Author Topic: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?  (Read 8060 times)

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Offline adamack

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Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« on: December 04, 2018, 03:56:05 PM »
I recently saw a performance of Flying Colors playing Repentance live, with MP singing here. He's obviously auto-tuned pretty heavily, but because Mike isn't a steady singer, I actually enjoyed this more than if he was pitching all over the place.

So it made me think - how would you guys/gals feel if DT used live pitch correction for James, during only songs he struggles with? Not as much as MP was using - just a very light amount to keep some notes from straying too far.

I do not mean bring negativity here, but James' pitch issues and questionable improv melodies are pretty much the only reason I don't go to see them live every opportunity I get. I realize many people are fine with his vocals and that is awesome. But personally, my ear is OCD when it comes to pitch issues and I wish I could just look past it

I am a huge supporter of bands using programs like Melodyne to fix up vocals in post-recording for live DVD's. But I'm not too sure how James would sound if the pitch correction was on the live feed, as there is far less control with something like that. Thoughts?

Offline Adami

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #1 on: December 04, 2018, 04:04:09 PM »
They do.
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Offline RMGadelha

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #2 on: December 04, 2018, 04:09:57 PM »
I don't really care, tbh.

Offline Peter Mc

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #3 on: December 04, 2018, 04:36:07 PM »
I’m one of the lucky ones I guess as I’ve never come out of any DT show with any complaints about JLB’s voice. Quite the opposite in fact, I’m always blown away at how well he still sings 20+ year old songs. Not saying he is the greatest live frontman of all time or anything but he has never detracted from the show at all for me. I know everyone can’t be wrong and he must have some off nights but I’ve never seen one in person and I take no notice of cellphone recordings on YouTube. Not keen on his voice on OIALT or CIM but not sure if that’s his fault or a poor quality recording as he sounds fine to me on the other more polished live albums.

Offline rumborak

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #4 on: December 04, 2018, 05:13:13 PM »
As Adami said, yeah, they already autotune live. There's a lot of automation going on since they started playing all songs to click.
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Offline pg1067

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #5 on: December 04, 2018, 05:28:25 PM »
James' pitch issues and questionable improv melodies are pretty much the only reason I don't go to see them live every opportunity I get.

So you don't see the band live and base your decision not to do so on what...videos from YouTube?


I’m one of the lucky ones I guess as I’ve never come out of any DT show with any complaints about JLB’s voice. Quite the opposite in fact, I’m always blown away at how well he still sings 20+ year old songs.

Same here.  In fact, going back at least 10 years, the only real rough spot I can recall was when they did "Don't Look Past Me" on the I&W&B tour (a song which they wisely dropped from the set list shortly thereafter).

Seems to me that, rather than skip actual live shows and make judgments based on videos made with low quality phone cameras, one should attend the live shows and skip the videos.
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Offline adamack

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #6 on: December 04, 2018, 05:41:48 PM »
As Adami said, yeah, they already autotune live. There's a lot of automation going on since they started playing all songs to click.

Ah very interesting, I didn't know this. I'll have to check out some more recent performances on YouTube. Do you happen to know around when they started playing all songs to click?

I’m one of the lucky ones I guess as I’ve never come out of any DT show with any complaints about JLB’s voice. Quite the opposite in fact, I’m always blown away at how well he still sings 20+ year old songs. Not saying he is the greatest live frontman of all time or anything but he has never detracted from the show at all for me. I know everyone can’t be wrong and he must have some off nights but I’ve never seen one in person and I take no notice of cellphone recordings on YouTube. Not keen on his voice on OIALT or CIM but not sure if that’s his fault or a poor quality recording as he sounds fine to me on the other more polished live albums.

I've seen them twice, and I too remember James being great both times. I believe I saw them in 2006 and in 2008 or so. The songs I've seen that weren't so great were clips online of more recent shows. As you said, it may just be off-nights or maybe only certain songs that are out of his range these days. His lower register and his soft vocals are still fantastic too, on pretty much any song that uses those.

I recently saw a video of a live performance of TTT from 93 and it made me want to kill father time. He sounded immaculate. Also, I've always loved him in the live version of ACoS from LSFNY.

