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103-434: Faheem Rashad Najm (born September 30, 1984), known professionally as T-Pain , is an American singer, rapper, songwriter, and record producer. He is known for popularizing creative use of Auto-Tune pitch correction , often used with extreme parameter settings to create electronic -styled vocal performances. Blending its use with R&B and hip hop sensibilities, T-Pain became a prominent figure in both genres throughout

206-545: A Bahamian chef, and Shasheem, who founded the Homeboyz to Men program. His stage name is short for "Tallahassee Pain", and was chosen because of the hardships he experienced while living there. Najm was brought up in a Muslim household, but he has expressed his lack of interest in the concept of religion. At three years old, he got his first taste of the music business when a friend of the family, gospel jazz artist and producer Ben Tankard , allowed him to spend time and "twist

309-521: A "nasal, depersonalized sound" and to process speech into melody. According to the Radiohead singer, Thom Yorke , Auto-Tune "desperately tries to search for the music in your speech, and produces notes at random. If you've assigned it a key, you've got music." Later in the 2000s, T-Pain used Auto-Tune extensively, further popularizing the use of the effect. He cited the new jack swing producer Teddy Riley and funk artist Roger Troutman 's use of

412-522: A Drank (Shawty Snappin')". Police chased him and his entourage out of the premises and detained them. In June 2007, a warrant was issued for T-Pain's arrest for driving with a suspended license. He subsequently turned himself in to the Leon County Jail on November 2, 2007. He was held without bail, but was released three hours later. Studio albums Auto-Tune Auto-Tune is audio processor software released on September 19, 1997, by

515-630: A Stripper) " (featuring Mike Jones ), served as the album's second single; it was released in December of that year and peaked at number five on the former chart, and number ten on the latter. The third and final single from the album, "Studio Luv", was released in October 2006 and failed to chart. In mid-2006, T-Pain began work on his second album, now with the Zomba Label Group as well as his previous labels. The album, titled Epiphany ,

618-517: A bad singer in order for that thing to actually sound the way it does. If you use it and sing into it correctly, it doesn't do anything to your voice." The singer Kesha has used Auto-Tune in her songs extensively, putting her vocal talent under scrutiny. In 2009, the producer Rick Rubin wrote that "Right now, if you listen to pop, everything is in perfect pitch, perfect time and perfect tune. That's how ubiquitous Auto-Tune is." The Time journalist Josh Tyrangiel called Auto-Tune " Photoshop for

721-505: A breakthrough due to its supposed ability to give actors more control over licensing their voice and how it may be used, the deal received backlash for its actual lack of protections from prominent voice actors such as Steve Blum , Joshua Seth , Veronica Taylor , and Shelby Young . The use of AI voices in video games and animation has also been criticized in general by voice actors such as Jennifer Hale , David Hayter , Maile Flanagan , and Ned Luke . AI voices have caused concern due to

824-768: A career of it across many of the main game-manufacturing countries, mostly the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, and Japan. Their names have sometimes been linked to a particular character they have voiced. Notable video game voice actors include Maaya Sakamoto (the Japanese version of Lightning in Final Fantasy XIII ), Tatsuhisa Suzuki (Noctis Lucis Caelum in Final Fantasy XV ), Miyu Irino (the Japanese version of Sora in

927-458: A concept to create an animated television special, Freaknik: The Musical , which he submitted to Adult Swim . It premiered on March 7, 2010, and features many guest celebrities such as Lil Wayne , Young Cash, Snoop Dogg , Sophia Fresh , Rick Ross , Andy Samberg , and Charlie Murphy . T-Pain made his cinema acting debut in the comedy film Lottery Ticket as a liquor store clerk. In November 2016, T-Pain also appeared in an episode of

1030-476: A correction tool for poor vocals—its original purpose—some musicians intentionally use the technology to mediate and augment their artistic expression. When the electronic duo Daft Punk was questioned about their use of Auto-Tune in their single " One More Time ", Thomas Bangalter replied, "A lot of people complain about musicians using Auto-Tune. It reminds me of the late '70s when musicians in France tried to ban

1133-636: A cover of " A Change Is Gonna Come " and the premiere of a new song, "Officially Yours". On October 27, 2016, T-Pain premiered "Dan Bilzerian" (featuring Lil Yachty ). He worked with Bruno Mars on his third studio album, 24K Magic , as one of the writers on the track "Straight Up & Down". After teasing the release of a long-shelved collaboration project with Lil Wayne, T-Wayne was released on May 18, 2017, via T-Pain's SoundCloud for streaming and free digital download. It consists of eight tracks recorded in 2009 described as "lost demos". In 2017, he collaborated with Italian rappers J-Ax and Fedez for

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1236-517: A creative way" and noted her song "Elastic Love" from Bionic uses it. Opponents have argued that Auto-Tune has a negative effect on society's perception and consumption of music. In 2004, the Daily Telegraph music critic Neil McCormick called Auto-Tune a "particularly sinister invention that has been putting an extra shine on pop vocals since the 1990s" by taking "a poorly sung note and transpos[ing] it, placing it dead centre of where it

1339-459: A film, the voice actors spoke instead of the film actors. Although this type of voice is related to years ago and now with the increase of facilities, it is possible to record the voice of the actors at the same time, but even today, sometimes the voice of the voice actors is used instead of the main actor. The tail of the voice is on Iranian animations, and like in other parts of the world, voice actors speak instead of animated characters. But most of

