Red Mosquito

well crown of thorns is in an easier register for him to hit, and he can't hit all the high notes cleanly, but I think he works it into the performance just fine.

stip wrote:well crown of thorns is in an easier register for him to hit, and he can't hit all the high notes cleanly, but I think he works it into the performance just fine.

Also, it's not like he was always on-key when he was younger. The bridge of 'Footsteps' sounds horrendous.

Release_Me wrote: That has nothing to do with the note being high or difficult to hit as such. It's the way he's trying to sing it. He's going for that line with a breathy voice ala Cold Confession. There are numerous voice cracks in CC as well because it's hard to hold a note when it's so airy. He tried something similar in the studio version of Sometimes. The 'devote my-self' part has a terrible voice crack. He just uses this as an affectation. It's nothing to do with vocal ability or the lack of it because it really isn't a proper technique.

thats actually a great voice crack. i think it adds to the emotion of the song. like when people point out some of ed's vocals in unplugged, i just dont get the criticism b/c he's voice fuckin moves me. i dont care if its technically perfect.

warehouse wrote:

Release_Me wrote: That has nothing to do with the note being high or difficult to hit as such. It's the way he's trying to sing it. He's going for that line with a breathy voice ala Cold Confession. There are numerous voice cracks in CC as well because it's hard to hold a note when it's so airy. He tried something similar in the studio version of Sometimes. The 'devote my-self' part has a terrible voice crack. He just uses this as an affectation. It's nothing to do with vocal ability or the lack of it because it really isn't a proper technique.

thats actually a great voice crack. i think it adds to the emotion of the song. like when people point out some of ed's vocals in unplugged, i just dont get the criticism b/c he's voice fuckin moves me. i dont care if its technically perfect.

Technically speaking, a voice crack is a voice crack. It's an unintentional sound. Whether you like it or hate it doesn't really change the fact that it's unintentional. Ed's singing on Sometimes is basically an affectation where he uses a breathy voice to sound 'lighter' than his normal self. When you have so much 'air' in the notes, it's hard to have any control over them. He isn't really singing properly from his chest or even using head voice. It's sort of a mixture of falsetto and chest voice. The notes aren't any 'higher' on the scale than he would be able to sing if he sung normally. Basically, it's just a stylistic choice for the song.

That Chloe Dancer performance uses the same style (as does Cold Confession which again is littered with voice cracks). It's much easier to pull it off in studio compared to live. In studio, the loudness can be altered and you have multiple takes. Live, you will struggle to sing it loud enough for people to hear and with this style, if you strain in trying to sound louder you end up with a voice crack.

What I'm saying is, this isn't really difficult because of the notes being high. It's difficult because of the style. The notes are fairly easy.

Release_Me wrote:

warehouse wrote:

Release_Me wrote: That has nothing to do with the note being high or difficult to hit as such. It's the way he's trying to sing it. He's going for that line with a breathy voice ala Cold Confession. There are numerous voice cracks in CC as well because it's hard to hold a note when it's so airy. He tried something similar in the studio version of Sometimes. The 'devote my-self' part has a terrible voice crack. He just uses this as an affectation. It's nothing to do with vocal ability or the lack of it because it really isn't a proper technique.

thats actually a great voice crack. i think it adds to the emotion of the song. like when people point out some of ed's vocals in unplugged, i just dont get the criticism b/c he's voice fuckin moves me. i dont care if its technically perfect.

Technically speaking, a voice crack is a voice crack. It's an unintentional sound. Whether you like it or hate it doesn't really change the fact that it's unintentional. Ed's singing on Sometimes is basically an affectation where he uses a breathy voice to sound 'lighter' than his normal self. When you have so much 'air' in the notes, it's hard to have any control over them. He isn't really singing properly from his chest or even using head voice. It's sort of a mixture of falsetto and chest voice. The notes aren't any 'higher' on the scale than he would be able to sing if he sung normally. Basically, it's just a stylistic choice for the song.

