Paul Simon's Vocal sound ~ Slip Slidin' Away? ~

  • Thread starter Thread starter junplugged
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junplugged

junplugged

Taking the slow road
i hadn't heard this for a long time, then i heard it yesterday.

it's very up front, but he's singing laid back not loud

what's the going on in that chain?

:confused:
 
I don't think it's the chain so much as the arrangement. His voice is mixed loud relative to the instruments, much moreso than is common today. Plus, through most of his singing, there's only bass guitar, kick drum, and high hat in the background. So nothing competes for the piece of spectrum his voice is in.

The instrumental fills, things that could clutter the song (acoustic guitar, piano, and fretless) all come in the spaces in Simon's vocal part .. So really, it's just good arrangement and production. His voice itself sounds mostly untreated to me ... Uncompressed, open, with just some reverb to put him in the right space.
 
His voice, that's what's going on. I'm not trying to be snotty, but I think it's a combination of mostly his musicianship and, as DM1 said, the arrangement. I think the signal path has very little to do with it.

I think Paul Simon has one of the most effortless/pure voices around, not as much now, but he sure use to.
 
DM1 said:
I don't think it's the chain so much as the arrangement. His voice is mixed loud relative to the instruments, much moreso than is common today.
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I agree with this. Simon is singer/songwriter more than anything else, and the arrangements and the mixing reflect that emphasis on the vocals and the lyrics.

This was not quite as true as Simon went more equatorial in his music style, but even then the music has to make room for his voice. As RAK says, Simon has (or had back when Slip Slidin came out) a clean voice. It's also a very quiet voice. Unlike other singer/songwriters like Dylan or Waits, Simon does not have a strong, angry voice. Even his talking voice is very quiet. As such, his voice is not one to punch through the music. Instead the music needs to work around the voice.

On the engineering side, that's a technique that goes as far back as the pop jazz singers like Frank Sinatra or Rosemary Clooney, where the vocal is purposely laid in front of the band. In their cases it was not because the voices required it, but more because the style and idea was to emphasize the vocals and the lyrics.

G.
 
I have to try that. but i'm thinking a lot of compression
 
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