Brian Eno on Voices

[Caerdwyn]

The instrument in question is the Roland VP-550, and it's been around for several years. Its function is halfway between a vocoder and an autotuner; you sing or speak into a microphone (or other external input) connected to the instrument, then play notes on a standard synth keyboard. The vocals are pitch-changed to match the keys, and used to "color" synthesized voices and strings. Search on "Roland VP-550" for some demos if you're curious.

I have one of these. Good fun.

[stefmano88]

Heh. Brian Eno forecasts a fad that's going to plague pop music in the next four years after this video was put out.

[rebelfpf59]

1:08 is that a fly or did someone fart

[redchant]

Doesn't autotune make all voices sound like robots rather than angels?

[PerpetualSaturday]

@redchant you decide

[twinesound]

@nicohhog, well, but Cher is a commercial puppet and a joke. Eno is an artist.  BIg difference. I think how she used it and how he used it are very different things.

[dantedraco]

I think the best thing about Brian Eno is the MGMT song about him.

[funkatram]

@dantedraco wowwwwwwwww, hope you're trollin!

[nicochoog]

Respect to Mr Eno, but Cher got there before him this time.

[madekri]

just vocoding...?!?

[averilleX]

@madekri Vocoding with pitch correction, guess all modern rec studios have the software. Or maybe he writes his own? That would be an interesting experiment...

[AAR182]

Eno T-Pained something before T-Pain did it!

[himself801]

What he is talking about is a tool that can help realize an artist vision that isn't to replace live sing but being able achieve an effect like an audio version of computer graphics. He has always experimented with the sounds of instruments and images in his installation pieces.

If you can accept Avatar without live actors but modelled on live people, why can't accept treat vocals that don't sound like typical people?

[septicmedia]

death of autotune !

[leytonarms]

oh he's almost godlike!

[Astralpua]

this is what T-pain does basically....I liked the Idea of the wind but the overly auto-tuned voice sounds very robotic...not angelic at all!!!

[analogWeapon]

@Astralpua robotic angels

[ahaditube]

You guys are not listening to him, actually listen and ull understand

[pxlpilot]

I guess in the end, no matter what is said, if it a good listen or not is all that matters.

[Purukivi]

its ok when you guys cant understand what he is thinking.

[Feyd01]

I think people here have missed the point slightly. Eno is talking about using an existing peice of technology designed for one function, and using it in a different way. Like he said, listen to Bottomliners. It's obvious it's been deliberately re-tuned in a fairly extreme way.

As for soulful singing, I disagree with him. But it sounds like he was refering to his own voice, rather than anybody else's. That's the impression I got anyway.

[himself801]

@Feyd01

It was once reported that Eno didn't particularly like the sound of his vocals and preferred to make instrumentals. He has no illusions of competing with people like Sinatra or Whitney Houston, but is working in another genre.

It is interesting to hear treated vocals for performance art reasons, which sounds very much like what Laurie Anderson does and has done regular through out her career, on stage and on record.

[mergaman4]

Agree with trex he is in a world of his own making it seems, not to mention that he appears quite egocentric to boot.

[Trex100]

Funny how he has always has worked with so many unique singers who give their music a character and feel, and here he describes the absence of this. He has lost touch it seems...

[sixfeetjenna]

I never thought I would disagree with any of Eno´s views, but he has lost his map completely on this one. Auto-tune has made people lazy and is responsible for every soulless song on the radio these days. I really really wish it would never have been invented.

[daddysquirrel]

why use singers at all? if eno isn't interested in the 'soul' of a singer, then he is missing out on so many great singers in the 20th century. granted, computerized voices are cool, but when sinatra sings we WANT to hear his personality. in fact, it's his personality that makes the tunes more believable. in the end, melody and human voices will hold water, and all else will sound dated. compare the beatles (they did alter their voices a bit, but still) to eno. which one sounds new, even today?

[lkman4]

the human voice has so much potential and is unique in its own right. it varies among each and every individual.

[williestratton]

yeah that's really true, but i guess that's not what he's going for

[zimmerface]

What if the only things Vincent van Gogh painted were self portraits? That's what singers do with their songs if they inject too much of their personality into it. After a while it just gets boring.

[noudthe3rd]

could you have said that any better?

[eyaddarras]

@daddysquirrel "When sinatra sings we want to hear his personality" - Who is we? Who are you speaking for? In response to your question, to my ears, Eno sounds 'newer.'

[analogWeapon]

@daddysquirrel it's a difference of context i think. i agree with you and i agree with eno too. it's about intention and will. if the intention is to make a piece with the voice as a seed for synthesis, then this can accomplish great work, and if the intention is to relay the personality of the human voice as an acoustic instrument in its own right then this can also accomplish great work.

