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I've seen speculation/assertions that he uses autotune in the live performances which might allow notes to be sustained after he moves away from the microphone and keep it at a consistent volume throughout. However, I'm willing to believe he's singing along with playback if it's identical from one show to the next. The vocals have a strange processed quality, so I'm assuming there's a lot of autotune whichever method he's using live.
From listening to those Youtube links from chaim, it's so obvious he is using autotune, and in my opinion, it sounds silly, especially Witchy Woman. At times, his voice sounds obviously robotic.
I was talking about lip syncing earlier. Yesterday I was again watching some solo performances from Felder - Take It Easy, Peaceful Easy Feeling etc. All of them looked so fake that again I compared a few performances of the same songs and they were identical vocalwise. Here he misses the word "'cause" in both performances during the sentence "'Cause I'm already standing on the ground".
At 0:55 mark: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WnZ2n6HvVm0
At 1:03: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QjUj8qF47xA
Again I'm not saying that Felder lip syncing is a terrible thing, as he's not a singer but a guitarist. But I think he should at least be honest about it because occasionally he has criticized the Eagles with Steuart, and because so many people - including many journalists - make him out to be such a "real thing" compared to the Eagles. And people who keep bashing Henley & Frey and praising Felder's vocal performances on YouTube should at least know that their hero is not singing live.
If Felder was a bit more humble and kinder towards his ex-bandmates and didn't pretend to be the only "real thing", I wouldn't even be making posts such as this. Plus he has bashed people who lip sync in concerts...:)
I hear the "cos" * in both performances. I don't know if he lip-synchs or uses auto-tune but I don't like the tone of voice.
Od that he calls Peaceful, Easy Feeling a sad song. Jack Tempchin talks about it as knowing he's fine even if he doesn't get the girl ("because I'm already standing on the ground") and that she "can't take me anyway I don't already know how to go".
* I'm not sure if you know that the "cause" in "because" is pronounced "cos" and not like "cause" when it's a single word. I'd never thought about that before.
I think it's a pity in a way as the songs on Road to Forever are fine, and the instrumental performances and arrangements are good.
If Don paired up with a singer with a really good distinctive voice, not necessitating autotune, then I think the album would be much better.
(Please note the word distinctive. Too many times when people team up with singers they end up with someone with a generic voice that sounds like too many other voices. I'm suggesting that Don's album would be better with someone who sings technically as well as Don Henley, but also has a distinctive recognisable voice like Don Henley too.)
Wouldn't 90% of all albums released be better with Don Henley doing the vocals? :DQuote:
Originally Posted by Annoying Twit
I think Felder's solo recording career is an indulgence rather than an aspiration.
It's great to see Joe roping Joe Vitale, Waddy Wachtel, Chad Cromwell et al into his band. It demonstrates that he still aspires to something that he thinks he can't reach with regular musicians. :p
I know you're kidding, but Henley's voice is one I like in small doses.Quote:
Originally Posted by Funk 50
I do wonder how the collaboration with Max Carl and Paul Carack would have worked out. I assume, Felder would have just played the guitar. Even Timothy might have struggled to get a lead vocal.
Joe Vitale, Waddy Watchel and Chad Cromwell aren't regular musicians?
The difference between band members and sidemen is quite strange. The sidemen are probably more skilled than any of the artists they support but few people know who they are. Would Felder have been happier if he'd continued to be a sideman?
Well-spotted, UTW.
Felder's main gripe has always seemed to me to be that he was a sideman who craved the spotlight and resented the fact that he didn't get it. He would have been dissatisfied in any band where he was faced with a comparative lack of recognition.
I didn't know that. :-) But my point was that when we hear "'cos" (however it's pronounced) Don hasn't opened his mouth yet. This happens in both performances. Seems that he didn't remember that the sentence starts with "'cos". But the tape did!Quote:
Originally Posted by UndertheWire
I've tried playing both youtube videos simultaneously and while I think there are differences in the lead guitar, the lead vocal track sounds identical. I can't believe a singer as mediocre as Don could achieve such note-for-note consistency at shows 8 months apart, so I agree it's a pre-recorded (and auto-tuned) track.
Here's a recording from 4 years ago where you can't hear Don above the audience and then one of his band members joins in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUpAnEvY3KQ
This one from 2013, also seems to be live - Don speaks to the audience - and his band are singing with him. It starts around 4 minutes in.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=poRct_NIoK4
This one is from the cruise in Feb 2015 and sounds like the recorded track.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnRiweAt0XM
In summary, I think Don used to sing live but started using pre-recorded tracks around 2014.