Unit 2
Live Vs Studio – Bodies by Drowning Pool
I will be comparing the differences and similarities between the live (Live Rock Am Ring 2002) and studio version of Drowning Pool’s 2001 hit song ‘Bodies’. When a song reaches commercial success in the music charts, the live performance is expected to be either as good as or even better than the studio version; however, this is not always the case, as shown through ‘Bodies’.
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This song is immediately different from the studio version in terms of dynamics and tempo – the intro is screamed to the audience instead of the whisper intro used on the track, which is less effective as the build-up used on the recorded track would be more likely to ‘pump up’ an audience since there’s a sudden change from whispering to screaming instead of just staying the same by screaming from the start. However, this was most likely used due to the acoustics of the venue – it was a large outdoor stage, so whispering would be less likely to be heard, and if the lead singer tried to sing louder in the verses it could’ve strained his voice. This could’ve been helped with better live sound mixing, however, since the lead singer’s mic is the only one that really works; the backing vocalist can hardly be heard by the audience, which takes away from the performance because one singer is screaming to be heard by the audience and the other is just drowned out by the instruments.
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The speed of the song sounds rushed in the live version because of the heavy use of the hi-hat and cymbals on the drums, which would’ve been used to drive the audience and make the performance more adrenaline fueled. However, this makes the performance sound off, especially when compared with the aggressive vocals and the slightly off-key beginning because it sounds like less effort was put into the vocals and they’re making up for it with heavy drum playing. To rectify this, I would slow the song down (or at least use the drums a bit less) – this would give the singer more of a chance to catch his breath between verses, so it doesn’t sound like he’s just ran a marathon and he’s trying to compensate for it by making himself sound more aggressive and angrier than on the studio version.
There are also problems with the instruments throughout the whole song; the drums are louder than all the other instruments so it’s no surprise that when the drummer tries to sing the backing vocals, he can’t be heard at all (unless he also starts screaming, which, in my opinion, doesn’t sound like a good idea unless they want the crowd to go deaf) and the heavy use of cymbals and the hi-hat makes them sound tinny, especially when they ring out. One way to fix this would be to adjust the microphones so that the drum mics are a bit further away from the drums and the mic that the drummer uses to sing is closer to his mouth (this is adjusted throughout the performance to try and pick up the drummer’s vocals, however, so it could just be a case of turning his mic up and turning the lead singer’s mic down slightly).
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The studio version is much better in terms of production and mixing – everything can be heard, and it can be heard much clearer than in the live version since it doesn’t sound like they’re just trying to get through the song as fast as they can. This is because during a live performance it’s one take and everything is mixed live – for the studio, they can spend time adjusting the volume and tempo of the song until it’s what the band wants it to be. It’s also better because none of the instruments used drown out the others and both singers can be heard as there’s no drastic change in dynamics between the two. The guitar is the same in both the live and the studio version; the same effect is used on the guitar (a phaser pedal) and when it’s used, it can clearly be heard over everything else since all the other instruments drop out. The bass is quieter than in the live version – it would’ve been louder when played live to get the audience to jump around (or ‘mosh’) more than if it was kept at the same level as in the studio.
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The arrangement is the same in both the live and the studio version in terms of song structure (intro, verse, chorus, 4/4 time signature etc) and instruments used in each section and which ones drop out and which keep playing – they didn’t add anything extra into the live version or shorten the song in any way; they kept it the same as the studio version when playing it live because it reached number 6 in Billboard’s Mainstream Rock Tracks chart – fans would expect what they heard on the charts and since that was successful, they would choose to stick to that instead of changing the structure of the song. This makes the performance boring since it’s just what you’d get from the studio version – nothing about it is different other than the dynamics at the start of the song so it’s not really exciting. The vocals are structured so that the verses are clean and then contrasted with dirty vocals (screaming) in the chorus and other parts of the song.
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The studio version of the song feels calmer than the live version because most of the harsh and raw sounds created when playing it live in an open space would have been smoothed out during post-production which takes away some of the rock/gritty feel created when played live but it makes the song feel less chaotic and angry. During the bridge, the lower harmony can be heard much more clearly than in the live version and you can actually hear the lyrics ‘skin against skin, blood and bone’ (they aren’t being drowned out by all the other instruments used) which is good because then you can hear the contrast between the vocals used there and the chorus.
