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Will viewers tune out over X Factor row?

By Channel 4 News

Updated on 23 August 2010

As ITV admits it did tweak the sound of people auditioning for the new series of the X Factor, Channel 4 News culture editor Matthew Cain analyses whether such revelations will hit the show's popularity.

Judges at the X Factor auditions (Credit: ITV/Talkback Thames/Syco)

This Saturday night, X Factor blasted onto our screens for a brand new series. It was watched by a staggering 11.1 million people – an increase on the 9.9 million who watched last year's launch show.

But no sooner have the end credits finished rolling than rumours are already emerging about faking and technical wizardry being used to enhance the contestants' vocal performance.

And these rumours aren't new. For the last few years there've been rumblings about digital technology being used to boost singers' live vocals in the studio shows of each run. Even judge Cheryl Cole was attacked when it appeared that her 'live' performance to plug her new single wasn't as 'live' as it might have appeared.

And now this latest row. Today's Mirror newspaper exposes the use of a device known as Auto-Tune to improve the vocals of some of Saturday night's auditionees who made it through to the next round. 

An ITV source, quoted, admits that Auto-Tune was used in the post-production of Saturday's X Factor auditions show but insists that the judges made their decisions whether or not to put through auditionees based on their live performance only.

And it's this point which is crucial; judging auditionees on a performance that has been polished by post-production would amount to cheating by the programme-makers in what has to be seen as a fair talent contest for the show to hold onto its crown as Britain's favourite. The mere act of polishing a singer's vocals on a TV music show is much less serious and, for that matter, widespread practice.

For years it was the norm for singers to mime to a vocal track exactly the same as the one on their CDs sold in the shops. Then more sophisticated techniques like 'ghosting' were developed, whereby pre-recorded vocals were used on top of a singer's live performance to boost the overall effect. 

Much more common on today's music shows is the technique of miming to a specially recorded 'live' vocal – a particularly cunning development. Today's audiences have become much more savvy than their predecessors and have learned to spot the difference between the vocal they hear on a CD and the vocal they hear during a live performance, when pitching and breathing delivers a noticeably different sound to a studio vocal that's often recorded line by line. 

This difference is even more noticeable when movement or a full-blown dance routine is factored into the equation. But if the artist is miming to the kind of vocal they'd deliver in a live performance, often the trick goes unnoticed.

X Factor bosses vehemently refute suggestions that any fakery whatsoever is used in their live studio shows.  And the problem is that they could never be substantiated; should any malpractice be occurring, the only people who'd have access to any evidence are all on the payroll and reluctant to speak out. So the question remains.

Perhaps a more pertinent question might be, does the British public really care? Fans flocked to see Britney Spears' latest tour even though it was well documented that she wasn't singing live.

Victoria Beckham recently admitted to not having read – let alone written – her autobiography. And Katie Price's frequent jokes about not knowing what happens in her ghost-written novels don't seem to put off her readers.  In 2007 her novel Crystal outsold the entire Booker shortlist combined. 

It has still to be seen whether next week's X Factor ratings are affected by these latest accusations of fakery.  With a long run of nearly five months on screen, the show's widely been credited with dragging its beleaguered broadcaster ITV back into profit after years in the financial doldrums. 

Understandably, both ITV and Syco, the production company behind the show, are keen to defend it. 

But with changes to the judges' line-up this year following Dannii's maternity leave and Cheryl's illness, X Factor is currently finding itself vulnerable to criticism like never before. 

And with the American version of the show launching in the States next year, the stakes are about to get a whole lot higher.

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