Singing On Key ?

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 25 Feb 2007 9:15 pm

That's so true Les,But I still contend the pure raw emotion of his voice could make the listener laugh or cry ,they really believed him.Plus the great lyric's he wrote,novelty,Tear-jerkers,or religious,I always thought the lyric's to I'm so lonesome I could cry would be hard to beat.

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 26 Feb 2007 12:03 am

Charlie I couldn't agree with you more. I don't think I worded my post correctly and that was my fault.

Hank Williams had a rare gift of putting words into music and visa versa to the extent that neither would fit without the other. Can you vision any other words that would fit the music of Cold Cold Heart or another melody to fit I am So Lonesome I Could Cry?

Mind you, some people may profess that his voice was the third factor that created his legendary music.

Bill Dobkins · Post by **Bill Dobkins** » 26 Feb 2007 6:51 am

I Had the pleasure of getting to visit big Bill Lister at his home just outside San Antone. He worked with Hank Williams as his front man until Hanks death. Bill was in the middle of a recording session and needed a drinking song for the next day because session was about done. He called Hank up
about his delima,Hank wrote A tear in my beer that nite and went to one of those little message booths with a guitar and cut this song on a asitate disk.Big Bill moved to another house and while going through a box full of junk, found the disk,was actually going to through it away, but his wife said, no we should give this to Junior, meaning Hank jr. Well the rest is history.
The history of Big Bill and Hank is availible on a Cd and can be purchased through hillbillyhits.com. It is quite a story and very enjoyable to hear this ledgend tell this story. I feel so lucky that I got to hear it first hand.

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 26 Feb 2007 10:52 am

Les you mentioned Fabian,Don't know if it's true or not,but I read a story once,He was discovered by a talent scout as Fabian was sitting on a stoop of some building in I believe in Philly Pa,He had the good looks that all the male stars had at the time,No matter if he could sing or not they made a star of him based on nothing but his looks,THE SAME THING IS HAPPENING AGAIN TODAY.

Eric Jaeger · Post by **Eric Jaeger** » 26 Feb 2007 10:59 am

At least they didn't lip-sync it...

There are a fair number of bands who couldn't carry a tune in a bucket vocally. That in itself doesn't make them bad IMO. Ditto songwriters. I couldn't call Townes Van Zandt a good singer either. Obviously Bobby Dylan isn't as well.

But if you're selling yourself as a singer, you'd better be there.

-eric

Chris Schlotzhauer · Post by **Chris Schlotzhauer** » 26 Feb 2007 7:15 pm

OMG! I just watched that Kenny Chesny "performance". That was horrible. I love the 3 Les Pauls and 1 SG. No Tele or steel allowed on that stage.

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 27 Feb 2007 7:25 am

Just wondering dept? Does this mean there are no good looking people out there with talent to be discovered that can really sing? At least wardrobes are now not a cost problem for the artist (sorry) performer or the bands. Goodwill stores must be selling out in Nashville.

Charles Davidson · Post by **Charles Davidson** » 27 Feb 2007 10:37 am

You got that right Joe,Saw one of the top artist on the scene today on the opry the other night,He and his band would have made an outlaw biker gang look neat and respectable.

Les Anderson · Post by **Les Anderson** » 27 Feb 2007 10:39 am

Joe, when is the last time you heard a country voice like Wilma Burges or a few other female vocalists in her era.

The music industry is focusing on pumping out and pushing sex appeal more than they are music. Just let your mind go back to the 60s and recall all those one hit wonders and those who wrote their songs for them. Even the song writers were in assembly line production mode. Who ever owned the record labels of the hits owned the singer, the writer the song, the song and bought out thousands of radio station DJs.

Fabian and Fankie Avalon couldn't carry a note on key if their life depended on it but the labels pushed their human product until the money stopped flowing. Both Fabian and Frankie dropped out of sight faster than a stone sinks in water. It was in the early sixties that the big music companies took over the music industry and determined who was going to be a hit. Talent had or has absolutely nothing to do with it anymore.

Dayna Wills · Post by **Dayna Wills** » 2 Mar 2007 1:03 am

Ok, I am a singer. I taught myself to carry a tune by comparing my voice to the music nano second by nano second. If I can't hear hear my voice against the chord, I sound like someone singing along with headphones on. To the outside world I am nowhere near the melody. I am much better than I used to be. I didn't come out of the womb singing and I so envy those singers who can sing out of their heads. Give 'em the first note and they can carry it from there. I can get pulled away from my part in a heartbeat. I once had to sing the National Anthem acapella and I knew that "someone" on stage would try to "help" me and start playing. So, I told them how they could help me in the best way I knew how. I said "Please, nobody play, and nobody fart."

Sonny Priddy · Post by **Sonny Priddy** » 2 Mar 2007 7:25 am

Most Of Them Don't Look Good To Me Anymore They Don't Know How To Dress Eather. SONNY.

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 2 Mar 2007 7:42 am

I stopped in a music store the other day and my buddy gave me a CD he had made of just some of the classic hard country honky tonk tunes. I listened to it and enjoyed so much the rawness of it and how the production is so simple and how effective it sounds. Simple guitar and steel work that sounds so powerfull when it is so exposed and not covered up with crashing drums and processed effects on everything. The vocals were so individualized it was amazing. Porter Wagoner, Webb Pierce, Jones , young Johnny Paycheck, David Houston, Merle, Buck and others. They ALL sounded totally different and unique. All you could really hear in their voices was the tint of their favorite influence like Hank Sr. or George Jones.

