Monday Geek Out: I Am T-Pain(ish)

If you catch me in the shower on any given morning, there is a good chance that you'll hear me belting out some sweet tunes. The tracks can range anywhere from Styx, to The Beatles, to some fake auto-tune impressions to sound like T-Pain.

If you're unfamiliar with what auto-tune is, all you would really need to do is listen to any pop song that has come out in the last year and a half (kidding...kind of) or check out what the always reliable WIkipedia has to say on the subject.

In short, auto-tune is a corrective device for keeping a singers voice in tune. Because the tones are so regimented to the key that you are singing in, it give the singers voice a robot sound if turned up too high. T-Pain is an artist who has made a career out of his mastering of the "robot voice" sound.

The auto-tune craze has gotten so big that Kanye West's last album was essentially totally auto-tuned, and Jimmy Fallon even made fun of it at this year's Emmy Award Show (see below).

Now, T-Pain (the master of the robot voice) has teamed up with super app developer Smule to introduce his very own app, "I Am T-Pain." The app allows you to auto-tune your everyday voice, use it to record to your own songs, or sing along with some pre-loaded instrumental versions of T-Pain's hits. (There is a great video of regular people using the app if you click here)

The Verdict: I love it. It seems ridiculously addictive. Everyone who has heard an Akon or T-Pain song has wondered what they would sound like with an auto-tuned voice. If you get enough people together and have this app, you have the newest singing/embarrassing/funny get together tool since the karaoke machine was invented. On that note, if you took the I Am T-Pain app to the karaoke bar, the results could be epic.

If you happen to see a karaoke night sponsored by The Deuce in the near future, don't be surprised to see an auto tuned duet between Jordan Miller and myself.

Kyle Stuef is a marketing consultant who blogs on Internet/technology trends, and being a young professional in Ypsilanti and Ann Arbor for The Deuce and AnnArbor.com

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