"Any Way You Want It" Isolated Vocal

Here's part 3 in our "Isolated Vocal Week" feature. Today we'll look at the vocals from a Journey hit from their 1980 Departure album called "Any Way You Want It." The song only hit #23 on the charts, but has since found great favor among advertisers, being used on commercials by Heinz, McDonalds, Ford, State Farm and Samsung. Here are a couple of things to listen for:

1) The vocals have a very long verb that sounds like it has a slight (20ms) predelay on it. The verb is a little on the bright side but still fits the track well.

2) There's a timed delay also on the lead vocal in addition to the reverb. Listen to how band-limited it is. Hard to tell if this was the result of a tape delay with a worn out tape or one of the then-new digital delays that were intentionally filtered, but either way, there's not= high end at all on it.

3) The harmonies are very tight - maybe too tight, in that it sounds like they got one perfect then just flew the rest of them in on all the other spots in the song as needed. That's no big deal today since you can easily cut and paste in your DAW of choice, but don't forget, this song was recorded way back in 1980 in the days of magnetic tape. You had to do this kind of thing manually, which was a process we called "flying it in" back then.

4) Steve Perry's voice is wonderfully glorious, soaring to the heavens as always. That's why it so unusual to hear a flat note that was left in at around 1:20. Obviously it didn't hurt the popularity of the song any. I can't say I ever heard it before listening to the isolated vocal track.

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The Week In Review

Here's the articles from the week of March 28 to April 1st.

"Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey Song Analysis
There are few songs from the 80's that have had the impact or longevity of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin,'" which was requested for song analysis by long-time reader HF. Surprisingly, the song may be more popular today than it ever was when it was first released in 1981........ Read More...

The Quick And Easy Effects Setup
Ever wondered what effects to dial in so things sound good during tracking without getting into your head turned around by the infinite possibilities available? Here's a quick and easy setup that will sound great.... Read More...

Busting Some Soundproofing Myths
Before you can look at some accepted ways to improve your isolation, it’s important to look at all the things that won’t work. In this excerpt from The Studio Builder’s Handbook (written with Dennis Moody) is a list of various materials that you’ll often see attached to the walls of a space in hopes of increasing the isolation, but although they won't help very much at all. Read More...

"Refugee" - Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers Song Analysis
Reader Henry Y asked for a song analysis of the song that broke Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers - "Refugee." The song was from their 1979 multi-platinum classic Damn The Torpedos LP that was TP's first Top 10.... Read More...

The Essence Of Guitar Tone
Beyond the basic body style, there are quite a number of elements that go into giving an acoustic guitar its sound. Here's an excerpt from The Ultimate Guitar Tone Handbook (co-authored with Rich Tozzoli), that shows why the kind of wood that the guitar is made from makes such a big difference. Read More...

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating the music business.

"Don't Stop Believin'" - Journey Song Analysis

There are few songs from the 80's that have had the impact or longevity of Journey's "Don't Stop Believin,'" which was requested for song analysis by long-time reader HF. Surprisingly, the song may be more popular today than it ever was when it was first released in 1981, thanks to being featured on several television shows like The Soprano's, Glee and Made In America. The song comes from Journey's Escape album, which was a huge seller for the band and a #1 Billboard Top 200 hit. It's also a unique song in many ways, as you'll find out.

As in all of our song analysis, we'll look at the song itself, the arrangement, the sound and the performance.

The Song
"Don't Stop Believin'" is a highly unusual song in that the chorus never occurs until the very end of the song. There is no bridge either, but the song is constructed so well that it build and develops in tension. Here's what the form looks like:

Intro, Verse, Verse, B-section, Verse, B-section, solo/verse, Chorus, Chorus/fade

The verse and the chorus use the same chord changes. It's only the lyrics and a slight melody change along with backing vocals that makes them different from each other.

The Arrangement
Again, this is a very well constructed song, especially the arrangement. The song starts off sparse with a piano and fretless bass, then adds vocals, then guitar and finally drums in the B-section.

There aren't many overdubs (which I like), but the ones that are there are very effective. There's a guitar and synth double introduced on the B-section, and several subtle guitars and backing vocals in the chorus, which brings the song to a peak.

The Sound
For the most part, this song really sounds good. Steve Smith's drums sound big and natural, and Neal Schon's guitar sounds are great. Ross Valory's fretless bass is a little thin, yet fits the song well. The piano is chorused, which was very much in vogue during this period of the 80's. The sound of the vocal is the only thing I didn't personally like as it's noticeably compressed. Lots of compression can be a good thing as long as you don't hear it working, but you sure do here.

There are not many effects that are noticeable in the song, aside from the obvious piano chorus. The vocal has a medium reverb with a timed delay, as does the synth, but it's back in the mix.

The Performance
Journey was/is a great band. All the players are exceptional, and vocalist Steve Perry has a unique voice (although not that unique since there are 2 guys in the current band that sound just like him). I really liked Jonathan Cain's piano performance. It's a straight ahead part, but he puts a lot of very subtle inflections in it that make it go from potentially sterile to sterling.

Let me know if you have any request for song analysis and I'll do my best to get to them.

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Help support this blog. Any purchases made through our Amazon links help support this website with no cost to you.

You should follow me on Twitter for daily news and updates on production and the music business.

Don't forget to check out my Music 3.0 blog for tips and tricks on navigating the music business.