QueenZone discussion #291394
Time backing vocals
| Henry V 26.11.2003 17:08 |
Just having a listen to this song and the backing vocals sound amazing! The vocals seem to phase and sound like a huge choir. Is this all Fred here? Were certain techniques used to create this? |
| NoOneButYou1975 26.11.2003 17:26 |
i know the video had i think a children's choir back Freddie up on that song.... |
| FriedChicken 26.11.2003 17:31 |
it's not hard to make a choir with just one singer, just make a lot of overdubs Like BoRhap 8 part harmony Every line sang by 3 people = 24 voices and the lines were sang 3 times. 3*24=72 voices |
| Penetration_Guru 26.11.2003 17:34 |
I'm just filling in time until Sebastian tells us definitively, but my amateur ears tell me it sounds like a choir of lots of Freddies, but maybe it's lots of Mike Morans & Dave Clarks as well. I severely doubt that it's a children's choir. There's one on WWTLF too and you don't believe they're on the record do you? |
| FriedChicken 26.11.2003 17:39 |
I can confirm that it is all Freddie |
| Penetration_Guru 26.11.2003 17:55 |
How wrong can I be (this is a rhetorical question)? OK, quoting from the Time album liner notes.... All Keyboards: Mike Moran Guitars: Ray Russell Drums: Brett Morgan Backing vocals: Freddie Mercury, John Christie, Peter Straker Vocal backings arranged by: Freddie Mercury Recorded at: Abbey Road Studios, London Arranged by: Freddie Mercury and Mike Moran Produced by Dave Clark and Freddie Mercury |
| NoOneButYou1975 26.11.2003 17:56 |
link Time Original Album Version The "main" version on the "Time" album, from 1986. Starts identically to the single version, but is cut off unceremoniously part way through. This is due to the nature of the musical itself. The plot of the musical concerns a singer, who is whisked away mid-concert to stand trial for the crimes of the human race(!). After successfully defending mankind, the singer is returned to the point he was removed from. In this case, "Time" is the song interrupted, which is why it breaks off in this way, and why it has the "Reprise" later. Unfortunately, these seperate sections of "Time" sound a bit strange out of context. Reprise From the "Time" album, as mentioned above. Basically the last minute or so of the song - quite short, but nice anyway. Single Version Edited into a complete song for single release, and all the better for it. Found on 7" and 12". One of the better tracks from the musical, and Freddie's influence is obvious on the backing arrangement. Much smoother than the original album versions. Time 3:48 Instrumental Version Not entirely instrumental (the backing vocals are left in), but a nice change. Pretty much what you'd expect from an instrumental really. On both the 7" and 12". Time 3:10 Extended Version On the 12" only, and includes a nice extra saxophone solo. Not much longer than the single mix, but the changes are noticeable. Especially the closing vocal, a rushed rendition of "Time don't wait for nobody at all" which it could well do without. Time 4:28 1992 Remix (Nile Rogers 1992 Mix) Remixed by Nile Rodgers. On "The Freddie Mercury Album" and the US-only "The Great Pretender" CD album. This is simply a more polished version of the original single mix, with only a few minor changes. Mostly the sound has just been "sharpened" and the instruments are clearer, though some of them do sound ever-so-slightly different too. I think this is more a case of remixing the track to sound nice for CD than a "remix" in the usual sense. Worth having, if only because the original is unlikely to ever surface on CD now. And at least its a tasteful remix. Known as the "Nile Rogers 1992 Mix" on "The Freddie Mercury Remixes" album. Time 3:52 Radio Mix With a running time of 3:49, and not 3:25 as it claims, this is the 1992 remix with just one word missing from the intro. While the album mix starts with "Time...Waits", this edit just has "Time". On a US promo CD only, but a bit pointless, unless you're really into collecting promos. Irrelevant to say the least. A final point of interest is that on this "Radio Mix" the last line of vocals "for nobody, nobody, for no-one" starts a fraction of a second earlier, making the last "for no-one" finish in a slightly different place. It'll drive you mad listening for it though. Time 3:49 |
| Sebastian 26.11.2003 18:10 |