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In the live version, the acoustic environment doesn’t work in the band’s favor – because they’re outside, the sound has further to travel so everything has to be turned up – instruments and mics alike – but by the time the sound reaches the back of the crowd, it’s just a mess of instruments and vocals fighting to be heard over the other so you can’t tell what the singer is actually saying. You’d have a better chance of hearing the song how it’s intended to be played closer to the stage, because the further away you are the more the sound just blends into one – this could be fixed by using either more speakers or better live mixing to make sure they don’t lose the sound over distance.
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In conclusion, the live version of ‘Bodies’ by Drowning Pool is an endorphin-fueled mess; while it might not be a good idea to listen to it with your parents, it is good for making you energetic (or just releasing any pent-up aggression and/or energy). It’s badly mixed and Drowning Pool definitely won’t win any ‘Best Live band’ awards for it but since the purpose and meaning of the song is that it was created for mosh pits and it’s about mosh pits, they were successful in that regard.
Billie Eilish – Lovely (with Khalid) ****
Billie Eilish is a unique voice in the pop scene because there hasn’t been a sound like hers before. She blends dark lyrics with relaxing instrumentals that sound like they should be played in a coffee shop and her lilting vocals compliment her style. Her song ‘Lovely’ with fellow artist Khalid does not disappoint in this regard; like her past singles such as ‘idontwannabeyouanymore’, Eilish uses vocals, piano and percussion to convey a desperate conviction to the listener with the lyrics ‘I don’t wanna be you anymore’, contrasting the instrumentation used and creating a dark tone with the power used behind her voice to impart emotion on the listener.
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Eilish’s voice tugs on your heart strings and sounds like a ghostly wail with how quiet and soft it is, which is perfectly suited for this song’s more emotional and orchestral style - the genre of this song would be best suited for alternative or indie as it doesn’t sound like anything in the charts or like an adrenaline-fueled rock song; the sound is unique to Eilish and it’s great. Her music is created more for painting an image in someone else’s head because, as Eilish herself stated, she’s more of a visual artist – she thinks more about the images and emotions she can inject into a song with the blending of her vocals and instruments instead of focusing purely on making an ear-worm or a song to dance to (which is refreshing in a world of carbon-copies with no real idea who first started it off).
This song’s purpose is to pull emotion from the listener from the start; the song begins with just a piano in the key of C minor and a string section softly joining after the first chord change. Eilish’s vocals soon join the mix and her soft voice paired with the instrument accompaniment creates a haunting tone like something out of a Life is Strange video game. It’s pleasurable to the ear because it makes the song sound more like an emotional piano ballad, especially paired with the use of broken chords in the piano. Another nice thing about the vocals is that Eilish and Khalid have similar Internation with their voices which makes the harmonies sound, as the title says, ‘Lovely’. However, there is no use of modulation in the song (changing key) so it ends up sounding repetitive and somewhat boring - or, just like other popular songs with the use of the same 4 chords.
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A memorable part of this song would be the buildup to the chorus as vocal harmonies are used over the instruments to make a long crescendo (gradually getting louder) and then break into the chorus which could be compared to songs like ‘Sweater Weather’ by The Neighborhood or ‘Eyes Off You’ by Bombay Bicycle Club; this is almost anti-climactic because it goes from the dense, loud sound in the buildup to a clear, quiet sound (just the piano and vocals with harmonies) - this is almost as if Eilish has come to a sense of clarity; the use of all the instruments and harmonies to create a dense sound could reflect the chaos in the mind of someone with a mental illness and breaking into a clear sound could either show resignation or getting better. Also, the percussion used in this section is condensed to give the listener a sense of being trapped, representing the idea of being trapped in your own mind. Eilish also switches from using her chest voice to using her head voice to show the loss of power she feels – the song tells a story using the instrumentation and vocal melodies as well as the lyrics.
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I would probably recommend this song for teenagers as Eilish is a teenager herself – she sings about relatable issues that are on the rise for teenagers by drawing from her own experiences and feelings. I would also recommend it to people who like theatre and film because the sound of this song is theatrical in itself; the string section would be reminiscent of an orchestral sound that would fill the room and it sounds like it could be a song used during emotional scenes in tv shows (such as 13 Reasons Why – the song became more popular after it was used on this and the show itself covers the same issues used in the song). It could also be recommended to people who listen to artists such as Lorde or Lana Del Rey because they all write songs where the focus is more on the lyrics and the instruments are used to highlight them and make them sound more dramatic and theatrical.
