Al's Voice

All about Weird Al's concerts and other live appearances.

Moderators: Moderators, ConcertTracker

Post Reply
offbeatbryce
Occasional
Posts: 90
Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2014 4:48 am

Re: Al's Voice

Post by offbeatbryce »

I think it also comes down to what he is parodying. I love most of the songs he parodies but to be honest the original singers all don't really that sing well so maybe that is part of the humor that Al throws in. He sings in the original key but off sometimes or whatever because the original singer did. I know AL has a great voice though. Other times it might just be that because every music these days mainstream is auto tuned he chooses to keep it in the same key. I have no idea if he has autotune on most parodies live but I heard it live on Another Tattoo and I think he had it on some other song a while back live also.

Another thing I notice is that the singer Adam Lavine or however you spell it doesn't hit the high notes as much live but it's usually the same key. His range can't hit all the notes either live. I think it's just a preference Al is using.

If he dropped the key of Nirvana live or some other song where he was showing his funny ability to mock the singer he might not sound similar to them anymore. The lower you sing something the less you have to work with.
offbeatbryce
Occasional
Posts: 90
Joined: Mon Nov 03, 2014 4:48 am

Re: Al's Voice

Post by offbeatbryce »

mybologna wrote:
Muppetboy09 wrote:The thing I hate is that he decided to perform Tacky on Conan, which is falsetto, and would be harder for him to accomplish live. Now, in the comments, everyone is saying that he is terrible live, and is too old to perform. OBVIOUSLY they have never experienced a Weird Al concert :accordion:
"Tacky" had a LOT of meh moments in it live, but I'm sure it'll get better with more practice. Out of all the parodies on the album that one is probably the easiest to sing live, since "Handy" goes up to a good C5, "Word Crimes" is even more falsetto and chest voice crazy, and "Inactive" and "Foil" aren't the greatest TV appearance songs.
This album's parodies had a LOT of high stuff in them, reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally hope he lowers some of it for the tour to avoid strain...
I don't think he could sing that high also I think you have the note wrong. C5 is not even in the original song.
CherylTheSinger
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat May 30, 2015 12:30 am

Re: Al's Voice

Post by CherylTheSinger »

Getting older will change your voice, but if you take care of it you can sing well for a very very long time. The tour that I see he has laid out is not taking care of it in my opinion. It's going to be affected.
From what I hear, it's awesome though still. I don't know how he does it.

:jp: :oo
User avatar
Yankomaniac
Off The Deep End
Posts: 3621
Joined: Fri Apr 15, 2011 3:50 am
Location: Ottawa, Ontario, Canada \m/
Contact:

Re: Al's Voice

Post by Yankomaniac »

He is a professional. This tour would not effect his voice more than any other and he doesn't smoke or do drugs or even drink anywhere near enough to effect it that way. His voice is his life, he wouldn't commit to a tour like this if it was bad for his voice. This is why each show is only 2 hours when on tour, so he knows for sure he won't kill it. Plus, he isn't singing for the whole 2 hours. Not too worry, Al knows how to preserve his voice, and since he's been singing for thirty some odd years or more, you can bet he'll be able to belt it out the same in Europe as he did at all the other shows prior. :king:
What a racket they're makin', Jack, they keep me up at night playin' their electric guitars!!
CherylTheSinger
Newbie
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat May 30, 2015 12:30 am

Re: Al's Voice

Post by CherylTheSinger »

I saw the Greensburg show on Sunday. He did some different things to preserve the pipes that I hadn't seen as much of in the past. It was nothing that took away from the show. His voice was strong and wonderful, and he hit his high notes!
I believe he did change the key of one song only. His band mates also sang more backing vocals to support than I remember in the past. (kinda Mick Jaggering it a tiny bit, not to that extent) I also believe there were some samples of his voice that played along with him, although his guitarist has another high awesome voice that can pass for his in backing. He didn't use as much changy tone, but he still cut through. He did sing in changy tone for Yoda, which was nice, I think. If anyone couldn't hear something at any point, it was not him, but a mix problem. The only things I lost when the mix problems occurred was a little diction, but I really don't think that was his issue. When that did happen it got fixed. He continued to show funny videos during costume changes. I think from these small changes I don't feel worried for his voice like I would have been if he didn't make these small changes. The last time I saw him, he had a three day "break" traveling time before his next show, and he really really really really really let it rip the entire time. I mean that it was like Weird Al was in a production of the opera Turandot singing the chorus and the leads and finished with the tenor aria from Daughter of the Regiment with the five high C's and parted the Red Sea from Greensburg with his voice and performance. I got to meet him at the bus afterwards and he was talking carefully out of necessity. This time, it was just as awesome, but he didn't do that to himself.

