Obama's health care plan auto tuned

October 12, 2009 6:51 PM

T Pain auto tunes Obama Health Care
posted by bluesky43 (53 comments total)

This stuff never gets old!
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 6:55 PM on October 12, 2009 [3 favorites]

Just so everyone knows before they post in this thread, T-Pain scientific notation can be expressed one of two ways on the Internet:

short^ay

or

short^ay
posted by Mikey-San at 6:56 PM on October 12, 2009 [34 favorites]

If only there were an analgesic that could take away the T-Pain.
posted by ...possums at 6:56 PM on October 12, 2009 [10 favorites]

Worth mentioning that the Auto-tune the News guys wrote this.
posted by empath at 6:58 PM on October 12, 2009 [10 favorites]

I prefer the Slap Chop Autotune Remix
posted by Mayor Curley at 7:01 PM on October 12, 2009 [4 favorites]

Glad autotune the news (the gregory brothers) were involved. I was upset for a second.
posted by djduckie at 7:09 PM on October 12, 2009 [3 favorites]

I think it's ready for this meme to die. Nevertheless, I laughed out loud at "amputation."
posted by The World Famous at 7:09 PM on October 12, 2009 [4 favorites]

How can we make healthcare reform more appealing to scared, elderly white people?

I know... Crunk!
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:11 PM on October 12, 2009 [2 favorites]

shawbti
posted by East Manitoba Regional Junior Kabaddi Champion '94 at 7:14 PM on October 12, 2009

Could this be moved over to the original I AM T-PAIN thread?
posted by nanojath at 7:22 PM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

If only they could auto-tune the news.
posted by 517 at 7:31 PM on October 12, 2009

While we're here, go watch Autotune the News # 6 (Michael Jackson - drugs- Palin). I think it's the best of the bunch by far.
posted by PercussivePaul at 7:40 PM on October 12, 2009

All joking aside, that was pretty hilarious.

Could have done without the gold teeth at the end, but that music maker was pretty cool. Now he just needs to get On a Boat.
posted by scrutiny at 7:55 PM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

I noticed nobody had mentioned it yet, so I thought I'd add that you should go watch autotune the news.
posted by jock@law at 8:00 PM on October 12, 2009

I was really prepared to be really tired of this, but I just can't get over how charming the 'Diabetes!' call-and-response sounds.
posted by setanor at 8:13 PM on October 12, 2009 [2 favorites]

Poor Mr. F. Not only does his endocrine system hate him as far as insulin production goes, now he's got to put up with me going "DiiiAAAAbeeeTEEES! Diabetes!" every time he takes out his meter for the next week. Thanks, MetaFilter!
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 8:30 PM on October 12, 2009 [3 favorites]

Watching it, I felt, hmm, yeah, this is getting a bit tiring, but then... Amputation, boop. The little auto-tuned sound effect made the whole video for me.
posted by Ghidorah at 8:31 PM on October 12, 2009 [4 favorites]

The only chuckle I got was at ~1:46 when T-Pain was on the phone when the standing ovation kicked in. I appreciate comedy 1%ers like that.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 8:41 PM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm confused, how are the auto-tune-the-news/Gregory Brothers involved? I'm glad they are, because they are awesome (and can really sing), but they don't seem to be credited here.
posted by jb at 8:43 PM on October 12, 2009

The Gregory Brothers actually mention helping out with the tuning of the Kimmel clip on their Facebook page, which you can dig up if you're over on FB.
posted by fairytale of los angeles at 9:05 PM on October 12, 2009

Does T-Pain do any real music anymore, or does he just deal in parodies these days?
posted by ThePinkSuperhero at 9:10 PM on October 12, 2009

That was pretty good. Which is odd, I have not once laughed at anything Jimmy Kimmel has been involved in before. But he was just the intro so I guess my record still stands. Good stuff, makes me want to get the app.
posted by fenriq at 9:12 PM on October 12, 2009

I think the more you have health insurance, the funnier stuff like this is.
posted by Camofrog at 9:29 PM on October 12, 2009 [4 favorites]

