The Monro style..

[GregT]

Hi Richard,
As I sit here, Port in hand, listening to the crystal clarity of "Live in Australia"..and give thanks to your inimitable handywork...I reflect on the purity of Matts voice.
Before my "Monro epiphany' a couple of years ago I was like many radio listeners out there anywhere in the world , just accepting any old garbage the radio
station programme managers were pouring into my brain. Then came Matt Monro. I instantly found myself comparing anything I heard to Matts version..if there was one..
or even if there wasn't ... (How would Matt have sung this?)
Anyhow I digress , as someone 'in the game' as it were you may know the answer to this.
My question is , now that I am listening super-critically to anything I hear on the radio I am finding that many 'eminent singers' of the 50's and 60's often use a subtle voice
multi-tracking (?) or some form of echo to enhance what might be described as a slightly wanting vocal.
I have noticed that (among others) Andy Williams, Steve Lawrence , Perry Como seem to use this method to 'fatten' their voices.
In a time before the awesome recording technologies we utilise today even existed..HOW did they overlay vocal tracks so perfectly that they ALMOST overlap ,
but don't raise too much suspicion...??
The bottom line is (of course) with Matts voice ,the ONLY thing you get is pure Monro... That's what I'm talkin' about.!!
Cheers and Beers, or Ports
Greg

[karl]

Greg I dont mean to spoil Richard's answer but double-tracking was often used from the 50's upwards, Connie Francis, Ruby Murray also used it. Maybe in the early days it was cheaper than having backing singers, who knows?

[Rmoore]

I've never heard Perry Como double tracked (Matt never double tracked either!)

Andy Williams and Tony Bennett had ridiculous amounts of heavy sounding reverb added to their voices at times. Andy Williams did sometime double track too (eg Music To Watch The Girls Go By) This can sound incredibly date now. It does as you say 'Fatten' the vocal sound. As for double tracking, it's down to the talent of the vocalist. Doubling of the voice as Karl says, has been happening for a long time (you have Les Paul to thank for this!) The earliest way to do this is to record the complete song with the orchestra/band and then play back that recording and sing simultaneously onto a second tape. (or in some early cases even playback a disc recording and sing onto another disc!) Of course by 1962/3 4 track helped this process immensely

But good double tracking is a talent in it's self. The ability to almost completely replicate the first recording is not easy even for very good singers. Two examples of this not being done well are by Harry Seacombe and Petula Clark who by a strange coincidence recorded 'This Is My Song' with double tracked vocals that feature two radically different vocals played together.

Oh, and it wasn't to save money on backing singers, it was simply just an effect like echo & reverb. Technology even at that stage was changing the way music was recorded.

Hope that helps!

[karl]

Richard years ago when I was a child a neighbour said she like the girl who sang with Ruby Murray, not realising the 'other' girl was Ruby Murray!!!!

As you said, I always though it must be rather difficult to double track.

On Dusty's first album she didn't double track but she sang in two different voice on Mockingbird having to explain when she sang it live that Douggie (from her band) would be Dusty number two!

[karl]

Richard I agree, the reverb on Andy Williams & Tony Bennett often verged on the ridiculous and neither of them needed it as they are both great live performers. I have noticed it myself when listening to their records.

[Eman]

Hi Richard,
I read once how John Lennon admired the double tracked vocals of the US girl singers like Lesley Gore and Annette, that he wanted to use that technique when they were recording the early period Beatles stuff. I do like the double tracked Lesley Gore stuff, however I've heard a single tracked "You Don't Own Me" and it has more punch to it and sounds powerful and convincing to the lyrics.

[Rmoore]

Yes John Lennon liked it, but was lazy! He didn't want to bother recording a second track and asked if there was a way to do it automatically. So Ken Townsend at Abbey Road studios came up with artificial double tracking (ADT) which sort of simulated the effect - George Martin was asked by Lennon one day what it was that they used to make the effect and George described it jokingly as putting the sound through a double bifurcated sploshing flange. The name stuck and from that day forward Lennon asked him to 'flange' vocals for him.

The name stuck and there is still an effect used in audio called flanging today - although it's more of a phasing effect than ADT now.

Richard

[karl]

Richard didn't George Martin mention that not so long ago on a tv interview, or maybe even on one of Matt's dvd's? I know I heard about it from him on something.

[Marian]

That's where they got the name "Fred Flange" from...

[LindyG]

I've never heard Perry Como double tracked (Matt never double tracked either!)

Andy Williams and Tony Bennett had ridiculous amounts of heavy sounding reverb added to their voices at times. Andy Williams did sometime double track too (eg Music To Watch The Girls Go By) This can sound incredibly date now. It does as you say 'Fatten' the vocal sound. As for double tracking, it's down to the talent of the vocalist.

Yes Richard, I agree about the heavy reverb/layering on Williams' and Bennetts' recordings.

And I too don't believe I ever heard Perry double-tracked. His recordings did rely on backup singers, but they usually alternated with Perry singing solo, and then with backup, and then solo. So it was easy to hear that he could really sing! To beautiful effect, like Magic Moments:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9ND3oghPL5M

Even as a kid, I never cared for the obvious multi-tracking in recordings. For me that has always been what has separated the great singers from the not greats. Matt's "Portrait" vs. Steve's, for example.

What makes Matt supreme is not only the most beautiful voice and perfect pitch but also that he never needed backup singers or layered, double-tracking, reverb. Heck, his a capellas are better than most with an orchestra, backup singers, and multi-tracking. Like "Once In Every Long and Lonely While" on "Rarer", and that live "Hava Nagila" performance, when he sings much of it a capella:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93Cf5xgW ... sults_main

And now I've got Matt on my player singing "I Get Along Without You Very Well".....speaking of supreme recordings without tricks, Matt and Johnny Spence, PURE PERFECTION.

[LindyG]

Greg, thank you for this topic/your remarks about Matt's perfection.
I agree with you 100%!

[GregT]

Thanks Richard,
I suspected it must have been something along those lines..I knew you'd have all the gen..!!
Everyone is right, though..many did it and still do it. (I heard Harry Nillsen on the radio this morning singing "I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York City" ..
now THERE'S some blatant vocal multi-tracking if ever I heard it..as much as I don't mind old Harry in moderation).
Guess it's just my clumsy way of saying...I miss you ,Matt..you were the ONE and ONLY ..
(Sigh..)

[Rmoore]

Yes Marian, although that was pre John Lennon, Flange has always been one of George's favourite silly words!