Pitch Perfect or Not?
02 Jan 2012 1 Comment
in blog, music Tags: blog, music
Last night I reviewed a song for which I’d recorded a full vocal and piano part about two weeks ago. It’s a song whose melody came to me a few months ago in a burst of inspiration as I sat at my keyboard one day. The lyrics had been sitting on my computer drive since sometime before Thanksgiving 2010 but I hadn’t done anything with them yet.
It’s a song that I played on one of my previous videoblogs, which you can view here called “That’s Why I’m Here,” which you can view here:
I was revisiting this song and when I listened to what I’d recorded, I was unsure of my vocal. I was flat on some notes in the chorus and first verses and another part sounded like I was trying to sing too many syllables in too little space. My husband was sitting next to me on his computer as I played the song and partway through the first chorus, he sat up and watched my computer screen as the Logic project played my song through my tinny laptop speakers.
He then told me that I should consider this song done and keep this song the way it is. Listening to some of my flat notes, I wasn’t so sure. I asked if he was sure and he nodded with his eyebrows raised.
“I’ll be honest. You’re not hitting every note on this song. But that’s fine because this is an emotionally raw song. You’re singing something that comes from a deep emotion, and if you hit every note, it wouldn’t sound as sincere.”
OK, perhaps not exactly those words, but that was the basics of what he told me.
Within five minutes of tweaking some EQ on my vocal (lower some of the very high frequencies and balancing the lower end) and a few other mastering tools, I had a completely new song that I was very proud of! One of my best songs too, if I do say so myself!
Hearing my husband tell me to keep my slightly imperfect performance in the song got me thinking about things. Is it better to have an emotional song sound absolutely perfect, with every note hit dead on and every bit of legato and rhythm not even a touch out of place? Or is it better to have a vocal that cracks and falls sharp or flat because of underlying emotions, so that it goes better with the subject matter?
When I think about this, I’m reminded of a very popular song that I heard a LOT on the radio as a child (and I know this dates me!). It was hard to escape Celine Dion’s version of “The Power of Love,” between my parents playing her album with that song at home and in the car (on a cassette player) and hearing it on the radio wherever I went. You know the song and if you don’t, you’d recognize it if you heard it.
“Cause I’m your laaaaadyyyyyyy, and you are my maaaaaannnnn…..”
Celine Dion was not the first person to sing that song.
The song was originally written in the early 80s and first recorded by Jennifer Rush, someone who’s not too well-known on my side of the world (strange, since she’s American; seems she had bigger success elsewhere). Then Air Supply did a version for one of their albums and was released around the same time as Jennifer’s version. Then Laura Branigan sang it.
Some years after hearing Celine Dion’s rendition, I became a fan of Laura Branigan, who sang a version of that song some five years before Celine Dion took the song to the top of the charts all over the world. Her version is not as well-known but ultimately, I think her version is the best for the sheer emotion that she shows in her voice. It was only a minor hit, I’m told, without even a music video to promote it.
I’m not denying Celine Dion’s vocal abilities (I wish I could sing like her, but then again, don’t we all?) but her version feels too polished. While she hits the notes well and belts out the higher notes with gusto, I don’t feel much emotion behind the words as they come out of her mouth. There’s no quivering of the notes to sound like she’s scared but willing to give in. I feel like it’s sung as words on a page.
“The Power of Love” is a vulnerable song. A perfect vocal performance on something like this just doesn’t feel sincere to me. Laura’s voice cracks and she’s definitely off on a few notes. Her voice quivers in fear and it sounds like she’s on the verge of tears through the latter half of the song. Her version absolutely grips me in a way that Celine’s song doesn’t.
As a side note, some years after becoming a fan of Laura, I saw her sing live at HersheyPark and I couldn’t believe how raw her voice still was. Never mind that I was one of the youngest people in attendance who was there to hear her! After the show, I had the opportunity to meet her (there’s a picture of the two of us standing together, but I unfortunately can’t find it) and even told her that I wish I could’ve heard her sing that song because it was so emotional and I loved it. She signed my CD and said, “Maybe next time.”
Of course there was no next time, since Laura Branigan died a few years later of a brain aneurysm in her sleep.
For comparison purposes, here’s Laura’s version:
And the world-famous version sung by Celine:
Back to the subject at hand.
I believe the answer to my question is that it depends on the song. Light and happy songs should be as perfect as they can be because the sour notes would ruin the song and mood. But for songs with emotional and pleading lyrics, like The Power of Love, an imperfect main vocal is more sincere and fits the song better. Singing is more than just stringing together notes. Singing is about telling the story of the song, like playing the part of a character in a movie or play. You want the audience to feel what you are singing about and to get into your song.
Take another one of my own songs called “Harbor.” That song came to me from a deep place through constant soul-searching and looking for God. For years I’d been on the edge of becoming a Christian but never went fully over the edge into it. I wasn’t ready to completely give myself up to God and Jesus. Then I came to a dark time in my life a few years ago where I realized that I needed something else in my life, something to show that I wasn’t the only one alone in this universe and that someone was looking out for me besides my family and friends.
I had tears coming down my cheeks as I sang that song in my home studio. And I know because of that, I went flat on some of the notes. When I played it back, I almost deleted those takes with my voice cracking and falling off the notes in places. But I didn’t delete them. Instead, I left them in. And I think it sounds all the better for it. My imperfect vocal take fit the subject matter, where the narrator is at first scared but finally gives in. Giving yourself up and placing your trust in God, or anyone for that matter, is a difficult thing to do, after all.
Well, this post ended up being longer than I anticipated. Almost 1300 words!
More Happy New Year wishes to everyone, by the way! :)
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