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dougo ([personal profile] dougo) wrote2004-12-12 11:51 am
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No human sound can stand up to this

Ever wondered what a wordless a capella beatbox cover of Metallica's "Creeping Death" would sound like? Me neither, but it's actually pretty entertaining. Dokaka is like the anti-Bobs, doing surprisingly faithful renditions of Iron Maiden, King Crimson (and Fripp solo), Nirvana, Stevie Wonder, and many more. (Thanks to [livejournal.com profile] heaneyland for the link.)
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[identity profile] ketzl.livejournal.com 2004-12-12 04:57 pm (UTC)(link)
I am downloading all these. Thanks! I can't wait for these to come up randomly in my mp3 player.

[identity profile] modpixie.livejournal.com 2004-12-12 04:58 pm (UTC)(link)
the "smells like teen spirit" cover pwns.

YES!

[identity profile] nosrialleon.livejournal.com 2004-12-12 07:02 pm (UTC)(link)
Dokaka rules!

[identity profile] prusik.livejournal.com 2004-12-14 03:02 am (UTC)(link)
Hmm... for contemporary recorded a cappella, they're unusual in that they sound like they're generating most, if not all, of their effects like the distorted guitars vocally (as opposed to generating it electronically as you might with a guitar). It also sounds like they've opted for an extremely light touch with respect to studio effects in general. e.g., probably no AutoTune because sections of "Smells Like Teen Spirit" are seriously out of tune.

Likewise, it sounds like they haven't really taken advantage of studio production. (e.g., record everyone in isolation)
So, oddly, in a lot of ways, they're really a very old school a cappella group.

There's a lot of recorded a cappella these days where you wonder what they do live. (In the case of a top notch group like the House Jacks, they do a credible job of imitating live all of the studio effects they use on their recording.)

For an example of what I mean by studio production:
http://www.similarjones.com/HTMLobj-648/Similar_Jones_-_So_It_Seems__2004_.mp3
(not a lot of vocal distortion, but the ensemble is exceptionally tight, the tuning is practically perfect and the bass is electronically doubled an octave down. I think it sounds terrific, but you have to be cognizant of how they got there. Similar Jones is based in Boston, so you can even go hear what they're like live. They're quite good. Technology being what it is, some groups electronically octavize the bass even during live performance. I don't remember if Similar Jones does this or not.)

For examples of what I mean by electronic distortion, there is the late unlamented Streetnix:
http://www.streetnix.com/recordingsignitionaudio.html

Interestingly, they eventually came out with an "unplugged" recording of some of the same songs:
http://www.streetnix.com/recordingsrealaudio.html

The clearest example of voices distorted to electric guitars I can think of that's on the web right now is a teaser track from Stanford's Fleet Street Singers' upcoming CD:
http://www.fleetstreet.com/music/lords_webpromo.mp3

In comparison to all of those, what Dokaka does, or what the U of Ill Xtension Chords do in:
http://chordmaster.secure.powweb.com/clips/Jenny.mp3

really is positively old school. (This is neither good nor bad in and of itself. It's just not the trend that contemporary recorded a cappella seems to be going.)

OTOH, there is U of Ill's No Strings Attached's live recording of "Silence of Time":
http://zx81.isl.uiuc.edu/nsa/media/mp3/SilenceOfTime.mp3
(I'm familiar with the arrangement and it sounds like their sopranos omitted a couple of the high notes, but other than that, it's in front of an audience, it was done in one take without any electronic assistance (except possibly amplification) and it's absolutely top notch.)

[identity profile] prusik.livejournal.com 2004-12-14 03:19 am (UTC)(link)
Forgot to mention, scarily, I have 2(!) different a cappella recordings of Sir Duke which I think are more successful than Dokaka's. (One by a Nashville based group called Blue Jupiter and another by Sweden's The Real Group.)

(Oh yes, and a recording of "Peg" by York University's Wibijazzin which stays in tune. The "'Round Midnight" isn't bad. The tuning is still iffy but it kind of sounds like either like an interpretive choice or you're listening to a tape player whose battery is running down.)

At the end of the day, there's really nothing wrong with singing in tune and it is possible do it live.

(I don't know of any other a cappella recording of Nirvana or King Crimson though.)
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