auto-tunen.
/ˈɔːtəʊtjuːn/, /ˈɔːtəʊtʃuːn/, U.S. /ˈɔdoʊˌt(j)un/, /ˈɑdoʊˌt(j)un/ 1. A device for tuning something automatically.
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1938 Times 2 Sept. 6/4 Nine of the models of the Radio Gramophone Development Company (R.G.D.) are shown with the new motor-driven ‘autotune’ system.
1961 N.Y. Times 1 Oct. f3/3 [He] has come up with many profitable ideas of his own. One of these was the Autotune, which in the early Nineteen-Thirties enabled for the first time instantaneous band switching and tuning of radio equipment used in aircraft.
1995 Kay & Co. (Worcester) Catal. Autumn–Winter 626/1 Ferguson Teletext colour televisions..auto tune with swap facility for easy tuning of stations.
2. Sound Recording. A proprietary name for: a piece of computer software or hardware which enables the correction of an out-of-tune vocal performance; the effect produced by this.
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1997 ProSound News Europe (Nexis) July 46 Antares has released AutoTune for Steinberg's Cubase VST platform... Users control the speed at which the pitch is corrected and can also introduce vibrato controlling depth, rate and delay.
2004 Future Music May 124/2 The vocals are too swamped in a thick reverb probably to cover up a poor performance, a bit of auto-tune and less reverb would do better.
2009 Wire Apr. 51/1 Bursts of Autotune, that now ubiquitous, pitch-adjusted sound of circa-now pop.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2015; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1938