Similar songs to this include the ones mentioned before and ‘Obsessions’ by Marina and the Diamonds, ‘Exit Music (for a film)’ by Radiohead and ‘I Go Crazy’ by Orla Gartland - ‘I Go Crazy’ also uses a long crescendo with the buildup of instruments on top of one another before breaking into the chorus; ‘Exit Music (for a film)’ does the same thing as ‘I Go Crazy’ but the instruments buildup before the volume decreases again and then the song breaks into the chorus. ‘Obsessions’ is like ‘Lovely’ with the use of just string instruments and percussion along with the main vocal melody and it’s also similar in the depressing tone created, however, there is no use of 2 voices in this song, only backing vocals. Each song is similar in terms of focus on the lyrics, changes in dynamics (use of crescendos – gradually getting louder – and diminuendos – gradually getting quieter) and time signatures; they’re all in simple common time (4/4) and the use of melodies and lyrics to evoke emotion.
Overall, this song is beautifully tragic – it blends both instruments and vocals to make a song about depression sound like it feels, and it does it well. Though it is slightly boring, I think it deserves a 4/5-star rating for both the 2 voices used and the way the sounds of the instruments sound like a crying whine (violins in the string section) and condensed and far away (percussion used in the build-up). The song ends the way it starts by decreasing in volume and having the instruments drop out until it's just a violin playing the melody from the chorus.
Song Comparison – Torn by Natalie Imbruglia and Hanging by Nothing But Thieves
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Torn is a song that was originally written by the band Ednaswap in 1995, however, I’m going to be comparing the Natalie Imbruglia version with a modern rock song – Hanging by Nothing But Thieves – to compare the similarities and differences between the genres and arrangement. The first song I’m going to be looking at is Torn by Natalie Imbruglia – this version sounds like it was made for a coffee shop soundtrack with clean sounding instrumentals and vocals and the main use of an acoustic guitar, bass and vocal harmonies. These are used more toward the chorus to give the song more of an emotional feel paired with the lyrics ‘you’re a little late, I’m already torn’ with the added use of a shaker on top of it, and the lyrics throughout the song are targeted at someone else and with the chorus focusing on how the singer feels. The bass runs are more prominent in the pre-chorus which sounds funkier to a listener than it would with just the root notes. I’d say that this song fits the pop genre because it uses the generic pop structure of intro/verse 1/pre-chorus/chorus/verse 2/pre-chorus/chorus/instrumental break (bridge)/pre-chorus/chorus/instrumental outro and it sounds too light and clean to be a rock song – the only ‘heavy’ instrument that this version uses is a bass and a few riffs on the electric guitar in the background of the second verse.
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This version of the song would be preferred by people who listen to music to relax or ‘chill’ out – I couldn’t imagine this song being played at a rock concert or anyone moshing to it because the use of the acoustic guitar from the beginning immediately relaxes the listener, especially since the song doesn’t have any heavy sections after that and it focuses more on vocals in the chorus; Imbruglia’s audience would be more like people who put their flashlights on for this song rather than an adrenaline-fueled mosh pit of an audience.
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Hanging by Nothing But Thieves, (released in 2015 for the band’s deluxe version of their first album, Nothing But Thieves) however, is much heavier than Imbruglia’s version of Torn with the primary focus on sultry, lilting vocals contrasted by the heavy use of electric guitars, bass guitar and drums. This song uses the instruments to give a heavy, dense sound for the verses and strips back to just a riff on the guitar and drums in the verses and just the bass for the pre-chorus (which is then joined by all of the other instruments). This song is more aggressive sounding than Torn because of the differences in tone for the vocals – the verses are clean before getting to the pre-chorus where the vocals turn rawer and grittier with the lyrics ‘Yoo hoo, Mary Jane/Are you gonna come for a dance today?’ to give the song a classic rock feel. The song uses a guitar solo (instrumental break) as well to give a break from the vocals but instead of going straight back into the chorus, the song completely strips back to just a piano and vocals and the chorus is then brought back in by the drums.
