auto-tune

See also: autotune

English

Etymology

From auto- +‎ tune, a trademark registered to Antares Audio Technologies.

Noun

auto-tune (uncountable)

1. (music) An audio processor that corrects the pitch of a recorded track, also used to distort vocals in electronic music.

Verb

auto-tune (third-person singular simple present auto-tunes, present participle auto-tuning, simple past and past participle auto-tuned)

1. (transitive) To tune (an engine, industrial process, etc.) automatically.
2. (music, transitive) To correct the pitch of a vocal or instrumental performance.
   • 2023 July 10, Zachary Woolfe, “Review: Ted Hearne’s Sweet, Sad American Elegy”, in The New York Times‎^[1]:

     The singing is sometimes pure and sometimes processed into exaggeratedly AutoTuned “Alvin and the Chipmunks” automation.

Related terms

• autotuner
• the Cher effect