Red Mosquito

Well, sure, but that dropped key can either sound good or... not.

Every vocalist in the history of rock n roll has recorded vocals in studio that he/she has rarely managed to replicate live. It's not just Ed. Everyone from Freddie Mercury to Chris Cornell to Jeff Buckley have sung songs differently live or avoided particular high notes to preserve their voice or not attempted them simply to not risk sounding bad. In studio, you get multiple takes and your voice is rested. That's never the case live. This doesn't mean that the songs should never have been recorded the way they were. That would be robbing us of some of the most memorable vocal moments.

Ed sang a D5 in Dissident in the studio version but has only sung it once live from memory, at Mansfield 2003. He never even attempted it in the early live versions, when he was at his peak. He would speak that line instead. As a vocal enthusiast, it bugs me sometimes but I would never wish for the studio version to be any different.

A vocal vocal enthusiast

Well, two takeaways from that post: there's still no reason they can't record a song in a manageable key. And Ed is no Jeff Buckley.

A better comparison would be other great bands that tune their songs down live so that their vocalist could sing them. That would interest me to know, as I haven't heard of that happening beyond Pearl Jam.

harmless wrote:Well, two takeaways from that post: there's still no reason they can't record a song in a manageable key. And Ed is no Jeff Buckley.

A better comparison would be other great bands that tune their songs down live so that their vocalist could sing them. That would interest me to know, as I haven't heard of that happening beyond Pearl Jam.

I know Nirvana used to play everything dropped down live, but that may have been to make things sound more aggressive. I can't think of specific cases at the moment, but I'm pretty sure this happens all the time.

ABNorman wrote:

harmless wrote:Well, two takeaways from that post: there's still no reason they can't record a song in a manageable key. And Ed is no Jeff Buckley.

A better comparison would be other great bands that tune their songs down live so that their vocalist could sing them. That would interest me to know, as I haven't heard of that happening beyond Pearl Jam.

I know Nirvana used to play everything dropped down live, but that may have been to make things sound more aggressive. I can't think of specific cases at the moment, but I'm pretty sure this happens all the time.

If I knew more bands that did this, I'd be likely to drop my whole issue with it

harmless wrote:

ABNorman wrote:

harmless wrote:Well, two takeaways from that post: there's still no reason they can't record a song in a manageable key. And Ed is no Jeff Buckley.

A better comparison would be other great bands that tune their songs down live so that their vocalist could sing them. That would interest me to know, as I haven't heard of that happening beyond Pearl Jam.

I know Nirvana used to play everything dropped down live, but that may have been to make things sound more aggressive. I can't think of specific cases at the moment, but I'm pretty sure this happens all the time.

If I knew more bands that did this, I'd be likely to drop my whole issue with it

Quick google search reveals Megadeth and Metallica do it.
http://www.metalsucks.net/2013/08/14/me ... es-vocals/

Also found an article on Bob Dylan doing it, but it didn't specify if it was due to his voice.

Led Zep did it for their 2007 reunion show as well, and others, according to the folks here:


http://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threads/b ... ad.321350/

ABNorman wrote:Led Zep did it for their 2007 reunion show as well.

Because they're like a bajillion years old.

It's nice to hear that other bands do it. But you know, 48 isn't ancient. Surely it's the alcohol and smokes over the years.

It does raise the point why Pearl Jam would write songs now that require them to drop down when they're live, but different keys give different feels, so I guess it's simply a case of a key sounding right on the album, then dropping to a key that may be easier to play and easier to sing to pound that song out night after night on tour.

ABNorman wrote:It does raise the point why Pearl Jam would write songs now that require them to drop down when they're live, but different keys give different feels, so I guess it's simply a case of a key sounding right on the album, then dropping to a key that may be easier to play and easier to sing to pound that song out night after night on tour.

Yeah, it's easy to think of the single performance, but it's probably this. You don't want to be changing the key all the time, so you choose a key you can consistently do well I guess.

harmless wrote:It's nice to hear that other bands do it. But you know, 48 isn't ancient. Surely it's the alcohol and smokes over the years.

Probably, I'm willing to bet there's other singers that smoke and drink more though.

His speaking voice is super deep too, and for the most part he's always sung higher, only so long you could keep that up I'd think.

It'll probably go back to regular tuning on other shows, he could have just been having a bad night with his throat.

harmless wrote:

ABNorman wrote:It does raise the point why Pearl Jam would write songs now that require them to drop down when they're live, but different keys give different feels, so I guess it's simply a case of a key sounding right on the album, then dropping to a key that may be easier to play and easier to sing to pound that song out night after night on tour.

Yeah, it's easy to think of the single performance, but it's probably this. You don't want to be changing the key all the time, so you choose a key you can consistently do well I guess.

It also may not just be Ed - switching keys can make guitar playing simpler as well. In the interviews there was a definite vibe of trying to keep things simple to play live.

i think i like this one

stupidmop wrote:

harmless wrote:It's nice to hear that other bands do it. But you know, 48 isn't ancient. Surely it's the alcohol and smokes over the years.

Probably, I'm willing to bet there's other singers that smoke and drink more though.

His speaking voice is super deep too, and for the most part he's always sung higher, only so long you could keep that up I'd think.

It'll probably go back to regular tuning on other shows, he could have just been having a bad night with his throat.

Yeah, I'm hoping so. It's the only new song they've tuned down so far.

ABNorman wrote:

harmless wrote:

ABNorman wrote:It does raise the point why Pearl Jam would write songs now that require them to drop down when they're live, but different keys give different feels, so I guess it's simply a case of a key sounding right on the album, then dropping to a key that may be easier to play and easier to sing to pound that song out night after night on tour.

Yeah, it's easy to think of the single performance, but it's probably this. You don't want to be changing the key all the time, so you choose a key you can consistently do well I guess.

It also may not just be Ed - switching keys can make guitar playing simpler as well. In the interviews there was a definite vibe of trying to keep things simple to play live.

Yup.

My fathers son too, no?

Only MFS. I don't think Infallible was tuned down (I thought we were talking about MFS, we were originally).

Ah don't mind me, I assume they did it here too cause that's where the conversation is lol.