the vocals ?"
Engineer : "They already have been."
Producer : "Oh. Well, what else can we do to the vocals ?"
Not at all what happens. Amy Sky, the producer of this album is a great singer in her own right.
@@corybarnes2341,
Yet, ONJ doesn’t sound like ONJ here. She sounds like a computer. My Siri (Australian) sounds more authentic than this.
@@SuziQ. This is not the orignal recording, but she had just recovered from cancer. Puking your guts out from chemo tends to make your voice sound weird.
@@SuziQ. Also many of these artifacts you are hearing are not in the tracks. That's Fil's software creating those.
@@SuziQ. You mean she doesn't sound like she did in the 1970's? The rasp that you hear was there on the raw takes. As I said. She had gone through chemotherapy in the year leading up to this. It was put out independently and I believe she thought she better just do it because she just might not get to again.
Bravo, Fil on providing a great music analysis that had my ears prickling and my mind going--lots of sensitivity was happening here. Olivia Newton-John (may she rest in peace) was among the legendary singers whose vocals DID NOT need pitch correction. As you pointed out, the mechanical sound due to applying pitch correction robbed the natural abilities and most importantly, the CONNECTION created from her natural voice to her listeners. From one musician to another musician, I appreciate your integrity and sharing your knowledge. Thanks for reminding and teaching me, Fil!
Who. THE F. Thought that this was needed?!
-needed- profitable
Record label, of course.
WEF that who thought of it
Thanks!
Thank you!
@ you deserve it Pil. That was aweful.
I seriously hope they don't start messing with Karen Carpenter, if they haven't already!
I'm sure her brother Richard won't let them do it. Richard was so strict about Carpenters' material use.
I'm sure there will be some performers left "pristine" - so long as there is a demand for such a product there will be inventory maintained to fill it.
They did remaster one of the Christmas albums for 2024 sounds amazing, Karen’s voice is loud and clear
I am reminded of this lyric from Rush's "Natural Science"
Computerized clinic for superior cynics
Who dance to a synthetic band
In their own image their world is fashioned
No wonder they don't understand
Another one to check out is Black Sabbath's 'Computer God'
I’m a DJ Fil, Drum n Bass, UK Jungle and techno (although I am also a massive metal/rock fan too). To record my mixes I use a program called Ableton Live. It’s used for music production (MIDI) although I only use it to record analogue mixes using my extensive vinyl collection. The latest version of this program (Live 12.1) now has pitch correction within the program. So if you want to record vocals, you can pitch correct them without having to use a plug in. You’re right, pitch correction is now sadly, pretty much the industry standard. Love the channel mate, kindest regards from not so sunny Herne Bay.
Along with Karen Carpenter, Olivia Newton John is another one of my top favorite female singers! She also had a very beautiful voice as Karen did. I really do wish that the music industry would leave great singers voices alone! Auto tune and pitch correction do not do their voices justice! Thank you, Fil, for another amazing analysis! Keep on rockin'!
Apparently they were best friends when ONJ lived in LA.
Sounds like she's singing from under water. What's amazing to me is that producers actually think that this sounds better than the original. Or maybe, the listening public actually likes this. Either way, it's discouraging.
My theory is abuse nostalgia and rerelease something by just modifying it so more moneys. Maybe the money goes to he foundation or something but it just doesn’t sound good
I would think it just allows them to sell it again, and give her very little if anything.
@@5IveNDlme,
“They” can release anniversary issues without messing up the sound. Whoever owns the publishing rights gets paid either way. It’s cheaper *not* to hire another engineer.
@ they may have purchased full rights to do whatever they want with it. As well, they will be doing it going forward to resell the same product to new generations who down want an anniversary release - as it dates it. Will be doing it with all music. Wait and see. Once ppl die off who care about these things the Tik tok generation will be the main “buyers.” They could care less much about any of this. Sad state of music as it’s been known dying off. Will become a more outlier to make old style real music some day.
From a long time ONJ fan (since childhood) That ain’t her voice. They stole her soul right out of the song.
I will stick with my vinyls of her ❤ The music industry need to stop this. We all eventually find out that their new promoted talent has none. And everything we’ve heard came out of a can.
You brought it to the point right there with what's going on with today's music! It's being dehumanised and robbed of its soul and magic by those who run this World, in order to spread darkness across the latter.