1442-471: A foreign-language film or television series. Voice-over translation is an audiovisual translation technique, in which, unlike in Dub localization, actor voices are recorded over the original audio track, which can be heard in the background. This method of translation is most often used in documentaries and news reports to translate words of foreign-language interviewees. Automated dialogue replacement (ADR)

1545-770: A joint venture with Jive Records , the album reached number 33 on the Billboard 200 , and has since received gold certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The album was supported by T-Pain's debut commercial single, " I'm Sprung ", which was released in August 2005 and peaked at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 , as well as number nine on the Hot R&;B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Its follow-up, " I'm 'n Luv (wit

1648-511: A lag value, while subtracting the autocorrelation product of the sample that correspondingly got out of window. Originally, Auto-Tune was designed to discreetly correct imprecise intonations to make music more expressive, with the original patent asserting: "When voices or instruments are out of tune, the emotional qualities of the performance are lost." Auto-Tune was launched in September 1997. The Aphex Twin track "Funny Little Man", from

1751-723: A mixtape on his Nappy Boy label in February 2010, T-Pain Presents: Nappy Boy All Stars Vol.1 , which contained remixes of songs including " Forever " by Drake . On May 5, 2011, he announced another mixtape, Prevolver , serving as a predecessor to his album. The mixtape including collaborations from artists such as Lil Wayne and Field Mob . In June 2010, T-Pain confirmed that his fourth studio album, now titled Revolver , had been completed and mastered, but that it would not be released until album sales increase. T-Pain's first feature film, Lottery Ticket ,

1854-483: A musical expression of Wayne's loneliness and depression. Mark Anthony Neal wrote that Lil Wayne's vocal uniqueness, his "slurs, blurs, bleeps and blushes of his vocals, index some variety of trauma." And Kevin Driscoll asks, "Is Auto-Tune not the wah pedal of today's black pop? Before he transformed himself into T-Wayne on " Lollipop ", Wayne's pop presence was limited to guest verses and unauthorized freestyles. In

1957-463: A narrow, flat inflection pattern (or prosody pattern) whereas radio commercials, especially local ones, tend to be voiced with a very wide inflection pattern in an almost over-the-top style . Marketers and advertisers use voice-overs in radio, TV, online adverts, and more; total advertising spend in the UK was forecast to be £21.8 billion in 2017. Voice-over used in commercial adverts had traditionally been

2060-687: A new bridge. The single reached number seventy-five on the Hot 100 and number sixty-four on the Hot R&;B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming a mild hit. The single has since been dubbed a promotional single. T-Pain was later featured on the " We Are the World 25 for Haiti " single in February 2010, which reached number two on the Hot 100. In March 2010, T-Pain developed and starred in Adult Swim 's animated musical special, Freaknik: The Musical . T-Pain released

2163-591: A play on R&B . In 2024, T-Pain said that country and gospel music were major influences on his music. He mentioned GarageBand and Logic Pro as the software he uses to produce his own beats. Musically, T-Pain is best known for popularizing the use of Auto-Tune , a pitch-correcting audio processor, for vocals, with the effect turned up to give the voice a robotic quality. He has used this effect throughout his singing career, starting in 2003. This use of Auto-Tune had been pioneered by Cher in her successful 1998 single " Believe ". T-Pain, who had been looking for

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2266-422: A song titled "Make That Shit Work" (featuring Juicy J ). Following another delay, T-Pain confirmed the album was still on its way, missing its December 11 expected release date to further delay. On December 9, 2015, to mark the one-year anniversary of the most popular Tiny Desk Concert ever and the 10th anniversary of his debut album, Rappa Ternt Sanga , T-Pain performed a short set of some previous hits, along with

2369-636: A trend as was the case for other artists. T-Pain has been married to Amber since 2003. They have three children: one daughter, Lyriq, and two sons Muziq and Kaydnz Kodah (born May 2009). On March 27, 2009, T-Pain was involved in a golf cart accident, the same day he was due for a music video shoot for Lil' Kim 's song " Download ". He suffered cuts, bruises, and four missing teeth and had emergency dental work done. He returned to performing two days later. On April 1, 2013, T-Pain revealed that he had cut off his iconic dreadlocks , stating "We must all learn to adjust with our surroundings. Those who get stuck doing

2472-559: A voice actor in Brazil, one needs to be a professional actor and attend dubbing courses. Some celebrities in Brazil have also done voice acting. Voice acting in Iran is divided into three categories. Voice over Persian films , voice over Iranian animations, and dubbing of films and animations related to other countries (in non-Persian language) In the first category, due to the lack of facilities for simultaneous recording of sound while filming

2575-451: A voice actor may involve singing, most often when playing a fictional character, although a separate performer is sometimes enlisted as the character's singing voice. A voice actor may also simultaneously undertake motion capture acting . Non-fictional voice acting is heard through pre-recorded and automated announcements that are a part of everyday modern life in areas such as stores, elevators, waiting rooms, and public transport. Voice acting

2678-515: A way to make his voice sound unique, was inspired to use Auto-Tune after hearing the Darkchild remix of the 1999 song " If You Had My Love " by Jennifer Lopez , which makes occasional use of the effect. He was also inspired in part by a similar sound achieved by Roger Troutman in the 1980s (using a talk box ) and Teddy Riley in the 1990s (using both talk boxes and vocoders ). After the success of T-Pain's first two albums, his use of Auto-Tune

