QueenZone discussion #768397

it was electric7 wrote: I absolutly LOVE Freddie's voice in the "Fairy Fellers Master Stroke"

The Millionaire Waltz wrote:

it was electric7 wrote: I absolutly LOVE Freddie's voice in the "Fairy Fellers Master Stroke"

Oh, don't we all!? ;)

ibanez122 wrote: To me, it seems that his voice never fully recovered after the Live Killers tour. He got the majority of his range back from late 79 untill about 81 before the lower powerful voice kicked in and lost his higher range completely.

Scott_Mercury wrote:

ibanez122 wrote: To me, it seems that his voice never fully recovered after the Live Killers tour. He got the majority of his range back from late 79 untill about 81 before the lower powerful voice kicked in and lost his higher range completely.

Disagree with this. Freddie's voice is amazing at Milton Keys in 1982. Also, the high part of Under Pressure was just as high as anything he'd done up to that point. The first few concert dates of the Magic Tour, he sounds just like he did at Milton Keyes in '82. Some the highest notes Freddie ever hit was on Innuendo...while in the advanced stages of AIDS. Freddie's voice was different, but I think more of it has to do with age than any other factor. I know whenever we talk about this here, we get everything from smoking, drugs, AIDS, a well hung boyfriend...etc..etc... being the things that, as some of you put it "wrecked Freddie voice". I wish I had a **wrecked voice** like Fred's on Who Want's to Live Forever, and The Show Must go On. But anayway...I think getting older has more to do with vocal change then anything. Does Steven Tyler, Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Elton John, Sting, Rod Stewart...etc..etc.. sound like they did 20 years ago? Not at all... So why does everyone thing Freddie sounds so much different from 1983-1991? I think many of you would be very suprised at just what a kick ass rendition of say, "Champions" that Freddie could have pulled off in 1990/91. His voice could have world toured in 1988, 1990, etc... his body could not have.

mike hunt wrote: I know anything past 1977 is crap, how played out are you people!..."stateside" you obviously don't think freddie had a great voice during the barcelona album or the great pretender/In my defence?....shows how little you know, but most of you are stuck in 1975.

Regor wrote: I like his 80's voice a lot (not more than his crystal clear early voice, but certainly not less), because what it - perhaps - lacked in chest voice octave-range (his falsetto was still amazing) it makes up for in power. Just listen to “ITLOTG... revisited” on LAW. The part where he goes from " ... but I gotta chance it - So FUNNY..." he just nails it ! Hits you like a hammer. Amazing.

stateside fan wrote: I know its awful to say but i dont like Freddie's voice at all on innuendo.Its so studio protected and echo-ie.For obvious reasons of course.I miss Freddie more and more every day but his voice during the late 80's into early 90's should never be compared to 1978-82 period where he had mastered not only his range but he learned the art of singing.

mike hunt wrote: I Personally love his voice for the majority of wembly, but I agree that he didn't have the range he had before. Freddie in 86 had less range, but more power (almost opera like) in the lap of the gods and who wants to live forever are examples of this.

stateside fan wrote: if you dont think his health didnt affect his voice you are dumber then you seem.aids at that stage is in your lungs,throat ect.plus being under weight changes your voice pitch alot.get your fact straight dill hole.

mike hunt wrote: Asterik I think 99% of queen fans will agree with you on this, anyone who thinks freddies voice sounded weak or bad on innuendo needs to get his ears checked.

mike hunt wrote: what the hell are you talking about?....My opinion is freddie was at his best on innuendo, I commented on "stateside" stupid opinion, learn how to read!

kdj2hot wrote:

mike hunt wrote: what the hell are you talking about?....My opinion is freddie was at his best on innuendo, I commented on "stateside" stupid opinion, learn how to read!

Well I will if you're gonna pay for the tutoring, smart guy.

mercuryphoenix5946 wrote: Being a Freddie Mercury impersonator (and a female one at that!), and the fact that I have a singing and speaking voice very similar to the deceased rock star icon, I have found it very, very difficult to pull off his sounds on stage without KILLING my vocal chords ... or better still - MURDERING them! lol In order to sing the songs he did that are soft, I must avoid cigarettes for a while so that my voice will be able to sing them better. As for the raucous songs like, Tie Yo Mamma, and others of that nature, cigarettes help to bring out the coarseness of my voice so as to sound like the original artist that performed those raucous tracks. It's easy to see why Freddie developed nodules on his vocal chords. I, myself, now have them, and I am only 36...