10:52
Saddest thing is that nowadays the audience are listening on their phone speaker or through the supermarket PA and they really don’t care what it sounds like.
Fil, thank you so much for taking on my suggestion to analyze. As noted in the other comments here, I am not the only one appalled. To others, see the comments on the original video - loads of people are disgusted by this.
🎵"hopelessly devoted to" reality. 🎵
the new recording is bleeding awful. thanks Fil. 2x👍
That's the song I was trying to remember! Thanks.
Great update as always Fil
It’s sounding like a test I ran back in 1998 to see how many Analog to digital conversions can occur before distortion becomes too pronounced and problematic.
I've been watching your videos and admiring your work for over a year now but have never commented (to my knowledge). I'm so glad you have done this. I've been a fan and have been listening to Olivia for 50 years now, since I was a little boy and my dad played her 8-tracks in the car, so I know what she sounds like--and I know that she doesn't sound like a robot (as with the new release). We live in an artificial world now and it truly sucks. We want real voices with real talent and real instruments and not this AI alt-reality. God help us.
This album has gone down like a chocolate fireguard with fans - and rightly so. This isn’t even the worst-affected song on the set! She deserves better than this treatment.
Absolutely shameful....this is pathetic...
As always, thanks for calling it out...✌️
The Beatles early singles were sped up. No other version is available.
@@corybarnes2341,
On tape. Speeding up a tape doesn’t leave robotic sounding artifacts, echoes, and note flips.
Those methods should not be deemed equivalent.
Public should be told if product has been tampered with if original recording is now been changed consumer protection
Laws must be enforced
Ugggh...they have seriously destroyed her original vocals! I cannot stand AI-fake vocals. Last night, I was watching 'The Voice,' here in the US, and they actually put AI autotune over Sting's vocals...insane!!!
Eventually all of us who care will die off and they can run their AI to the masses who do not care and get that cash...this is life.
It's not AI. It's ONJ's recording. They just changed the speed;
@@trekkiejunk Thanks...I had to pause the video and haven't finished watching it yet. Too many distractions today. 😀
@@trekkiejunk
I’ve been producing for decades and there’s no way that degree of destructive artifacts is caused by a simple tempo change.
Something else is going on, maybe with how the vox were isolated from the music.
Hi Phil, great channel and eye opener. I was going through some Radiohead videos and came across an acoustic recording of Street Spirit. It was for a Japanese TV show. I have never heard Thom perform so well. I would love to hear your take in this amazing performance.
Another brilliant video Phil! Subscribed!
Speechless!😢Thanks Fil great analysis
Oh no 😒 unbelievable. How do people think this is ok. SMH.
Phil, If the audio is speeded up, it's pitch rises consistently throughout. So its pitch needs to be artificially lowered throughout to get back into tune. No need for 'manual' pitch correction, but the pitch of the whole piece needs dropping consistently.
Merry Christmas, and Happy, Peaceful new year. 🎅🎉 ☮
Programs like Melodyne and Pro Tools can time stretch audio without changing the pitch, in one step. That’s been easy for 20 years.
@@dmacnet Thank you for replying. I don't doubt that. However, it's an extra piece of processing operating within that step. Simply speeding up the vocals alone doesn't give the entire result we hear and see. The original has also had pitch adjustment applied as part of creating the new release. So pitch adjustment was not restricted to the original.
Merry Christmas. ☮
Mass rejection of AI manipulation of art and music is the way forward.
That only works while it is still possible to identify with the naked ear/eye, which is already impossible to do for a lot of people who aren't musicians/audio engineers/artists etc. I think the unfortunate reality is that there won't be enough people who can tell the difference, and as the use of AI becomes more normalised with the upcoming generations, not enough people who will even care.
Betting the music industry doesn’t care and is moving forward with blinders on. Somehow, what they have done and will, has financial benefits and the common masses have only speculation of their motives.
@@5meoand… I believe, one of the ways that the new generations is being led down this path and AI being normalised is by auto tuning real vocalists. … it would be harder to tell the difference between an AI vocal and an auto tuned real vocal… groom and normalise
It would be, but it won't happen. 😔
Wont they get better and better with tech , and will become better at correction ?
The recording industry should be mandated to LABEL these "practices" i.e. additives, glutein-free, vegan, etc foods are.