2781-670: Is 'a sudden moment of insight or revelation'. And to me the title 'Epiphany' signifies the moment I realized that, to make the best music I can, I needed to just go in the studio and be myself, and not concentrate so hard on following other people's formulas." While promoting his second album, T-Pain made guest appearances on multiple songs by other artists. T-Pain was featured on " I'm a Flirt " (remix) by R. Kelly , " Outta My System " by Bow Wow , " Baby Don't Go " by Fabolous , " I'm So Hood " by DJ Khaled , " Shawty " by Plies , " Kiss Kiss " by Chris Brown , " Low " by Flo Rida , and " Good Life " by Kanye West . For two weeks in late 2007, T-Pain

2884-528: Is a required story element; in other types of (chiefly non-literary) narratives (such as plays, television shows, video games, and films) narration is optional. One of the most common uses for voice acting is within commercial advertising. The voice actor is hired to voice a message associated with the advertisement. This has different sub-genres such as television, radio, film, and online advertising. The sub-genres are all different styles in their own right. For example, television commercials tend to be voiced with

2987-440: Is more freedom because there is no need to match a dub to the original actor or animated character. Producers and agencies are often on the lookout for many styles of voices, such as booming voices for more dramatic productions or cute, young-sounding voices for trendier markets. Some voices sound like regular, natural, everyday people; all of these voices have their place in the voiceover world, provided they are used correctly and in

3090-416: Is now more entrenched than ever." Auto-Tune is available as a plug-in for digital audio workstations used in a studio setting and as a stand-alone, rack-mounted unit for live performance processing. The processor slightly shifts pitches to the nearest true, correct semitone (to the exact pitch of the nearest note in traditional equal temperament ). Auto-Tune can also be used as an effect to distort

3193-427: Is recognized as a specialized dramatic profession in the United Kingdom, primarily due to BBC Radio 's long and storied history of producing radio dramas . The voices for animated characters are provided by voice actors. For live-action productions, voice acting often involves reading the parts of computer programs, radio dispatchers or other characters who never actually appear on screen. With an audio drama, there

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3296-454: Is the process of re-recording dialogue by the original actor after the filming process to improve audio quality or reflect dialogue changes, also known as "looping" or a "looping session". ADR is also used to change original lines recorded on set to clarify context, improve diction or timing , or to replace an accented vocal performance. In the UK, it is also called "post-synchronization" or "post-sync". Voice artists are also used to record

3399-567: The Boston Herald , the country singers Faith Hill , Shania Twain , and Tim McGraw use Auto-Tune in performance, calling it a safety net that guarantees a good performance. However, other country singers, such as Allison Moorer , Garth Brooks , Big & Rich , Trisha Yearwood , Vince Gill and Martina McBride , have refused to use Auto-Tune. Some critics have argued that Auto-Tune opens up new possibilities in pop music, especially in hip-hop and R&B . Instead of using it as

3502-1823: The Kingdom Hearts series), David Hayter ( Solid Snake and Big Boss in the Metal Gear series), Steve Downes and Jen Taylor ( Master Chief and Cortana in the Halo series), Nolan North ( Nathan Drake in the Uncharted series and Desmond Miles in the Assassin's Creed series), Troy Baker ( Joel in The Last of Us series) and Charles Martinet (former voice actor for Mario , Luigi , Wario , and Waluigi in Nintendo 's Mario franchise). Other actors more linked with film or television acting have also voiced video game characters, such as Ray Liotta ( Tommy Vercetti in Grand Theft Auto: Vice City and Billy Handsome in Call of Duty: Black Ops II ), Michael Dorn (various characters in World of Warcraft and Gatatog Uvenk in Mass Effect 2 ), Kaili Vernoff (Miranda Cowan in Grand Theft Auto V and Susan Grimshaw in Red Dead Redemption 2 ), Ashley Johnson ( Ellie in The Last of Us series), Kristen Bell ( Lucy Stillman in

3605-616: The Black Eyed Peas ' number-one hit " Boom Boom Pow ", made heavy use of Auto-Tune on their vocals to create a futuristic sound. The use of Auto-Tune in hip hop gained a resurgence in the mid-2010s, especially in trap music . Future and Young Thug are widely considered to be the pioneers of modern trap music and have mentored or inspired popular artists such as Lil Baby , Gunna , Playboi Carti , Travis Scott , and Lil Uzi Vert . The effect has also become popular in raï music and other genres from Northern Africa. According to

3708-507: The YouTube series Epic Rap Battles of History as Stevie Wonder . T-Pain was the champion of the first season of the Fox reality music competition The Masked Singer as "Monster". He returned as a guest panelist in the sixth episode of season 3 . Since 2018, T-Pain has been the host of T-Pain's School of Business , a documentary series airing on Fuse in which T-Pain travels around

3811-464: The Zach Sang Show in 2019, stating: "It doesn't mean you can't sing ... Auto-Tune can't make anyone who can't sing sound like they can sing ... It just tightens it up slightly because we're human and not perfect, whereas [Auto-Tune] is literally digitally perfect." At the 51st Grammy Awards in 2009, the band Death Cab for Cutie made an appearance wearing blue ribbons to protest

3914-887: The iHeartRadio Music Awards on March 14. In December 2020, T-Pain appeared in ComplexLand virtual event to discuss his thoughts on the future of esports . On March 17, 2023, T-Pain released On Top of the Covers . The album includes a selection of cover songs and notably did not include the use of autotune. He collaborated with Meghan Trainor on the single " Been Like This " from Trainor's sixth album Timeless . In February 2024, T-Pain acknowledged that he had ghostwritten music for country singers including Rhett Akins , Luke Bryan , and Dallas Davidson while living in Nashville, Tennessee , for two years, but said that he preferred not to be credited on country songs because of