[opertain]

@daddysquirrel This man is about creating art. He is not saying it is bad to use real voices. Quite the opposite really. He is saying that for him, and for what he is trying to create artisticly, it is great!

[omgitstylerrieser]

i guess its understandable why people don't like hard auto-tuning, considering how everyone uses it today. but i love his explanation of why he uses it, he's exactly right. personally, i've been auto-tuning my recent recordings as well, but not because i want to be like everyone else, just because i think its so interesting sounding when you you it to actually sing, and use big chords and harmonies, auto-tuning each track, almost making a vocal synth pad. i love it.

[omgitstylerrieser]

actually, an even better way to put it - imagine being able to play an organ, playing chords within a key, with all kinds of accidentals and stuff, a lot like what you would hear in a chapel - every note is stil la perfect as the strike of an organ key, but all of those chords are done by vocals. i love it.

[IMTREYANASTASIO]

this "machine" is in almost every hip-hop/pop song nowadays. and it isn't being used creatively, its being overused unproductively. there's no human in music anymore, first the synth, then the sample pads and electronic drums, now robotic voice, what happened?

[Malepin]

Anyone know what this machine is called? I think that sounds bloody brilliant to use it to make something out of this world. The innovations of innovations inspire Monsieur Eno to Eno-vate:D

[LeonChan]

Well, now that the "machine" is available within everyone's reach. Pop music will always be unoriginal, uncreative, and talentless bunch who can't sing live.

[SenaraBlenethwyn]

counter example: Alexandra Burke = Brilliant singer. I could enumerate countless others...or cite my fave, Sarah Maclachlan - stunning voice

[SenaraBlenethwyn]

unfortunately this machine has been over used - the 'auto tuning' of too many big hit clubby pop releases - still has it's uses if not over relied on

[feralferret]

Agreed. It's probably more known as the 'Cher effect' than by its proper name (Autotune)!

'Cher - I Believe', that song opened the floodgates.

It's badly clichéd now, and has been for a long time.

[SenaraBlenethwyn]

yet still widely used, which I find quite bizarre, as there is much more sophisticated software now that corrects pitch in much more subtle and interesting ways.

[Opqosite]

it's more known as autotuning now. gaddamn t-pain! lol.

[spurtfather]

once upon a time this man was the best thing going. now he's a compromised idiot. i'm sorry but he's talking shite here. what he should do is take the machine he's talking about and throw it in the bin. it's like his work with U2, throw it in the bin. roxy music and his first 3 albums and his bowie stuff, I'll give him that, but what he's up to now? S H I T E. coldplay, U2, Jason fucking Donovan??? fuck that. FUCK THAT!

[earvesicle]

totally agree with you maybe a bit harsh for some to accept in the way you said it but its very true.. i nearly threw up when i found out he worked with coldplay.. ugh.. but thats who the supposedly good artists are now a days.. but whats a producer going to do with a bunch of shitty musicians its the best people he has to work with.. unfortunately...

[sleepily]

What song of his did he mention? "Bottom Linus"?

[sheatheman]

haha his british accent sounds like "bottom linus" but it is bottom liners

[sleepily]

Haha.. I'm half British and even I missed that. Thonks!

[sheatheman]

you're welcome

[thunderviper666]

i can only take from this the notion that TPAIN has "the voice of an angel".

[salvadorveri]

hahaha exactly what i thought

[cheekymonkey1979]

Spot on!

[kaligula11]

Fantastic and really innovative things with voices were done by Jean Michel Jarre on his album Zoolook. He used samples in a way that makes modern sample-using childish.

[unclegusyo]

@kaligula11 lol shutup

[shame69]

He's talking about a harmoniser. The very early ones had a keyboard for vocal tone corrections. Check Godley & Creme's 'I Pity Inanimate Objects' from 1979 where Creme plays Godley's voice on the harmoniser keyboard. Wondrous!

[ScheissLeben]

:-)

[inrgb]

I wonder if T-Pain would refer to his and Akon's prolific use of this effect so eloquently

[MarquisInSpadez]

He'd say "Bitch dis shit was wack and then we used dah picshift and then it was the CUT!"

Brian Eno says everything I can never verbalize about production. There is a reason here come the warm jets was absolutely the most incredible record ever.

[Azure260]

The way this man's mind works - just blows me away.

[armodanfan]

i love hiiim, just wow

[turntapzap]

A fine, innovative genius. He frightens me so.

[scottvanska]

I wonder what size hat he wears - his head is freakin' enormous.

[Luvs23]

haha

[CircusOfHeaven]

wonderful thoughts.. he's a genius. i wonder what's on his head. i always wondered, it's enough to see early Roxy videos and you'd go "WTF O_O" when Eno was on screen.

