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Old voice or New Voice?

Old Voice Or New Voice?

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wannabestartinsomthin21 said:
Breathing technique is a large part of singing, especially with Seth Riggs, who's speech level singing applies breathing techniques which allow you to hold long notes, to sing with the ease one would speak with, etc... Michael isn't struggling with his breathing or unable to breath correctly while singing. If anyone know's how to properly conserve his breath, it's Michael.

Michael still has as much capability as he did when he was a young man, in fact, he has more. His range improved going in to the 90s by 4 half steps. Like J5 says, what Michael is doing is stylization. One doesn't have to like his style. At times I think it would have been better for him to have sung a verse more softly or what have you. But I also know it isn't done because he is unable to sing more softlly or more clearly. He has the range, absolutely. You hear him hit highter, clear notes on songs like "Speechless" and "The Lost Children". On "History" he goes from singing high and clear in "Earth Song" with the "Ohhhhoohooohhooh" to the climax where he sings it with a very intense growl and grit in his voice. But don't think he couldn't sing that with a high, clear voice. He could. He does in songs like "Childhood" and "Smile", etc...

My Dad said to me one day "Michael's a rock singer!", lol. He said it because Michael is extremely veratile and he is able to move from singing in an R&B, jazz, ballad style to singing in a hard edged, rock n' roll, metalic style.
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I AGREE with you.

My 2 cents in this - he is absolutelly no running out of voice. On Whatever Happens he wanted to sound that way. I can explain this very simple - in our days with the technology of recording and mixing, the singer can stop and take a rest in the middle of the song, near the end, after few verses, etc etc how many times he/she wishes then continue till the end. The song will be remade piece by piece afterwards. I know Michael is not doing it like this, but if he feels that he is out of breath be sure he would do the song in parts, becuase he is a perfectionist.

For example, I watched Madonna recording vocals for Ray of light ( an interesting documentary from that time ) She sung few verses, even few words then stopped, then sung again, then stopped, etc till the song was done. Those little pieces were put together at final.


I do have somewhere - need to search for it - an early Earth Song version, sung quite differently from the album version. Actually I love that version more. At the end when we know his voice gets harsh and lil' graspy, in the older version was cristal clear, and the melody different, something very extatic, even hipnotic ....Those were one of the highest notes he ever hit. Scary.
 
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Wow..I never realized how little his voice has changed over the past 25 years..he sounds absolutely amazing! I really can't wait to see what's going to happen soon :D!
 
^^^ I know right? The fact that people were debating if the WBSS2008 vocals were NEW or from an old demo shows that MJ's voice is like frozen in time.

I do have somewhere - need to search for it - an early Earth Song version, sung quite differently from the album version. Actually I love that version more. At the end when we know his voice gets harsh and lil' graspy, in the older version was cristal clear, and the melody different, something very extatic, even hipnotic ....Those were one of the highest notes he ever hit. Scary.
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I know EXACTLY what ur talking about and it's true. Very good example that i didn't even think about.
 
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Totally Tiperath. And the thing about Michael is, he's one of the few vocalist's in the world capable of singing live with a full ochastra or live instruments and is able to get it spot on the first time. He did this with "Smile". Of course, being a perfectionist, he re-recorded it from his first take. But Bruce Swedien said that he nailed it perfect, with a live orchastra, the very first time he sang it and he absolutely didn't need to do it over. They asked Bruce who else in the world today could do that, and Bruce said emphatically that no one could, and he's worked with the best of the best. It goes to show how talented Michael is as a vocalist. Like giddyup said earlier, nobody is better.
 
Mankind said:
I agree to some extent, although I think he should've redone the whole Thriller album with his present voice.

When it comes to his voice, I feel like now a days he struggles a little bit. It just seems like he used his voice with ease when he was younger. I can pretty much hear a little bit of a struggle on the WBSS mix.
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I totally agree. The main reason I think that MJ doesn't do as many live performances and why he lip-synchs more now than back in the 80's is because his voice just isn't as good as it used to be. The new WBSS vocals are great but the original one's were fantastic. Sounds like MJ doesn't have that raw power in his voice that he had in his 20's. Just my opinion.
 
I love his new voice! Besides, his voice didn't change that much, musically. :)

I hear the difference, but what can we do? He's just a big boy now. :D
 
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I couldn't even tell at first if the new vocals on WBSS were new or old. His voice has completely retained that youthfull quality.
 
