An award-winning record producer has defended The X Factor over claims the show used technology to make some contestants' voices sound better. Furious viewers filled internet forums with complaints about the use of 'autotuning' during the programme. Some even threatened to boycott the show in protest at the alleged use of the studio technology used to correct pitch and off-key mistakes. But Donal Hodgson, who won a Grammy for his work with Sting, said using it was perfectly acceptable as long as it was not a total 'fabrication'. Hodgson said: "The issue would be if the X Factor was using it on people that really couldn't sing and making something that was a fabrication. I didn't see the show, but I imagine if you have a lot of young people who have never sung live on stage before then they will sing out of tune. "They won't be used to monitors and hearing their own voices coming back to them so they would be more likely to sing out of tune. Of course, if the X Factor fabricated the whole thing it would be self-defeating and they would end up with someone who couldn't sing." Most of the allegations surrounded teenage contestant Gamu Nhengu, who sang a version of the Katrina And The Waves hit Walking On Sunshine. After hearing her effort, judge Simon Cowell told the 18-year-old, from Clackmannanshire, Scotland, she was 'really talented' before she was unanimously voted through to the next round. But some viewers went online to accuse the producers of using autotune. On the show's website, robhayes wrote: "Absolutely disgusting use of... autotune... does X Factor really think we are idiots? I see the idea of making the show more entertaining, but this is taking the mick... really..."