That Chloe Dancer performance uses the same style (as does Cold Confession which again is littered with voice cracks). It's much easier to pull it off in studio compared to live. In studio, the loudness can be altered and you have multiple takes. Live, you will struggle to sing it loud enough for people to hear and with this style, if you strain in trying to sound louder you end up with a voice crack.

What I'm saying is, this isn't really difficult because of the notes being high. It's difficult because of the style. The notes are fairly easy.

so he should change his singing style on chloe dancer, b/c he sounds awesome on CC and sometimes.

Release_Me wrote:

warehouse wrote:

Release_Me wrote: That has nothing to do with the note being high or difficult to hit as such. It's the way he's trying to sing it. He's going for that line with a breathy voice ala Cold Confession. There are numerous voice cracks in CC as well because it's hard to hold a note when it's so airy. He tried something similar in the studio version of Sometimes. The 'devote my-self' part has a terrible voice crack. He just uses this as an affectation. It's nothing to do with vocal ability or the lack of it because it really isn't a proper technique.

thats actually a great voice crack. i think it adds to the emotion of the song. like when people point out some of ed's vocals in unplugged, i just dont get the criticism b/c he's voice fuckin moves me. i dont care if its technically perfect.

Technically speaking, a voice crack is a voice crack. It's an unintentional sound. Whether you like it or hate it doesn't really change the fact that it's unintentional. Ed's singing on Sometimes is basically an affectation where he uses a breathy voice to sound 'lighter' than his normal self. When you have so much 'air' in the notes, it's hard to have any control over them. He isn't really singing properly from his chest or even using head voice. It's sort of a mixture of falsetto and chest voice. The notes aren't any 'higher' on the scale than he would be able to sing if he sung normally. Basically, it's just a stylistic choice for the song.

That Chloe Dancer performance uses the same style (as does Cold Confession which again is littered with voice cracks). It's much easier to pull it off in studio compared to live. In studio, the loudness can be altered and you have multiple takes. Live, you will struggle to sing it loud enough for people to hear and with this style, if you strain in trying to sound louder you end up with a voice crack.

What I'm saying is, this isn't really difficult because of the notes being high. It's difficult because of the style. The notes are fairly easy.

what's your singing background, release_me?

stip wrote:actually I quite liked that whole performance. The 'pearl jam sucks live these days' is one of the more baffling criticisms that get thrown around here.

stip wrote:

Release_Me wrote:

warehouse wrote:

Release_Me wrote: That has nothing to do with the note being high or difficult to hit as such. It's the way he's trying to sing it. He's going for that line with a breathy voice ala Cold Confession. There are numerous voice cracks in CC as well because it's hard to hold a note when it's so airy. He tried something similar in the studio version of Sometimes. The 'devote my-self' part has a terrible voice crack. He just uses this as an affectation. It's nothing to do with vocal ability or the lack of it because it really isn't a proper technique.

thats actually a great voice crack. i think it adds to the emotion of the song. like when people point out some of ed's vocals in unplugged, i just dont get the criticism b/c he's voice fuckin moves me. i dont care if its technically perfect.

Technically speaking, a voice crack is a voice crack. It's an unintentional sound. Whether you like it or hate it doesn't really change the fact that it's unintentional. Ed's singing on Sometimes is basically an affectation where he uses a breathy voice to sound 'lighter' than his normal self. When you have so much 'air' in the notes, it's hard to have any control over them. He isn't really singing properly from his chest or even using head voice. It's sort of a mixture of falsetto and chest voice. The notes aren't any 'higher' on the scale than he would be able to sing if he sung normally. Basically, it's just a stylistic choice for the song.

That Chloe Dancer performance uses the same style (as does Cold Confession which again is littered with voice cracks). It's much easier to pull it off in studio compared to live. In studio, the loudness can be altered and you have multiple takes. Live, you will struggle to sing it loud enough for people to hear and with this style, if you strain in trying to sound louder you end up with a voice crack.

What I'm saying is, this isn't really difficult because of the notes being high. It's difficult because of the style. The notes are fairly easy.

what's your singing background, release_me?