Regarding Time, in fact the backing vocals were Freddie, John Christie and Peter Straker (who also threw in some lines for 'Slighlty Mad' by the way). They were recorded in 48 tracks (2 sets of 24 track machines). I think the harmony is like 5 or 6 parts, I can assure the lowest voice is just Freddie (and not so many tracks, just one, two or three), the rest can be all of them many many times. As for Bo Rhap, all of them didn't sing all the parts. The bottom voice was just Freddie, the top voice was wither Roger or Freddie or both, not Brian, depends in the part. 'For me' is just Roger in the highest part. In the second highest, it's Freddie, and in the lowest it's Freddie as well. The other 7 parts of that harmony are perhaps done in the way Niek said, it's almost impossible to tell since they're bounced. As for making choirs by oneself, it depends on how good your voice blends with your voice, and your vocal range as well. A choir is rich if the voices are very different and if they blend together well. Note that Freddie in 'Fallen Priest' for example does very low notes and very high notes at the same time and they sound so good, it seems like many different people. The 'Take My Breath' intro is cool as well, although it's only in the high range. Fred multi-tracked his voice but it sounds so perfectly blended, phasing, it's undescriptable. Fred's voice can work so good as lead or backing, but note Axl Rose's couldn't, for instance. 'Dust N' Bones' is sung by Izzy, but when Axl enters it's so noticeable, he's so noisy to be backing singer. '14 Years' is another example. Hence, even though Axl had a huge register it wouldn't sound that good to have a choir of Axl's. Depends on the song as well, what the song needs. By the way, I have been analysing the harmonies of 'Who Wants To Live Forever' recently and it's pretty clear Roger wasn't present. So it's either a choir of Brian's or a choir of Freddie's or both. I think it's all Brian in the very last one, except for the lead voice which is Freddie. |
| FriedChicken 26.11.2003 19:22 |
"As for Bo Rhap, all of them didn't sing all the parts" Yeah i know, but it was just an example. maybe We Will Rock You would've been a better example |
| Guy 27.11.2003 01:21 |
I always enjoy reading your analysises Sebastian, keep it up :) |
| Sebastian 27.11.2003 07:20 |
Thanks Guy, I thought I was just boring everyone with a five paragraph mini-essay instead of a simple "Freddie, Peter, John" answer. I can't wait to start my GnR website although I want to first finish the Queen one. Also I don't know where to start, the info I have is not so big (it wasn't big with queen in the beginning, but it's hard to start all over from the bottom), and the collection of quotes can be harder to get. I just don't enjoy listening to American accent, and transcribing it is much worse. Just some more examples about choirs built from one person: - Man On Fire - I'm In Love With My Car (not 100% sure, yesterday I felt like I had heard Brian) - Resurrection - Love Token - Leaving Home Ain't Easy It would have been wonderful if there were more choirs of Roger, but sadly 99% of Queen songs with 4+ part harmonies were Freddie's, and obviously Fred's voice was present. |
| AndresGuazzelli 27.11.2003 09:10 |
"it's not hard to make a choir with just one singer, just make a lot of overdubs Like BoRhap 8 part harmony Every line sang by 3 people = 24 voices and the lines were sang 3 times. 3*24=72 voices" That is not exactly an overdub. When you're overdubbing, you just erase the last recording (used as a guide) The choir technique is to "double-track" or "over-record". The "overdub" is a different recording concept. |
| Adam Baboolal 27.11.2003 09:18 |
I really like Brian's track, Leaving Home Ain't Easy. Great sounds in that. Btw AndresGuazzelli, -overdub- is not that strict in use of the word. Overdubs can be like recording a commentary over a video or adding sounds that were not part of the original song/film, etc. etc. In other words, it doesn't strictly mean to record over a previous recording. Although that IS one of it's wordings. Peace, Adam. |
| Sebastian 27.11.2003 13:30 |
yes, overdub as I use in my site means adding stuff that wasn't in the basic track. that would include nearly all guitars and vocals In my opinion that's also what 'overdub' mean when mentioned by Roger, John, Brian or Freddie |
| Azmandaman 27.11.2003 13:43 |
But yo In da end you must use your ears to the backing vocals on Time. . . . its pretty basic and raw and all this Technology stuff... you guys must read up on freddie, he is a drama Queen when its about perfection, it has no Freddie sounding vocals on them, and I say about 5 to six men maximum, litterally gathering round a surounding vocal pick up microphone (ie a good condensor mic) and just record there part after freddies main vocal. Hey am not 100% sure on this but if i was to do this as my music assignment I would do it like that. cos each layer of the backing vocal did no way sound as identically cloned as boh Rap, great pretender, etc etc. it was was more originally done I thought. |