I recently came across a series of videos on YouTube titled: Singers Real Voices Compilation. It is a 5 part series, and these videos are basically a compilation of what pop singers really sound like, without pitch correction and polishing up. The compliation includes videos such as studio recordings, live gigs, and direct mic feeds from performances. The third thing is basically NOT what you hear when they perform, with the polished recording playing and lots of overlaid sound, but the actual direct pickup from their microphone during the performance. It was really cool to see the difference in what you hear during these performances compared to what they are actually singing (sometimes totally different it's crazy). It was also interesting to see what artists sounded better then others without the help of post production. In some cases, some of the artists almost sounded better without the production factor!
The pop music industry has a tendency to be very contrived, with stars as just figure heads, and most of the work being done by others behind the scene. It is really cool to be able to see the stars who have a true ability. While their melodies might be representative, and their chord progressions predictable, there are pop stars who still possess outstanding musical ability, and it is really cool to be able to see this displayed, and not overshadowed by the things done to make a popular pop piece.
This is just the first one, I highly recommend you watch it!
Additionally, the channel which hosts these videos has other videos dedicated to this subject, however focusing on one artists for the duration of the video. I'm sure you will be able to find a video on an artist you enjoy, and the video might even make you like them more! Check it out!!!
Ok Go is a band of four guys from Chicago, Illinois. They became famous from their video of them dancing on treadmills to their original song titled Here it Goes Again. That video became viral when it was first released in February 2009. It now has almost 32 million views on youtube. I really like OK Go because their music videos are really creative in some aspect whether it be the choreography, costumes, or instrumentation. Another really cool music video of theirs is for their song called Needing/Getting. The music video was sponsored by Chevrolet for a commercial for the Chevy Sonic which they decorated with "retractable pneumatic arms" to hit instruments that they drove past. OK Go sat in the car and sang as they drove past over 1,000 instruments including pianos, guitars, and LOTS of different kinds of drums set up in a course over two miles long in the desert outside of LA. The lead singer even had to take a stunt driving class to be able to drive for the video. Another one of my favorite music videos by them is for their song called "I Won't Let You Down" which they recorded while riding Toyota UNI-CUBs which are basically segways that you sit on and steer by shifting your body weight. They filmed the entire thing at half speed so they could get the whole thing crisp and right on beat. They also filmed the entire thing in only one shot with a remote control drone filming the entire thing. The coolest part of the video is when the drone goes wayyyy up into the sky and you can see all the dancers below. Each dancer has an umbrella and they make images with the different colors of umbrellas and it looks really cool and pixelated from really far away. You can also check out their music video for Writings on the Wall which was also filmed all in one shot and uses optical illusions(https://youtu.be/m86ae_e_ptU).
I was really excited to go see the new Jungle Book with my family. I really liked the movie but was disappointed there weren’t more of the original songs. They had three songs from the original movie which were the “Bare Necessities”, “Trust in Me” and “I Wan’na Be Like You”. All of these songs were all spoken instead of sung. I really liked the Billy Murray singing/speaking the “Bare Necessities” because it seemed like it really fit with Balloo’s character. But the other songs I would have liked to be sung, especially “Trust in Me”. I thought that with “Trust in Me” be whispered instead of sung it more seductive instead of a hallucinatory. I also thought it was wrong to have Louie speak/sing “I Wan’na Be Like You” because I feel like his character would sing. Everyone I talked to about this was like “It’s not supposed to be the same” and I was like “but I the music is what makes the jungle book fun”. What do you think?
With some choir folks graduating, I thought it would be nice to pick The Graduation Song, The Graduation song, well at least the most common and original song used for graduation, was written by Edward Elgar and it was called Pomp and Circumstance March #1. It has a slow nice melody and was written in 190. It was dedicated to Alfred E. Rodewald. The instrumentation is: two piccolos, two flutes, two oboes, two clarinets in A, bass clarinet in A, two bassoons, contrabassoon, four horns in F, two trumpets in F, two cornets in A, three trombones, tuba, three timpani, percussion (bass drum, cymbals, triangle, side drum, jingles, and tambourine), two harps, organ, and strings.This song was the best of the set and it had its premiere, along with the more reserved March #2, in Liverpool on 19 October 1901, with Edward Elgar conducting the Liverpool Orchestral Society. Both marches were played two days later at a London Promenade Concert in the Queen's Hall London, conducted by Henry Wood.