koldweather123 wrote: I think if he were to tour on Innuendo he'd probably have a voice probably higher then the AKOM and works tours. The key thing is he changed his style of singing from 86 through to his death he went from the ful lblown chest voice belting type singing (Gimme the prize for example) to using a mix of both chest and head voice with in fact some of his highest ever notes being hit in the Innuendo albem. It's intresting that he had no vocal sessions. I always felt that Freddie never quite had the right balance between his chest and head voice. LAW for example and you can clearly tell he was simply belting every other note. From experiance, you do that and your voice simply won't go much above your speaking voice, and you can actually hear his voice sounding rather tierd. his range didn't actualy change much at all, at least his hitable range, I'm sure he could hit most notes live if it wasn't for his poor technuiqe. What changed, as others have said, was his actual timbre and ALSO his style. He had a light voice in the early days, then over the years it deepened a little, then probably by the Jazz tour he changed his singing style and used mixed voice more and more often. A classic example is at MK bowl with under pressure and the higher higher high part, with the last note being a nice mixture. I personaly think this is his best period when he hits all the notes he used to with the power. However the mix isn't sustainable when you keep using it. That was the relative downfall of his voice in the mid-80's. He had a good balance in the early 80's and latwe 70's but by the mid 80's, due to his voice deepening slightly again he was forced to constantly use this to hit his highest notes and thats why he suffered thaty cracking sound, his voice simply couldn't take it. Instead for the rest of the tour he had to use his chest voice and belt out the notes, which led to a reduction of his range that was reachable in the works and AKOM tours, and hence why it got more powerful but deeper sound. However by the time his voice reached Innuendo, his voice had gotten higher again by a little bit and had were to do a tour, a reasoable comprasion would be the MK concert from 82 as to what he sounds like, he still has got a habit of using the mix on the Innuendo, BUT as his voice had gained a little upwards range again, he could pull it off and he was seemingly more willing to use his head voice then before.

FriedChicken<br><font size=1>The Almighty</font> wrote: "I think many of you would be very suprised at just what a kick ass rendition of say, "Champions" that Freddie could have pulled off in 1990/91. His voice could have world toured in 1988, 1990, etc... his body could not have" I don't think so, Freddie's voice got better in the late 80's and early 90's because he started to live more healthy. He stopped smoking and the main reason: he didn't tour anymore! Freddie didn't have singing lessons, thats why his voice got so damaged on tour. He didn't know how to use his vocal chords well. Thats why he couldn't sing the high notes (he always avoided them) and thats why he sang so good on the first 5 concerts, and after that it got worse and worse. I think if Freddie would've gone on tour in 1988, 89 and 1990 we would've had the same voice on Innuendo as the voice on A Kind of Magic

kdj2hot wrote:

Regor wrote: On Innuendo if it's truely isn't sped up, which I doubt because on the Mike Reid interview his speaking voice is even higher than in the past, he just pushed his voice close their limits whether to do the recording eqivalent of a dog pissing on a tree to mark his territory (i.e. leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that he does have one of the better voices of alltime) or if the songs they wrote just fit that style.

A lot of the songs on Innunendo were sped up by at least a semitone. I have slowed it down, digitally and he definately sounds more realistic. ie.. I cant live with you and Hitman. Slow them down with Sound-Forge or something by 1 semitone. It is also obviosly sped up because his vibrato is faster than other songs, which has always been fairly consistant.
Jim

AndresGuazzelli wrote: "The key thing is he changed his style of singing from 86 through to his death he went from the ful lblown chest voice belting type singing (Gimme the prize for example) to using a mix of both chest and head voice with in fact some of his highest ever notes being hit in the Innuendo albem." Then, you don't know what head voice is. The highest note I've ever heard from him, using his chest voice, was a Middle F in Barcelona. the rest of them, was head voice. If you want to hear it perfectly, download: link That's how Freddie sounded using his chest voice beyond his passagio: Tight, very tight. Note the change of resonances after covering the passagio.He sings chest voiced up to the 'WILLING' and headvoiced from 'friends until the end'. You may be confusing a light head voice, with mainly head overtones, and the powerful full voice Freddie used, which was head voice after all, with heavy chest harmonics, to give him his characteristic timbre, plus the high overtones from the head resonances. His balance between head and chest is one of the most marvelous mixes I've ever heard from a popular singer.

mike hunt wrote: I know anything past 1977 is crap, how played out are you people!..."stateside" you obviously don't think freddie had a great voice during the barcelona album or the great pretender/In my defence?....shows how little you know, but most of you are stuck in 1975.

