Beach Boys star Bruce Johnston has assured fans the band's famous vocal harmonies are not enhanced by Auto-Tune at their concerts following the revelation the pitch-adjusting software is used on their new album.

The I Get Around hitmakers found fame in the early 1960s with their trademark four-part harmonies but producers of a two-disc recording of last year's (12) 50th anniversary tour have used Auto-Tune to iron out wrong notes from the performance.

Now Johnston has reached out to fans to assure them the group's vocals are always untouched when they play live, and he insists he had no idea they would be artificially enhanced on the new record.

The 71-year-old singer tells Uncut magazine, "We don't use it onstage. You're telling me they used Auto-Tune on the album, after the fact? You know more than I do. I had nothing to do with the production of this album. Well, I'm sorry to hear it.

"We seem to be living in pitch-corrected times. Perhaps they should start a Grammy for Best Pitch-Corrected Recording. But take it from the horse's mouth: we don't use it onstage. I generally think I have decent pitch. Of course, I still see a 30 year old when I look in the mirror."