"The Like In I Love You" Is Streaming
Andrew G. Doe:
Quote from: Wirestone on June 30, 2010, 04:50:04 PM
There were lots of ways. On BW88, AGD suggests it was a Fairlight --
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairlight
-- Which presumably would have allowed engineers to alter BW's pitch through drawing on a screen. You could pitch correct before digital, too, but it was a somewhat more arduous process.
A device called the Eventide Harmonizer apparently did it too. My (entirely uninformed) guess is that the BBs first used pitch correction -- in some form -- on BB85. There are arguably some sampled vocals on there, and my guess is Steve Levine did something to BW's vox on the album.
The intro vocals to "It's Gettin' late" have always sounded sampled to me, from first listen. The decay is way too abrupt.
MZ6:
Quote from: Wirestone on June 30, 2010, 04:50:04 PM
A device called the Eventide Harmonizer apparently did it too. My (entirely uninformed) guess is that the BBs first used pitch correction -- in some form -- on BB85. There are arguably some sampled vocals on there, and my guess is Steve Levine did something to BW's vox on the album.
Yes, that was one application for the H3000. Back then the wonderfully named 'Publison Infernal Machine' was another option.
Along with the aforementioned method of varying the (tape) speed, a notch in the EQ at the right place can also give an apparent shift. Kind of hard to explain, but it removes anything that conflicts with another part of the track but still leaves much of the vocal intact. Maybe Stephen Desper or Mark Linnet could expand on that - without necessarily commenting on Brian's track - and add some more insight?
Perhaps the typically contemporary uses of Autotune makes some people quickly write it off as a bad thing or a sign of the artist needing a helping hand. But engineers have always been able to augment performances. I believe one of the benefits of such as Antares is simply to speed-up a process that once took a lot longer.
As for the track itself, I think 'The Like in I Love You' sounds very nice, and I'm happy to have new material from Brian to listen to.
Andrew G. Doe:
Quote from: Wirestone on June 30, 2010, 04:50:04 PM
There were lots of ways. On BW88, AGD suggests it was a Fairlight --
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairlight
-- Which presumably would have allowed engineers to alter BW's pitch through drawing on a screen. You could pitch correct before digital, too, but it was a somewhat more arduous process.
A device called the Eventide Harmonizer apparently did it too. My (entirely uninformed) guess is that the BBs first used pitch correction -- in some form -- on BB85. There are arguably some sampled vocals on there, and my guess is Steve Levine did something to BW's vox on the album.
Steve Desper told me he used a Harmonizer to prepare the tapes for Brian's "water machine" keyboard request during the Smile sessions.
Re: BW88, Andy Paley said a Synclavier was used "to correct a few bum notes", but I'm informed by a hugely reliable source that the AFM sheets refer to it as a Fairlight.
adamghost:
What's interesting about ProTools is how similar it is in some ways to the '60s brand of recording. What I understand is that in the '60s you didn't have very many tracks at your disposal and punching was difficult (at least punching out was), so engineers would do multiple takes and edit them together. Savvy engineers were still doing this with basics in the '70s and beyond in analog, but with 24-track, it was much easier to punch in and out and create a master take on a track...e.g., you might have 1, 2, or 3 tracks for vocals, but the process was to cut into each individual track and perfect that take.
Now with ProTools, you can still do that, but it's more common to do multiple takes of a vocal (or another track) and edit the best parts together...which is more the '60s brand of recording, except now you're editing a bunch of individual tracks except for the whole thing. Though what I was told by some old timers is some engineers were proficient enough with cutting tape that they could actually edit out specific tracks by cutting into PART of the tape. That blows my mind, but apparently some people could do it.
Anyway, there have always been cheats of one form or another, at least ever since the invention of reverb and varispeed. Some of your favorite "live" '60s singers may have had edits comped together from 25 different takes...which is very similar to how it's done today.
MZ6:
Good post. And specifically -
Quote from: adamghost on July 01, 2010, 02:27:45 AM
Though what I was told by some old timers is some engineers were proficient enough with cutting tape that they could actually edit out specific tracks by cutting into PART of the tape. That blows my mind, but apparently some people could do it.
I've seen an old BBC engineer doing this with a pair of scissors. Amazing.
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