I recently ran across the article that Josie posted but was not aware of this thread until it was pointed out to me today by a friend. BIAB has opened new vistas for Janice and me re musical genres. For many years we played in a bluegrass band where band members would fuss even about a little reverb.

Know how many bluegrass musicians it takes to change a light bulb? Five....one to change the bulb and four to complain about it being electric.

So this whole auto tune thing is relatively new to me (I never listened to Cher). This morning in a restaurant I heard a pop diva sustain a high note perfectly for a ridiculously long time and started thinking about vocal manipulation in the studio and that lead me to this thread.

I played upright bass for many years and perhaps folks thought I needed auto tune or a similar effect. I've recorded Janice off and on for 25 years and have never thought about it....perhaps folks listen to our stuff and wonder why the hell I don't use it. Dunno. I love Ozone 6 and Nectar 2 and BIAB and Logic Pro X and digital recordings and my mobile devices, i.e., I have nothing against high technology when it comes to things musical. I do find it interesting that folks get so exercised over this issue. Short of being out in public in a eatery or grocery store I NEVER listen to music that I don't like. Taylor Swift seems to be a very bright young lady with a ton of business acumen but I could care less about her music or how it is created. I guess it's because for our 34 years together Janice and I have tended to listen to what is now called Americana -- and it tends to be a tad rough around the edges.

To paraphrase Gregg Allman it doesn't matter what the genre is...if it has soul it's good. And from my perspective soulful singing has a lot of moving notes. Some times I feel that "follow the bouncing ball" singers think that a "bent note" singer is "pitchy." Again, just dunno. Like Jerry Garcia once said to David Grisman...."they are all just notes."

Pardon the acknowledged ramble. Just thinking out loud via the keyboard. :-)


Our albums and singles are on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music, YouTube Music, Pandora and more.
If interested search on Janice Merritt. Thanks!
Our Videos are here on our website.