Music

David Bowie's producer thinks Adele's voice is fake

by Richard Howard

David Bowie fans are very familiar with the name Tony Visconti: the 72-year-old has produced and played on no less than 13 Bowie albums, in addition to working on music by a host of other acts including Iggy Pop, Paul McCartney, and the Moody Blues.

Nobody can outrun Father Time, though, and it seems that Visconti has entered the dreaded “You kids don’t know music, why back in my day…” phase. He decided to announce his arrival at Crusty Grandpa station with a bang. To be sure, he starts off innocuously enough, lamenting: “You turn the radio on and it’s fluff, you are listening to 90% computerized voices. There’s a sound to pop now that is so perfect it’s boring, because everything is fixed.” Totally fair. It’s the next part that’s raising eyebrows right now.

OK. A couple things. Are corrections made to any minor imperfections she might have in her recordings? I’d guess yes – that’s the reality now when you’re putting a track on radio. I’d bet that the times when it’s necessary to correct an Adele vocal track in the studio (where she can knock out multiple takes) are few and far between, though. The phrase “it’s even questionable if that is actually her voice” is the one that is going to make Visconti look like a bit silly. Hey Tony, there’s this new thing called YouTube. So… you know. We do know.

Just a wee bit ironic is the fact that Visconti is currently working on a plug-in effect that will ‘manipulate’ your voice, simulating the in-studio techniques that he used with Bowie.

Then again, Visconti’s comments were made while promoting his new reality show Guitar Star, so he may just be trolling (successfully) in order to get some press. In any case, he should probably stay out of London for a while and avoid anyone wearing an Adele t-shirt.

[h/t Daily Star]