Fil has a petition for that. He links it in the livestream descriptions.
Her natural voice is PERFECTION!
I agree that is so obviously "mechanical" and it doesn't even sound like Olivia. The recording industry is going too far and this should be stopped.
It just sounds awful. How could anybody in their right mind think this is an improvement!
That flattening of that long note on the original sounds AWFUL too
She had such a precious voice
Merci beaucoup FIL ! 😊 Magnifique analyse comme toujours ! Admiration, NELLY, BELGIQUE. 😊❤
They keep doing this! I can't stress enough that they did a re-recording of "Your Love is My Love" by Whitney Houston, and they COMPLETELY ruined her voice! It didn't even sound like her!
Oh they did such a thing?!Oh my!...voices like Whitney,Olivia,Karen etc are part of a legacy nobody should even dare to touch.
@alexioverdo5225 it was so bad.
@@Tinuvielthefair What a shame.
Personally i also like the new jolly instrumentation of 'Angels in the snow" as well as the original one....but that voice should have been left there as it was.Human.I find it rather disrespectful if not kinda blasphemous to 'throw' the voice of someome who has passed in a "proccesssed machinery"...As for Whitney...no i don't even want to listen to any 're-recording".I insist to her original,her supreme purity.Period.
@alexioverdo5225 it's a sped up techno version, much like this version, I'm guessing, I wouldn't be apprised if they sped up her vocals as well, but it's HEAVILY processed, which no one should ever do to her voice. It's really a shame. I almost didn't recognize the voice it was that processed.
Something is missing…her soul!
Olivia’s magnificent voice needed no correction in the first place. That said, I would sure be interested in seeing a side-by-side comparison of a re-release/remaster where the original pre-dated pitch correction
I wonder what the original, original sounded like? I guess we'll never know. ONJ deserves better.
Good job Fil 🎸
Both painful and grotesque, isn't it? A pitch-corrected Olivia is an Olivia that I do not wish to know. This is unpleasant. This is not okay.
Thanks for the clear explanation. Now I just wish I understood why someone thinks this is an improvement
Always a hoot with Fil….thank you!
YAY...I love Olivia!!! 💗💗💗
@@StargirlMusicChannel me too!!💖💖💖
Question, did you mention speeding up a vocal is not a good practice as it disconnects the audience from the singer? Well, what about Strawberry Fields? Weren't parts Of John Lennon's vocals sped up? It was an artistic choice, and you can hear it on the record too. Anyway, good video as usual.
I’m most offended by how poorly eq’d the new version is.
Anyone else just want to cry? That they even did pitch correction to her while she was alive is so disturbing. I grew up with Olivia, Karen, Linda et al. That this was done so recently is so sad. I mean the 2007 pitch correction on top the sped it up also. Just wow.
From the current lot, and a bit of a switch. Anyone here listen to Silent Night by the Thomas sisters? Am I the only one hearing robotic voices, I mean like crazy? So many positive reactions it’s so sad. I can’t say this anywhere else, I’ll get my hear handed to me. I’ve asked Fil to look/listen. I know he looked in the beginning of the year. You’d think they’d stop, but no.
"Sadly, nowadays it's an industry standard to put everything through a pitch correction." Yes, it is very sad. This remind me of how it's become common practice to put just about every photo you see online through one of those auto enhancing filter apps. They alter facial features at times and make people look plastic.
You can tell, though. I keep spotting ads with AI “actors”. Their voices are grating, too.
The new recording sounds crazy!
Thanks for your great content! I'd have a bit broad question and surely the answer can vary depending on the example. Anyways, When I listen old classic recordings, say on Spotify, I might often choose the 'remastered' version of the album instead of the original release. I have always thought remastering is basically cleaning up the original, but not to change e.g. the vocal pitch. Am I correct?
Often, it’s only cleaning up noise. Beware of “remixed,” though.
This is one reason we need labeling.
It’s sad that even the 2007 version was pitch corrected (she didn’t need it), but that at least sounded like her!
This dreadful new cd is truly a disaster! She have never sounded so bad in her lifetime!
That new version sounds so not human. If I came up with something in audacity that ended up like that I'd bin it. Who'd think it's a good idea to release it as something?
Some bellend commenting on this video. He’s an engineer (and probably deaf, because it’s clearly tuned visually).
