Cher effect

The Cher effect is an informal term used to describe extreme digital pitch correction of singing to produce a semi-artificial voice sound effect. In its typical application, the natural small variations of pitch in human singing are flattened to exact notes, with a noticeable gliding between the notes. The sound is comparable to certain effects that can be produced with a vocoder, but is closer to a natural human voice.

The technique was made popular by the 1998 Cher song Believe", and has since become prevalent to more obvious or more subtle degrees throughout electronic-oriented popular music. The effect has been closely associated with the Antares Auto-Tune audio effect software, which is reputed to have been used on "Believe".