Sitric Ó Cinnéide (09004873)

Student: Sitric Ó Cinnéide (09004873)
Chosen blog: http://www.hometracked.com/
Chosen post: Auto-Tune Abuse in Pop Music - 10 Examples

Hometracked is a weblog with a clear purpose. That purpose is to serve the worlds independent musicians, who record and produce their own work, with factual, uncluttered and useful information about home recording and producing.

The blog is maintained by Des McKinne, an experienced recording engineer and producer in Toronto, Canada. All posts I have read were written by McKinne. It's safe to say then that this blog must take up an awful lot of his time, especially since he posts new fact-filled entries about 3 times every week. He is certainly the right man for the job as he is extremely dedicated and every single post is like a miniature article concerning an aspect of recording or producing.

The target audience is definitely "anyone" who wants to record or produce a piece of music, and the site layout makes it very easy for anyone to understand. The site is certainly not limited to the young folk messing around with their gadgets. It is sensible advice from trained and experienced producers open to all people.

The blog entries tend to focus on the "Tips and Techniques" that are most useful to the everyday home-recorder. Things such as normalizing, using delays for a better sound and tips on EQing vocals.

My favorite entry is: Auto-Tune Abuse in Pop Music - 10 Examples. I chose it because when i saw the title, i already agreed with the post before i read it. I think we have all experienced this overuse of auto-tune while listening to to the radio at some stage. It turns a useful production tool into a cheesy pop gimmick. The great thing about this and other posts is that in addition to the text, the author also puts up audio examples of the things he is explaining. It lets the reader understand the authors point much more clearly.

My Comments:
1. http://www.hometracked.com/2008/02/05/auto-tune-abuse-in-pop-music-10-examples/#comment-81739
2. http://stereogum.com/archives/animal_collective_love_animals_096601.html#comment-5643891
3. http://jamesfrankel.musiced.net/2009/10/28/my-new-role-with-atmi/#comment-53121
4. http://www.hometracked.com/2008/04/20/10-myths-about-normalization/#comment-81812