Offline rumborak

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #7 on: December 04, 2018, 05:58:59 PM »
As Adami said, yeah, they already autotune live. There's a lot of automation going on since they started playing all songs to click.

Ah very interesting, I didn't know this. I'll have to check out some more recent performances on YouTube. Do you happen to know around when they started playing all songs to click?

That is a very simple question to answer. MP refuses to play to click, MM exclusively plays to click.
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Offline Ben_Jamin

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #8 on: December 04, 2018, 10:29:35 PM »
James' pitch issues and questionable improv melodies are pretty much the only reason I don't go to see them live every opportunity I get.

So you don't see the band live and base your decision not to do so on what...videos from YouTube?


I’m one of the lucky ones I guess as I’ve never come out of any DT show with any complaints about JLB’s voice. Quite the opposite in fact, I’m always blown away at how well he still sings 20+ year old songs.

Same here.  In fact, going back at least 10 years, the only real rough spot I can recall was when they did "Don't Look Past Me" on the I&W&B tour (a song which they wisely dropped from the set list shortly thereafter).

Seems to me that, rather than skip actual live shows and make judgments based on videos made with low quality phone cameras, one should attend the live shows and skip the videos.


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Offline Fritzinger

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #9 on: December 05, 2018, 01:24:49 AM »
As Adami said, yeah, they already autotune live. There's a lot of automation going on since they started playing all songs to click.

Ah very interesting, I didn't know this. I'll have to check out some more recent performances on YouTube. Do you happen to know around when they started playing all songs to click?

That is a very simple question to answer. MP refuses to play to click, MM exclusively plays to click.

So you're saying, it was MMs idea for DT to play to a click?
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Offline The Curious Orange

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #10 on: December 05, 2018, 02:08:14 AM »
I didn't think the ADTOE tour was to a click - I thought the DT12 tour was the first.

Anyway, what sort of idiot judges whether or not to see a band based on youtube clips? Oh, I'm not going to see these guys coz they're all wobbly and out of focus and they sound like a wasp in a tin can!
Have you any idea how small/cheap the microphone in a cell-phone is? You think you can take that expertly-mixed wall of noise that assaults your senses at a concert and represent it on a phone? Hell, even the best sound engineers struggle to record and mix live albums properly. OF COURSE they sound awful on those youtube clips - EVERY SINGLE BAND sounds awful on youtube clips. Except those pop-posers who are miming anyway.

We all get older. Our vocal cords become less elastic. Re-write the vocal melodies if you have to, drop the song a key or two. The vast majority of the audience won't notice or care.

Someone once told me (and I don't know if it's true) that David Gilmour has a bank of auto-tune technology so that in the unlikely event that he does play a wrong note, the computers will replace it with the correct note. I can't see the point - might as well sit at home and put the CD on, it's a lot cheaper and you don't have to battle traffic.

Vocal auto-tune - to quote Groucho Marx, whatever it is, I'm against it. But I understand that this technology is so prevalent that if bands want to use it, it their business. I get that DT want to present their music in a perfect light, but these days I'd much prefer seeing a band who aren't afraid to improvise a little - most audiences love it when bands f*ck up. I'll still go see DT every chance I get, but they're no longer the "must see" band they were.
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Offline noxon

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #11 on: December 05, 2018, 06:22:10 AM »
I don't think James uses autotune live. On live recordings and in studio, for sure, but not live.

And the click track is not because Mike Mangini requires it, but because they've invested a lot of energy into the production where playing to a click makes it easier to perform for the video and lighting engineer. The Astonishing particularly, due to the complexity of the video displays and all that.

Offline DreamerTV

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #12 on: December 05, 2018, 06:43:30 AM »
I don't think James uses autotune live. On live recordings and in studio, for sure, but not live.

And the click track is not because Mike Mangini requires it, but because they've invested a lot of energy into the production where playing to a click makes it easier to perform for the video and lighting engineer. The Astonishing particularly, due to the complexity of the video displays and all that.


I actually remember that not a long time ago JLB, in an interview, said exactly this, that he uses it in studio and in post production of live dvds but never for live concerts.

Offline Adami

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #13 on: December 05, 2018, 06:53:53 AM »
I should clarify.

