diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index a4b9680b4e..137e0d01cb 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -28,10 +28,8 @@ AM_MAINTAINER_MODE([enable])
 dnl sets host_* variables
 AC_CANONICAL_HOST
 
-dnl use pretty build output with automake >= 1.11
-m4_ifdef([AM_SILENT_RULES],[AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])],
-  [AM_DEFAULT_VERBOSITY=1
-   AC_SUBST(AM_DEFAULT_VERBOSITY)])
+dnl use pretty build output by default
+AM_SILENT_RULES([yes])
 
 dnl GStreamer versioning, this is mostly informational
 GST_VERSION_MAJOR=$PACKAGE_VERSION_MAJOR