Concrete is Solid

[Drem]

I got it from Literally 30

Great, that's explain everything. Thank you.

[diana]

My favorites on Concrete: Luna Park (beautiful Silvia Mason James solo) and Dreaming of the Queen (beautiful orchestra).

[S-sense]

@ those who were in the audience:

is there are difference between the live sound of the music and/or the vocals sound and the the concrete recording?
i could think of overdubs or rerecordings of some vocals.

but maybe they are using realtime-autotune these days...

what do you think?

[glennjridge]

I've used autotune for recording and IMO it could be very risky using it it live in real time as no matter how tight you get the controls and settings, every now and then even if you hit the notes it will process a note very strange and make it sound weird.

I really wonder about the concrete vocals also, I mean a whole concert without hardly a bad note. with montage I could tell that neils vocals sounded a tad too thick and glossy.he most likely did re-record them. yet the concrete concert his vocals sound properly thin.yet he sings totally on tune for basically the whole concert track after track.

either he had an VERY awesome night....or when he fixed them in the recording studio he kept the effects overdubs to a bare minimum so it sounded live rather than a studio vocal as most of montage did.

[DazzerUKUK]

There is definately work on Robbie's voice; it sounds more processed than it did on the night. They have attempted to get rid of some of the silly noises he made on his entrance too and the silly noise he made at the end, but you can hear them still if you listen closely.

Also, didn't he mess up the verses at one point? Have they corrected it through editing?

It's difficult to judge other sound changes - obviously in the audience you don't hear it in the same way as the mikes and mixing desk do.

I do remember the drums sounding quite loud in comparison to the other instruments, but thats what post-production is for....correcting the balance.

[DazzerUKUK]

I really wonder about the concrete vocals also, I mean a whole concert without hardly a bad note. with montage I could tell that neils vocals sounded a tad too thick and glossy.he most likely did re-record them. yet the concrete concert his vocals sound properly thin.yet he sings totally on tune for basically the whole concert track after track.

either he had an VERY awesome night....or when he fixed them in the recording studio he kept the effects overdubs to a bare minimum so it sounded live rather than a studio vocal as most of montage did.

He did have an awesome night. I don't recall him hitting a bum note. He did fiddle around with the settings on his earpiece alot to get it right. My guess is that all the songs were very carefully chosen. They couldn't really afford any mistakes. I chatted with some of the crew and musicians after the show and they were telling me that musician Union rules dictate they couldn't use reheasal recordings etc for the broadcast. They were all ecstatic by the way it went....and I think that shows in the recording. It's superb!

Having said that, I've endured one or two performances that included bum notes. The most cringemaking was at the Savoy. He was so out of tune during the opening number that you could feel the audience sink six feet with embarrassment. However, he pulled it all together and the rest of the performance was great. Out of tune problems are usually caused by not being able to hear yourself over the music and the opening of the Savoy show was VERY loud.......

Just get a friend to put on headphones, crank up their favourite song on their ipod as loud as possible and see how out of tune they are when they sing along.......most people will sing so badly - because they can't hear themselves! It's the same principle as to why people will shout at you when they are wearing headphones with music. They talk louder because they cannot hear themselves speak.

[Remark]

I think Concrete is amazing too. Been listening to it the past week over and over again. There are two things that continue to irk me though!!!

1) Neil messes up the Integral lyrics at the end by singing "Sterile, Rational, Immaculate, Perfect"--not the right order! Drives me crazy!

2) And Robbie Williams screws up the words to Jealousy! ACK! It would be *extra* incredible if he sang it CORRECTLY!

Oh well. Still simply amazing.

[diana]

I think the Concretealbum is a little different from the BBC-radio concert. In the first place the speaking parts are less loud, and in the second place the sound is less sharper. The songs I recorded with my minidisc disappeared one way or another from my computer, so I cannot check it.
For instance Rent sounded very sharp, on Concrete it is more softened it seems.

[Pani]

I think the Concretealbum is a little different from the BBC-radio concert. In the first place the speaking parts are less loud ...

What a pity! I had it in my hands today, I wanted to
buy it, there was only one copy left but as it was not
*sealed* anymore and scratched and looked a litle bit
shoddy I have ordered a 'new' one.
As it wasn't sealed anymore, I took a spare look inside,
the booklet seemed a bit of a 'carton' (even the CD it-
self was scratched!).
I took no closer look inside the booklet, description or
whatever else the case with that 'carton' ...

I think it was the CD for customers to have a listen ...

[glennjridge]

yeah Dazzerukuk I think the earpiece thing could be the problem with neil in the shows he sung off key.

from what I understand the more you sing the more stronger and more control over your voice you get. so I see no reason why someone who has sung on so many tours and essencially the same songs couldnt pretty much be in key for a night.

[TwizzleUK]

I think the Concretealbum is a little different from the BBC-radio concert. In the first place the speaking parts are less loud, and in the second place the sound is less sharper. The songs I recorded with my minidisc disappeared one way or another from my computer, so I cannot check it.
For instance Rent sounded very sharp, on Concrete it is more softened it seems.

That's because radio stations add quite heavy compression to many of their broadcasts (to make it more audible if, say, you're in your car or another noisy atmosphere). Radio 1 do it all the time, so I guess Radio 2 do as well (although Radio 3 only do it on their "drive time" shows, if I recall.

It's a fancy multi-band compressor, that will make things sound punchier and more consistent in volume levels. They've probably eased up on it a bit for the final CD, due to the subtlties in the orchestral parts.

Andy

[diana]

I think the Concretealbum is a little different from the BBC-radio concert. In the first place the speaking parts are less loud, and in the second place the sound is less sharper. The songs I recorded with my minidisc disappeared one way or another from my computer, so I cannot check it.
For instance Rent sounded very sharp, on Concrete it is more softened it seems.

That's because radio stations add quite heavy compression to many of their broadcasts (to make it more audible if, say, you're in your car or another noisy atmosphere). Radio 1 do it all the time, so I guess Radio 2 do as well (although Radio 3 only do it on their "drive time" shows, if I recall.

It's a fancy multi-band compressor, that will make things sound punchier and more consistent in volume levels. They've probably eased up on it a bit for the final CD, due to the subtlties in the orchestral parts.

Andy

Ok, thanks. I'm used to the Concrete album now, it sounds fine.

[yves]

Great album !!!

Only "It's Alright", "Luna Park" and "Dreaming of the Queen" sounds a little flat.
I don't know what's happen with these songs because all the others sounds good.

[S-sense]

As there is no miming of chris, i would like to know on which songs he actually played.
but i think its quite hard to hear his little playing .

[moxlox]

Well the whole thing is awesome, and as is said above choosing the songs orchestral content really made it work so well with a full orchestra.

My favourite is Its A Sin, I think it is the best version I ever heard.

Also love Casanova in Hell, Left to My Own Devices and Its Alright. Well love all of it but they stand out to me!