Entertainment For Lively Minds
Singing the Sucky Way - Chapter 1: Bad Vibrations
The vibrato technique - just in case there's anybody out there who thinks it refers to a sex toy with its business end lopped off - boils down to wobbling rapidly on and slightly off a long note, traditionally like this:
The idea is to make held notes sound warmer and fuller. Oboes, for example, don't do vibrato, which - and this has just dawned on me - may be why we say that long notes with no vib on them sound thin and "reedy".
Not all singing styles feature it - folk, for example, is generally a nonny-nonny-no-go area for vibrato - while many singers you'd expect not to do it actually do (Neil Young, for one). It's a matter of personal choice, really. But if you're going to do it in pop, there are only two ways to go. The first is the True Path of Righteousness, which in its classiest form starts out bang on the note and then gradually brings in the vib just before it tails away, like this:
The second is the Sucky Way. Instead of modulating the note up and down, its practitioners cheat by repeatedly cutting off the air flo-o-o-o-o-w, resulting in a sound that is known in the motor trade as "starter trouble". The best-known purveyors of this cheap 'n' nasty product - the Vesta Curry of vibrato, if you will - are the Bee Gees. Here's their trademark Gibb Vib, staggering its wonky way through yet another tune:
But they're not the only culprits. Stand up, Aaron Neville and Elvis Costello:
(Incidentally, if you double the speed of the Gibb Vib, things suddenly get very, very Ferry.)
I could go on, but I'd quite rightly get shouted at for hogging the front page, so over to you. Who else?
- More from Archie Valparaiso.
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Trouble starting
I liked that very much, particularly the "starter trouble."
I'd like to nominate Cliff Richard's "Miss You Nights" as another song guilty of tremolo rather than vibrato.
Yes!
And he-e-e-e-re it i-i-i-i-is. (Spotify)
Ahhh Jaysus, Archie...
... I've got 6 cans of Guinness in me. I can barely post a youtube clip never mind all that divShare stuff.
But surely there's a place for the great Roy Orbison in there somewhere?
Wasn't he a vib-free zone?
I was always impressed by his ability to stay on a long note without shifting an inch.
Ok, Ok....
... I'll get back to you.
Off topic: any snow in Spain?
Yes, lots
But not darn sarf, where I am. Boo chiz.
Nico, Guinness was good for you - I was sober but wrong
You're quite right. Although he did sometimes sing long notes as straight as a die, he also used a fairly fast but often quite beautiful natural vibrato, as here:
Johnny Mathis
Whe-e-e-e-n a child is bo-o-o-r-n-n-n
"Jimmy Jimmy - O-o-o-o-o-o-h!"
Feargal Sharkey's style of vibrato is completely his own - a thin trill which is bizarre but, unlike your Aaron Nevilles, at least doesn't sound like it's about to fall over:
The Bleat Goes On
Yes, it's sort of Ferryesque, isn't it.
That's true...
I didn't acknowledge that Sharkey actually shares his style with Ferry and several million sheep.
Wot, no mention of Chappo.
A man who could outsing a 1956 Hillman Imp during the big freeze of 1963:
Forgot him
Good one, although I'm wondering if he might not be using genuine vibrato rather than tremelo but doing it way too fast for everybody's comfort, like a Leslie speaker going into hyperdrive.
On with the sho-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-w!
The Golden Age of Broadway took vibrato to such ludicrous extremes that it's a wonder it wasn't made illegal.
Run for your lives, it's Ethyl Merman - doing to Reagan what Aretha did to Obama:
One for the teenagers…
… It's Mrs Miller. 1.53 is an especially golden moment.
"...when I kiss your li - - - hi - - - hips..."
Wow, David - you win with Mrs Mills. In terms of extremities, what's left but to bring out the nuclear arsenal?
Still, I suspect Archie wants us to expose the bad vibrators in credible pop, not mock the crackpots!
Not Mrs Mills
*This* is Mrs Mills.
Oops.
Sorry. Mrs Miller, Mrs Mills - two letters can make a world of difference.
I hadn't heard of Mrs Miller before; now I'm all too aware: http://www.mrsmillersworld.com/
Joan Baez
To split a hair....Joan Baez would seem to be a good example of folk warbling
And in the vanguard of new folkies
I give you:
Ruth Notman. I find it rather unsettling, if truth be told.
Vibrato or ornamentation? Unsettling, either way
I may be wrong, but I think what she's completely overdoing is not the vibrato but the ornamentation, which is quite common in folk music and other styles from around the world.
Ornamentation is a fancy way of getting from one note in the main melody to the next via a load of other short notes, whereas vibrato is just a trill held on one note.
But I was always rubbish at musical theory and this might be nonsense.
The one that annoys me...
...at the moment is Duffy...she does a really strange vibrato that for some reason drives right to the centre of my brain's annoyance zone and makes me loudly tell my wife about the vibrato, which makes her laugh at my intolerance, then I reiterate my point and it gets tetchy...anyway, Duffy vibrato is a no go...
Chrissie Hynde
swallowed a wah-wah pedal somewhere around 1985.
I think I know what you mean, but...
A wah-wah pedal is meant to imitate the sound of the mouth anyway. I remember someone explaining a vocoder as "imagine you could take out your voicebox and replace it with a speaker, but you can still shape the sound with your mouth and lips."
Apropos, I think Bono was fitted with a digital delay unit at some point in the 1980s - every single U2 song seems to have that echo-cho-cho effect on the vocal (the kind that sounds more like you are in a large canyon than a hall or echo chamber or whatever).
That's not a Vocoder you're describing...
...but a Heil Talk Box - a plastic tube transmits the sound of the guitar (or other sound source) into your mouth and you can then use the shape of your mouth to mould the sound.
