mozartfan,
Vocal manipulation/enhancement began almost as soon as recording did. It’s now almost impossible to find a ’naked’ flat recording of the human voice in popular music.
Every single vocal performance on record has been enhanced to some degree or another. Almost anyone you can think of would sound different (less impressive) if they stood before you and sang or spoke.
Originally there was echo, double tracking, reverb etc but now there’s zillions of effects available digitally. Yet despite all of these ’advances’ some of the most lifelike vocal performances ever recorded come from the very earliest days.
The 1950/60s in particular featured some fabulous vocal recordings from the likes of Sinatra, Nat Cole, Peggy Lee etc. Truly great recordings no doubt but many of them benefitted from the acoustics ( huge natural echo chamber) of the Capitol Studios in LA.
’One of Capitol Studios most unusual and coveted assets are the eight subterranean echo chambers. Located 30 feet underground, the trapezoidal rooms can be accessed by the studios and mastering rooms to add rich reverberation to a vocal. Each of the chambers has thick concrete walls and ceilings. Sound from the studio is sent to speakers in the echo chambers, which is then picked up by microphones and returned to the recording media. With speakers on one side and microphones on the other, the chambers can provide reverberation lasting up to 5 seconds.’
Dare we suggest that Frank, Nat and Peggy might not sound so good elsewhere?
As for Diana Krall, she isn’t competing with them. She only has to be good enough for today, and that she obviously is.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Studios
Vocal manipulation/enhancement began almost as soon as recording did. It’s now almost impossible to find a ’naked’ flat recording of the human voice in popular music.
Every single vocal performance on record has been enhanced to some degree or another. Almost anyone you can think of would sound different (less impressive) if they stood before you and sang or spoke.
Originally there was echo, double tracking, reverb etc but now there’s zillions of effects available digitally. Yet despite all of these ’advances’ some of the most lifelike vocal performances ever recorded come from the very earliest days.
The 1950/60s in particular featured some fabulous vocal recordings from the likes of Sinatra, Nat Cole, Peggy Lee etc. Truly great recordings no doubt but many of them benefitted from the acoustics ( huge natural echo chamber) of the Capitol Studios in LA.
’One of Capitol Studios most unusual and coveted assets are the eight subterranean echo chambers. Located 30 feet underground, the trapezoidal rooms can be accessed by the studios and mastering rooms to add rich reverberation to a vocal. Each of the chambers has thick concrete walls and ceilings. Sound from the studio is sent to speakers in the echo chambers, which is then picked up by microphones and returned to the recording media. With speakers on one side and microphones on the other, the chambers can provide reverberation lasting up to 5 seconds.’
Dare we suggest that Frank, Nat and Peggy might not sound so good elsewhere?
As for Diana Krall, she isn’t competing with them. She only has to be good enough for today, and that she obviously is.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitol_Studios