I was listening to a KT Tunstall song
[11. Heal Over - Eye to the Telescope - YouTube](Youtube link)
and it occurred to me that the 2 singers might not be singing the same notes.
If you listen to it, the 2nd singer only comes in about half way through.
Are the 2 in fact singing different notes? I guess it would be equivalent to playing a chord on a guitar.
If they are in fact doing this, do you have any links to tracks that make more obvious use of this technique?
It’s the same singer, dubbed over her own voice. This is done all the time. I mean, ALL THE TIME. This is the first time you’ve noticed it?
And reported for forum change.
I haven’t even listened to the song (I’m at work), but any song which is sung by multiple “voices” has each voice singing different notes. The immense majority of choral works would be a starting point (kind of a huge point, mind you); a capella music…
That may be the case but the question isn’t about the identity of the 2nd singer. The question is ‘are the 2 singers (who may be the same singer) singing different notes?’. Seems like a factual question to me.
Fixed link: 11. Heal Over - Eye to the Telescope - YouTube
Yeah, it’s the same singer singing different parts in harmony. That’s sort of KT Tunstall’s thing. This is her singing “Black Hole and Cherry Tree”, where she sings harmony with herself as well as play all the other parts of the song, live: KT Tunstall - Black Horse & The Cherry Tree Live - YouTube
Singing in harmony is done all the time, though not necessarily by the same singer. The Vienna Boys’ Choir does it. The Beatles did it. Gregorian monks did it.
Here’s KT Tunstall with “Black Horse and Cherry Tree” again, where she explains her equipment and how she builds up the layers of the song. The part where she sings “woo-hoo” in harmony starts at around 5:50: KT Tunstall - Tutorial Black Horse & the Cherry Tree(part 1) - YouTube
Moved from General Questions to Café Society,
samclem, moderator.
Assuming you mean Gregorian monks singing Gegorian chant, then no. Gregorian chant is monophonic and they all sang the same notes. Harmony was not added to sacred music until later.
You are correct. I should have just said “medieval monks”.
If OP is still confused how multiple singers can be singing different notes, here’s a barbershop quartet singing a medley of songs from different eras: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olw2R9RO3h8
I think everyone is just amazed you’ve not noticed it before. It’s ubiquitous in sung music - either with multiple different people harmonising (like this) or with one singer laying down mutiple tracks to be mixed like this (and obviously not always a capella like those two examples).
Pretty much any song with more than one vocal part. Sometimes the parts are doubled, but more often it’s harmonized (different notes.) For very obvious examples, try “Bohemian Rhapsody” (especially the beginning) and pretty much any Beach Boys song. And most Beatles songs.
The Beatles’ “Baby in Black” is a good example of a song with a second harmonized vocal part running through it. Lennon sings the lead part and McCartney harmonizes a third (two notes) above. The Beatles’ copyright people are extremely zealous on Youtube and so I could find only this video, which is recorded off of vinyl and not a great transfer.
Here, watch this guy deconstruct “All My Loving.” (He’s got plenty more videos if you want to check them out on the Beatles vocal harmonies.) Feel free to watch through it all, but if you want to get to the meat, go to 2:30 where he sings the harmonized last verse (it’s Paul on the record, overdubbed with himself for the harmony.) He sings it together first, then breaks down the low and the high part. This is very typical for pretty much any kind of vocal music with more than one singer. Multiple singers/vocal tracks does not always mean harmonization, but most often, that is how additional voices are used in vocals.
I was in the middle of posting Galeazzo Frudua’s breakdown of “This Boy” when suddenly The Dope died on me.
Isn’t he just fantastic? I’ve spent hours watching him and gaining an appreciation for just how talented the Beatles really were. I don’t think those harmonies were George Martin’s influence. I think the Beatles just innately knew what they were doing all along.
Yeah, Galeazzo Frudua’s analysis of Beatles songs is awe-inspiring. I’ve always loved the Beatles, but watching him dissect every little vocal nuance (and he does some guitar analysis, too) has made me pay attention and find new life in Beatles songs I have heard hundreds of times.
Anyhow, I also found this video of a quartet demonstrating the difference in sound between four singers singing in unison vs four-part harmony, in case that’s also interesting to the OP.
You can also use this next time someone asks about singers always using an American accent. His Italian accent, though mild, still comes through in his singing.
I guess I’m just not really into music much.
If I can’t find a good pod cast to listen to whilst driving, I usually would rather sit in silence than listen to whatever is on the radio. And when I do listen to music (like when I am programming something and want to separate from the rest of the world), my preference is music without vocals (drum and bass, house etc). Obviously the concept of chords still applies in these cases, I just never considered that people would do it with their mouths. Although it does seem kind of obvious now.
Oh, sure, but he’s still trying to affect an “American” accent, rather than an English one. Some non-English acts are good at hiding their native accents, but often it comes through. I mean, for a more well-known example, see the English version of “99 Red Balloons”, for instance. Usually, the bit about singers using an American accent refers to British singers. And that certainly is not true (see much of English New Wave and Britpop). But a lot of the early rock (Beatles, Stones) did affect an American accent, so that’s probably what people are glomming onto.
Well, certainly in a lot of Beatles songs there are nuances of their British, and especially Liverpudlian accent that come through. Galeazzo even points out a bit when he says Paul doesn’t really sing “All my loving” but instead sings something that sounds like “Oll ma loving.”
I can pick out the their Liverpool accent in a lot of songs.
Galeazzo is imitating the Beatles’ accent, who are affecting an American accent. But, as Leaffan says, you can still pick out their natural accent.