Which is cheaper? Â A couple hours of post-production time and an auto-tuning program or 10 hours of studio time and actually being able to sing?
Over the weekend we watched some movie or other with one of today’s pop sensations (Miley Cyrus or some similar ilk). Â This movie was about a bunch of kids at some kind of musical school. Â It fell victim to a whole lot of stuff that makes me not watch movies (high school as a sort of junior university, really unrealistically good-looking people, bizarrely white/blonde hair, I could go on). Â As a result of this being set in a musical high school, the big final number was this coming-of-age, I’ve finally overcome my stage fright sort of production. Â It was a girl singing with her boyfriend accompanying on piano or guitar and a backing band.
I could hear the auto-tuner.  Not in the Cher “Believe” I-am-using-this-as-an-effect-in-the-song sort of way but in a “hey, we cast somebody who cannot sing worth beans” sort of way.  I wasn’t really enjoying the movie up to that point, but that put me right over the edge.
How is it that people like Ms. Cyrus, who cannot act or sing, manage to get work that involves both acting and singing?