Vocals. How do they do that?

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webstop

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I had it happened many times.
You listen to someone on the record and vocals sound nice and right. Then you listen to that the same vocalist live and realize that he just can not sing! Every other note is missed, noisy breathing etc. etc.
How do they do it in the studio? Do they assemble "perfect take" from several far-from-perfect, or is there some gismo?
I am not vocalist, I am just curious.
 
What a good question! The answer is that they do it in several takes and piece the best ones together, they de-ess and de-pop and they can even put it throuigh a voice processor that tunes the vocal. You can even set the limits for how out of range they can be before the processor kicks in and "puts it right". And of course reverb hides a multitude of sins as does EQ and delay.

The best singer dynamically speaking I have ever heard and ever likely to hear is Eve Cassidy. Imho. You can be sure she was recorded without any of that stuff (apart from compression and a little reverb).
 
Yo Stopper of Spiderman:

Ever hear a dude named Mel Torme sing? Sinatra called him the greatest singer alive. Alas, he is not around any more.

Not too many gimmicks were ever used by that guy.

And, he could wail on drums that would shame many drummers this day; and he could read, write, and arrange music.

His ear was this good:

A real class piano friend of mine backed him up in Chicago once at Don the Beachcombers; during a late night rehearsal, Mel sat reading the WALL STREET JOURNAL and listening to my friend play the keys through Mel's arrangements.

At one point, my friend decided to add a note and change one chord slightly from the score; after he finished, Mel put down his paper and said, "Hey kid, you play real nice; but, please, just play it the way it's written.

A real musician was Mel.


In Memory
Green Hornet
 
Urban Legends???

Yeah, I've heard lots of similar Mel Torme stories like that before. I've also heard that he would "plant" wrong notes in his scores, giving him the opportunity to correct them durning rehearsals, leaving his fellow musicians in awe of his golden ear and musicianship. True? Who knows.

But he is resoponible for my all time favorite Christmas song: A Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on and Open Fire). Some great chording in that one, I say.

Aaron
http://www.aaroncheney.com
 
Another trick is to get a better singer to double the vocals and not tell anyone they did it. Been a few lawsuits over that in the past.
 
SOme guys just can't get into the zone while playing live.

When recording, they can employ numerous technical tools to fix things, but.... generally I'd think they punch in and out MANY times, and have vocal trainers on hand to help them.
 
ever heard no doubt live? They suck. Gwen sounds like she heard the song 3 minutes before the show.

however.......i know you all see this coming...
A Perfect Circle are great live. Maynard really can hit the notes dead on to the recording.

Kurt Cobain couldnt sing live. Ever heard rape me on the MTV music awards??
That guy from linkin park sings REALLY high and gravelly on the record but live he cant even get close.

However, the closest Ive ever heard between a live performance and a recording is soundgarden.
 
Maynard live is pertty scary. He has an extremely pure, extremely accurate voice, and he really can hold those high notes for days. However, I saw him with Tool, which was definitely a lot more challenging of a vocal workout.

There are guys in LA who do nothing all day but tune vocals in Pro Tools by hand for the major label releases. Not to say that there are many singers on major label albums who can't sing, but... there are many singers on major label albums who can't sing.
 
it's an overuse of autotune and other "pitch-correction" devices. Makes good albums, but makes shitty ass concert dates. Sum 41 and Blink and Saliva are really good examples of this "we have a damn good album, but can't pull it remotely off live". It's not about performance anymore.

Mike
 
Hey, what about Paul Mcartney, John Lennon, Freddy Mercury, Jimi Hendrix, Roger Daultry, Mick Jagger, Robert Plant, Elton John, Ian Gillan,

They could ALL pull it of back then.

What does this say about todays artists.

NOT MUCH.
 
Just think: What if they did have all this fancy expensive equipment....Would we of heard something different from them?
 
Why don't bands put out live albums any more.

Because they cant do it.

Deep Purple, Peter Frampton and Thin Lizzy's live albums were there most succesful albums because they could do it. In fact you could go see them live and hear something better even.
 
Metallica put out a live album a little while ago. They could do it. :)
 
Sorry to rant on but ever heard the Eagles live. Fuckn perfect. Now im not that into the Eagles but blew me away. And that was a recent concert too.

Musicianship is everything live. (as you all know)

I also think doing lots of gigs can help a band as well. Over the past 20 years I've done well over 2000 gigs live and the only recordings I have of that are live desk tapes which sound nothing like the live sound we had but you can get the idea. After that many gigs we were pretty tight. And we would tune one below to help the singer get those notes night after night.

Plus here's my biggest live beef of all. Why is it that ALL live sound engineers feel the need to create a wall of bass and mud. Guitars, keybords and vocals just get drowned out with bass. I've often said to the dude on the desk, hey, dont you think its a bit bassy, I cant hear the guitars but I can see table shak'n.
And they say, man gotta get it pumpn aye. For fuck sake. I've had to walk out of many a live gig because the wanker had to get the bottom end pump'n.
 
Jellyfish

I'm always impressed by a vocalist who can pull it off live, or even exceed the record...but it's even better when the harmonies are just as tight as the record. There was a band in the early nineties (Jellyfish) that had tremendous vocal harmonies, I remember my friends and I scouting their gear before the show to see what they were using to "help" them along (we were pretty sure they had to be getting technical assistance!). Nothing, as far as we could see. They were perfect, best live band I ever saw.
 
Scott Tansley,

I was about to mention the Eagles when reading through this thread, they are awesome live (and I'm looking forward to their new album and world tour, hope it comes down to OZ). Another band that is awesome live is the Corrs.

Also, what about some of the country acts. I know it was a few years ago.. Garth Brooks Double Live CD?

A few of the Australia Country guys put out a 'bonus live CD' with their recordings and their performances hold up... I went to see a live show.. 4 people on stage, 1 lead/rhythm guitar/vocal, 1 bass/back-up vocal, 1 lead guitar/back-up vocal & a Drummer. The talent of the musicians put together made it sound a lot more 'fuller' that what you would expect. The time I saw them it was the first time they had played together in 1 year and the sound was really tight.

It does come down to musicianship!

Porter
 
Yes, Scott, perfect example: Eagles.
Their post-reunion live recording is just A+.
 
I'll add one more thing....in the 60's, 70's, when good music abounded......another reason bands could pull it off is because they needed a good singer. I swear to god autotune is the devil. If a band in the 70s didn't have a good singer people cared. Nowadays, bands are put together on the sole fact that they can dance, but on a side note they have a pretty face and might be able to sing a wee bit. Dancing has taken over. Looks have taken over. I mean, peter frampton might have been a teen idol, but goddammit he could play and sing. It was luck for him to look good while doin it. I saw him live last year and he was better than I've ever heard him on disc. That's a musician. Now you get band's who can pull together a catchy 4 chord song, but can't sing worth dick without some pitch correction. And it shows. I don't know what happened in the past couple decades, but people don't care (mainstream....music business wise) about musicianship anymore and I hate it. I used to like going to concerts, but now it has become a laugh fest and maybe a running bet with friends to see if bands can actually sing anymore.

well, if this thread continues, maybe I'll rant more. This topic hits home big time.

Mikey
 
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