Don Henley vocal analysis video - is he miming during Eagles live shows...?

jaymenon

This was a video that made me sad...Eagles' concert tickets are very expensive indeed.

Something to watch before the video gets taken down

mrkb

Interesting. He hasn’t considered that Don Henley might be a robot….

Danny1969

Massive fan of the Eagles music but all the Eagles supposingly Live performances released are retracked to the point of perfection ... wouldn't surprise me at all if the vocal was on track when performing live. 

To be fair, when you consider the scale, the money involved and the possible losses incurred if someone has a bad throat then you can see why a lot of bands have a vocal safety track. Shania Twain openly admitted this in her book. The whole band play to a prerecorded multitrack tape with a click. FOH have the mulitrack and the live mic feeds. If someone is off then they can flick the channels input from the live mic to the prerecorded digital stream. 

One of the reasons artists are so protective of their live stuff being up on YT is because it makes it possible to see  / hear what's really going on. 

I will be sending this to my one of my guitar students though because he filmed a bit of an Eagles live show a few years ago and I said at the time it sounded like track rather than live. 

Tannin

I started to watch this and then I thought .... Do I actually care? Well, no, not much. 

Sporky

I'm unconvinced that the Eagles miming changes much at all. Certainly not "everything". 

jaymenon

Well if you’re paying £200+ for a ticket, then you might quite reasonably feel aggrieved.

Tannin

@Sporky, the word "everything" has a special meaning on You-tube, especially when prefaced with "this changes". Nobody knows what that special meaning actually is, but rest assured, there really and truly is one. I mean otherwise, why would every second You-tube video say "this changes everything"? Stands to reason dun'it.

Jez6345789

I grew up an Eagles fans through the 70's great songs and great band. What has gone on since then is best described as cynical corporate rock and roll and Henley is the head arsehole. There is a very special place in Hell for people like Henley from what I have read over the years the guys life  is the living embodiment of toxic human. So if he gets called out for his fakery all the better as far as I am concerned. 

Rant over.

digitalkettle

Unseemly live show shenanigans...followed by scurrilous 'forensic' vid from a day-job reacting person...I'm in a bad mood now ;-/

thecolourbox

I suppose it's better than paying £200 for a ticket to hear how bad he really sounds

Tannin

thecolourbox said:

I suppose it's better than paying £200 for a ticket to hear how bad he really sounds

Like this?

fretmeister

I'm pleased I saw Meatloaf when he was younger and amazing.

thecolourbox

Yes exactly like that

digitalkettle

Tannin said:

thecolourbox said:

I suppose it's better than paying £200 for a ticket to hear how bad he really sounds

Like this?

So bad he has to play where a crowd has already turned up.

CaseOfAce

digitalkettle said:

Tannin said:

thecolourbox said:

I suppose it's better than paying £200 for a ticket to hear how bad he really sounds

Like this?

So bad he has to play where a crowd has already turned up.

good grief - I've never seen that before. Ouch. He has no business being on stage - but given the horrendous live mix going on stage with the monitors, amps and what have you in an enclosed space... it's a wonder he can hear himself (he has an in-ear in one ear). I feel sorry for the violinist - she's got no chance!!

Whitecat

Henley's voice on the Live At The Forum release from a few years back is so drenched in digital tuning it wouldn't be surprising if he had a safety track on some/all songs.

But if you think it "changes everything", you're sure detracting a lot of value from the rest of the show (I've seen it). Joe Walsh is definitely 100% *not* miming, and they are definitely all playing their instruments - the show I saw Timothy B. Schmitt effed up a note at the end of Hotel California for a bar or two, very obvious, they had a laugh onstage at it, they moved on. Imperfections can be fun too sometimes.

I think sometimes if you're paying a lot for a *show* then maybe a prerecorded vocal track is *for the best*...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSvWSYgSM-g

AK99

Danny1969 said:

To be fair, when you consider the scale, the money involved and the possible losses incurred if someone has a bad throat then you can see why a lot of bands have a vocal safety track. Shania Twain openly admitted this in her book. The whole band play to a prerecorded multitrack tape with a click. FOH have the mulitrack and the live mic feeds. If someone is off then they can flick the channels input from the live mic to the prerecorded digital stream. 

I saw MsTwain 'live' a few years ago in Dublin. Wasn't aware she openly talked about using pre-recorded vocal tracks, but that would tie in with what we saw on stage that night. There were a number of songs that sounded absolutely note and pitch-perfect, but just lifeless and 'canned' if that makes sense. Like reverse karaoke - somebody else singing, and you just provide the visuals.

As regards the other very relevant question - would you rather pay to hear them mess it up..hard to say. With the ticket prices charged for big concert acts these days, given a choice between paying a couple of hundred quid to see somebody miming through a section of their concert versus listening to the same thing at home with decent wine/beers for free, I'd probably prefer the latter (if forewarned in advance, obviously ). 

hollywoodrox

I remember in the old days when Henley had called an artist out for miming & said they could have someone stand beside him at a gig to see that he was 100% live  this was a long time ago now ,I’m not sure if the other artist was Celine Dione .  After that it’s hard to believe he would stoop to the same trick. I’ve not watched the video yet 

CaseOfAce

I guess the reason the "This changes everything..." guy in the original video is making such a big fuss about this is that The Eagles were legendary in their ability to nail the recorded sound live due to perfectionism, rehearsal and intense vocal / harmony warm-ups. 

Anyone spending the amount of coin necessary to see the Henley, Schmit and Walsh + hired help would be (rightly or wrongly) assuming that was still the case these days.

If The Eagles have suddenly started "Take'(in) it Easy" - then one can assume the vast majority of aircraft hanger botherers are doing likewise.

PFAllen2

In some weird coincidence I’ve seen The Eagles, Meatloaf & Céline Dion live over the years.

Celine Dion was 1998 or 1999, in Edinburgh at Murrayfield with The Corrs supporting. She could definitely sing, no doubt about it.

The Eagles was in Belfast, on the same night that Jeff Beck played in another smaller venue. My friends who say Jeff were amazed and also depressed after witnessing his abilities. I had a great time singing along with The Eagles, enjoyed Joe Walsh & Steuart Smith immensely, and their vocals were brilliant.

Finally, Meatloaf, later era when everyone in the band was singing because Meat was either late, flat or mostly both. A pre recorded track or a muted mic would have been a blessing. He still gets brownie points for being one of the very few who played NI in the bad old days.