As title reads. When I've discovered about auto-tune technology recently, I was literally shocked. I was hit like by a truck or a dragon or a mountain. Auto-tune supposedly dates back to around 90's when we switched from MS-Dos to Windows 95.

I believe that Scandal uses Autotune in most of their recordings. It sounds like Tomomi uses heavier, stronger autotune than Haruna. Tomomi usually sings like high pitched baby girl. Correct me if I'm wrong. I don't know exactly what auto-tune is or to what degree or extent it can be used to sparkle the magic.

What about their live performances? Do Haruna, Tomomi or others still use auto-tune on live? How much did you really enjoy their lives? Of course, all of us here would definitely want to go their concerts but I'm still curious if it is ever possible to experience & listen pure Haruna. Maybe not : ( . Such is life and our life and my life : (.

When I heard about movie stunts in the past, I was similarly shocked : (. Of course, I don't mind the whatever action movie, computer, CGI effects. I enjoy all of them but when it comes to the use of stunt doubles, I feel like cheated while those celebrities swim in millions of dollars but their stunt doubles most likely not. I believe that Keanu Reeves did most of the action moves himself in Matrix without using another person. I may be mistaken. I'm not sure. Matrix is arguably the best sci-fi ever directed. It's my favorite movie.

I don't think Tomomi's "chipmunky" voice is the result of auto-tune, I believe that's how she really sounds. If she (and other members of Scandal) use auto-tune, it's to make the notes they sing align to their specific frequencies and make sure they are not a few Hz up or down (which is how human voice actually works - nobody is really able to always hit the frequency-exact note, when singing). That is what auto-tune primary is used for and I dare to say, that most people won't notice it that much, unless they are specifically looking for any signs of auto-tune. I also don't think it's a problem, unless the artist denies auto-tune despite the evidence to the contrary.

Of course, you can also use auto-tune very blatantly for effect, something that Scandal have done in songs like Queens Are Trumps (bridge), Brand New Wave or Saishuheiki, Kimi (mostly verses).

It needs to be said though, that auto-tune (especially when used for the former purpose) can't actually turn a bad singer into a good. You have to already be a decent singer.

You find that Tomomi voice is more mature now than when she start out with Scandal around age of 17. There lots of videos of them talking over last 15 years. So can hear what they sound like.

The best way to tell if something is autotuned (pitch corrected) is to play the song through a pitch monitor like this one off the Apple store: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/vocal-pitch-monitor/id842218231

I have never used one myself, but basically if you see notes flatlining too strongly on a line, then it is a good indication that section was manipulated.  

The human voice is not a tuned instrument like a piano or guitar that can automatically hit an intended note perfectly.  It is unnatural for a singer (no matter how good) to hit and maintain a note perfectly.  Voices warble in and around notes (vibrato), and our ears do not detect that they may be slightly flat or sharp.  Since they are around the right note based on the backing instrumentation, we hear it as the singer was naturally on pitch; however, if you see in one of these pitch monitors that a sung note is flat on a line, then it is a very good indication that was not a naturally sung note.

I have seen Scandal live quite a few times, and I never walked away from a show thinking they couldn't sing well.  They may not have sung every note perfect, but I personally didn't care (I prefer passion over precision, and Haruna definitely sings with a lot of passion).  Any great singer is going to draw you in with their emotion (as well as their technique).

I do think that there is some manipulation on their studio recordings, because it is a fact of life now to some degree for all modern pop/rock/country recordings (just like the "loudness war" of heavily compressing tracks in the mastering process so the CD sounds loud).  This doesn't mean the singer isn't any good, but rather an engineer thinking he/she could make a particular section a slight bit better.  The singer still has to get close enough to the note to begin with.

There are, broadly, two types of "auto-tune", and Scandal have used both:

#1: To fix someone's voice in recordings when they missed a note. You won't hear any recorded music, other than classical, which doesn't use this at least a little bit. Even before computer-aided auto-tune existed, recordings were manually edited to alter pitch and make singing sound more precise. For Scandal, the Wonderful Tonight live DVD/Blu-ray is the most obvious example of this, though you have to be listening very closely to spot it. It's common to use this kind of pitch correction on live recordings because the imperfect nature of any live recording helps to cover up the editing, and live performances are more likely to have mistakes in the first place.

#2: As an obvious special effect, creating sounds which are not physically possible with a human voice. This is more accurately called vocoder, but it operates in the same way as auto-tune. It was made popular by Cher in 1998, with her song Believe, though many musicians used it before then. Prince and Imogen Heap are two prolific users of vocoders for different effects. Scandal use vocoder effects on Tonight, Saishuuheiki Kimi, Oyasumi, Electric Girl, and the 'Almond Crush' song Koi no Hajimari wa Diet

Tomomi's high-pitched voice isn't the result of auto-tune; auto-tune isn't used to make someone's whole voice higher (unless you're Prince, using it to make a male voice sound female). You can also simply listen to her speak, anywhere, to tell how high her voice is. Judging by TV and fan recordings, Tomomi is actually probably the most consistently pitch-accurate singer in the group (bass players often are!), but on studio recordings she's edited a little bit, as everyone is.
Haruna and Mami's voices are also inevitably tweaked a little on any official recording—studio albums and live DVDs—but they don't use auto-tune during the performance itself. You can hear their untouched voices on many TV performances, live streams, and fan recordings.
Rina's voice has vocoder effects on it the majority of the time, including live, as an intentionally-obvious effect. I think Midnight City is the least-effected example of her voice.

Guitars, bass, drums, and every other instrument is usually pitch-edited on any studio album, too. That's how everything's been since the mid-70s, really. There are even guitars with auto-tune built-in.

Every artist goes through pitch correction in studio recordings. It's the standard in the music industry, along with some other editing and post-production techniques.

SCANDAL intentionally used auto-tune on songs like "Queen are trumps", "Brand new wave", "Tonight" and "Saishuheiki, Kimi", for example. That's a choice made by the band, they like to experiment, to try new things.

Tomomi has that voice, it's real.

Haruna's voice has naturally changed over the years. She also sings in many different styles.