When I said "they do" I had misunderstood the question to be about post-production. I wasn't saying they use it live in the moment. I have no idea about that. But based on the performances I've seen, if they're using it, they're doing a bad job.
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Online mikeyd23

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #14 on: December 05, 2018, 07:08:48 AM »
I don't think James uses autotune live. On live recordings and in studio, for sure, but not live.

And the click track is not because Mike Mangini requires it, but because they've invested a lot of energy into the production where playing to a click makes it easier to perform for the video and lighting engineer. The Astonishing particularly, due to the complexity of the video displays and all that.

Thank you. This is what I was going to say, seems like a lot of incorrect information is floating around in this thread. James (or should we say the FOH engineer) does not seem to use autotune on James' live vocal. In post production for live releases, of course they touch up his vocals to varying degrees. Also, like you said, the band is on record saying they asked MM if they could try playing to a click in order for the performances and production of the tour to be tighter. MM does not "exclusively" play to a click nor did he bring that to the band as some sort of requirement.

Offline rumborak

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #15 on: December 05, 2018, 07:37:17 AM »
I should also clarify that I didn't imply he brought click tracks as a "requirement". I think it's more of a "I am perfectly comfortable playing songs to click", and I suspect DT had been wanting to do that all along but MP didn't like it.
I retract my statement about the live autotuning. I thought they did in places, but maybe not.

Regarding the "who would decide based on YT videos whether to go or not?" question, like it or not, but I think quite a few people do, and why shouldn't they? If you are on the fence about shelling out the money for a band you aren't sure about seeing, checking out previous live recordings is a natural thing to do.
« Last Edit: December 05, 2018, 07:48:20 AM by rumborak »
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Online mikeyd23

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #16 on: December 05, 2018, 08:00:09 AM »
I should also clarify that I didn't imply he brought click tracks as a "requirement". I think it's more of a "I am perfectly comfortable playing songs to click", and I suspect DT had been wanting to do that all along but MP didn't like it.

I think that's probably spot on.

Offline bosk1

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #17 on: December 05, 2018, 08:10:23 AM »
Yes, glad we got on track about the use of click and autotune live.  To summarize:

Live autotune:  I am almost certain they do NOT use it.

Live click track:  Used, for reasons mikeyd23 and Noxon mentioned in their posts.
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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #18 on: December 05, 2018, 08:15:42 AM »
I think people are ridiculously critical of James. Part of it I get. He's recorded some amazing vocals over the years, and the expectation is that he'll reproduce that live with some semblance of regularity. But that's not the kind of live singer he is. He is his own toughest critic (from what I understand), and I think fans need to realize that he's going to have his good nights and his bad nights.

I have seen Dream Theater 13 times (first being 8/9/98 at Jones Beach on the FII tour) and the last being the Images, Words & Beyond tour a year ago. I'd say he struggled in probably three of those shows, most notably, the last one with I&W. Which again, I fully expected going in, given the material. I would NOT be in support of James using any sort of pitch correction in a live setting. That makes it less live. I can just put on the CD if I want it perfect. I go to a concert to hear it performed LIVE, and I respect the hell out of JLB who goes out, takes care of his body, and gives his all each night on difficult songs to sing. If he happens to be off that night, I sing a little louder. :)

Sure, I went away a little bummed I happened to catch a really off night on the IW&B tour last year. I knew that was likely going to be the case going in, and I can't lie about how I felt afterward. But that shit was hard to sing when the man was in his 20s, much less his 50s. If JLB gave no effort, that would be one thing. But JLB works his ass off to prepare for shows and take care of his voice. And I'd rather hear James sing truly live in concert, then see him resort to technology to try and smooth over his issues. He works at it. That's good enough for me, and I'll always respect him for it.  :yarr

In the studio, that's a different beast. And they can do whatever they need to do to make sure the songs are the best they can be.
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Offline pg1067

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #19 on: December 05, 2018, 11:00:22 AM »
James' pitch issues and questionable improv melodies are pretty much the only reason I don't go to see them live every opportunity I get.

So you don't see the band live and base your decision not to do so on what...videos from YouTube?


