The Obligatory Fake-Out Lo-Fi Intro, is it Cliche Yet?

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RefD
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Post by RefD » Sun Dec 02, 2007 2:03 pm

johnny7 wrote:i recently heard that ELO song Telephone Line.
Starts with the "telephone" voice and fades to full spectrum by the second verse.
Actually, quite effective.
J
...until "Jeff Lynne does it again" on Mr. Blue Sky.

but i liked ELO - Time and i also have the greatest hits package (got it as a white elephant gift 6 years ago is my excuse), so i am weird and obviously have bad taste in music. :oops:
?What need is there to weep over parts of life? The whole of it calls for tears.? -- Seneca

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johnny7
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Post by johnny7 » Sun Dec 02, 2007 5:42 pm

RefD wrote:
johnny7 wrote:i recently heard that ELO song Telephone Line.
Starts with the "telephone" voice and fades to full spectrum by the second verse.
Actually, quite effective.
J
...until "Jeff Lynne does it again" on Mr. Blue Sky.

but i liked ELO - Time and i also have the greatest hits package (got it as a white elephant gift 6 years ago is my excuse), so i am weird and obviously have bad taste in music. :oops:
I, too, have the greatst hits CD. And, secretly, love it, when no one is around. It may be a guilty pleasure or just the scars of hearing this stuff in my formative years...

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johnny7
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Post by johnny7 » Wed Dec 05, 2007 11:09 am

RefD wrote:
johnny7 wrote:i recently heard that ELO song Telephone Line.
Starts with the "telephone" voice and fades to full spectrum by the second verse.
Actually, quite effective.
J
...until "Jeff Lynne does it again" on Mr. Blue Sky.
In these two songs, there is a purpose to this "technique" - one is to sound like a phone call and the other is a radio. At least jeff had a reason...

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pootkao
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Post by pootkao » Thu Dec 06, 2007 1:37 pm

Was surprised to hear a very predictable lo-fi-esque intro on the new Iron & Wine... absolutely brilliant album though. Sam Beam + Calexico = Perfection.
"I choose not the suffocating anaesthetic of the suburbs, but the violent jolt of the capital, that is my choice." (Virginia Woolf)

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ultravioletray
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Re: The Obligatory Fake-Out Lo-Fi Intro, is it Cliche Yet?

Post by ultravioletray » Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:31 am

only found this thread recently (been pouring through the DIY Gear topics), but...

Only one mention of Pink Floyd, yet I didn't find a mention of my first fave lofi outro/intro that comes to mind:

"Have A Cigar" sweeps into the old transistor radio sound during the last bars of the guitar solo [ TT: 4:50 ], and pans to the right; random radio noise and chatter, then some little orchestra bit, then the intro to Wish You Were Here. Acoustic guitar solo comes in all close mic'd and nice, (with a little DG sniff, a chair creak in there; Listen to it with headphones turned up.), and then the vox comes in, the lofi part fades off, and the lap steel fades in.

Cliche? I think it's pretty sweet. Love how the sweep into the lofi radio thing happens, and Gilmour is still digging away at that solo.

These little tricks, IMHO, can come across being either "clever" (which usually means it hasn't been done before and/or it has been done "right"), or "cliche" (which was once clever, but now D-O-N-E, as in been done, did it, over it, etc.). It comes down to the subjective nature of the listener, tastes, and so on, as has been said. Borrowing, stealing, whatever the term, is bound to happen. As long as it works in the context of the material.

Hmmm.

So, we pull the Spinal Tap card:

David St. Hubbins: Such a fine line between stupid...
Derek Smalls: ...and clever.

dAve

ps: And, one more heavy CAN fan, right here.
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A-Barr
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Post by A-Barr » Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:42 am

Well, PF were always creative, particularly with the intros on WYWH. Now that I think of it, just about every album of theirs has them playing with the sounds of their records as a means to a novel and intriguing listening experience.

That stuff is cool, imho, much more clever than the "Oh our album sounds like ass, sorry, oh wait, NUH-UH!" thing a lot of folks do. :)

Wish I'd thought of that avatar!

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Post by ultravioletray » Thu Dec 13, 2007 8:54 am

A-Barr wrote:Well, PF were always creative, particularly with the intros on WYWH. Now that I think of it, just about every album of theirs has them playing with the sounds of their records as a means to a novel and intriguing listening experience.

That stuff is cool, imho, much more clever than the "Oh our album sounds like ass, sorry, oh wait, NUH-UH!" thing a lot of folks do. :)

Wish I'd thought of that avatar!
Agreed.

I still find it interesting the ability to discern these differences. It's almost like it separates the men from the boys (or women from the girls, as the case may be). Not that I'm patting my back, or anything.

dAve

ps: You could always do "Future Days" ;)
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Post by cyantologist » Thu Dec 13, 2007 10:00 am

Smitty wrote:for the most part i'm over this, but Title Track off Death Cab For Cutie's We Have the Facts and We're Voting Yes still works for me, for some reason.

i like that the effect lasts a whole verse... makes it feel less like a cheesy gimmick.
awesome song. another song that came to mind when i read this thread is gameface "the pirate song."

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austin
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Post by austin » Thu Dec 13, 2007 11:21 am

pootkao wrote:Was surprised to hear a very predictable lo-fi-esque intro on the new Iron & Wine... absolutely brilliant album though.
I think it works on that album because it serves as a bit of an "inside joke" for those who know their early records, which of course actually sounded like that.

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Post by pootkao » Sun Dec 16, 2007 9:19 pm

Thats a good point.
"I choose not the suffocating anaesthetic of the suburbs, but the violent jolt of the capital, that is my choice." (Virginia Woolf)

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Post by generichumanperson » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:08 pm

Now how about starting out with a great sounding mix and then when the vocals come in bandpass it and make it sound tiny, for the rest of the song. Now that would make me laugh, at least once.

Edit: d'oh, inverseroom beat me.[/quote]

Yeah, actually on christina aguileras back to basics, the one song on the 2nd disc, i got trouble has lo-fi sounding vocals, but done on purpose to sound like that old vinyl sound, the other tracks sound pretty much normal, but theres that old vinyl sound on the whole song, i think the production on that whole cd is really good, and its not like i like christina aguilera all that much.

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Post by generichumanperson » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:17 pm

Actually, now that I think of it, here's an example of the fakeout intro right here:
http://www.myspace.com/lifeishere

listen to the song "la vida esta aqui"

That's a local band that I know, and that song is from an album they just released, its probably one of the worst sounding 'records' ive ever heard. I'd love to hear your guys reactions to it.

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Post by rushofblood » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:51 pm

generichumanperson wrote: its probably one of the worst sounding 'records' ive ever heard. I'd love to hear your guys reactions to it.
yeah. terrible mix, the compression makes me sad, drum sounds are BLEH and .replaced sometimes?

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A-Barr
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Post by A-Barr » Mon Dec 17, 2007 12:55 pm

oooohhh, there are such worse records out there than that! ;)

I'd like to hear a fake-out intro where everything is looped, time-aligned, replaced and autotuned, then it kicks in to actual recorded music.

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Post by rushofblood » Mon Dec 17, 2007 1:17 pm

A-Barr wrote:oooohhh, there are such worse records out there than that! ;)

I'd like to hear a fake-out intro where everything is looped, time-aligned, replaced and autotuned, then it kicks in to actual recorded music.
that'd also be good for the 'label guys' who 'only listen to the first 15 seconds'

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