Tuning the human voice to the sound of technology: A cultural history of pitch-correction software in 21st-century popular music

通过这个项目，我正在探索流行音乐中音高校正软件和声乐技巧之间日益密切的关系。AutoTune和Melodyne等应用程序可以对人声进行广泛的“调整”-不仅在音高准确性方面，而且在理想化的音色完美方面。由于自1997年以来，音高校正技术越来越经常地用于流行音乐制作，我假设歌手现在开始模仿这种软件“完美”的声音。我将音高校正软件和这种更普遍的“完美意识形态”置于音乐技术的更大文化历史中，加入Sterne（2003）和Katz（2005）等学者，试图根据产生它们的技术来撰写声音和音乐的历史。更紧迫的是，在音乐学学术迄今为止，还没有全面的历史书面音高校正软件。相反，几项小型研究在本地化背景下考虑了“自动调谐”（Danielsen & Brovig-Hanssen，2016; Hein，2017; Ragona，2013;马歇尔，2017年，2018年）。我还将考虑音高校正软件与一个相对较新的思想流派的关系，该思想流派考虑了人体与其技术他者之间日益相互的关系（Hayles，1998; Latour，2005，1998）-这是许多音乐学研究的前沿问题（Prior，2009，2017; Stanyek & Piekut，2010）。这项工作的重要性越来越明显，因为我们看到越来越多地使用术语，如“后真相”在当代社会，在这个深刻的哲学和高度政治化的文化氛围，我认为迫切需要学者努力使这种所谓的“真实”的崩溃的意义。我希望发展一种批判性的音乐学方法来处理这种模糊的“人类”和“非人类”，梳理出音高校正是否应该被理解为一种非人类的，超越性的技术力量，或者作为一个独特的文化历史的产物，本质上是人类的，时刻。在这种背景下，我将试图研究音高校正软件的广泛使用与流行音乐家唱歌的方式之间的关系。我将特别提到音乐技术的历史发展是如何牵连在这种关系中的，也将考虑这种关系在一个日益“后人类”的世界中，在人类和技术之间更广泛的界面中所扮演的角色。为了详细考虑这些事项，研究的初始阶段将包括一个全面的互联网民族志，特别是突出的音频和视频来源，与研究问题有关的问题。我将使用这些资源来开发一种连贯的方法，用于分析和转录技术上精炼的声音，同时参与围绕音高校正的辩论。我还计划深入研究音高校正软件本身的计算细节，查阅科学文献，了解软件的文化目标是如何隐含在其设计中的。在此之后，大部分的研究将是基于采访的收集信息，从歌手，音响工程师和声乐专家。在这里，我希望了解过去20年来声音和歌唱技术的发展，以及音高校正技术在其中的作用。因此，我的研究方法结合了互联网民族志，对两个主要来源（音乐和软件）的密切分析，以及基于访谈的研究。我采用这种三方方法，因为音乐，软件和人类价值观的网络（位于互联网讨论和实际的，基于工作的情况下）产生了音调校正软件在当代社会中的高度微妙和文化上的担忧。

With this project I am exploring the increasingly close relationship between pitch-correction software and vocal techniques in popular music.Applications such as AutoTune and Melodyne enable a broad 'tuning' of the human voice-not only in terms of its pitch accuracy, but also in terms of an idealized timbral perfection. Because pitch-correction technology has been used in popular music production with increasing regularity since 1997, I hypothesize that singers are now beginning to imitate the sounds 'perfected' by this software. I situate pitch-correction software-and this more general 'ideology of perfection'-within a larger cultural history of music technology, joining scholars such as Sterne (2003) and Katz (2005) in their attempts to write the history of sound and music according to the technologies which have worked to produce them. More pressingly, in musicological scholarship to date, there has been no comprehensive history written of pitch-correction software. Instead, several small studies have considered 'AutoTune' in localized contexts (Danielsen & Brovig-Hanssen, 2016; Hein, 2017; Ragona, 2013; Marshall, 2017, 2018).I will also consider pitch-correction software in relation to a relatively new school of thought which contemplates the increasingly reciprocal relationship between the human body and its technological Other (Hayles, 1998; Latour, 2005, 1998)-an issue which sits at the forefront of many musicological studies (Prior, 2009, 2017; Stanyek & Piekut, 2010). The burgeoning importance of this work is becoming ever clearer as we see the increasing use of terms such as 'post-truth' in contemporary society-in this deeply philosophical and highly politicized cultural climate, I perceive an urgent need for scholars to strive to make sense of this so-called breakdown of the 'real'. I hope to develop a critical musicological approach to this blurring of the 'human' and the 'non-human', teasing out whether pitch-correction should be understood as a non-human, transcendental technological power, or as the product of a unique cultural-historical, and essentially human, moment. Given this context, I will seek to examine how the widespread use of pitch-correction software is related to the way that popular musicians sing. I will refer specifically to how the historical development of music technology is implicated in this relationship, and will also consider the role that this relationship plays in the broader interface between humans and technology in an increasingly 'posthuman' world.To consider these matters in detail, the initial stages of research will consist of a comprehensive internet ethnography of particularly salient audio and visual sources which illuminate key issues relating to the research questions. I will use these sources to develop a coherent method for the analysis and transcription of the technologically refined voice, simultaneously engaging with debates surrounding pitch-correction. I also plan to delve into the computational details of pitch-correction software itself, consulting the scientific literature to understand how the cultural goals of the software are implicit in its design. Following this, most of the research will be interview-based-gathering information from singers, sound engineers and vocal experts. Here, I hope to find out exactly how voices and singing techniques have developed over the past 20 years, and the role of pitch-correction technologies in this development.My research method therefore combines internet ethnography, the close analysis of two main sources (music and software), and interview-based research. I employ this tripartite method because a network of music, software, and human values (located in both internet discussions and practical, work-based situations) produces the highly nuanced and culturally fraught position of pitch-correction software in contemporary society.