Auto tune the Carl Sagan (feat. Stephen Hawking) is nearly perfect.
posted by georg_cantor at 9:30 PM on October 12, 2009 [21 favorites]

Could have done without the gold teeth at the end...

i think that was actually yellow teeth, because y'know, the president's been smoking...
posted by sexyrobot at 10:04 PM on October 12, 2009

I don't have health insurance but I somehow manage to find it funny. The only thing the USA manufactures anymore is ironic gallows humor.
posted by palidor at 10:07 PM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

The only thing the USA manufactures anymore is ironic gallows humor.

I'm pretty sure you still import most of that from England.
posted by GuyZero at 10:11 PM on October 12, 2009 [8 favorites]

This internet joke has been run into the ground to the point where it is now on network TV?

meh-tafilter.
posted by GavinR at 10:12 PM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

I can't believe I Googled all this, but I may as well share.

A Time article on auto-tune said Cher was the first to use it in a song.

I vividly remember hearing regular live interviews via satellite phone on local radio - possibly Jesse Martin[?] - where the reception was less than ideal, and his voice was going all autotune.

For a while the DJs were comparing him to Cher, and vice verca.

So I was wondering if auto-tune was accidentally discovered, like a lot of amazing advances in science and humanity. But apparently not.** But boy, the fuzzy reception sounded exactly like auto-tune.

**Auto-Tune was initially created by Andy Hildebrand, an engineer working for Exxon. Hildebrand developed methods for interpreting seismic data, and subsequently realized that the technology could be used to detect, analyze, and modify pitch.
posted by uncanny hengeman at 10:18 PM on October 12, 2009

yeah, I finally cracked a lol at "amputation! BOOP". Therefore, we rate your video as "not unacceptable".
posted by boo_radley at 10:26 PM on October 12, 2009

I vividly remember hearing regular live interviews via satellite phone on local radio - possibly Jesse Martin[?] - where the reception was less than ideal, and his voice was going all autotune.

It's because some telephone companies use compression techniques which are essentially vocoding. It sounds okay unless your start losing reception, then it sounds mechanical.
posted by empath at 10:40 PM on October 12, 2009

So I was wondering if auto-tune was accidentally discovered...apparently not.**

**Auto-Tune was initially created by Andy Hildebrand, an engineer working for Exxon. Hildebrand developed methods for interpreting seismic data, and subsequently realized that the technology could be used to detect, analyze, and modify pitch.

That sounds like an accident to me.

posted by lumensimus at 11:00 PM on October 12, 2009 [1 favorite]

Carl Sagan autotune justifies the technology. Now that it's been done, we can safely retire autotuning.
posted by EatTheWeak at 11:01 PM on October 12, 2009 [2 favorites]

Autotune Baby
posted by empath at 11:09 PM on October 12, 2009

Carl Sagan autotuned sounds vaguely like Ernie from Sesame Street. Googling Ernie and autotune got me On a Boat with Bert and Ernie.
posted by shinyshiny at 11:09 PM on October 12, 2009 [2 favorites]

I think the Cher / mostly boring R&B autotune-as-effect was indeed accidentally discovered, or someone was playing around with it outside of how it was normally used. Remember that it was used as pitch correction for sub-par vocal performances (and still is, sadly) before the whole T-Pain robot singer craze happened.
posted by palidor at 11:30 PM on October 12, 2009

I thought the same thing, shinyshiny, except I heard Kermit. On the other hand, when Carl Sagen is un-autotuned, he apparently sounds like someone else.
posted by The Pusher Robot at 11:30 PM on October 12, 2009

auto-tune.
fad turned lame turned hip turned meme turned sour.

for reference, see 'Chocolate Rain' and cherry Pepsi.
posted by blastrid at 12:01 AM on October 13, 2009 [2 favorites]

Could have done without the gold teeth at the end

Nonsense. It's about time the president got him some grillz. If he gets the ones with dollar signs on, then more people might be reassured about his ongoing commitment to fiscal responsibility.
posted by PeterMcDermott at 12:53 AM on October 13, 2009 [2 favorites]

The easiest way to engineer effects is usually to crank it all the way up and then ride it down.

