"People Say Bad Things, But Jo Hai Aacha Hai": Sonu Nigam On Using Auto-Tune

The use of auto-tune in the Indian music industry has come under scrutiny and criticism from time to time. Now, Sonu Nigam has spoken about it and admitted that he used it for some of his songs.

While many believe that auto-tune is only for less talented singers, according to Sonu Nigam, raw voices need to be pitch-perfect, or else it sounds off in the final song. That is why auto-tune is important. 

During an appearance on the Game Changers podcast, Sonu shared, “The era of auto-tune has certainly brought a lot of changes. People say a lot of bad things about it, but I say, "Jo bhi hua hai aacha hua hai (Whatever has happened is for the good)."

He continued, “In earlier days, you had to sing without auto-tune, and we are lucky to Riyaaz (practice) without it, and now we don't need it. But still, I would say I use auto-tune on certain songs of mine. Everything now is so 440; previously, everything was live. We had live sarangi and live strings, so somewhere our pitch didn't have to be perfect. Everything now is digitized; everything is going in a straight line, and your voice will sound off if it's raw. Previously, with live music, we used to adjust according to the live music, but now your song will stand out."

Admitting that he used auto-tune for his songs, Sonu added that as singers it is their responsibility not to use resources to fix the voices of those who cannot sing. “You give your 99% and bring it to 100% with auto-tune. Many actors use auto-tune for their songs, and it's absolutely fine if they use it to enjoy their dreams. But they cannot replace singers,” he said. 

Sonu Nigam has recently lent his voice to the song Tabassum in Batwara 1947. Composed by A.R. Rahman with lyrics written by Javed Akhtar, the song has been picturized on Ali Fazal, Isha Sandhir, Karan Deol, and Kanikka Kapur.