4017-464: The talk box as inspirations. T-Pain became so associated with Auto-Tune that he had an iPhone app named after him that simulated the effect, "I Am T-Pain". Eventually dubbed the "T-Pain effect", the use of Auto-Tune became a fixture of late 2000s music, where it was used in other hip hop/R&B artists' works, including Snoop Dogg 's single " Sexual Eruption ", Lil Wayne 's " Lollipop ", and Kanye West 's album 808s & Heartbreak . In 2009

4120-511: The 1997 EP Come To Daddy , was one of the earliest songs to use Auto-Tune, released less than a month after Auto-Tune. The song "Fragments of Life" by the duo Roy Vedas was released on August 17, 1998, heavily using the distorted Auto-Tune technique. Cher 's producer, Mark Taylor , heard the song and brought the duo to assist in the production of a song for Cher utilizing similar distortion. Two months later, Cher's 1998 song " Believe " popularized distorted Auto-Tune vocals. While Auto-Tune

4223-447: The 2000s. Other music industry artists, such as Lil Wayne , Kanye West , Future , and Travis Scott , have since utilized Auto-Tune to a similar effect. T-Pain began his recording career as part of the hip hop group Nappy Headz. He released his debut solo mixtape, Back @ It independently in 2004, and signed with Akon 's Konvict Muzik , in a joint venture with Jive Records , the following year. His 2005 debut single, " I'm Sprung ",

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4326-457: The American company Antares Audio Technologies . It uses a proprietary device to measure and correct pitch in music. It operates on different principles from the vocoder or talk box and produces different results. Auto-Tune was initially intended to disguise or correct off-key inaccuracies, allowing vocal tracks to be perfectly tuned . The 1998 Cher song " Believe " popularized

4429-620: The US Billboard 200 and spawned the Billboard Hot 100-number one single " Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin') " (featuring Yung Joc ), as well as the top-40 single, " Bartender " (featuring Akon). His third album, Three Ringz (2008), was preceded by the single " Can't Believe It " (featuring Lil Wayne), and his fourth album, Revolver (2011), was preceded by " 5 O'Clock " (featuring Wiz Khalifa and Lily Allen ). His fifth album, Oblivion (2017) sustained long-term delays and

4532-409: The United States meeting with different entrepreneurs. The series has aired for two seasons so far: the first in 2018, which had six episodes, and the second in 2019, which had eight episodes. T-Pain has confirmed his involvement in the development of the upcoming video game Grand Theft Auto VI , although his role has not been specified. T-Pain defined in 2005 his own music style as "Hard & B",

4635-449: The activities of Iranian voice actors are in the field of dubbing foreign films. In this case, the main language of the film is translated into Persian, and the dubbing director compiles the sentences according to the atmosphere of the film and the movement of the actors 'mouths and other such cases, and finally the voice actors play roles instead of the actors' voices. Actors often lend their voices to characters in games and some have made

4738-525: The album as a breakup album, Rolling Stone music critic Jody Rosen wrote, "Kanye can't really sing in the classic sense, but he's not trying to. T-Pain taught the world that Auto-Tune doesn't just sharpen flat notes: It's a painterly device for enhancing vocal expressiveness and upping the pathos ... Kanye's digitized vocals are the sound of a man so stupefied by grief, he's become less than human." YouTuber Conor Maynard , who received criticism for his use of Auto-Tune, defended it in an interview on

4841-591: The album in the summer of 2010, his label had pushed the release forward. However, the album was not released in 2009. An iPhone application called "I Am T-Pain", featuring an auto tuner , allowing fans to record and modify their own voice to accompany an instrumental collection of T-Pain's music, was released in September 2009. In July 2009, T-Pain endorsed the 2009 T-Pain Killa Cam-Pain, a grassroots effort to help him become elected as president of Florida State University . In November 2009, T-Pain released

4944-586: The album sold 168,000 records in its first week and reached number four on the Billboard 200. A mixtape, Pr33 Ringz , was released in early 2008 for the album's promotion. Three Ringz was preceded by three singles; its lead single, " Can't Believe It " (featuring Lil Wayne), was released in July 2008 and reached number seven on the Hot 100 and number two on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The album's second single, " Chopped 'n' Skrewed " (featuring Ludacris ),

5047-535: The announcement of T-Pain cutting off his signature dreads, he announced the title of his fifth studio album, then entitled Stoicville: The Phoenix stating, "To me, a Phoenix represents new beginnings. A new era, a new life, I'm rising from the ashes." Prior to releasing his fifth studio album, he released T-Pain Presents Happy Hour , a greatest hits compilation. Its first single, " Up Down (Do This All Day) " (featuring B.o.B ), produced by DJ Mustard ,

5150-409: The audience knows, "there's no Auto-Tune, nothing that isn't 100 percent live" in the show, and there are no backing tracks . In 2023, multiple creators on the social media platform TikTok were accused of using Auto-Tune in post-production to correct the pitch of singing videos presented to appear as live, casual performances. The US TV comedy series Saturday Night Live parodied Auto-Tune using

5253-399: The box." The same article expressed "hope that pop's fetish for uniform perfect pitch will fade", speculating that pop-music songs have become harder to differentiate from one another, as "track after track has perfect pitch." According to Tom Lord-Alge , Auto-Tune is used on nearly every record these days. In 2010, the reality TV show The X Factor admitted to using Auto-Tune to improve

