Hello, I have lurked for a long time but recently started to post more. I love Queenzone. Thanks to those who make it happen. I wanted to ask generally, how many takes do you think it took for a complete vocal on average, from Freddie? Was what we hear on record a composite of 3 takes, or was it more like 10? I am a collector of live shows and obviously Queen was a different beast live. I am a fan of both, but curious as to how things went down in the studio. Thank you for indulging me.
- Ryan
Ron · Member since
All I know is that Mr Bowie did most vocals in just one take. No idea how many Queen did.
Vocal harmony · Member since
It really varied from song to song. Also the way the songs were produced had an influence on how best to record vocal lines. Any " bad" notes could always be fixed by dropping in, so some times one take could capture most of the lead vocal. Feddie did like to experiment so would often put down different versions of the same song.
The time theY spent in the studio may also point to them spending a long time doing retakes, not just of vocals.
Sebastian · Member since
It also depends on the difficulty of a section. Bo Rhap multi-tracks feature three (IIRC) takes of the lead vocal on the ballad section, and they're all quite similar (except some brief bits), so it was more of a 'which one is the best?' rather than 'which one is good enough?'. But for the rock section there are loads of takes, as it was more difficult for him to hit the C without falsetto in those days (10-15 years later, he'd do it way better).
Whenever lyrics were changed that obviously resulted in more and more takes and retakes. We know 'Ga Ga' was changed shortly before release, and also some of the tracks on the last albums had working lyrics all the time.
ANAGRAMER · Member since
[QUOTE] [b]Vocal harmony wrote:[/b]
It really varied from song to song. Also the way the songs were produced had an influence on how best to record vocal lines. Any " bad" notes could always be fixed by dropping in, so some times one take could capture most of the lead vocal. Feddie did like to experiment so would often put down different versions of the same song.
The time theY spent in the studio may also point to them spending a long time doing retakes, not just of vocals.[/QUOTE]
