Upper Hand

[sweeper]

I'm on Team Autotune. Whatever it takes to make the song sound better.

Speaking of that, I think I hear some autotune on Setting Sun around the 1min 8 second mark.

[RockPusher]

In a studio setting, you have pristine audio being fed to you at comfortable volumes through the highest quality equipment available. You might be recording a single song that day, or a single stanza. Maybe you're just punching in a single syllable….that might be all you’re doing vocally, that day.

You don’t have to worry about whether your voice will still be up to the task of shouting and straining an hour and a half from now. You can also hear your own performance pretty clearly, right as it happens. If one take of the song leaves you a little sore, you can take a break and have some tea, or whatever.

Autotune is a tool. Just like a distortion pedal is a tool. Just like all electronic manipulations are a tool. I would assume by default that a 60-year-old rock singer aiming for some of these howls and soaring performance points would absolutely use autotune in the studio.

Frankly, I would prefer that they use a little of it live, too. I’d rather they let the tool make up that last 6% of the distance to a note, and thus preserve his voice. Seems smart.

McPractical.

I wonder if The Boss was using any autotune when I saw him recently. I was struck by how well he was hitting all the notes.

[stip]

what does autotune actually do?

[Tj]

Keeps your hat from falling off.

[sweeper]

what does autotune actually do?

The original intent was to clean up imperfections and essentially keep vocals at the correct pitch. That's how Watt would be using it here (to the extent he is using it at all).

In the late 90's, beginning with Cher's "Believe" song, producers also began to use it as a distortion effect. The rapper T-Pain took the distortion approach of that song and made the distortion the centerpiece of his music. It was hugely popular for him but he was largely panned in the hip hop community for being inauthentic. Auto-tune didn't really immediately catch on with other rappers as a result since it would have hurt their credibility. Somewhere after that Kanye West started using auto-tune in the same way that T-Pain did and he received critical acclaim because he's Kanye West. That opened up the floodgates for other rappers to do it as well and it became a popular production technique. A band like The Killers uses it a lot as a distortion effect as well.

[Kevin Davis]

I don’t oppose Autotune on principle, but I would not want to see PJ’s live shows move the direction of artificially “fixing” their performances in real time. I expect some sweetening on a studio record, but in concert, the fact that the band is onstage playing with live ammo is part of what makes the performances exciting — knowing that they are humans working within the realm of human limitations is what makes it feel amazing when they occasionally do things that seem superhuman. To me having an autotune pedal (or whatever) on standby would feel a bit like an MLB hitter using steroids — sure, it “improves” performance, but it would strip the thing I am watching of some of what excites me about it to begin with.

[dprival78]

I don’t oppose Autotune on principle, but I would not want to see PJ’s live shows move the direction of artificially “fixing” their performances in real time. I expect some sweetening on a studio record, but in concert, the fact that the band is onstage playing with live ammo is part of what makes the performances exciting — knowing that they are humans working within the realm of human limitations is what makes it feel amazing when they occasionally do things that seem superhuman. To me having an autotune pedal (or whatever) on standby would feel a bit like an MLB hitter using steroids — sure, it “improves” performance, but it would strip the thing I am watching of some of what excites me about it to begin with.

agree totally.

eddie said in the simmons interview that he's a big fan of authenticity, or something to that effect. autotuning your voice in a show is about as far from authentic as you can get.

if the goal is just to sound as good as possible, why not just lip sync then?

[warehouse]

what does autotune actually do?

The original intent was to clean up imperfections and essentially keep vocals at the correct pitch. That's how Watt would be using it here (to the extent he is using it at all).

In the late 90's, beginning with Cher's "Believe" song, producers also began to use it as a distortion effect. The rapper T-Pain took the distortion approach of that song and made the distortion the centerpiece of his music. It was hugely popular for him but he was largely panned in the hip hop community for being inauthentic. Auto-tune didn't really immediately catch on with other rappers as a result since it would have hurt their credibility. Somewhere after that Kanye West started using auto-tune in the same way that T-Pain did and he received critical acclaim because he's Kanye West. That opened up the floodgates for other rappers to do it as well and it became a popular production technique. A band like The Killers uses it a lot as a distortion effect as well.

did anyone see T-Pain sing w/o autotune? his voice is great.

how does autotune compare to other vocal effects? or mics that distort vocals? i watched a jane's addiction concert recently and perry ferrell uses all kinds of effects for his vocals.