Oh, I'm not a singer myself. I just like to discuss and study vocals a lot. I don't have the talent to sing but I have a good ear

I wish I knew a bit more music theory so I could write less about lyrics.

Release_Me wrote:

warehouse wrote:

Release_Me wrote: That has nothing to do with the note being high or difficult to hit as such. It's the way he's trying to sing it. He's going for that line with a breathy voice ala Cold Confession. There are numerous voice cracks in CC as well because it's hard to hold a note when it's so airy. He tried something similar in the studio version of Sometimes. The 'devote my-self' part has a terrible voice crack. He just uses this as an affectation. It's nothing to do with vocal ability or the lack of it because it really isn't a proper technique.

thats actually a great voice crack. i think it adds to the emotion of the song. like when people point out some of ed's vocals in unplugged, i just dont get the criticism b/c he's voice fuckin moves me. i dont care if its technically perfect.

Technically speaking, a voice crack is a voice crack. It's an unintentional sound. Whether you like it or hate it doesn't really change the fact that it's unintentional. Ed's singing on Sometimes is basically an affectation where he uses a breathy voice to sound 'lighter' than his normal self. When you have so much 'air' in the notes, it's hard to have any control over them. He isn't really singing properly from his chest or even using head voice. It's sort of a mixture of falsetto and chest voice. The notes aren't any 'higher' on the scale than he would be able to sing if he sung normally. Basically, it's just a stylistic choice for the song.

That Chloe Dancer performance uses the same style (as does Cold Confession which again is littered with voice cracks). It's much easier to pull it off in studio compared to live. In studio, the loudness can be altered and you have multiple takes. Live, you will struggle to sing it loud enough for people to hear and with this style, if you strain in trying to sound louder you end up with a voice crack.

What I'm saying is, this isn't really difficult because of the notes being high. It's difficult because of the style. The notes are fairly easy.

Do you have any Recent examples of him singing higher without the breathy thing? He pretty much always sounds like that to me when he's singing high nowadays, and if its a vocal choice its odd to me because I assume it'd sound better if he was singing normally, but I can't think of an example where he sings high without it. That black I posted on the last page is from 06 and he's doing it there on the 'we belong together' bits. I think at least.

stupidmop wrote:

Release_Me wrote:

warehouse wrote:

Release_Me wrote: That has nothing to do with the note being high or difficult to hit as such. It's the way he's trying to sing it. He's going for that line with a breathy voice ala Cold Confession. There are numerous voice cracks in CC as well because it's hard to hold a note when it's so airy. He tried something similar in the studio version of Sometimes. The 'devote my-self' part has a terrible voice crack. He just uses this as an affectation. It's nothing to do with vocal ability or the lack of it because it really isn't a proper technique.

thats actually a great voice crack. i think it adds to the emotion of the song. like when people point out some of ed's vocals in unplugged, i just dont get the criticism b/c he's voice fuckin moves me. i dont care if its technically perfect.

Technically speaking, a voice crack is a voice crack. It's an unintentional sound. Whether you like it or hate it doesn't really change the fact that it's unintentional. Ed's singing on Sometimes is basically an affectation where he uses a breathy voice to sound 'lighter' than his normal self. When you have so much 'air' in the notes, it's hard to have any control over them. He isn't really singing properly from his chest or even using head voice. It's sort of a mixture of falsetto and chest voice. The notes aren't any 'higher' on the scale than he would be able to sing if he sung normally. Basically, it's just a stylistic choice for the song.

That Chloe Dancer performance uses the same style (as does Cold Confession which again is littered with voice cracks). It's much easier to pull it off in studio compared to live. In studio, the loudness can be altered and you have multiple takes. Live, you will struggle to sing it loud enough for people to hear and with this style, if you strain in trying to sound louder you end up with a voice crack.

What I'm saying is, this isn't really difficult because of the notes being high. It's difficult because of the style. The notes are fairly easy.

Do you have any Recent examples of him singing higher without the breathy thing? He pretty much always sounds like that to me when he's singing high nowadays, and if its a vocal choice its odd to me because I assume it'd sound better if he was singing normally, but I can't think of an example where he sings high without it. That black I posted on the last page is from 06 and he's doing it there on the 'we belong together' bits. I think at least.