I'm 32 and I really don't listen to much music from the 2000s and on, to me it became pretty clear when they started running everything through pitch correction. I just got really heavy into Steely Dan this year and Donald Fagen's voice has so much character, could you imagine if they would have dulled it by putting it through pitch correction? It would ruin it! Lol. There are some great modern bands though. Fleet Foxes, Tame Impala, Thundercat, they do exist thankfully, just with pitch correction which I can handle in those cases
That sounds absolutely awful.
My conspiracy theory is that they are conditioning listeners to get used to pitch correction until it seems natural to them. And THEN, soon enough, not only will songs almost exclusively be written by AI, but so will AI be doing all the performances. Same goes for movies. Has anyone ever seen the Albert Finney movie Looker?
I haven’t seen Looker. I’ll (see myself out) look for it.
There’s an ad that drives me crazy angry, and I finally figured out why- the actors are fake.
We have resumed control...we have resumed control.....
Olivia was a good friend of the Gibb brothers. All brilliant voices. All now being processed into tin canned production. It's heart breaking.
Have they done the same to John Farnham as well?
Thanks Pil. You saved me a lot of money!
It's a remix
Much of these is because viewers are sending in links to videos. Kudos to those who do.
Strawberry Fields Forever was edited together from two different versions in different keys and they varisped the tape to make them match (sort of).
What in the actual blazes did they do to my beautiful Olivia?! Who thinks this sounds good?!
the recording industry was always filled with weasels. now, the weasels have taken over completely
Sounds like the old "Chipmunks" voices. Don't the producers even listen to the end results?
As I've posted before- They're trying to make AI the "standard tuning" everyone hears as "normal", in order to put out the artists THEY control, and who will carry a narrative/agenda to "We The People", of THEIR choosing, and not have to worry they'll go off the rails, and lose control. It's not only costing fans the joy of TRUE music, it's EVIL, meant to manipulate and deceive.
Wish producers would not mess with vocals!
Wishing does what
Sign Fil’s petition.
One thing I'd like to point out if it hasn't been mentioned is that they are using digital means to speed up the vocal, not simply increasing the sample rate (the digital equivalent of varispeed on analog equipment) otherwise the pitch wouldn't be the same in both versions (as they are). So using an algorithm to digitally speed up as opposed to adjusting the sample speed to speed it up certainly makes it sound more robotic. Thank you, Fil, for continually pointing out this terrible practice of mixing with the eyes, rather than the ears. Who in their right mind would have thought that the re-release sounded good? It's not an improvement by any means.
It’s like Queen 1, but worse. There’s a massive thread about the new Queen boxed set. No one loves it.
forget “Parental Warning” stickers on albums, I want warning stickers indicating that what I’m buying is a vocal or backing track from a decade ago or has been pitch corrected or is an A.I. bastardization of some kind!!! 😡 This makes all my old vinyl, cassettes and CDs even more precious to me!
Speeding up the tempo of a recording also requires pitch correction, in order to maintain the original pitch. You can think of it as "global" pitch correction, rather than the targeted, note-specific pitch correction used in auto-tune, but it uses the same technological principles.
Yes! If you speed up a recording by simply playing it faster it will rise in pitch and vocals will sound chipmunky. Speeding up the tempo at constant pitch means cutting out minuscule bits from the original sound to make it shorter without going sharper. And this is what makes the smooth vibrato turn into an edgy, tremulous bleat - if you snip out small bits from a smooth curve you cannot but end up with stepwise changes and spurious "corners" that sound like a mix of yodelling and vocal fry or hoarseness. Happens with any vocal track when you play it at 1.5x speed in TH-cam (where a very simple but typical "global speed-change" algorithm is used).
Just cannot win. In the old days, out of tune used to drive me crazy. Then once autotune started, the artifacting was obvious to my ears. I find now any tuning issues from the old recordings is preferable to this remastered AT garbage today.
This practice needs to stop! I’ve heard Olivia’s voice for over 45 years!This new recording is manmade and electronic. Terrible!
You can hear the auto-tune. For some reason it makes me nauseated and always has even when used obviously to gain an effect like in some 90's songs.