[3chrds]

he's tripping me out.

as always.

[mtrucco]

..."you can change the sex of a voice..."

how queer of him. yaaay....

i'd suggest listening to spiritualized's lazer guided melodies. the title pretty much says it all...

[lyricessence]

check out Laurie Anderson...she was doing this years ago in her performance art--not queer at all, either literally or figuratively

[nomusician]

yes, brian, you're right BUT synthesized voice (as I've heard it) makes me cringe and I don't like.

And how can you say you're not into personality!

just look at yourself!

[lokimlin]

he means he wants the listener to to be free of him just music, where as you have britney spears, all you see in your head is britney dancing in hit me baby one more time, the image defeats the music.

[marektalts]

I like he´s ideas very, very much! Ambient man:)

[futilityroom]

joseph livingstone has a brand new album out on centaur records. Google him!

[hannsdieterschulz]

Hello Brion ,

you are the best.

Dieter & Second

[eno2001]

Eno is INDEED God. Although I also have it on good authority that Thomas Morgan Dolby Robertson is also God. So... perhaps they are the many faces of God? ;P

[mrmysto73]

Eno is and has been cutting edge of tech forever!

[orsocio]

it's perfectly acceptable to talk about software as if it's a machine. get a grip.

[petsounds19]

uh, are you talking about "AUTOTUNE", my friend eno? that's not a "machine", you poser.

[DPTG23]

it's Eno he could it a banana, he is still be responsible for the most sublime music ever made, where as your contribution to the world of music has been what exactly ?

[DPTG23]

it's Eno he could it a banana, he is still be responsible for the most sublime music ever made, where as your contribution to the world of music has been what exactly ?

[futilityroom]

Er...yes, o.k.

[CollinMel]

Strange, my favorite thing about Eno's music is the personality in the vocals of his early work. I think Nietzsche said something similar about Wagner. Not that I intend to liken myself to Nietzsche or Eno to Wagner. I like Eno's work much better ;)

[jamiewindsor]

I have nothing but respect for Brian Eno. He has all the credentials of a rock star but without the ego. His music is fantastic too. Clever, sensitive and really friendly nice guy.

[brutze]

he does go on doesn't he...

A genius nonetheless.

Melodyne kicks autotune's ass!

I once whacked Mr. eno on the head with a bamboo stick at a garden party in London. Sorry!

[kaini]

why i love eno is not because he makes great music, but because he is an original thinker. perhaps the most original thinker since richard feynmann.

[lowerarchy]

Did you know that Michael Ventris and Feynmann are arm-wrestling in the afterlife with only the power of their minds?

[kaini]

sure. i can see ramanujan as referee and tim leary commentating ;P

[gilliannicol]

big fan, if you get a chance check out falling down, a poetry film with people on he streets posing as the letters and words...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v­=PJ4sI2_amM4

[obertancat]

Banal.

[twilightgal]

The world is full of intelligent men. But how many have such a direct line to the sublime! Not many. And I know that for a statistical fact.

[andreaprodan]

a few years ago' Clapton' was 'God'.

Eno is an inteligent man. The world is FULL of inteligent men, and using things for diferent purposes has always been a source of 'stimuli' and novelty. Thanks, anyhow.

[stretta]

I love Eno's groundbreaking work, but to hear him try to be relevant today is depressing. Overusing intonation correction software is hardly a novel effect. Using *any* tool outside of its intended use is pretty much one of the first things you try as an artist these days.

[spankin1000]

yeah exactly: Cher anyone?

having said that i really like much of eno's work and it IS interesting.

[grantobean]

Eno is one of the few artists of yore who actually remains completely relevant today. (You can count all of them on one hand.) And the reason using tools outside their intended use is, in fact, "one of the first things you try as an artist these days" is BECAUSE Eno was leading the charge back when it was not the conventional wisdom to do so. He remains nearly unimpeachable because he is a true pioneer.

[twilightgal]

Brian Eno doesn't like his personality!

[octopusflower]

i love Eno's opposition to the ego in pop music and lyrics. totally envious of that.

eno is indeed god.

[Donny10]

Brian Eno is Awesome, please more Eno Video's!

[kenschube]

he's talking about the software program made by antares called "auto tune" and tc electronics' "helicon", 2 of his favorite new toys

[Bucky315]

The man is a *true* pioneer. An original in th real sense of the word. Brilliant. Thank you for posting this!

[dixgun]

more, more, more eno ints!!!

[voaresagi]

Eno is GOD

[adulus]

Very interesting! I'm not sure I'd ever heard Eno speak in an interview before. Smart man--perhaps a bit too smart for the good of his own art...