SOUND ON SOUND

[Chet Leeway]

I came across this brand-new single from Liam Gallagher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HAbG7YONLxQ

Is it only me, or is the vocal treatment really poor? To me it sounds like they've gone overboard with some sort of saturation effect that leaves the vocal sounding ... I don't know how to describe it ... papery with an annoying permanent buzzing edge. I suppose they're tried to create some sort of vintage mood and/or Lennon-esque thing, but it just comes across as strange and artificial. Anyway, as a total amateur I'd be embarrassed if this was my work. Yes, he sounds nasal by nature and heavy vocal treatment is the order of the day, but this just sounds bad and lazy. Or is it only me?

[Hugh Robjohns]

It's a (quite heavily) processed voice... and it's a Gallagher voice at that...

We have to assume it's the effect he wanted though...

I don't think you can call it 'lazy'. You're just not on board with his intentions, and/or it's just not to your musical taste.

[Chet Leeway]

Lazy in the sense that it sounds like they just dialled it in and left it there all the way the way through. It may have worked if it was used more sparingly (and radically?).

Yes, we must assume it's a choice, but we must also be open to the possibility that they misjudged it. I'd be interested to hear if anyone actually think it makes sense and sounds good / better than just standard Gallagher vocals. As I see it, if they wanted it to be edgy they should have gone much further, and if they wanted to sound vintage they overcooked it.

[Chet Leeway]

I just realised .. it's obvious really ... he's singing with a face mask on. Fair play to him.

[blinddrew]

Actual laugh out loud at that.

It's obviously a production decision but like you I think it's a strange one. They've gone for a bit of vintage feel for the whole thing obviously but it does feel overdone on the vocal - at least to stick it on for the whole song.

[The Elf]

I'll place a small bet that he did the vocal at home himself, with the first mic he could grab - and I'm willing to also bet that the engineer would have suffered a tirade of abuse had he suggested it needed re-doing...

[MOF]

The track isn’t full of drums and distorted guitars so his voice is very clear in the mix, maybe it’s always sounded like that and/or the years of belting out rock songs have taken their toll.

[Tim Gillett]

Sounds clipped to me. So artistic, so musical. :crazy:

[Arpangel]

I’m not a big fan, at all really, but I like this, and the vocal sounds great to me.

[The Bunk]

Hmmm; I'd echo the comment from the OP that there are bits of it that I'd be a little embarrassed at signing off for release, although it does have a home studio vibe to it. Can't quite work out what's going on with the acoustic in the right channel. Is it meant to be there or not?
But looking at the hundreds of glowing comments does it really matter ;) ?

[Chevytraveller]

I'll place a small bet that he did the vocal at home himself, with the first mic he could grab - and I'm willing to also bet that the engineer would have suffered a tirade of abuse had he suggested it needed re-doing...

Yup.. Almost certainly the case... Liam was and almost certainly still is a massive egotistical bell-end...
I had the unfortunate displeasure to have a run in with Mr L Gallagher at the Leadmill in Sheffield back in the early 90's before they we know by anyone..

what amazes me is that people still listen to his talentless crap when it has long been clear that his brother has all the talent..

[Eddy Deegan]

The first thing that hits my ears in this is the piano. It's compressed to heck and suffers greatly as a result.

And so is/does everything else.

When I first bought an SPL Vitalizer (in the '90s or early naughties) I initially I thought it sounded great when I whacked mixes through it. All of those mixes I have come to regret. It's not the fault of the Vitalizer, it's the failure of me at the time to understand and hear what I was doing to my mixes.

This sounds similar in some ways. Way too much applied, way too much & all that.

[Arpangel]

I'll place a small bet that he did the vocal at home himself, with the first mic he could grab - and I'm willing to also bet that the engineer would have suffered a tirade of abuse had he suggested it needed re-doing...

Yup.. Almost certainly the case... Liam was and almost certainly still is a massive egotistical bell-end...
I had the unfortunate displeasure to have a run in with Mr L Gallagher at the Leadmill in Sheffield back in the early 90's before they we know by anyone..

what amazes me is that people still listen to his talentless crap when it has long been clear that his brother has all the talent..

Unfortunately there is a tendency with Mr L Gallagher to be associated with tales of unpleasant behaviour.
I was a Camden resident for years, and a friend of mine worked the doors of a few clubs and pubs, one day Mr Gallagher came in with a couple of other guys, on the way in either Liam, or one of his mates made an unpleasant comment to my friend, at which point Liam and his mob were "told to leave" by my friend and his brother, the details of all this aren’t clear, but you get the drift.
I’ve heard many stories like this, and in interviews he doesn’t seem to do anything to dispel this reputation, he seems to make it a feature, but it’s not cool, in any way, it’s just unpleasant and annoying.

[Chet Leeway]

Regardless of the human qualities or lack thereof of "our kid", I'm glad several of you echo my feelings about the vocal treatment here, just to make sure it's not just me and my ears. The likelihood of a substandard home recording followed by a botched rescue job had occured to me (and others on other websites). I kind of respect the attempt at a crooner type of track, but he's clearly out of his depth and his voice hasn't exactly got a Nat King Cole-ish smoothness, so to compensate maybe they've tried some sort of vintage mic emulation and turned it to 10 all the way through. They must have realised it sounded rough, but the plain vocals probably sounded worse. Whatever. He's free to do it.

[Sam Inglis]

It's weird! It's like a pastiche of a pastiche of ELO pastiching the Beatles, sung by a deep fake John Lennon.