This recent post about the Trusting Tag brought in an interesting comment from my buddy Dave. I thought I’d address it here and maybe delve into the subject a little more.

No, Dave, that’s not what I meant! Come on, you gotta admit that drowning in reverb is fun once in a while! Actually, that was a quick final mix, and I’m sure that reverb was just the standard default n-Track plugin, not even tweaked any. There are better reverbs in the world.

Good job on the voice tracking, you got that one nailed. After I hit the post, David pops up above By and ends up on top of the stack in falsetto. We actually did that kind of swapping and switcharooing a lot.

We did it in order to best achieve the sound we wanted at a particular spot, while playing to our individual strengths and avoiding our individual weaknesses. For example, By’s got the high full voice notes (as well as the mix/falsetto stuff), David has the next highest full voice and a great (and high) falsetto, and I can pick up the leftovers, e.g., next highest (not high) and maybe biggest full voice and passable falsetto stuff.

So, on Trusting we wanted a high, big, power ending. I’m on a high (for me) root, if By takes the third above and David takes the fifth below, that’s probably going to be ok but it could be a lot better. And I might be too big and heavy on the post for that particular stack to balance very well. We want to move the chord stack up a notch, but that third is too high for David to consistently nail and hold. By can do it in his sleep, so we have By pound the full-voice third and send David on up above him floating in a falsetto tenor!

So then we have the type of tag we wanted, and we do it in a way that we can pull off fairly well and consistently. Not only that, but since we’re all in (or close to!) our comfort zones, we’re probably going to have a pretty decent blend and match.

Like I said, we did this kind of stuff fairly often. See if you can pick out more AHQ switcharoo moments! And yes, “Keep in the Middle” is another one. Same story as Trusting, we needed the full voice power note in the middle so we saddle By with it and fill in around him.

As far as overtones, once in a while we’re in tune and blended enough that they happen. The only overdubbing we’ve done has been to double parts (same octave) or fill in fifth or sixth parts, and even that’s been very little. As far as acoustic environment, we recorded all of Purpose in my old room. Carpeted, multi-angled ceiling, pretty dead room.

I’ve been thinking recently on taking a look behind-the-scenes of various AHQ issues. So thanks for bringing this up, Dave. Look for an upcoming post going in-depth and behind-the-scenes with “When I Lift Up My Head.”

All this stuff ain’t free, Dave, this post is going to cost you. I want some more mp3’s from your quartet.