^ When I heard the new wbss, both me and my sis looked at each other and started laughing coz we knew it was definately new...lol
 
Well all i know is people on this board and others were debating like hell if it was new or not. lol
 
Laila666s said:
^ When I heard the new wbss, both me and my sis looked at each other and started laughing coz we knew it was definately new...lol
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Well, I listend a second time and realized it was new vocals, but it still sounded very fresh and his voice is just as strong. Seriously, he's in his vocal prime, he hasn't lost anything, he's only gained range in fact.
 
There is a little difference between say the thriller album compared to the Invincible album. But it's got the same power. He still got it no doubt, but his voice is deeper now. I think controlling his vocal for years is a hard job. :lol: I prefer his Old vocals, BUT, he's almost 50, and he still sings so good. So, both I'd say.

Oh BTW, during the 30th Anniversary concerts, you can hear he actually made the pitch lower for the songs he didn't sing live, it's actually the original vocals but he just lowered the pitch. I don't know if anyone else noticed that, but I actually thought he re sang the song just for the 30th anniversary concerts. If you hear properly, (The way you make me feel was the most obvious) you can tell it's actually the original vocals, just made the pitch sound lower, So it'll match his voice at that time. :D
 
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i love both! but the newer one has a great feel 2 it! like he was in the studio havin a great time. and it came 2gether well. He wasnt strugglin...he just put a 2008 twist on it.
 
neems said:
There is a little difference between say the thriller album compared to the Invincible album. But it's got the same power. He still got it no doubt, but his voice is deeper now. I think controlling his vocal for years is a hard job. :lol: I prefer his Old vocals, BUT, he's almost 50, and he still sings so good. So, both I'd say.

Oh BTW, during the 30th Anniversary concerts, you can hear he actually made the pitch lower for the songs he didn't sing live, it's actually the original vocals but he just lowered the pitch. I don't know if anyone else noticed that, but I actually thought he re sang the song just for the 30th anniversary concerts. If you hear properly, (The way you make me feel was the most obvious) you can tell it's actually the original vocals, just made the pitch sound lower, So it'll match his voice at that time. :D
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true. true.

just go to programs - control panel - sound effects - and increase the pitch (+2) or (+1) [try both];
then play "the way you make me feel" performence of 30th Anniversary.
you'll realize it the original vocals....yea.
 
Mankind said:
When it comes to his voice, I feel like now a days he struggles a little bit. It just seems like he used his voice with ease when he was younger. I can pretty much hear a little bit of a struggle on the WBSS mix.
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I don't hear his struggling.
In Beat It with Fergie, she sounds to struggle very much but Michael's voice is so fresh.
 
I don't hear any struggling in WBSS 2008 at all. His voice differs from the '82 version but it's not about quality or effort but style. It just expresses a different kind of emotion. I think his voice sounds much more cheerful, enthusiastic and calm than in the old version. He seems to be more relaxed and, as someone mentioned somewhere before, having a great time during recording :D. I'm listening this fragment over and over again and I just get butterflies and I'm hungry for more.
I'd love to hear him singing the whole song in that way.
 
The only different i hear in that is MJ's ruff stylistic choice and lowered intensity. It wouldn't make since to bust out with THAT much intensity as in the original, with the new version is a lot more laid back and not as emotional (cuz akon is singing most of it).
 
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Mikes voice is the greatest.. Old or NEW.. YES his voice has changed.. Not a large difference, but it's there.. Those who are not fans would have to pay attention to hear the difference.. For long time fans, it comes off somewhat noticable.. NON THE LESS the quality of the voice is equal..

From a scale 1-10 from change from early 80's to now I would give it a 4.
 
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KOPV said:
Mikes voice is the greatest.. Old or NEW.. YES his voice has changed.. Not a large difference, but it's there.. Those who are not fans would have to pay attention to hear the difference.. For long time fans, it comes off somewhat noticable.. NON THE LESS the quality of the voice is equal..

From a scale 1-10 from change from early 80's to now I would give it a 4.
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That we can for sure agree on.
 
What If Michael clearly wanted it to be noticeable that he applied new vocals to WBBS2008 for the "layperson". I'm sure non fans wouldn't hear the difference in Mike's voice if he used old cuts so he put a more rougher and staccato feel to it to make it clear that its the present MJ. I wouldn't say Michael was struggling but the way he sang WBBS was pretty unusual and he's more inuadible than ever, but like I said he must have been doing it on purpose because in "Living with with Michael Jackson" He sings "Smile" and it sounds even better than his vocals on "History" and not a sruggle at all! Michael's old voice sounds better depending on If you like RnB or not coz I cant imagine MJ doing "Give in to me" or "Who is it" with the Thriller voice.
 
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