Melissa Etheridge: “Auto Tune Ain’t Got No Soul.” Right ON, Sister!

Ever since technology gave us the ability to put an endless number of tracks on a recording and to manipulate a voice into perfect pitch, the sound of popular music has changed. It has affected nearly every genre of music. All of this finally hit home earlier this year when I was recording my latest album, This Is M.E., my first on my very own independent label, ME Records. (I’m very “me, me, me” these days.)With the guidance of my brand-new managers, Steven Greener and Larry Mestel of Primary Wave, I found myself in the studio creating music with their client, a fiery young hip-hop producer named Rocc Starr, who has Chris Brown, Usher andJennifer Lopez, to name just a few, on his list of productions.

It was one of the funnest, funkiest days I’ve ever had in the studio. Rocc’s massive beats and my crunchy Les Paul guitar made for a perfect collision of hip-hop and rock’n’roll. It was thrilling to have my vocals guided by a hip-hop master. My favorite moment was watching Rocc move alongside the engineer so he could take a look at the computer screen. “Hey, where’s the Auto-Tune?” he asked.