Daijiworld Media Network – Mumbai
Mumbai, Aug 14: Veteran playback singer Sonu Nigam has revealed that he uses auto-tune in some of his songs, while explaining how the increasing digitisation of music has changed the way singers approach pitch and recording.
Speaking on the Game Changers podcast, Sonu said the arrival of auto-tune has brought significant changes to the music industry. While the technology is often criticised, he said he considers its emergence beneficial when used appropriately.
Sonu recalled that singers earlier had to perform without auto-tune and said he was fortunate to have trained and practised during that era. However, he acknowledged that he now uses the technology on certain songs.
Explaining his reasoning, Sonu said modern music is increasingly recorded and produced digitally, with instruments and vocals often required to fit precisely within a fixed pitch structure. In earlier days, live musicians and singers could adjust naturally to one another during a performance.
He said that when music was performed with live sarangi, strings and other instruments, a singer's pitch did not always have to be absolutely precise because musicians could adjust to each other. With digitally produced music, however, even a raw vocal can stand out if it is slightly off pitch.
At the same time, Sonu stressed that auto-tune should not be used to turn an individual who cannot sing into a professional singer. According to him, artists should give their best performance first and use the technology only to make the final result more precise.
He also said there was nothing wrong with actors using auto-tune while pursuing their singing ambitions, but maintained that such use should not lead to singers being replaced in the industry.
Sonu lends voice to 'Tabassum'
On the work front, Sonu Nigam has sung 'Tabassum' for director Rajkumar Santoshi's upcoming film 'Batwara 1947'. The song has been composed by AR Rahman and written by Javed Akhtar.
The film, backed by Aamir Khan Productions, stars Sunny Deol, Preity Zinta, Shabana Azmi, Karan Deol, Ali Fazal and Abhimanyu Singh among others.