Ex-'X Factor' stars blast Auto-Tune

Former X Factor stars Daniel Evans and Ethan Boroian have criticised the show for using Auto-Tune.

Evans, who reached the live finals in 2008, said that the alterations to vocals during the production process on the show made it a "sad day for music".

"I am big campaigner against Auto-Tune in the music industry, it's all over the charts but to hear it on a so-called live show is just plain sad," he said on Twitter. "It's like an epidemic, and I won't be watching again. Sad times for real music fans."

He continued: "I can tell you what the problem is, it's the live auditions on the large stage. Even the best singers make mistakes, but in a live arena where the sound reverberates and bounces around, the judges don't hear the clean live feed, so when recording the show, they probably sound OK, but when the producers play it back to edit, the live feed is unforgiving, every slightly pitchy note is glaringly obvious.

"It's the same on the live shows, judges can say someone was great but when it's played back on the TV the public hear the 'clean' feed and little pitch problems show badly whereas in the auditorium they don't show as much. The producers must have played it back and thought, 'oh my god, we need to do something'."

He added: "I used to defend the X Factor against critics who say it's a joke and not about real music, now there is no defence against this, it is a joke."

Meanwhile, Ethan Boroian, who reached the Judges' Houses stage last year, said that he would be switching over to rival reality show Must Be The Music instead.

"I will probably lose followers saying this but I'm more into Must Be The Music than X Factor right now. At least it's not Auto-Tuned," he joked.

The X Factor continues next Saturday at 7.30pm on ITV1.