Here's the obvious example of a Talk Box...
A Vocoder is, to all intents and purposes, just a synthesizer with a microphone input. It uses the voice as a sound source which is then moulded by the synthesizer and played on a keyboard.
This a Vocoder...
Jennifer Rush...
This has always raised the hackles:
as did of course the version by the Dion woman.
On the subject of Dion...the male one has a legendary voice without resorting to too much vibrating
Definitely good vibrations
Her vibrato might be considered extreme, but for me it makes this track totally gorgeous: Evie Sands and Maybe Tomorrow
Yes, it's wide, but totally under control
I love the way she does that K.D. Lang thing by bringing it in gradually, like turning up a dial.
Argh! I need a breather from the horror
Here's the astonishing Mahalia Jackson, vibbing her way to glory, and taking La Scala to church in the process:
As a vocal style it may sound a bit old-fashioned now, but is that necessarily a bad thing? Does the human voice - in any genre - ever get much better than that?
Eartha Kitt?
The femme Ferry?
Or perhaps it'd be more accurate to say he's Eartha Kitt with epaulettes.
Your secret is out!
You are Sir Roger Norrington and I claim my £5.
The very day you raise this Sir Rog appears on Front Row on R4 and discusses this very topic (albeit not in the context of popular music).
Probably got this wrong
But does this count ?
Wobble treatment
I think that's done electronically.
I don't think it is
Some people (ie, Liz Frazer) *really* can sing like that.
Good point
You know, you're probably right (I had to listen to a better quality version of the song to check though - I think youtube data compression and some mild chorus were fooling me). That said, the Cocteau Twins certainly never shied away from putting some effects on things.
Either way, I'd say that Liz Fraser doesn't belong in a thread about sucky singing.
For a fantastically natural vibrato
look no further than Eva Cassidy.
I think some people have a natural tremolo (the car starting effect) - Costello being one, and actually I quite like it.
When you think about it I don't think there's one talented vocalist that doesn't have a vibrato somewhere in their back catalog (so to speak). Even Lennon had it, although a lot of his later stuff was treated with a rock'n'roll style slapback echo. I suppose Billy Bragg hasn't, but his vocal style is a kind of anti-vocal style - much as I like(d) it.
It's what moves me the most that matters - whether it's Dennis Wilson singing You Are Beautiful, Cliff singing Miss You Nights, Bonnie Raitt singing I Can't Make You Love Me or Eva singing the phone book there's something about the human voice - especially in harmony - that stirs the soul.
And another thing - OK voice, great singer
I think it's possible to get the two confused.
For me Smokey Robinson possessed an OK voice but was (is) a fantastic singer - he knew how to control the instrument.
Mariah on the other hand: owner of a fine voice, but needs to understand how to 'withstrain' it.
Costello - a specific kind of voice, but has wrung the most out of it over the years with different singing styles.
Noddy Holder - perfect combination of voice and appropriate singing style.
McCartney - never going to be pitch perfect, but fashioned a way of singing that communicates his message.
Mr Nicholas Cave
Great voice but very often sings flat!
He's getting better mind
She
That Elvis Costello version of "She" is where he and I parted company - that hideous album with Bacharach etc. What was he thinking. Somewhere around then he went completely bonkers.
Listen again, sir
Painted From Memory (the Burt Bacharach collaboration) is one of my favourites of Elvis's catalogue. It's probably the last one I liked, but it's marvellous.
I thought the gig at the Festival HAll with BB was one of the best gigs I've ever seen and is probably the best EC gig I've been to.
It was a grower that album (Bacharach / Costello)
But even as a hardcore EC fan there are some moments when I've had enough of that voice - especially with That Day Is Gone and some of the massed Costello choir stuff where he overdubs his own vocals.
Best EC gig in my experience was on the King Of America tour - James Burton nodding approval to Elvis after a Buddy Holly cover
Have to agree to differ
I watched the documentary and concert with BB on the telly then was subjected to the album by a mate ..."listen to the lush strings"....with growing horror - totally unlistenable to my ears, ghastly sub Vegas lounge schlock, but glad someone enjoyed it!
Not just me
There was a sold out Royal Festival Hall. As well as your mate.
Yes I know
...takes all sorts - two of my mates went! :-)
Natural vibrato
Of course, anyone can overdo their vibrato, but most singers have a natural vibrato that comes out on certain notes whether they want it to or not.
What's interesting to me is how singers like Elliot Yamin appear to have a super-fast vibrato that appears on nearly every note, even if he's not holding the phrase.
Here's one of his songs:
It was especially noticeable when he sang live on American Idol, and even more so when he sang a cappella.
I think Elliot's vibrato is 100% - he's not super trained, and I have no idea how he could fake it on every note.
The other end of the spectrum is definitely Duffy - sometimes I don't know if that wonky vibrato thing she does makes me like her more or drives me crazy. It's not something you could listen to for a long time, though, that's for sure.
The King of Vibrato
David Thomas out of Pere Ubu
http://open.spotify.com/track/0JzircwPubou6RJj3HDB63
First the bad, then the transcendent
Sia, an Australian lass who made a name for herself singing with Zero 7, is one of many who relies on vibrato-cum-warbling to assault the listener into feeling...something.
In sharp contrast is Antony Hegarty. His voice is certainly polarising, but his use of vibrato is sublime: a measured, subtle purring of the vowel sounds that adds drama without tipping it into melodrama. Check out Her Eyes Are Underneath The Ground, the opening track of The Crying Light, for evidence.
Somewhere in the middle is Rufus Wainwright. I love his voice, unapologetic in its big, dramatic thrust, but maybe (just maybe) he could dial back the vibrato now and again.