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5356-512: The chart: " Kiss Kiss " by Chris Brown and " Low " by Flo Rida . The latter was named third in the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade and received diamond (10× platinum) certification by the RIAA. "Good Life" and "Blame It" both won Grammy Awards for Best Rap Song and Best Rap/Sung Performance , respectively, from T-Pain's total of 12 nominations for the award. Outside of music, he founded

5459-708: The creation of believable audio deepfakes featuring celebrities or other public figures saying things they did not actually say, which could lead to a synthetic version of their voice being used against them. In October 2023, during the start of the British Labour Party 's conference in Liverpool , an audio deepfake of Labour leader Keir Starmer was released that falsely portrayed him verbally abusing his staffers and criticizing Liverpool. That same month, an audio deepfake of Slovak politician Michal Šimečka falsely claimed to capture him discussing ways to rig

5562-712: The duo T-Wayne in 2008. The duo released a self-titled mixtape in late 2008; it charted on the Billboard 200 in January 2009. Their debut album was going to be released in 2009, but never was. He collaborated with Taylor Swift for the CMT Music Awards , performing "Thug Story", a parody of Swift's hit single " Love Story ". In an interview with MTV , T-Pain announced that he would release his fourth studio album in November 2009 and that its title would be UBER . He stated that although he originally wanted to release

5665-446: The entertainment industry have reacted negatively to this development due to the threat it poses to their livelihood. The 2023 SAG-AFTRA strike included negotiations between the union and Hollywood studios about the regulation of AI, as well as discussions with video game studios about new terms that would protect voice actors who specialize in that field. Although SAG-AFTRA heralded the deal it struck with AI company Replica Studios as

5768-417: The fictional white rapper Blizzard Man , who sang in a sketch: "Robot voice, robot voice! All the kids love the robot voice!" Satirist "Weird Al" Yankovic poked fun at the overuse of Auto-Tune, while commenting that it seemed here to stay, in a YouTube video commented on by various publications such as Wired . Starting in 2009, the use of Auto-Tune to create melodies from the audio in video newscasts

5871-408: The first single from his fourth studio album, " Take Your Shirt Off ". The single only managed to reach number eighty on the Hot 100, and was later dubbed a promotional single. In February 2010, he released " Reverse Cowgirl " (featuring Young Jeezy ), which was the official lead single from his fourth studio album. He later release an updated version of the song excluding Young Jeezy's verse and adding

5974-669: The first three mainline entries in the Assassin's Creed franchise) and Kevin Spacey (Jonathan Irons in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare ). Some actors from both live-action and animated works have also reprised their respective roles in video games, such as Kevin Conroy ( Batman ) and Mark Hamill ( The Joker ) in the Batman: Arkham series, Sylvester Stallone ( John Rambo ) in Mortal Kombat 11 , various actors from

6077-452: The hit singles " Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor) " by Pitbull , and " Move That Body " by Nelly . He was also featured on another single by Wisin & Yandel along with 50 Cent called " No Dejemos Que se Apague ". The last two singles T-Pain was featured on in 2010 were the official remixes to " Black and Yellow " by Wiz Khalifa and " Loving You No More " by Diddy – Dirty Money . T-Pain

6180-578: The human voice when pitch is raised or lowered significantly, such that the voice is heard to leap from note to note stepwise, like a synthesizer . Auto-Tune has become standard equipment in professional recording studios . Instruments such as the Peavey AT-200 guitar seamlessly use Auto-Tune technology for real-time pitch correction. Auto-Tune was developed by Andy Hildebrand, a Ph.D. research engineer who specialized in stochastic estimation theory and digital signal processing . He conceived

6283-409: The human voice". The big band singer Michael Bublé criticized Auto-Tune as making everyone sound the same – "like robots" – but said he used when recording pop music. Ellie Goulding and Ed Sheeran have called for honesty in live shows by joining the "Live Means Live" campaign. "Live Means Live" was launched by songwriter/composer David Mindel . When a band displays the "Live Means Live" logo,

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6386-549: The individual sample fragments played back by a computer in an automated announcement. At its simplest, each recording consists of a short phrase which is played back when necessary, such as the " mind the gap " announcement introduced on the London Underground in 1969, which is currently voiced by Emma Clarke . In a more complicated system, such as a speaking clock, the announcement is re-assembled from fragments such as "minutes past", "eighteen", and "p.m." For example,

6489-482: The knobs" at his recording studio. At age ten, Najm turned his bedroom into a music studio , using a keyboard, a beat machine, and a four-track recorder. T-Pain joined the rap group Nappy Headz in 1999. Through a mutual connection with music promoter TJ Chapman, he was discovered by Rocco Did It Again! and Mike Blumstein—co-founders of the independent record label Chase Entertainment—to whom he signed. He released his debut mixtape, Back @ It in 2004, and later released

6592-469: The massive computational effort required. Hildebrand found a mathematical method to overcome this, "a simplification [that] changed a million multiply adds into just four". According to the Auto-Tune patent , the referred implementation detail consists, when processing new samples, of reusing the former autocorrelation bin, and adding the product of the new sample with the older sample corresponding to

6695-472: The most-watched YouTube video of 2010. The Simpsons season 12 episode 14, " New Kids on the Blecch ", satirizes the use of Auto-Tune. In 2014, during season 18 of the animated show South Park , the character Randy Marsh uses Auto-Tune software to make the singing voice of Lorde . In episode 3, " The Cissy ", Randy shows his son Stan how he does it on his computer. Voice acting The role of

