Katy Perry "Wide Awake" Isolated Vocal

It's always fun to hear what happens inside a song, which is why our Isolated Tracks Fridays are so much fun. This week we'll take a look at the isolated vocals from Katy Perry's big 2012 hit "Wide Awake."

The song was a world-wide hit, going top 10 in most countries and as high as #2 in the U.S. It was the last single from Perry's huge Teenage Dream album. Here's what to listen for.

1. The vocal begins with an interesting delay effect on the doubled background vocals (which are slightly spread left and right), with a med delay that has a long regeneration and long half-note delay with a slight ping-pong. This delay continues even on the lead vocal.

2. The vocal is very compressed and you can especially hear it work on the attacks in the B section and choruses.

3.  There's also a lot of auto-tuning going, sometimes more obvious than others.

4. Check out the cool stereo delay effect at 2:45 that's spread hard left and right.

5. The harmony background vocals in the choruses sound like they're Katy vocal samples triggered with a keyboard.

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20 Years Of Max Martin Dominating The Charts

Has there ever been a songwriter/producer as prolific at pop music as Max Martin? He's co-written a mind-bending number of pop hits over the last 20 years or so that have helped break most of the pop stars that dominate the charts.

 Check out this partial list, and keep in mind that most were #1's.

Katy Perry: "Not N Cold," "Teenage Dream," "I Kissed A Girl," "California Gurls," "E.T.," "Part Of Me," "Roar"

Pink: "Please Don't Leave Me," "So What," "I Don't Believe You"

Kelly Clarkson: "Since U Been Gone," "My Life Would Suck Without You"

Taylor Swift: "We Are Never Getting Back Together," "Shake It Off," "Blank Space"

Britney Spears: "Oops, I Did It Again," "Baby One More Time," "3," "Hold It Against Me"

Christina Aguilera: "My Body"

Maroon 5: "One More Night"

Celine Dion: "That's The Way It Is"

Jesse J: "Domino"

Arianna Grande: "Problem"

Backstreet Boys: "I Want It That Way"

The interesting thing about Max Martin (real name Karl Martin Sandberg) is that his background was as the frontman for a glam-metal band called It's Alive, and he's mostly self-taught when it comes to production and recording.

Martin isn't the only Swede that's hit the charts hard though. ABBA was a huge hit-maker in the 70s, Ace of Base for a brief period in the early 90s, and frequent Martin collaborator Shellback has written and produced hits with Usher, Adam Lambert, Katy Perry, Cher Lloyd, Kesha and One Direction among others separate from Martin.

Those Swedes know how to craft a pop tune.

Katy Perry "Firework" Isolated Vocal

Here's the isolated vocal from Katy Perry's big hit "Firework," from her even bigger hit album Teenage Dream. First of all I should say that I'm a fan, as unpopular as that may be. She writes some really catchy songs, isn't afraid to take chances live on stage, and does have a pretty good voice. Any time someone can rack up the number of big hits that she has, there has to be some real talent behind it.

That said, this song is in some ways the best and worst display of her talents. Listen for:

1) Uggg, the autotune. It really makes the vocal sound terrible. The problem I have is I'm sure she could've sang this song perfectly well without it with a few more takes and some comping.

2) The compression. The vocal is absolutely crushed during the b-section and chorus.

3) The sound. Wow, the vocal really sounds strident during the chorus. Cuts through the song though.

4) The nice short ping pong echo on the vocal to give it some space. This technique of two different timed delays left and right is being used more and more in pop music.

While it sounds like I'm ragging on the song, it really does have a great melody, hook and arrangement. It just goes to show that something doesn't have to sound great by itself to sound good in the song!

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Don't Forget To Celebrate Record Story Day!

Today is the fifth annual Record Store Day when music lover everywhere head for their local record store to buy some vinyl and help surport a dwindling, but absolutely necessary part of the industry.

A number of artists are celebrating the day by releasing special vinyl records, including Katy Perry (with 12" pink vinyl), David Bowie (with a picture disc of "Starman"), Arcade Fire, Flaming Lips, Paul McCartney, and even some never before heard songs by James Brown.

Most record stores are small independent "mom and pop" stores these days and they really do need our help to survive. Head out to a store today. Look through the albums and CDs, and maybe even buy something.

Support your local record store. You'll be glad you did.

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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 social media and the new music business.

Tips From Dr. Luke

Dr. Luke is one of the hottest producers around today, with hits under his belt from such big-sellers as Katy Perry, Britney Spears, Ke$ha ("Tik Tok" was the longest running #1 by a female artist since 1977), Kelly Clarkson, Pink and Flo Rida. You may think that some of the music he makes is very pop and commercial, but he's great at what he does and his work is very well crafted.

Dr. Luke's is insight is definitely worth checking out. Here he shows how he layers sounds to come up with a kick sound right for the track, and how he places it on the grid of the song.

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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 social media and the new music business.

"Firework" - Katy Perry Song Analysis

Today we're going to analyze Katy Perry's hit "Firework," a song which, in my opinion, epitomizes the best of current production (done by the production team Stargate and Sandy Vee, who are also the co-writers). The song is the third single from her second album Teenage Dream and went to #1 on Billboard charts.

As with all analysis, we'll break the song down into four parts - the song itself, the arrangement, the sound and performance.

The Song - "Firework" is a more or less traditional pop song in that it has a common structure found in most hits - short intro, verse, B-section, chorus, chorus, verse, B-section, chorus, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus, outro. The form looks like this:

A, A, B, C, C, A, B, C, C, D, C, C, C.

That doesn't mean it's boring though. The song builds nicely and takes us through a couple of peaks, thanks to the song's built-in dynamics. It even has an ending, which is unusual for a pop song.

The Arrangement - The arrangement is state-of-the-art. The intro and first verse are very sparse, with the strings entering at the first B-section and continue to build to a crescendo through the 1st chorus. The chorus repeats with additional movement from the entrance of the bass.

The first half of the second verse drops down to just 8th notes on the keyboards plus the drum pattern, but changes with the entrance of the bass into the second half - a very nice arrangement touch.

Some other things I especially liked is the line in between the repeat of the 2nd chorus, the harmony vocals on the repeat, and the background vocal answers in the outro. Also, listen to how the vocal melody subtly changes on the 2nd and 3rd choruses. 

I always preach about dynamics as the key to excitement, either live or on a record, and this song is an excellent example of how it's done.

The Sound - Once again, here's an example of how the sound of pop records has returned to the 80's/90's in that everything except has some depth to it. Katy has what sounds like a timed triplet delay on her voice that triggers the reverb, so there's depth and spaciousness without washing out. The same is true on the rest of the track in that there's some space around each instrument except for the bass and drums, which are dry and in your face.

The Performance - It's easy to think of Katy Perry as a lightweight because of her celebrity and exposure, but the girl has some pipes and this song proves it. She really sells the song and pulls you in. Plus, she sings harmony vocals very well with herself, which all singers can't do.

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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.

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