my take on Stargazer by Rainbow

[darkclaw3000]

http://www.box.com/s/f6l0ol8tab0typz1ey9t

another one i always wanted to try. kinda hard to get it down. this was on a 2nd take.

lotsa mistakes, a little off the pitch here and there. kinda scampering to get the pitch and prevent breaks. but i focus on relaxation and all.

this clip was made by someone on youtube, he did a vocal remover thingy so some of Dio's vocals is still in there in the background. didn't manage to really follow.

what you guys think?

thanks lots

J

[ronws]

Sounds like it was recorded in a garage on a 4-track. Which lends some authenticity to the song from that era. I thought you sounded good.

[darkclaw3000]

in my humble room actually. using mbox2, a shure58, and a create xt pedal on reverb effect, mix at 3oclock. i intentionally adjust the volume of my vox to fit how it was roughly the level with the original. they seem to always put the vocals in a 'not-so-front' way with the music.

i think u heard some of dio's own vox there. is it his reverb? he seem to be using it a lot. i'm trying to find out what he was using.

also dio's voice to me when he sing some lines he tend to go raspy full head voice with some twang, but he makes it so big. i was thinking reverb helped him on this. i tried my best to copy him haha.

[ronws]

You're probably right about the effects on Dio. How does one do that live?

Pardon me for posting it in your thread but it might illuminate better what you are talking about for rasp up high and what I mean about him not singing as loud as one might think but it sounds loud, depending on the mix, even live through the board of th FOH engineer.

[darkclaw3000]

he does seem to have a lot of volume going thru it in itself. or maybe thats the volume on the FOH. its so confusing. and his raspyness is much more pleasing on the ear haha.

how does one train that certain part? twang must be engaged i presume.

[ronws]

I would venture to say that Dio is doing what Robert Lunte would describe as overlay distortion. Twanging closely in the upper pharynx, well away from the vocal folds. Which would explain why he could do it for decades.

He could also distort low, as well.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fgo0SrYgCKA

[darkclaw3000]

oh wow that vid gives a nice comparison to dio n that other dude. sorry don't know his name. but yeah dio doesnt really apply much volume. am i right to say this?

now this overlay distortion.. twanging closely in the upper pharynx. how do i practice that???????? would love to master it!!!!

[slstone]

The other guy was the very awesome Geoff Tate with Queensryche. Dio was doing guest vocals. I believe its the concert footage for Operation: Mindcrime 2.

As far as I am concerned, even at their respective ages in this video, they both still have the 'it' factor. Dio kicked music's butt until the day he died. RIP RJD.

Geoff can still kick everybody's musical butt. That man has some friggin vocal chops and then some. Been a fan since the original mindcrime from the 80's.

[darkclaw3000]

oh damn thats geoff tate. omg i feel so stupid now... yeah they both really rock! tate seems to have more power though? i donno.

[slstone]

Well I think Dio probably wasn't feeling well in his later years. We didn't know about his illness until it was near his demise. Chances are he had cancer for quite some time. But being the consumate performer that he was, he never let anyone see him sweat, so to speak. He kept doing what he loved best until the very end.

Not to mention he was also quite a bit older than Geoff. I did get to see Queensryche back in 2000, the first time I had ever seen them live. The audience was small(middle of Maine). But the still put on just as good a show as any video I have watched. We could all learn a lesson in performance and character from these guys. Don't let anything keep you from trying to make your dream happen. Even if it never happens, we still enjoyed the journey, because it is what we love and what we do. And these two singers are on my top 10 list as well.

[darkclaw3000]

now thats a lesson in itself slstone. great reply!

[ronws]

Even in 2007, Dio was suffering from stomach cancer. In the next few years, he would make several trips from his home in California to Houston, Texas for treatments. A favorite story from his wife. There was a patient at the hospital in Houston who was a devout Dio fan. Ronnie would spend more time packing goodies for the other patient than his own clothes, bugging his wife to make sure they had enough hats, t-shirts, cds.

Dio was not just a good example of how to sing, but how to be.

Tate has matured. He sings what he wants to sing, rather than just what a producer might think sells. He is now singing with his own project band, The Geoff Tate band and is also a winemaker.

Of the singer interviews I have read, Tate's is one of my favorite. He had fears about the interview because he knew someone would ask him how he sings this or that note. "I don't know. I just sing what the song feels like to me" (in so many words.)