I’m one of the lucky ones I guess as I’ve never come out of any DT show with any complaints about JLB’s voice. Quite the opposite in fact, I’m always blown away at how well he still sings 20+ year old songs.

Same here.  In fact, going back at least 10 years, the only real rough spot I can recall was when they did "Don't Look Past Me" on the I&W&B tour (a song which they wisely dropped from the set list shortly thereafter).

Seems to me that, rather than skip actual live shows and make judgments based on videos made with low quality phone cameras, one should attend the live shows and skip the videos.


James was awesome during DLPM here. I guess we got lucky

Well...it's not a very good song to begin with, so I'm not sure how lucky that is.

Also, how many nights did they play DLPM?  Setlist.fm shows it in the set for 13 shows (through 11/12/17 show in Toronto), but I thought they had ditched it after only 3-4 shows (I saw the second show in the tour in LA).
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Offline adamack

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #20 on: December 05, 2018, 11:00:54 AM »
I didn't think the ADTOE tour was to a click - I thought the DT12 tour was the first.

Anyway, what sort of idiot judges whether or not to see a band based on youtube clips? Oh, I'm not going to see these guys coz they're all wobbly and out of focus and they sound like a wasp in a tin can!
Have you any idea how small/cheap the microphone in a cell-phone is? You think you can take that expertly-mixed wall of noise that assaults your senses at a concert and represent it on a phone? Hell, even the best sound engineers struggle to record and mix live albums properly. OF COURSE they sound awful on those youtube clips - EVERY SINGLE BAND sounds awful on youtube clips. Except those pop-posers who are miming anyway.

First off, I wasn't talking about cell phone footage. A lot of the more recent footage I've seen where James sounded off-key was things like Waken, which was filmed in a more professional manner, with multiple camera angles and decent (not great, but decent) audio. To give an example, 17:10-17:30 of this sums it up pretty well. I realize those notes in Metropolis are extremely high, and he just can't hit them during every concert anymore, which is very understandable. My post wasn't intending to bash him, just to see how people would feel about some slight pitch correction to help with any notes that his age/wear will no longer let him consistently hit.

And second, I'm not sure what video quality has to do with being able to recognize singing out of pitch. If I was criticizing the sound of DT's live mix based on cheap Youtube cell phone videos then yes, that is extremely idiotic. But my post was just about James' pitch issues, which anyone can hear from any quality of footage.

I am in the camp who things James pretty much IS DT. He is, and always will be, the best singer for the band. His voice is extremely unique, sounds amazing on every studio release, and has so much versatility. So my intention wasn't to be negative.

Offline adamack

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #21 on: December 05, 2018, 11:16:50 AM »
I think people are ridiculously critical of James. Part of it I get. He's recorded some amazing vocals over the years, and the expectation is that he'll reproduce that live with some semblance of regularity. But that's not the kind of live singer he is. He is his own toughest critic (from what I understand), and I think fans need to realize that he's going to have his good nights and his bad nights.

I have seen Dream Theater 13 times (first being 8/9/98 at Jones Beach on the FII tour) and the last being the Images, Words & Beyond tour a year ago. I'd say he struggled in probably three of those shows, most notably, the last one with I&W. Which again, I fully expected going in, given the material. I would NOT be in support of James using any sort of pitch correction in a live setting. That makes it less live. I can just put on the CD if I want it perfect. I go to a concert to hear it performed LIVE, and I respect the hell out of JLB who goes out, takes care of his body, and gives his all each night on difficult songs to sing. If he happens to be off that night, I sing a little louder. :)

Sure, I went away a little bummed I happened to catch a really off night on the IW&B tour last year. I knew that was likely going to be the case going in, and I can't lie about how I felt afterward. But that shit was hard to sing when the man was in his 20s, much less his 50s. If JLB gave no effort, that would be one thing. But JLB works his ass off to prepare for shows and take care of his voice. And I'd rather hear James sing truly live in concert, then see him resort to technology to try and smooth over his issues. He works at it. That's good enough for me, and I'll always respect him for it.  :yarr

In the studio, that's a different beast. And they can do whatever they need to do to make sure the songs are the best they can be.

