How Auto-Tune Works lyrics

[Intro: The Gregory Brothers]
Human voices don't sing pure tones
They're stacked with many frequencies
These natural resonating overtones
Sound like a single pitch to human ears

[Verse: Tom Scott]
I spent hours trying to understand
How pitch-correction actually works
But my degree's in linguistics, and I wasn't prepared
For operations that were this berserk
The secret is math called a "Fourier transform"
It takes the frequencies that were intertwined
Splits them up, identifies them, isolates them
Then software can change them live, in real-time

[Outro: The Gregory Brothers, Tom Scott]
The newest software can change different notes inside a chord
You can tune pianos, guitars, or choirs
To me, it's so advanced, it might as well be magic
But it can't write a song, some talent's still required
Oh yeah, some talent's still required!