Karen Carpenter vox tracks solo'd...life before Autotune

[Hink]

http://dangerousminds.net/comments/kare ... ated_vocal

I enjoyed hearing this, no surprise to me how well she could sing

[thecontrolcentre]

Best voice in pop music EVAH!!!

[aMUSEd]

Fantastic - I really hope now someone will remix these with a decent simple accompaniment - the only thing that spoils the original versions were the overproduced arrangements her brother added.

[Harry_HH]

She was great - they were great! Pure pop, nice arrangements (!), beatlesque harmonies.

[Compyfox]

I think part of the overuse of AutoTune and "Voice Correction" software these days is due to the short-living of music acts, and the ultra-short attention spans of music consumers. Part of it is also due to labels wanting more and more content to sell, and fast.


If you can remember, in the 60ies and 70ies, music wasn't as mass consumed as it is today at just the touch of a button. And not everyone had the chance to get their stuff "to the audience" (also, now with the touch of a couple of buttons). This in turn started a vicious cycle - faster editing, constant output of content, etc, etc.

While some musicians locked themselves in for months or years to produce one 8 track album back in the days (sometimes even now, if they have enough of a financial buffer), nowadays you see more and more "newcomers" releasing 2-3 albums a year! Just take a look at X-Factor, American Idol, "Voice of...", "Superstars" shows, etc. Stars have to be made with any means necessary.. On top of that, you have to remain active, you have to push out stuff fast, you always need to be on top. You're constantly on a timer.


Times have changed.
For better or worse lies within the eye of the beholder.

Personally, I try to stay away from voice correction software and also prefer people that can sing/play. But this doesn't bring in the money.

[robogone]

I don't think that's necessarily true - the Beatles recorded their first album in one day, and there are artists now who take months or even years to record new material.

I'm more inclined to blame the 'producer' culture that we have now where no one is willing to push an artist to their limit - it's easier to get a reasonable take then throw then out of the studio and autotune it. Anyone with access to a computer can call themselves a 'producer' now - the artistry has mostly been lost.

As for the Karen Carpenter solo vocals - I don't think I'd like to hear them with anything other than the original arrangements. I doubt that there's anyone who could really do them justice.

[SuitcaseOfLizards]

Beautiful voice. Terrible loss.

[ras.s]

The site that the article links to looks like a treasure trove for vocals.. http://www.studiomultitracks.com




Haters gonna hate, '50s style.

[Compyfox]

I don't think that's necessarily true - the Beatles recorded their first album in one day, and there are artists now who take months or even years to record new material.

True with the Beatles, but let's not forget that they rehearsed and to save money, they booked the studio for one to two days and then got their stuff out until they could afford to waste time for recording. Back in the days, studios hours were just as expensive.

Take a look at Johnny Cash or Elvis, they did similar.

If you got a certain amount of funds, or no rush to release things to live off of that, then you can have enough time for songwriting, rehearsing, recording and what have you.

I'm more inclined to blame the 'producer' culture that we have now where no one is willing to push an artist to their limit - it's easier to get a reasonable take then throw then out of the studio and autotune it. Anyone with access to a computer can call themselves a 'producer' now - the artistry has mostly been lost.

And why is that? Because there were people that told us that this is a defacto standard and everyone has to do that. Those were big producers, or magazines. Those people living on the fast lane. So in order to keep up with them, "living room producers" needed "to adapt" (else they're not worth anything and not living at the pulse of time). That, and the "casting world" added to this phenomenon for sure.

At least IMO.

As for the Karen Carpenter solo vocals - I don't think I'd like to hear them with anything other than the original arrangements. I doubt that there's anyone who could really do them justice.

Depends - I heard Elvis remixes years later that were better than the original recordings. Same with Michael Jackson's Xscape album (which is basically also just a remix album). There are some great talents out there, not everything has to be a dance remix.

The site that the article links to looks like a treasure trove for vocals..

I don't know about the "source" of these songs, actually most of the time there is not even a source given. But some of them clearly sound "ripped" off of video games, or taken from better "karaoke" pages.

[ras.s]

Oh don't be so square, Compyfox, they'll still good enough to embellish some blazing tomorrow-step dance moves .. or something like that. Other stuff too, take a look there's the snare track from 'Every breath you take' as .ogg, maybe nick a IR out of that or something.

[robogone]

I'm more inclined to blame the 'producer' culture that we have now where no one is willing to push an artist to their limit - it's easier to get a reasonable take then throw then out of the studio and autotune it. Anyone with access to a computer can call themselves a 'producer' now - the artistry has mostly been lost.

And why is that? Because there were people that told us that this is a defacto standard and everyone has to do that. Those were big producers, or magazines. Those people living on the fast lane. So in order to keep up with them, "living room producers" needed "to adapt" (else they're not worth anything and not living at the pulse of time). That, and the "casting world" added to this phenomenon for sure.

At least IMO.

I actually meant that the collaborate element seems to have been lost - While a producer should guide recording, the balance seems to have swung a long way towards the artist having little artistic input in most cases. There has always been an element of producers pretty much making every decision, but even the likes of Joe Meek, Phil Spector, Martin Hannett, etc. all needed the artists, writers and arrangers that they collaborated with.

[vurt]

am i the only one whos thinking theyd sound cool bitcrushed n glitched?
dont get me wrong, i do actually like the carpenters but i also think nothing is sacred so let me at em!

[4damind]

Karen was such a talented woman

[bluedad]

I despised the Carpenters with those smaltzy arrangements and munchkin background vocals..but there's no denying, Karen had a
very lovely voice.

[trimph1]

She had a very sweet voice.

Now, it is....

Autotune uber alles!!!!!