Susan Boyle Accused of Having Voice Digitally Altered on "Britain's Got Talent"
NEW YORK (CBS) Did Susan Boyle get the help of auto-tune to further perfect her vocals during her TV singing debut on "Britain's Got Talent"?
British reports allege Boyle's performance of "I Dreamed A Dream" on "Britain's Got Talent" that saw her become a worldwide phenomenon was auto-tuned, an insider has said.
According to UK newspaper the Evening Standard, a production team member of the show, who was not named, spoke to the newspaper saying that Boyle's performance, which attracted 47 million views on YouTube, was digitally altered to make it sound better.
Auto-tune on TV talent shows "was an open secret and an industry standard," added the insider.
"The exact same techniques are used on 'Britain's Got Talent' as on 'The X-Factor' -- it's the same production team," the insider said. "This goes for everyone -- even Susan Boyle's audition was smoothed out in post-production to give it the best possible sound."
Talkback Thames, which produces the series, said the performances on screen were a "fair reflection of performance given in the live theater".
"In line with standard television practice, sound filtering technology has been used on 'Britain's Got Talent' on our pre-recorded shows, but this does not unfairly reflect any singer's performance," a spokeswoman said.
Producer and judge Simon Cowell has reportedly banned auto-tuning from future seasons of the "X-Factor."