Vulcan wrote:

kdj2hot wrote:

Regor wrote: On Innuendo if it's truely isn't sped up, which I doubt because on the Mike Reid interview his speaking voice is even higher than in the past, he just pushed his voice close their limits whether to do the recording eqivalent of a dog pissing on a tree to mark his territory (i.e. leaving no doubt in anyone's mind that he does have one of the better voices of alltime) or if the songs they wrote just fit that style.

A lot of the songs on Innunendo were sped up by at least a semitone. I have slowed it down, digitally and he definately sounds more realistic. ie.. I cant live with you and Hitman. Slow them down with Sound-Forge or something by 1 semitone. It is also obviosly sped up because his vibrato is faster than other songs, which has always been fairly consistant. Jim

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Vulcan, that point has been brought up and dismissed plenty of times. I doubtt that innuendo was sped up. You're wrong on that I feel and shouldn't go around spreading misinformation. Freddie's speaking voice was even higer around that time so it's really ignorant to say slowing it down is proof it was sped up because it sounded like Freddie... OFCOURSE IT'S GONNA SOUND LIKE FREDDIE IF YOU SLOW IT DOWN A SEMITONE BECAUSE IT'S FREDDIE SINGING! His voice was just a lil' higher for what ever reason you want to pick. I doubt the MikReid inteview was sped up, maybe it was, if that was the case then you have a point lol.

kdj2hot wrote: [/QUOTENAME Vulcan, that point has been brought up and dismissed plenty of times. I doubtt that innuendo was sped up. You're wrong on that I feel and shouldn't go around spreading misinformation. Freddie's speaking voice was even higer around that time so it's really ignorant to say slowing it down is proof it was sped up because it sounded like Freddie... OFCOURSE IT'S GONNA SOUND LIKE FREDDIE IF YOU SLOW IT DOWN A SEMITONE BECAUSE IT'S FREDDIE SINGING! His voice was just a lil' higher for what ever reason you want to pick. I doubt the MikReid inteview was sped up, maybe it was, if that was the case then you have a point lol.

Vulcan wrote:

kdj2hot wrote: [/QUOTENAME Vulcan, that point has been brought up and dismissed plenty of times. I doubtt that innuendo was sped up. You're wrong on that I feel and shouldn't go around spreading misinformation. Freddie's speaking voice was even higer around that time so it's really ignorant to say slowing it down is proof it was sped up because it sounded like Freddie... OFCOURSE IT'S GONNA SOUND LIKE FREDDIE IF YOU SLOW IT DOWN A SEMITONE BECAUSE IT'S FREDDIE SINGING! His voice was just a lil' higher for what ever reason you want to pick. I doubt the MikReid inteview was sped up, maybe it was, if that was the case then you have a point lol.

Since when is posting an opinion spreading mis-information??!?! I also don't understand what you're saying either - slowing it down makes him sound like he always used to sound - I don't believe that anybody's voice gets higher in a short space of time - especially due to illness - I'm still of the opinion that there is definately something unnatural about his voice on Innuendo, be it the pitch and colour, and there's almost no doubt that it has been "tinkered" with in the studio - sped up - loads of chorus, reverb etc etc.

Vulcan wrote: Wow - this is getting heated - let's give up on the misinformation line will you, that's completely unnecessary!! Listen to the Delilah dem and then the album version!! How else can you explain how unnatural the vocals sound on the above mentioned songs - especially AGP - compare the voice at the beginning and at the end! Way to much tinkering in the studio. And as I said before - speed-up giveaways by vibrato speed! Anyway, that is my belief - based on the way the vocal tracks sound, and the voice over the prev 20 years! And Going back and I can hear music are also blatantly sped up!!!!

Vulcan wrote: I understand what you're saying - maybe we'll agree to disagree. Next time you're playing Innuendo - listen to WAGP, listen to the vocal track in the first half of the song - compare it to "Rule with your heart and live with your conscience etc etc" about half way through - I agree that they were probably both done at different sessions, but they sound SO different - the latter half sounds slightly pitched up - very chorussy and reverby - a bit like most of the other songs on the album. Lemme know what u think J PS Where can I get the mike reid interview?

mike hunt wrote: I disagree with all you wacko's (except for scott mercury) Freddies voice was ruined by smoking and aids!...give me a break people!...freddie voice was great during innnuendo, Don't try so hard and the show must go on. anyone who says his voice was shot during the eighties doesn't know shit, MK, we will rock you and live aid were the strongest his voice ever sounded.

stateside fan wrote: Digi-great stuff!well said and i think you being a singer understand just how good he was in early-mif 80's.I must disagree with your point on mother love.the lower key stuff he nails but in the middle where he goes high it sounds a tad strained.With good reason sadly .

mike hunt wrote: Barcelona might have been the most impressive singing freddie did.