The end portion of ATW?

harmless wrote:

stupidmop wrote:

Release_Me wrote:

warehouse wrote:

Release_Me wrote: That has nothing to do with the note being high or difficult to hit as such. It's the way he's trying to sing it. He's going for that line with a breathy voice ala Cold Confession. There are numerous voice cracks in CC as well because it's hard to hold a note when it's so airy. He tried something similar in the studio version of Sometimes. The 'devote my-self' part has a terrible voice crack. He just uses this as an affectation. It's nothing to do with vocal ability or the lack of it because it really isn't a proper technique.

thats actually a great voice crack. i think it adds to the emotion of the song. like when people point out some of ed's vocals in unplugged, i just dont get the criticism b/c he's voice fuckin moves me. i dont care if its technically perfect.

Technically speaking, a voice crack is a voice crack. It's an unintentional sound. Whether you like it or hate it doesn't really change the fact that it's unintentional. Ed's singing on Sometimes is basically an affectation where he uses a breathy voice to sound 'lighter' than his normal self. When you have so much 'air' in the notes, it's hard to have any control over them. He isn't really singing properly from his chest or even using head voice. It's sort of a mixture of falsetto and chest voice. The notes aren't any 'higher' on the scale than he would be able to sing if he sung normally. Basically, it's just a stylistic choice for the song.

That Chloe Dancer performance uses the same style (as does Cold Confession which again is littered with voice cracks). It's much easier to pull it off in studio compared to live. In studio, the loudness can be altered and you have multiple takes. Live, you will struggle to sing it loud enough for people to hear and with this style, if you strain in trying to sound louder you end up with a voice crack.

What I'm saying is, this isn't really difficult because of the notes being high. It's difficult because of the style. The notes are fairly easy.

Do you have any Recent examples of him singing higher without the breathy thing? He pretty much always sounds like that to me when he's singing high nowadays, and if its a vocal choice its odd to me because I assume it'd sound better if he was singing normally, but I can't think of an example where he sings high without it. That black I posted on the last page is from 06 and he's doing it there on the 'we belong together' bits. I think at least.

The end portion of ATW?

the "heeeeeeeeees" at the end of half full?

so official dmb expert warehouse - thoughts on mccready joining your boy?

evenslow wrote:so official dmb expert warehouse - thoughts on mccready joining your boy?

its the best thing either have done, ever.

but seriously, i thought he was great. the songs kinda bluesy and dark, but uptempo at the same time. mccready's solo fit the song pefectly.

warehouse wrote:

evenslow wrote:so official dmb expert warehouse - thoughts on mccready joining your boy?

its the best thing either have done, ever.

but seriously, i thought he was great. the songs kinda bluesy and dark, but uptempo at the same time. mccready's solo fit the song pefectly.

you had me at best thing either have done, ever.

stupidmop wrote:

Release_Me wrote:

warehouse wrote:

Release_Me wrote: That has nothing to do with the note being high or difficult to hit as such. It's the way he's trying to sing it. He's going for that line with a breathy voice ala Cold Confession. There are numerous voice cracks in CC as well because it's hard to hold a note when it's so airy. He tried something similar in the studio version of Sometimes. The 'devote my-self' part has a terrible voice crack. He just uses this as an affectation. It's nothing to do with vocal ability or the lack of it because it really isn't a proper technique.

thats actually a great voice crack. i think it adds to the emotion of the song. like when people point out some of ed's vocals in unplugged, i just dont get the criticism b/c he's voice fuckin moves me. i dont care if its technically perfect.

Technically speaking, a voice crack is a voice crack. It's an unintentional sound. Whether you like it or hate it doesn't really change the fact that it's unintentional. Ed's singing on Sometimes is basically an affectation where he uses a breathy voice to sound 'lighter' than his normal self. When you have so much 'air' in the notes, it's hard to have any control over them. He isn't really singing properly from his chest or even using head voice. It's sort of a mixture of falsetto and chest voice. The notes aren't any 'higher' on the scale than he would be able to sing if he sung normally. Basically, it's just a stylistic choice for the song.

