Veeery interesting...

[zuzu]

We had a bandmate out of town for last night's gig and a friend of our drummer sat in. A good guitarist and very good lead and harmony singer, it was a joy to play with him.

On another thread here we discussed using (mostly backing vocal) tracks for live music and I related my disdain for such practices...but I may have to mull it over again for certain related aspects of it.

Our guest last night had a vocal harmonizer, top-shelf stuff (no cheesy stuff anywhere in his rig) and I actually enjoyed the effect it gave to our sound. That being said, the guy is a pro at using it and very good indeed at singing harmony without it. Because, as he demonstrated at sound check, if you sing a bum note into it you get a bum note in harmony. Yuuck!

But it was his use of the thing that made it a positive for the music. #1, he used it sparingly. Before each song with harmony he would ask if I sang harmony on it and "Low or high?". If I was high he would take the low and vice versa, no machine. Sounded great. If I wasn't singing harmony he generally did, and would use the effect sometimes. I think we played 34 songs last night and he used it on probably 6 or 7. Twice to sound like female backup singers doing oohs and aahs. It sounded great!

So, next time I may wait to comment on the use of such a device when I have actually experienced it's use...you can't say a tool is useless if you have never used it...

[Glennwillow]

Sometimes the operator makes all the difference.

- Glenn

[jseth]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Sometimes the operator makes all the difference.

- Glenn

Absolutely! I learned this the hard way in the 80's with my early experiences with drum machines... the patterns I wrote with that machine were all cheesy and fake sounding, even the simplest ones...

Then I had occasion to become friends with a great drummer who had a LinnDrum 9000 - the same machine that Michael Jackson used for a lot of "Thriller" - and this man wrote drum tracks for two of my songs...

And they were incredibly good! Dynamic, human, tasteful... just wonderful drum tracks!

Oh yes, the operator has EVERYTHING to do with it!

[ghostnote]

I’m going to have a t-shirt made that just says “Operator Error” on the front. It will save me a lot of explaining if anyone notices my clams.

[ljguitar]

Originally Posted by Glennwillow

Sometimes the operator makes all the difference.

- Glenn

Hi Glenn…
May I amend your offering to start with the word…Usually

Usually the operator makes all the difference…