6798-438: The only area of voice acting where "de-breathing" was used. This means artificially removing breaths from the recorded voice, and is done to stop the audience being distracted in any way from the commercial message that is being put across. However, removal of breaths has now become increasingly common in many other types of voice acting. Dub localization is the practice of voice-over translation , in which voice actors alter

6901-569: The opening or closing themes of shows in which they star, or become involved in non-animated side projects such as audio dramas (involving the same characters in new storylines) or image songs (songs sung in character that are not included in the anime but which further develop the character). Most of the films in the theaters are dubbed in Portuguese , and most Brazilians tend to prefer watching movies in their native language. Many voice actors are also dubbing directors and translators. To become

7004-623: The people who had been banned. Voice actor ( Japanese : 声優 , Hepburn : Seiyū ) occupations include performing roles in anime , audio dramas, and video games; performing voice-overs for dubs of non-Japanese movies; and providing narration to documentaries and similar programs. Japan has approximately 130 voice acting schools and troupes of voice actors who usually work for a specific broadcast company or talent agency. They often attract their own appreciators and fans, who watch shows specifically to hear their favorite performer. Many Japanese voice actors frequently branch into music, often singing

7107-541: The producers initially claimed the effect was achieved with a vocoder . It was widely imitated and became known as the "Cher effect". According to Pitchfork , 1999 " Too Much of Heaven " by the Italian Europop group Eiffel 65 features "the very first example of rapping through Auto-Tune". The Eiffel 65 member Gabry Ponte said they were inspired by Cher's "Believe". The English rock band Radiohead used Auto-Tune on their 2001 album Amnesiac to create

7210-445: The racism he experienced in the country music industry. On September 24, 2009, T-Pain joined with iPhone app creator Smule to create a new app entitled "I Am T-Pain" to allow people to use his style of Auto-Tune in karaoke ; it was released the following day. In May 2009, T-Pain made an appearance on a live-action episode of Aqua Teen Hunger Force as Frylock, where he made his debut as an actor. In late 2009, T-Pain developed

7313-475: The record label Nappy Boy Entertainment in 2005, and has signed Travie McCoy to brief commercial success. Furthermore, he has produced and written material for other artists, and voice acted in film and television including Tom & Jerry , Freaknik: The Musical , The Cleveland Show , Squidbillies , and We Bare Bears . Najm was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida , to parents Aliyah,

7416-479: The right context. In the context of voice acting, narration is the use of spoken commentary to convey a story to an audience. A narrator is a personal character or a non-personal voice that the creator of the story develops to deliver information about the plot to the audience. The voice actor who plays the narrator is responsible for performing the scripted lines assigned to them. In traditional literary narratives (such as novels, short stories, and memoirs) narration

7519-452: The right to use Auto-Tune in T-Pain's style on the then-upcoming Last Train to Paris , and he felt that other artists should do the same. In 2009, Jay-Z released the single " D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) ", which criticized the practice. The song directly mentioned T-Pain, with the lyrics "You niggas singing too much/ Get back to rap, you T-Paining too much." Jay-Z has insisted that the song

7622-546: The same month. T-Pain appeared again on SNL in February 2009 ( season 34 , episode 15, hosted by Bradley Cooper with musical guest TV on the Radio ) as a feature in the Digital Short premiere of The Lonely Island 's single, " I'm on a Boat ," off their album Incredibad . T-Pain also supported the album in 2009 with his Thr33 Ringz Tour , which included sold-out shows across North America. T-Pain and Lil Wayne formed

7725-829: The same things for too long are bound to get left behind the strong who press on & reinvent themselves. Also good news hair grows back." On August 30, 2016, T-Pain's niece, Javona Glover, was stabbed to death in a local Walgreens store in his hometown of Tallahassee . In 2017, a suspect in the case was found dead in an apparent suicide. T-Pain's brother died in early 2019. He is an avid gamer who regularly streams on Twitch . He has many tattoos , some of which are internet memes or otherwise Internet-related. On April 28, 2007, T-Pain refused to shorten his performance at Radio One 's Spring Fest Concert in Miami , which caused police presence to escalate backstage. He became agitated after concert officials stopped his performance of "Buy U

7828-471: The same way that Miles equipped Hendrix to stay pop-relevant, Wayne's flirtation with the VST plugin du jour brought him updial from JAMN 94.5 to KISS 108 ." Kanye West 's 808s & Heartbreak was generally well received by critics, and it similarly used Auto-Tune to represent a fragmented soul, following his mother's death. The album marks a departure from his previous album, Graduation . Describing

7931-408: The single "Senza pagare", from the album Comunisti col Rolex . After numerous delays and project name changes, T-Pain's fifth album Oblivion was released November 17, 2017. On February 27, 2019, the same day T-Pain was revealed to be the winner of the first season of The Masked Singer , he released a surprise new album titled 1UP and announced a new U.S. tour in support of it. He hosted

8034-569: The sixth-season premiere episode of Squidbillies , performing a version of the theme song in addition to the original song "(I Like) Drivin' In My Truck" with Unknown Hinson ; this song was released in 2012 as part of the free digital album The Squidbillies Present: Music for Americans Only Made by Americans in China for Americans Only God Bless America, U.S.A. on the Adult Swim Music website. On October 7, RCA Music Group announced it

8137-653: The song "I'm Fucked Up", a slightly altered cover version of Akon 's then-popular 2004 single, " Locked Up ". Akon himself came across the song and immediately offered T-Pain a deal with his label, Konvict Muzik . While T-Pain was offered other record deals, with the highest-bidding being US$ 900,000, Akon promised the young artist a personal mentorship in the industry. Meanwhile, Blumstein and Rocco remained involved in T-Pain's careers as joint co- managers . Afterward, T-Pain began singing instead of rapping, and used this inspiration to begin recording for his debut studio album, Rappa Ternt Sanga . Released on December 6, 2005, through