That Chloe Dancer performance uses the same style (as does Cold Confession which again is littered with voice cracks). It's much easier to pull it off in studio compared to live. In studio, the loudness can be altered and you have multiple takes. Live, you will struggle to sing it loud enough for people to hear and with this style, if you strain in trying to sound louder you end up with a voice crack.

What I'm saying is, this isn't really difficult because of the notes being high. It's difficult because of the style. The notes are fairly easy.

Do you have any Recent examples of him singing higher without the breathy thing? He pretty much always sounds like that to me when he's singing high nowadays, and if its a vocal choice its odd to me because I assume it'd sound better if he was singing normally, but I can't think of an example where he sings high without it. That black I posted on the last page is from 06 and he's doing it there on the 'we belong together' bits. I think at least.

That 'we belong together' bit is again not actually that high on the scale. At least not so high that he wouldn't be able to sing it normally. It's just that he's doing the breathy voice to sound more 'delicate'. That means he doesn't have as much control over it as he would if he actually sung the notes from his chest ala the chorus of In Hiding, Release, etc. or even if he screamed them ala LROM. There are plenty of instances of him singing high (including the ones I just mentioned) without the breathy voice. Lots of Self Titled and Backspacer has him singing high or screaming without the voice cracking. This sort of delicate vocal style is easier in studio where you don't have to worry about loudness. Live, you tend to strain for people to hear. Plus, live he has that bottle of wine which makes his throat dry.

harmless wrote:

stupidmop wrote:

Release_Me wrote:

warehouse wrote:

Release_Me wrote: That has nothing to do with the note being high or difficult to hit as such. It's the way he's trying to sing it. He's going for that line with a breathy voice ala Cold Confession. There are numerous voice cracks in CC as well because it's hard to hold a note when it's so airy. He tried something similar in the studio version of Sometimes. The 'devote my-self' part has a terrible voice crack. He just uses this as an affectation. It's nothing to do with vocal ability or the lack of it because it really isn't a proper technique.

thats actually a great voice crack. i think it adds to the emotion of the song. like when people point out some of ed's vocals in unplugged, i just dont get the criticism b/c he's voice fuckin moves me. i dont care if its technically perfect.

Technically speaking, a voice crack is a voice crack. It's an unintentional sound. Whether you like it or hate it doesn't really change the fact that it's unintentional. Ed's singing on Sometimes is basically an affectation where he uses a breathy voice to sound 'lighter' than his normal self. When you have so much 'air' in the notes, it's hard to have any control over them. He isn't really singing properly from his chest or even using head voice. It's sort of a mixture of falsetto and chest voice. The notes aren't any 'higher' on the scale than he would be able to sing if he sung normally. Basically, it's just a stylistic choice for the song.

That Chloe Dancer performance uses the same style (as does Cold Confession which again is littered with voice cracks). It's much easier to pull it off in studio compared to live. In studio, the loudness can be altered and you have multiple takes. Live, you will struggle to sing it loud enough for people to hear and with this style, if you strain in trying to sound louder you end up with a voice crack.

What I'm saying is, this isn't really difficult because of the notes being high. It's difficult because of the style. The notes are fairly easy.

Do you have any Recent examples of him singing higher without the breathy thing? He pretty much always sounds like that to me when he's singing high nowadays, and if its a vocal choice its odd to me because I assume it'd sound better if he was singing normally, but I can't think of an example where he sings high without it. That black I posted on the last page is from 06 and he's doing it there on the 'we belong together' bits. I think at least.

The end portion of ATW?

Ed really shines on that one. Probably my favourite moment on the album.

theplatypus wrote:I don't know about the whole performance, but Ed is really struggling during "Chloe Dancer". It's more than the crackly affectations. He's faltering and unable to hit the notes. It's pretty bad.