The urban legend going around Nashville when I was in audio school there was that Cher walked into the control room when they were doing precisely that, but to fix her vocals, and thought it was intentional. She loved it, and said so, and no one contradicts an artist that big really.

Dunno if it's true, but it would make some sense.
posted by lazaruslong at 1:08 AM on October 13, 2009

The auto-tune humor is actually kinda getting old.
posted by Kirklander at 1:11 AM on October 13, 2009 [2 favorites]

Yeah, I always thought it was an accidental effect - autotune as vocal correction has been around for yonks.

Fun fact: during the recording of KLF's Justified and Ancient, Tammy Wynette was so fucked off her face that they had to record her vocals line by line and splice them together afterward.
posted by mippy at 2:54 AM on October 13, 2009

The auto-tune humor is actually kinda getting old.

Ok, ok, but.....amputation!^BOOP
posted by Secret Life of Gravy at 5:48 AM on October 13, 2009

I, for one, whole-heartedly support and welcome the rise of auto-tune - may a 1000 voices rise up in artificial harmony!
posted by LakesideOrion at 5:54 AM on October 13, 2009

T-Pain is the next Peter Frampton with an talkvox.

or George Clinton without the funk.
posted by stormpooper at 6:20 AM on October 13, 2009 [1 favorite]

While we're here, go watch Autotune the News # 6 (Michael Jackson - drugs- Palin). I think it's the best of the bunch by far.

Auto tune the Carl Sagan (feat. Stephen Hawking) is nearly perfect.

And here's the former rendered by the guy who did the latter: Auto-tune the News #6 on Piano.
posted by effbot at 6:33 AM on October 13, 2009

I love T-Pain all the more every parody he does, especially the Taylor Swift one. It's the Justin Timberlake effect: uninteresting popstar curates interest by mocking himself. Culture as a big game is more fun than culture as Serious Business, and seeing "thuggy" hiphop dudes do it even more fun. See also: why I am so happy to see kids on the subway wearing purple jeans instead of baggy pants.
posted by dame at 7:05 AM on October 13, 2009 [3 favorites]

Personally I enjoy the "autotune the news" stuff. It's like "Not Necessarily The News" of the modern era. Unfortunately it seems that the Gregory Brothers have started slacking off lately... not much more has come from them in the past few months except presumably for that, and after #5 and #6 the material sounded less inspired, like they were just phoning it in. I wonder if there's room for someone else to pick up the reins on this meme. There's not exactly a shortage of news material, nor of awesome music talent out there.
posted by crapmatic at 7:23 AM on October 13, 2009

Over-Autotune is hilarious, and a better use of the technology than getting the untalented singing careers.
posted by graventy at 7:54 AM on October 13, 2009

i think that was actually yellow teeth, because y'know, the president's been smoking...

If he wants to obtain his nicotine, that's OK.
posted by oaf at 7:56 AM on October 13, 2009

Culture as a big game is more fun than culture as Serious Business.

I guess my cynicism knows no bounds. All I see (when I pause to reflect after shooting milk out my nose) is self-parody as a shrewd strategy to win over a demographic that comforts itself in "seeing through" pop culture. Thusly, I jump one more rung up the hipster totem pole in to the demo that thinks its cool enough to see through the facile seeing through.
posted by phrontist at 8:31 AM on October 13, 2009 [1 favorite]

I'm confused, how are the auto-tune-the-news/Gregory Brothers involved? I'm glad they are, because they are awesome (and can really sing), but they don't seem to be credited here.
posted by jb at 11:43 PM

From the youtube info:

Additional production assistance provided by: the Gregory Brothers
posted by orme at 8:59 AM on October 13, 2009

In a nice bit of timing, AutoTune the News #9 was released this morning.
posted by brookedel at 12:32 PM on October 15, 2009 [1 favorite]