Loved the show! It had some of the traditional favorites, but he changed it up a bit to make it very new as well. The phone police didn't appear in this production, so phones were held high!\
Now my voice after the show? yeah, I am still tired two days later...
User avatar
KatrinatheGood
Addicted
Posts: 699
Joined: Sun May 10, 2015 9:19 pm
Location: Florida

Re: Al's Voice

Post by KatrinatheGood »

I've need going through as much live show videos as possible on YouTube as of late. What I note over the years, as many people have said in terminology that I don't understand. I have not idea what C5 or F or any of that musical terminology is. I digress...I have noticed just how much his voice has changed and matured over the years. I especally enjoy the more "unplugged" preformances because one can really hear his pitch and style. It seems to me that the Night of to Many Stars, the little bit of hym singing on The Big Interview, and the three songs he did for NPR: The Tiny Desk really show case what a talented singer he really is. I have watched reactions to people around him and they seem amazed in a "Wow, he can really sing. I didn't know that." I can't blamee them, I was one of those people who didn't notice he could sing for the longest time. In older live recording it's hard for me to tell if there is poor sound quality and that is why he doesn't sound as good as he does now. Of course that can also be due to the fact that he was just a kid when his career started. He may have been an adult, but he wasn't a full grown man yet.

I'm looking forward to my first concert in August to see if YouTube does Mr. Yankovic any justice. Me thinks that my rambling is over with for now.
mybologna
Regular
Posts: 234
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 2:56 pm
Location: A house.

Re: Al's Voice

Post by mybologna »

When I got into singing, Al's voice started to become a bit of a fascination to me. How it's evolved over the years, how high his voice could go, its adaptability to different styles, he's got one hell of an instrument.

Thats not to say, of course, he didn't have his fair share of trial and error with his singing. We've all probably heard clips from his 1980-1983 onstage performances and his decision to use "shout-singing" to hit the high notes.
Its interesting how he commented that he was always loosing his voice after every gig and really struggling. It was actually working with Lisa Popeil around late 1983/early 1984 that saved him from doing a lot of damage. He got vocal training from her, unsure of how much or how long he took lessons or even if he is still! He must have continued working with her thru to the 90s because his voice continued to change until then.

He went from struggling to hit a G4 live to hitting an E5 in chest voice on songs like "Callin' In Sick" or hitting D5's while singing "Fast Food" live. Its really impressive what he's learned to do and how much he has learned to sustain his voice thru-out the years!

In fact there were never any signs of his voice getting weak until the first shows of the 2011 tour...you can hear on the DVD and in some live footage he starts wavering or showing some signs of struggle. He's not a bad singer now obviously, but he's hit the point of his career where he's started to struggle a little bit live, may be time for some brush ups with Lisa? I mean he doesn't sound like he's wrecking his voice, just he needs to brush up on some things. He's still giving an amazing show ;)
mybologna
Regular
Posts: 234
Joined: Fri Jun 22, 2007 2:56 pm
Location: A house.

Re: Al's Voice

Post by mybologna »

When I got into singing, Al's voice started to become a bit of a fascination to me. How it's evolved over the years, how high his voice could go, its adaptability to different styles, he's got one hell of an instrument.

Thats not to say, of course, he didn't have his fair share of trial and error with his singing. We've all probably heard clips from his 1980-1983 onstage performances and his decision to use "shout-singing" to hit the high notes.
Its interesting how he commented that he was always loosing his voice after every gig and really struggling. It was actually working with Lisa Popeil around late 1983/early 1984 that saved him from doing a lot of damage. He got vocal training from her, unsure of how much or how long he took lessons or even if he is still! He must have continued working with her thru to the 90s because his voice continued to change until then.

He went from struggling to hit a G4 live to hitting an E5 in chest voice on songs like "Callin' In Sick" or hitting D5's while singing "Fast Food" live. Its really impressive what he's learned to do and how much he has learned to sustain his voice thru-out the years!

In fact there were never any signs of his voice getting weak until the first shows of the 2011 tour...you can hear on the DVD and in some live footage he starts wavering or showing some signs of struggle. He's not a bad singer now obviously, but he's hit the point of his career where he's started to struggle a little bit live, may be time for some brush ups with Lisa? I mean he doesn't sound like he's wrecking his voice, just he needs to brush up on some things. He's still giving an amazing show ;)

Anyway yeah his voice, I've always been fascinated!
FreedomHaul
Occasional
Posts: 44
Joined: Wed Nov 19, 2014 5:43 pm

Re: Al's Voice

Post by FreedomHaul »

A friend of mine is a music professor and went to a show last week. I asked him about how the singing was, and he said that Al seemed to be singing in full voice and with a healthy technique, so fear not! (for what it's worth).
Hordriss
Newbie
Posts: 5
Joined: Mon Oct 05, 2015 2:16 am

Re: Al's Voice

Post by Hordriss »

I was at his show in London tonight. I also went to an Al show in London 5 years ago, and I can say his voice seemed in better shape today than it did 5 years ago. Al sounded great tonight.
Post Reply