It does sound bad in parts and it's because of the way he's trying to sing it rather than the actual notes he's singing. The notes are in his range but the style he's adopting would be better suited to singing in studio where he doesn't have to worry about straining for loudness. And he would have multiple takes. I'm not a fan of this style though. It works on CC (predominantly) but he's not really straining there.

warehouse wrote:

harmless wrote:

stupidmop wrote:

Release_Me wrote:

warehouse wrote:

Release_Me wrote: That has nothing to do with the note being high or difficult to hit as such. It's the way he's trying to sing it. He's going for that line with a breathy voice ala Cold Confession. There are numerous voice cracks in CC as well because it's hard to hold a note when it's so airy. He tried something similar in the studio version of Sometimes. The 'devote my-self' part has a terrible voice crack. He just uses this as an affectation. It's nothing to do with vocal ability or the lack of it because it really isn't a proper technique.

thats actually a great voice crack. i think it adds to the emotion of the song. like when people point out some of ed's vocals in unplugged, i just dont get the criticism b/c he's voice fuckin moves me. i dont care if its technically perfect.

Technically speaking, a voice crack is a voice crack. It's an unintentional sound. Whether you like it or hate it doesn't really change the fact that it's unintentional. Ed's singing on Sometimes is basically an affectation where he uses a breathy voice to sound 'lighter' than his normal self. When you have so much 'air' in the notes, it's hard to have any control over them. He isn't really singing properly from his chest or even using head voice. It's sort of a mixture of falsetto and chest voice. The notes aren't any 'higher' on the scale than he would be able to sing if he sung normally. Basically, it's just a stylistic choice for the song.

That Chloe Dancer performance uses the same style (as does Cold Confession which again is littered with voice cracks). It's much easier to pull it off in studio compared to live. In studio, the loudness can be altered and you have multiple takes. Live, you will struggle to sing it loud enough for people to hear and with this style, if you strain in trying to sound louder you end up with a voice crack.

What I'm saying is, this isn't really difficult because of the notes being high. It's difficult because of the style. The notes are fairly easy.

Do you have any Recent examples of him singing higher without the breathy thing? He pretty much always sounds like that to me when he's singing high nowadays, and if its a vocal choice its odd to me because I assume it'd sound better if he was singing normally, but I can't think of an example where he sings high without it. That black I posted on the last page is from 06 and he's doing it there on the 'we belong together' bits. I think at least.

The end portion of ATW?

the "heeeeeeeeees" at the end of half full?

Yes, but then that is falsetto. It's much easier to sing high in falsetto because it's 'false voice' and not using the chest at all. For example, he reaches a very high note in "The Wolf" from 'In To The Wild' using falsetto. That's probably his best use of falsetto on any song but he isn't really singing any words. It's just random sounds. I would love to see him trying to sing actual lines in falsetto.

If you want an example of someone who sings really well in falsetto and 'mixed' voice (the kind of stuff Ed is trying to pull off in that Chloe video), think Prince. Ed does much better singing high when he sings from his chest or screams.

Examples of some really high Ed singing. His upper register has always been quite rough. But it's powerful.

http://youtu.be/c2jGxXUIDZU

This one contains the highest full voice (non-falsetto) note Ed has ever recorded. An E5.

http://youtu.be/rHzTgGHKLFs

Plenty of full voice and falsetto highs here. Full voice topping at C5 while the ending scream is the highest note Ed's ever sung, a G#6. It is falsetto or whistle though.

http://youtu.be/YO31Vgrr3oM

The 'Loooove' screams are powerful D5s. Very impressive for this late in his career. There are D5 screams in earlier songs like Deep and Do The Evolution as well.

http://youtu.be/XbWZ8In9Ois

(@3:23, the part 'Escape is never the sa-fest place', is probably the most impressive really high note Ed has sung because he sings it so cleanly and effortlessly as opposed to his usual style of screaming the high notes, which still sounds bad-ass.)

Other notable songs where Ed enters the fifth octave are:

- Rival, Baba O' Riley (C#5)
- Habit, Spin The Black Circle (C5).

I only focused on the highest notes which are near the top of his range.