8240-456: The synthesizer... They didn't see that you could use those tools in a new way instead of just for replacing the instruments that came before." T-Pain , the R&;B singer and rapper who reintroduced the use of Auto-Tune as a vocal effect in pop music with his album Rappa Ternt Sanga in 2005, said, "My dad always told me that anyone's voice is just another instrument added to the music. There

8343-520: The technique of using Auto-Tune to distort vocals. Cher's song was produced with the assistance of the musical duo Roy Vedas , who had released two months earlier the song "Fragments of Life", which features the technique. It has since been used by many artists in different genres, including Daft Punk , Radiohead , T-Pain and Kanye West . In 2018, the music critic Simon Reynolds observed that Auto-Tune had "revolutionized popular music", calling its use for effects "the fad that just wouldn't fade. Its use

8446-698: The upcoming election. In January 2024, voters in the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary received phone calls featuring an AI-generated voice of U.S. President Joe Biden that tried to discourage them from voting. In films, television, and commercials, voice actors are often recruited through voice acting agencies. The UK banned broadcasting of the voices of people linked to violence in Northern Ireland from 1988 to 1994, but television producers circumvented this by simply having voice actors dub over synchronized footage of

8549-529: The use of Auto-Tune. Later that year, Jay-Z titled the lead single of his album The Blueprint 3 as " D.O.A. (Death of Auto-Tune) ". Jay-Z said he wrote the song because of personal beliefs that the trend had become a gimmick that had become too widely used. Christina Aguilera appeared in public in Los Angeles on August 10, 2009, wearing a T-shirt that read "Auto Tune is for Pussies". When interviewed by Sirius/XM , she said Auto-Tune could be used "in

8652-721: The vocal pitch correction technology on the suggestion of a colleague's wife, who had joked that she would benefit from a device to help her sing in tune. Over several months in early 1996, Hildebrand implemented the algorithm on a custom Macintosh computer. Later that year, he presented the result at the NAMM Show , where it became instantly popular. Hildebrand's method for detecting pitch involved autocorrelation and proved superior to attempts based on feature extraction that had problems processing elements such as diphthongs , leading to sound artifacts . Music engineers had previously considered autocorrelation impractical because of

8755-493: The voices of contestants. Also in 2010, Time included Auto-Tune in their list of "The 50 Worst Inventions". Used by stars from Snoop Dogg and Lil Wayne to Britney Spears and Cher, Auto-Tune has been criticized as indicative of an inability to sing on key . Trey Parker used Auto-Tune on the South Park song " Gay Fish ", and found that he had to sing off-key in order to sound distorted; he said, "You had to be

8858-719: The word "twelve" can be used for both "Twelve O'Clock" and "Six Twelve". Automated announcements can also include on-hold messages on phone systems and location-specific announcements in tourist attractions. Since the late 2010s, software to modify and generate human voices has become more popular. In 2019, AI startup Dessa created the computer-generated voice of Joe Rogan using thousands of hours of audio from his podcast , while video game developer Ubisoft used speech synthesis to give thousands of characters distinguished voices in its 2020 game Watch Dogs: Legion , and Google announced that same year their solution to generate human-like speech from text. Most voice actors and others in

8961-438: Was a time when people had seven-minute songs, and five minutes were just straight instrumental. ... I got a lot of influence from [the '60s era]. I thought I might as well turn my voice into a saxophone." Following in T-Pain's footsteps, Lil Wayne experimented with Auto-Tune between his albums Tha Carter II and Tha Carter III . At the time, he was heavily addicted to promethazine codeine , and some critics see Auto-Tune as

9064-543: Was designed to be used subtly to correct vocal performances, the "Believe" producers used extreme settings to create unnaturally rapid corrections in Cher's vocals, thereby removing portamento , the natural slide between pitches in singing. Though Auto-Tune had been commercially available for about a year, according to Pitchfork , "Believe" was the first song "where the effect drew attention to itself ... announcing its technological artifice". In an attempt to protect their method,

9167-493: Was disbanding Jive Records along with Arista and J Records . With the shutdown, T-Pain (and all other artists previously signed to these three labels) would henceforth release all material (including Revolver ) on the RCA Records brand. The album Revolver was eventually released in December 2011, alongside the transatlantic Top 10 single " 5 O'Clock ", which features Lily Allen and Wiz Khalifa. On April 1, 2013, after

9270-534: Was featured on Italian DJ Benny Benassi 's song "Electroman", released as the third single in the album of the same name . In January, JRandall released a single, "Can't Sleep", featuring T-Pain. On March 22, 2011, the next single from Revolver , " Best Love Song " (featuring Chris Brown), was released. On Twitter , T-Pain stated that he would release his mixtape Prevolver when he got 500,000 followers and release his album Revolver when he got 1,000,000 followers. Also in 2011, he appeared on another Adult Swim series:

9373-547: Was featured on four top ten singles simultaneously on the Hot 100 chart. His performance on West's "Good Life" won the BET Award for Best Collaboration and was nominated in several other categories. In 2008, the song won a Grammy Award for Best Rap Song . In 2007, T-Pain began work on his third album, Three Ringz with Rocco Valdes, Akon, and Lil Wayne . The album was also his first under his newly launched label, Nappy Boy Entertainment . Released on November 11, 2008,