The recording sounds were so much more enjoyable. Drummers with just a snare and a stick and a brush. Musical guitar tones.

The other thing that continues to strike me is that the seasoned mature voice is better suited to country music with all its raw, down to earth lyrics. Hard for me to hear a 20 year old kid who can't sing very well in the first place sing about stuff and not really come off like they have experienced it. Just too surface for me.

All this vocal jizz that they use in the studio these days has made for many lesser talents to be able to have careers.

Joe Casey · Post by **Joe Casey** » 2 Mar 2007 2:40 pm

Les, the last time I heard Wilma Burgess was probably in the early 80s sad to say. However on the XM Radio, "Willies place"is scoring heavy with me. Have not heard Wilma yet but I'll bet shes getting some airtime. I think of all places I did get to cross paths with her was a little Fair in Wyoming Rhode Island I'd have to say that was in the late 70's. Great singer.

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 3 Mar 2007 2:49 am

Dave Boothroyd wrote:When I hear a show- on TV or live - where singers that I know are capable of singing in tune are missing notes, especially the one that fall on the unstressed, quieter syllables, I suspect that for whatever reason, they can't actually hear themselves.

Pitch correction does work live, as a sound man or an artist manager, why would you not set it up if you knew that the singer had a pitch problem?

I know of no live pitch correcter unit I would think of using...

But the 1st comment, yes bad monitors can kill an otheriwse passabale singer.
And make a pro sweat for a bit.

The legends did it with almost NO monitors forever,
and that's why when they don't have good ones,
they move away from the bad feed and listen t
o their own voice.

The 'modern generation' is acustomed to monitors
getting louder than their 'head tone'.

If they are equal to or under the head tone level,
their mental ear gets confused,
this would happen exactly on the lightly stressed notes,
as noted above.

TV walk on songs, or multi-band shows,
are notorious for bad monitor mixes.

The old pro's have worked with such bad monitoring,
if any, for decades, they just slough it off.

Vince Gill usually gets GOOD monitors, because he knows enough,
and has enough clout, to make SURE his are right.

In the old days of the GOO, there was 1 and
later maybe 3-4 mics on stage always on.
Once the acts knew how to group around that single mic,
no problem getting a good sound.
They heard themselves and their instruments.
No monitors no mixes, just pickin', singin' and grinin'.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 3 Mar 2007 4:51 am

erik wrote:If anyone's ever listened to the songs I've posted here they know that I tend to drift flat or sharp.

Nothing wrong with that Erik. My major complaint is that when someone's making 5 or 6 figures per performance, and they're billed as a "singer", you would think they oughta be pretty good at singing. But far too many times, such is not the case.

ebb · Post by **ebb** » 15 Mar 2008 3:42 pm

i took my son to hear kd lang the other night and it was an epiphany. i cant imagine that it was any different than hearing ella or patsy live. as to ashley monroe i just heard her on prarie home companion and had to stop and just listen. it was the real thing with direct emotional power. i also understand she has written songs covered by carrie underwood and norah jones. point being that with artists like these all the glory is not relegated to the past. just ignore the simon/idol static

Wally Taylor · Post by **Wally Taylor** » 15 Mar 2008 8:15 pm

Hey Mikey D., when you publish your first book, be sure I get a copy!! Hey wait a minute, go ahead and publish the book soon and based on what I have seen here, you might sell so many copies you might not have to work in Gnashboro or anywhere else!!
I'd really like to hear some of your stories. Give us the dirt man, give us the dirt!!!

Wally

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 16 Mar 2008 12:05 pm

I have to jump in here and echo the nice comments about Wilma Burgess, a truly great country singer. IMHO, after Patsy Cline's death, Wilma and Connie Smith were the best we had for over a decade.

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 16 Mar 2008 1:42 pm

Never found out if it's for real or not, but there was a recording that was supposed to have been made by an apparently vindictive sound man of Enrique Iglesias, recorded from the board from an output before it went into the autotune. Here is a video that contains some of it. It's not in English, but let it go anyway, the alleged Iglesias sans autotune is about halfway in. It starts out with the supposed autotune-corrected singing and then plays the singing without. I didn't see the country shows mentioned but I'd bet they didn't even sound this bad, lol.

http://www.i-am-bored.com/bored_link.cfm?link_id=19190

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 16 Mar 2008 6:41 pm

That is so bad that I would question it's authenticity. If its real, thats a hell of a piece of equipment! Now if they can just come up with a piece of equipment for auto looks adjustment.

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 17 Mar 2008 12:05 am

I've never been able to find out anything about its authenticity, but the recording has the whole song... and you can hear the band in the background just about like you'd expect it to be bleeding into the vocal mic... whoever did it, if it's a fake, they did a good job. Have to see if I can find the whole song.

John Roche · Post by **John Roche** » 17 Mar 2008 12:32 am

Jim , fake,

Jim Phelps · Post by **Jim Phelps** » 17 Mar 2008 4:03 am

OK, that's fine... then at least there's one who's not that awful... as far as we know... lol... How did you find out for sure it's a fake?

John Roche · Post by **John Roche** » 17 Mar 2008 4:31 am

Lip sync on the out of tune bit is way out but not on the in tune part.. Plus that is a video , he would not be singing for real....

Kevin Hatton · Post by **Kevin Hatton** » 17 Mar 2008 8:09 am

Jim, I would vote fake also. It would be interesting to know for sure.

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Singing On Key ?

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