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This song is definitely more suited to a ‘rock’ audience; electric guitars, bass guitar and drums are used to get the crowd worked up and move around more than you would at a Natalie Imbruglia concert since it was made for dancing to, rather than to feel something from the lyrics. This song is also more complex in terms of changes between soft and harsh/clean and dirty sounds and instruments used since there are parts of the songs where an instrument is only used for one section (for example, the piano in the bridge/instrumental part).
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Overall, the only similarities between these 2 songs is the structure – Imbruglia's is more of a personal song about how people change in a relationship which then leads to a break-up (‘there’s nothing where he used to lie’) and Nothing But Thieves' song focuses more on using a contrast between vocals and instruments to create a pleasant sound for a listener. These songs are each targeted at very different audiences and were created for different purposes.
Song Arrangements
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All songs have some sort of structure to them, with each genre having its roots in older genres such as classical music – music is always developing and changing, whether it’s from blues to rock or from rock to indie; music never stops developing, but it sticks to some of the same structures across genres.
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Songs are composed in certain structures that consist of different sections – examples of these sections would be things like verses and choruses; these are the basic building blocks of a song and the order (and just general use) of these varies across genres. For example, pop songs generally use the same structure of Verse 1/Pre-Chorus/Chorus/Verse 2/Pre-Chorus/Chorus/Bridge/Chorus with the bridge section sometimes being swapped out for an instrumental section and either repeats the first verse lyrics or is somewhat similar to the lyrical content used throughout the song. There may also be another pre-chorus before the final chorus, but usually pop songs go straight from the bridge to the final chorus(es). Examples of songs that use this structure include Shape of You - Ed Sheeran, Gravel To Tempo – Hayley Kiyoko, Ironic – Alanis Morissette, Torn – Natalie Imbruglia, and Shut Up And Dance – Walk The Moon; they all follow the same order except for Gravel To Tempo which uses the pre-chorus and chorus after the bridge. These songs are generally made more for commercial success rather than for the purpose to make music for music – they're all similar sounding because that’s the structure that appeals to the general public so the more famous, they are, the more money they’ll make.
The structure of rock songs is very similar to how pop songs are structured but they’re not exactly the same – Green Day, a popular punk rock band, sometimes start their songs with the chorus (Youngblood, Whatsername) or a hook/riff (Revolution Radio, Bang Bang, Kill The DJ) so their songs aren’t just a repeat of their older work and instead of a bridge they’ll have a guitar solo over either the chorus chords or the verse chords. They do this to add variety to their songs – no 2 songs will sound the same in terms of structure and chords, unlike artists like Ed Sheeran (pop artist) who use 4 chord songs – these are songs that use the 1st, 4th, 5th, and 6th chords of whatever key the song is in and the only thing that really changes is the order of the chords; for example, Lego House uses G, D, Em, D for the verse (1st, 5th, 6th, 5th) and The A Team uses G, Em, Cadd9, G (1st, 6th, 4th, 1st). Rock songs tend to use power chords (empty chords – they don’t include the 3rd note from the tonic chord which would make the chord major or minor) and they have more chord changes than pop songs; for example, Bang Bang uses the chords Am, Em, F, Dm, C and G all in different orders for the intro, verses, chorus etc so instead of using the same 4 chords, it uses several different chords to make a more complex structure. Rock songs talk about problems in society and with society such as racism, homophobia, islamophobia and mental health; they use music as a form of self-expression.
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Reggae is a music genre that was developed in the late 1960s in Jamaica and it usually relates news, social gossip and political comment - it's a form of protest song about distrust of political bodies. It’s easily recognizable from the use of offbeat drum sections and the relationship between the bass and drum downbeat. Instruments commonly used in reggae music include steel drums, bongos (percussion instruments), lead guitar and rhythm guitar. The guitars use a technique called ska stroke or ‘double skank’ - this is where the guitar plays staccato downstrokes on the 2nd and 4th beat in a bar to add the rhythmic base to a reggae song. Reggae is also similar to pop music with the use of simple chord progressions – Red Red Wine by UB40 uses only 3 chords (G, D and C) but it’s made more musically interesting with the use of ska stroke throughout and bass runs. Reggae songs tend to be used as a way to express/share messages and they’re also used as a celebration their nationalism and life.