9476-552: Was featured on the first single by DJ Khaled called " Welcome to My Hood " off his 2011 album We the Best Forever . The song featured him along with Rick Ross, Plies, and Lil Wayne. He was also featured on albums such as Drake's Take Care , Lil Wayne's Tha Carter IV , and Tech N9ne 's All 6's and 7's . A new toy called "iAm T-Pain Microphone" was released in 2011, at the price of $ 39.99. On January 29, 2011, T-Pain

9579-503: Was meant to be". In 2006, the singer-songwriter Neko Case said a studio employee once told her that she and Nelly Furtado were the only singers who had never used it in his studio. Case said "it's cool that she has some integrity". In 2009, Time quoted an unnamed Grammy-winning recording engineer as saying, "Let's just say I've had Auto-Tune save vocals on everything from Britney Spears to Bollywood cast albums. And every singer now presumes that you'll just run their voice through

9682-456: Was met with critical and commercial failure, serving as his final release on a major label . Meanwhile, T-Pain saw continued success as a guest performer on nine Hot 100-top ten singles—" Shawty " by Plies , " Cyclone " by Baby Bash , " Good Life " by Kanye West, " Shawty Get Loose " by Lil Mama , " Got Money " by Lil Wayne, " Blame It " by Jamie Foxx , and " Hey Baby (Drop It to the Floor) " by Pitbull —which includes two singles that peaked

9785-399: Was not a personal attack on T-Pain, and that he was simply criticizing a trend that he felt had run its course. T-Pain has said that he loved the song. However, he felt personally hurt by a general backlash against the use of Auto-Tune that began at around the same time. Nevertheless, he has continued to use Auto-Tune, feeling that it is simply part of his musical style, as opposed to jumping on

9888-518: Was officially released on August 13, 2013. The song peaked at number 62 on the Billboard Hot 100. The second single "Drankin Patna" was released a year later on July 21, 2014. On November 7, 2014, T-Pain premiered the intro and title track off of Stoicville . On November 21, 2014, T-Pain premiered "Coming Home" as the first promotional single in support of Stoicville and made it available for free on his official website. On June 8, 2015, T-Pain released

9991-521: Was popularized by Brooklyn musician Michael Gregory, and later by the band the Gregory Brothers in their series Songify the News . The Gregory Brothers digitally manipulated the recorded voices of politicians, news anchors, and political pundits to conform to a melody, making the figures appear to sing. The group achieved mainstream success with their " Bed Intruder Song " video, which became

10094-489: Was quickly met with commercial success, peaking at number eight on the Billboard Hot 100 and receiving platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). Its follow-up, " I'm 'n Luv (wit a Stripper) " (featuring Mike Jones ), peaked at number five on the chart; both served as lead singles for his debut studio album, Rappa Ternt Sanga (2005). Despite moderate critical and commercial reception, his second album, Epiphany (2007), peaked atop

10197-527: Was released in June 2007 and reached number five on the Hot 100 and number nine on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, " Church ", was released in October 2007 and failed to chart in the United States. Speaking in May 2007 to Pete Lewis of Blues & Soul about his reason for naming his second album 'Epiphany', T-Pain stated: "One of the two dictionary meanings of epiphany

10300-963: Was released in September 2008; it reached number 27 on the Hot 100 and number three on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. The third and final single from the album, " Freeze " (featuring Chris Brown), was released in October 2008; it reached number 38 on the Hot 100 and number 39 on the Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Guest appearances on Three Ringz include T.I. , Lil Wayne, Ludacris, DJ Khaled, Ciara , Chris Brown, and Kanye West, among others. In 2008, T-Pain continued to guest perform on numerous singles, such as " She Got It " by 2 Pistols , " Go Girl " by Ciara, " The Boss " by Rick Ross , " Cash Flow " by Ace Hood , " Shawty Get Loose " by Lil Mama , " One More Drink " by Ludacris, and " Go Hard " by DJ Khaled. T-Pain and Ludacris collaborated to perform "Chopped 'n' Skrewed" and "One More Drink" on American late-night television programs Jimmy Kimmel Live! on ABC in November 2008 and on NBC 's Saturday Night Live in

10403-410: Was released on August 20, 2010. In October 2010, T-Pain release his third promotional single, " Rap Song ". The song charted poorly, peaking at 89 on the Hot 100. T-Pain was featured on the hit single " All I Do Is Win " by DJ Khaled, along with the remix. He featured on Wisin & Yandel 's single " Imaginate " and Bun B 's single " Trillionaire ". In the last two quarters of 2010, he was featured on

10506-507: Was released on June 5, 2007. The album sold 171,000 records in its first week, reaching number one on the Billboard 200. The record has since sold 819,000 records in the United States. The album was preceded by the lead single " Buy U a Drank (Shawty Snappin') " (featuring Yung Joc ), released in February 2007. The song reached number one on both the Hot 100 and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart, becoming his first to peak atop both charts. The album's second single, " Bartender " (featuring Akon),

10609-523: Was replicated by a number of hip hop artists, including Snoop Dogg on the 2007 single " Sensual Seduction ", Lil Wayne on the 2008 single " Lollipop ", Kanye West on the 2008 album 808s & Heartbreak (on which T-Pain served as a consultant), the Black Eyed Peas on the 2009 single " Boom Boom Pow ", and Diddy – Dirty Money on the 2010 album Last Train to Paris . In a November 2008 interview, T-Pain revealed that Diddy had paid him for

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