Good analysis. I’ve never heard this. And yes it’s not very good. I don’t think Olivia would like it either. That’s one of many reasons why I don’t listen to remake of songs. From Olivia or anyone else.Glad that I missed this song. I’m not missing anything.If I want to hear Olivia I just listen to her songs from the past.😕Hopefully these fools stop doing things like that. Especially from Olivia fans.And maybe her friends and family.👎
I'd like to see you analyze Maria Callas singing the 'Queen of the Night' aria from Mozart's 'The Magic Flute' because some of her singing in it was almost inhuman in its accuracy. Other opera singers also performed the aria flawlessly but Callas is the one I remember the best. Maybe a comparison of different singers doing it. Maybe add in the Trans-Siberian Orchestra 'Queen of the Winter Night' version. Might be interesting. Though as good as some of the TSO singers were it isn't not really fair to compare them to professional opera singers when it comes to vocal technique.
Although not Maria Callas, he does have a video of that same area featuring Cristina Deutekom. Check it out; I'm sure you'll enjoy it!! 🥰🎶🎶🎶🎶🎶
This sounded so weird, and I don't think I would have realized it was from speeding it up, but you're right, the vibrato sounds odd. So, they sped up the vocals, and then pitch corrected everything back down to the previous pitch corrected level, because the speeding up would have raised the pitch, right? That seems like a lot of work, but maybe it isn't. But WHY?? Why even do it? It makes no sense.
Because some knob named Cory thinks his job is more important than preserving beautiful music.
Thank you Fil..!! Nice explanation.!👍🩷
So it's a remix or 'treatment' & they own it so they're allowed to do whatever with it. And maybe they've stretched it to a strict bpm too.
Man, what a sad state of affairs music is today.
ONJ now sounds like she had had vocal cord surgery and it didn't go well.
Forgetting ONJ being the singer, the producers of this have created a sound that I would refuse to listen to even to the point of leaving the theater or TV area to get away from it. Now when I consider that it is now twice removed from ONJ’s voice I heard for decades…I am at the point of losing any respect for music producers and sound engineers working today. This is a travesty that is disrespectful to the vocalist, original production staff and of course the fans of an artist known the world over. I do not applaud this trend that debases the recorded art even if it has been pitch corrected already. For me, this is a disgrace. Unions, guilds, etc., for the industry should excommunicate from their membership such producers that pervert recording artists’ creations in this manner. Unacceptable.
Sad what they did to Olivia’s voice. Sounds so echoey! Just like you said Fil, sounds like it’s coming from a loud speaker. Not an improvement, for sure.
That gated delay also makes it sound more modern and fake. The original has lush reverb with a moderate large room size but the new one has a small room reverb and gated delay. Plus they probably have a send to a track that is blending in a touch of distortion or fuzz making it sound more gritty and rough. It’s just crappy modern production to a T.
Ughh.....this is just getting too hard to bare 😔
For me the issue is that they are capitalizing on her name! This song could have been redone by many others and there would be no issue! So I'm all for boycotting this but only as it uses her name in what I consider an abusive way and is not a true representation of her works!
Tori Holub and Dan Wesleys prduction of ONJ and Cliff Richards is so good just like your Karen Carpenter video
Thanks so much for clarifying why poor ONJ sounds like she’s riding a sheep in the new version. Disrespectful.
What I want to know is when will Fil do an analysis of Bob Dylan, Tom Waits & Leonard Cohen to see if they were using auto tune or pitch correction? And what about Tiny Tim & Yoko Ono? I smell a cover up here.
I get to a point of mistrust which subtracts from my enjoyment
how they have the audacity to release a track with such terrible and unlistenable audio quality? Ugh
It is an isolated vocal, so it may sound much different in context.
@Spo-Dee-O-Dee look at the difference between the original audio and the new release
Yes, the new release clip you played did sound robotic and mechanized.
Changing her vocals is a disgrace her voice was perfect
That’s too mechanical!
Who would want to buy that? I don’t buy new music. I preordered Adele’s last album! Never again. I played it one time…..
Yikes....I really don't like what they've done... a bit of an insult to a great artist.
Imagine one of the most magical voices since decades before pitch correction sounding almost robotic because technology is awesome, so disrespectful and sad.
Almost?
@@SuziQ. Ok robotic as hell, there.
Seeing the comments, I'm not sure people got the message, which was the producers are blamed because of the wrong reason.
Great analysis again!