[Ms Harmless]

so, I have a reading of this song's themes, and what it's "about" (to me at least), and this old Ed interview I watched on YouTube coupled with this post under it, kind of cemented my feelings



the song seems to be almost structured like a "prayer" / petition / conversation, addressed to Ed's spiritual peers or "ancestors", including dead musicians, fans, family perhaps

"the distance to the end / is closer now / than it's ever been", and it's scaring me that the end is coming, just like it came for all of you; it's scaring me enough to get on my knees and confront that oncoming train of my mortality as if it was something I could confront, in a song

"the road we travelled far / all the lights and sights we saw" -- the music, the touring, the press, the crowds, the friends and family

"and I hope the people are smiling / I hope today and every day is grand" - Ed hopes that he is making an impact, truly, that fans and friends and family are smiling because of his existence

"so sorry about the timing" -- this really says "I'm sorry to bother you with this but I'm suddenly panicked", in a prayerful sense

"but I know / something that I never had / was the upper hand" -- I never had "what it takes" to truly "own" my success, I never had the belief and confidence that I deserved this, that I was destined for this, and that I was talented enough for this, like "you" (plenty of Ed's peers, both living and dead) did; and that's why I avoided it, distracted from it, sabotaged it

and now I'm here on the other side of that, wanting to pick up some of the pieces again, and I'm freshly scared again

"help to carry me home... just need a few of you... maybe just the two of you"

this seems to be Ed appealing to those "ancestors", spirits of musical peers (Kurt? Chris?), fans, and yes maybe even his family (his two daughters?), to carry him safely and securely towards his natural end -- of his band, his family, his life, and ultimately his legacy

"help me believe I deserve this and don't take me home before it's my time"

[Ms Harmless]

maybe "Scared of Fear" plays into this reading too

[mikejasond]

That's a very interesting reading Ms. Harmless, I do like it overall and it makes the song better.

As for the auto-tune its mostly stuff like the end of Got to Give and Wreckage, etc. I just don't see him being able to have such power and stability on those notes, because live on Wreckage he can barely sing any of it in tune, even the notes that AREN'T high. It could be a studio difference, but his voice just seems so unstable and he seems to have such trouble controlling the pitch, and most of the high notes he has to move his head back from the mic and sort of yell to kind of hit the note, and it lacks the warmth, power, strength that he used to have, and that suspiciously re-appears on the album lol

[VinylGuy]

yeah, thats a very cool read. I dont really know whats about, i dont have a theory yet but there are certain moments that really get me, some lines that speak to whatever im dealing these days, mostly

"the distance to the end / is closer now / than it's ever been"


Very powerful really.

[Hatfield]

Ms. H, I appreciate you taking a stab at contextualizing these lyrics. Great take!

[stip]

Upper Hand and Won't Tell are definitely the songs where I am not totally confident in my read so I love hearing everyone's thoughts on this. Keep them coming

[warehouse]

i hear pink floyd every time i hear this song. i heard 'breathe' on the radio the other day and i feel like i hear parts of that, especially the intro to 'time'. 'shine on you crazy diamond' maybe? the guy who sings 'have a cigar'?

the solo reminds me of mike campbell. it's kind of a weird reference, but it sounds like the end of a tom petty song to me.

[BoltofLightning]

i hear pink floyd every time i hear this song. i heard 'breathe' on the radio the other day and i feel like i hear parts of that, especially the intro to 'time'. 'shine on you crazy diamond' maybe? the guy who sings 'have a cigar'?

He also sings “lonely ship on the horizon” like “distant ship smoke on the horizon” from Comfortably Numb.

[stip]

‘and i hope that today and every day is grand’ is a great example of the base words elevated by the delivery. one of my favorite little moments on the record

[injuddstree]

Upper Hand sounds absolutely fucking amazing on the official boot. Just wow.

[Jaeti]

‘and i hope that today and every day is grand’ is a great example of the base words elevated by the delivery. one of my favorite little moments on the record

[liebzz]

Yeah, this is one that’s quickly become an all timer for me.