I think I am a victim to what you said in the first paragraph. I was watching LSFNY recently, and James was on fire! Not only his vocals, but just his overall stage presence. I wish those days could return, but the degradation of the voice and one's physical capabilities are a very real thing, so I always need to remind myself.

Thanks for the input and viewpoint on my original question. Really good way to look at things. I must admit, I didn't realize how passionate James still was about giving his best performance every night. I wondered if he was just mailing it in some nights, but it seem that isn't the case.

Offline Bertie_Wooster

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #22 on: December 05, 2018, 01:00:50 PM »
I didn't think the ADTOE tour was to a click - I thought the DT12 tour was the first.

Anyway, what sort of idiot judges whether or not to see a band based on youtube clips? Oh, I'm not going to see these guys coz they're all wobbly and out of focus and they sound like a wasp in a tin can!
Have you any idea how small/cheap the microphone in a cell-phone is? You think you can take that expertly-mixed wall of noise that assaults your senses at a concert and represent it on a phone? Hell, even the best sound engineers struggle to record and mix live albums properly. OF COURSE they sound awful on those youtube clips - EVERY SINGLE BAND sounds awful on youtube clips. Except those pop-posers who are miming anyway.

First off, I wasn't talking about cell phone footage. A lot of the more recent footage I've seen where James sounded off-key was things like Waken, which was filmed in a more professional manner, with multiple camera angles and decent (not great, but decent) audio. To give an example, 17:10-17:30 of this sums it up pretty well. I realize those notes in Metropolis are extremely high, and he just can't hit them during every concert anymore, which is very understandable. My post wasn't intending to bash him, just to see how people would feel about some slight pitch correction to help with any notes that his age/wear will no longer let him consistently hit.

And second, I'm not sure what video quality has to do with being able to recognize singing out of pitch. If I was criticizing the sound of DT's live mix based on cheap Youtube cell phone videos then yes, that is extremely idiotic. But my post was just about James' pitch issues, which anyone can hear from any quality of footage.

I am in the camp who things James pretty much IS DT. He is, and always will be, the best singer for the band. His voice is extremely unique, sounds amazing on every studio release, and has so much versatility. So my intention wasn't to be negative.

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Offline Darkstarshades

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #23 on: December 05, 2018, 09:16:50 PM »
I agree on some people being extremely critical of James to the point of being completely delusional.
I'd recommend people just check Zach's live vocal analysis video, which, in my opinion, are a great piece of work.

He's a professional vocal coach and literally makes a living of analyzing voices, so he's got experience to back what he's saying.

Either way, I think it's ok, I mean, studio corrections are not such a bad thing, after all, it's a release to be heard as best as possible with the highest quality possible.
And no, he totally does not use live pitch correction.
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Offline MoraWintersoul

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #24 on: December 06, 2018, 05:11:56 AM »
I would be against live pitch correction and overdubbed vocals on DVDs without coming out and saying some spots have been overdubbed for a valid reason. I don't mind post-production pitch correction. So I don't mind when DT use it. For instance, Score is one of JLB's finest live performances, and it's almost certainly been pitch corrected, not overdubbed like people claim, though I wouldn't swear on it - everything is possible. I think MP would come out and say that though, since he already shared what was overdubbed on Score (JP's guitar problem), Budokan (As I Am, some other stuff), Live Scenes (backing vocals), LATM (the whole dang thing)...

Another reason why I don't mind this is because all bands correct their DVDs to a point, we just don't know it because DT have a stronger bootleg culture than most other bands smaller than Iron Maiden and Metallica. One of my fave DVDs in recent years has been pitch corrected to death and most likely overdubbed in places and I don't blame them - a special performance costs a lot of money to produce and a lot of time to put together, and then a human vocalist can just have one bad day performing extraordinarily difficult music, and it all goes down into legend as "wow he really can't sing live".

From what I've heard on videos, father time has really caught up with James and he has some terrible performances, and he also has some good ones. But if they got Russell Allen or Ross Jennings to record their next DVD, there would still be autotune in there - our ears demand it and bands heed the demand.
« Last Edit: December 06, 2018, 05:44:16 AM by MoraWintersoul »

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #25 on: December 06, 2018, 06:34:41 AM »
For reference, this was a comment JLB made on his forum in 2010

Quote
Hey All,

Let’s get something straight. I do not use auto tune live. I have in the studio and post live recordings. This recording from Tokyo and any other live videos on youtube has not been auto tuned. So to those who don’t believe it, sorry to bust your bubble but you are absolutely wrong. This and all the others are exactly as they went down.

