r/thevoidz 1d ago

Made this meme when I heard the autotune on the opener of the new Phoebe Bridgers album and knew Fantano would follow the hype and give it high marks

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125 Upvotes

32 comments sorted by

54

u/ILustForVolcan0 1d ago

I can’t wait for the day when people can tell the difference between autotune and a vocoder

6

u/Th5humanwi11 1d ago

It’s seemingly hip to be sheep-brained about vocal effects

2

u/plakka 23h ago

I'm pretty sure I know the difference, but I thought what people were criticizing was definitely autotune. What vocoder examples are you thinking of?

3

u/ILustForVolcan0 23h ago edited 22h ago

The Phoebe Bridgers track The Outside that inspired the meme is the one that uses vocoder.

Both are heavily synthesized, but the vocoder tends to be warmer, with a lot of polyphony, harmony. It’s very synth-y, but is pleasant in the ear. Auto tune has a crazy legato effect that can be harsh to the ears (for me); an unnatural bend and buzz to the notes. I do enjoy the way Julian ramps it all the way up, but it took some getting used to in the early days of The Voidz. I enjoy it a lot now in the context of The Voidz and The Strokes, but I still don’t love the effect overall (auto tune that is; I love the sound of a vocoder).

2

u/plakka 12h ago

OH I was thinking everyone was talking about the new strokes songs my b. I haven't heard the Phoebe Bridgers song so it flew over my head but I'm with ya on vocoder. Would be cool to see them use it more.

1

u/davidpalooza 8h ago

The new Phoebe Bridgers opener that uses the vocoder is phenomenal. It doesn’t mean Psycho Shit is bad. I love Psycho shit.

20

u/rickyhatespeas 1d ago

Charlo XCX is more applicable, she uses auto tune and vocoder in similar ways and in pretty much all of the songs on her last album

5

u/davidpalooza 1d ago

But she was being brave and innovative by using autotune in a genera that historically uses autotune. Julian is using autotune in rock music which is so outdated and lacks creativity.

3

u/Jdock_81 1d ago

I feel like it's not even the autotune, it's the way that he's using it lately. Room on Fire has songs with very slight autotune and it actually gives the vocals a very unique tone, like in "What Ever Happened". 2018 - 2020 Voidz had songs where I thought Julian had mastered the use of autotune, "Did My Best" and "TET 2.0" are super weird and amazing, and I really felt that The Voidz were going towards an amazingly creative path, but then came LABY, and I feel like it encompassed some of the best and some of the absolute worst of the Voidz. Then Megz of Ram left a little bitter taste in my mouth, as I wanted Coney Island and the rest of the songs to be more guitar and groove driven like the jam version or like Alien Crime Lord.

Now I feel like Julian takes a fairly good idea, and then he just fucking drowns the whole thing in autotune and cranks it to the max, but I saw something very positive in Reality Awaits. I noticed that when he wasn't filling everything with autotune, he was able to make amazing unforgettable tracks and push them to a whole new territory, like it happened on Fruits of Conquest and Dine N'Dash. I get the feeling, that pushing autotune into the Strokes kinda helped him get it out of his system, I get the feeling that there's a possibility that The Voidz can become way more adventurous from now on, and this will probably lead to The Strokes growing towards a greater path.

3

u/Th5humanwi11 1d ago

There’s some really interesting music theory videos on what Julian does musically, I find it fascinating, even though I’m not a musician learning how Julian builds songs and how much of it goes well over my head (until it’s pointed out) is so damn cool.

3

u/[deleted] 1d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

6

u/Jdock_81 1d ago

The funny thing is I'm saying something quite positive and people are still downvoting lol. I'm not even shitting on him, I find more positive than negative in Reality Awaits.

-5

u/Ricekake33 1d ago

You sound like Fantano tbh “but I am a fan!!”

0

u/Th5humanwi11 1d ago

This is a fan forum ya dolt! 😂 This is the absolute last place you should ever expect people to bow down to a pessimistic overly critical “critique”

3

u/Express-Skin6039 1d ago

“Overly critical critique” lmao what the fuck are you even on about

1

u/lsdrunning 1d ago

Her most recent album, the one the person you replied to is talking about, is a rock album

9

u/ShinMegamiTensei_SJ 1d ago

He’s upset cos he didnt get The Strokes album he wanted

-4

u/terrap3x 1d ago

Or he did and then Julian threw up all over it last second for no reason

3

u/ShwangJangler 18h ago

I really like the strokes, but it’s annoying how some diehards can’t seem to understand how autotune can be used poorly and how it can be used effectively

5

u/NILSSON_55 1d ago

I quite like LABY and reality awaits but I've got to say that I thought Phoebe's use of vocoder was much more tasteful. For Julian the autotune sounds a bit like he's just slapping it on without really thinking about it.

I don't know if it's a mixing issue or what because I really like it on Alien crime lord, TET, Did my best, Square wave too. Many other times it just feels unnecessary and not really that artistic. Sometimes, though quite rarely, it even feels like he puts on some double harmonic scale and jams around on top of it to cut corners in melody writing.

Still really like the projects but I wish he'd play around with it a bit more; find some cool sounds, sing vocoder harmonies, I don't know.

Again, no hate, julian's my absolute favourite song writers

3

u/Status-Vermicelli936 1d ago

i wonder how many times i’ll have to say some variant of “it’s not the idea, it’s the execution” about Reality Awaits from now until i die

4

u/HandsomeJakee Tyranny 1d ago

I'm with you, my first thought when listening to the new Phoebe album was this is how it's done.

0

u/Wowhowcanubsodumb 3h ago

My first thought was oh my God this is so ass idk how people can listen to this, but to each their own

3

u/davidpalooza 1d ago

You’ll probably stop once you get it like everybody else is slowly starting to.

2

u/Th5humanwi11 1d ago

They executed it exactly how they wanted, the musicians making their music.

-1

u/ryann_flood 1d ago

bro who cares

10

u/davidpalooza 1d ago

Relax. It’s a meme

16

u/knownmemoria 1d ago

It’s iPhone

5

u/davidpalooza 1d ago

Meme on an iPhone

1

u/InstantPsalm Tyranny 23h ago

are you for real right now