Rock on,

James.

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #26 on: December 06, 2018, 07:21:19 AM »
For reference, this was a comment JLB made on his forum in 2010

Quote
Hey All,

Let’s get something straight. I do not use auto tune live. I have in the studio and post live recordings. This recording from Tokyo and any other live videos on youtube has not been auto tuned. So to those who don’t believe it, sorry to bust your bubble but you are absolutely wrong. This and all the others are exactly as they went down.

Rock on,

James.

Well there you go. From the man himself.

Offline bosk1

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #27 on: December 06, 2018, 07:56:42 AM »
Score was not pitch corrected either.  There was some overdubbing, but very minimal, as confirmed both by the band and simply by comparison with bootlegs.
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Offline MoraWintersoul

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #28 on: December 07, 2018, 12:13:11 PM »
Score was not pitch corrected either.  There was some overdubbing, but very minimal, as confirmed both by the band and simply by comparison with bootlegs.
Are you sure? A few bootlegs sometimes pop up on Youtube that sound a little rougher than the finished DVD. I know you guys who were there listened to the bootlegs and compared and all but that was a long time ago.

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Offline genome

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #29 on: December 07, 2018, 03:46:41 PM »
I highly doubt they use live autotune - that's such a recipe for disaster. The computer has to guess what the right note is, if the algorithm gets it wrong then it will sound awful.

Auto-tune in post production for DVDs is almost a certainty. I don't really see anything wrong with that. Same with overdubbing - bands have been overdubbing live CDs since forever. Thin Lizzy's Live and Dangerous has overdubs all over the shop.

Offline Adami

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #30 on: December 07, 2018, 06:22:18 PM »
I highly doubt they use live autotune - that's such a recipe for disaster. The computer has to guess what the right note is, if the algorithm gets it wrong then it will sound awful.


That's not true. Since they're playing to a click, they can create a midi based autotune that is programmed with every vocal note ahead of time.

It'd be a good amount of work, but they could do it. No guessing involved. James would just have no room for error in his delivery.
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Offline Tony From Long Island

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #31 on: December 07, 2018, 08:13:35 PM »
Rather than any autotuning, I think they should just be wiser with their set choices as their singer gets older.  There's no shame in focusing on songs within his current comfortable range.
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Offline Lethean

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #32 on: December 07, 2018, 08:36:21 PM »
Rather than any autotuning, I think they should just be wiser with their set choices as their singer gets older.  There's no shame in focusing on songs within his current comfortable range.

I agree with this.  I don't exactly understand how live autotune would work - some people say it would work well, others think it'd be a disaster... but either way I think it would probably take away the live feel of the show.  I think they should focus on what he's comfortable with, but I don't think that means that have to avoid all older songs with high notes.  Just limit them, and maybe for some, rework the melodies a little bit.

Offline genome

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #33 on: December 08, 2018, 03:56:15 AM »
I highly doubt they use live autotune - that's such a recipe for disaster. The computer has to guess what the right note is, if the algorithm gets it wrong then it will sound awful.


That's not true. Since they're playing to a click, they can create a midi based autotune that is programmed with every vocal note ahead of time.

It'd be a good amount of work, but they could do it. No guessing involved. James would just have no room for error in his delivery.

It could still sound very strange depending on how out JLB's source vocals are. You can still end up with all sorts of artifacts and strange noises. Not worth the risk.

Offline adamack

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Re: Your Thoughts On Live Pitch Correction for James?
« Reply #34 on: December 08, 2018, 02:40:43 PM »
Score was not pitch corrected either.  There was some overdubbing, but very minimal, as confirmed both by the band and simply by comparison with bootlegs.

This is so cool to hear. I thought James was amazing on Score, but I always thought there was pitch correction done in the mixing process. Do you know if LSfNY was altered in any way? I would guess no, since that was shot during a time when it was probably a bit less common to pitch correct for a live release. But I never knew for sure