Bohemian Rhapsody lead vocal verses recording, anyone know more about this?
Feb 21, 2024 17:38:22 GMT
hstwakom likes this
Post by fandango on Feb 21, 2024 17:38:22 GMT
I've searched for many years, watched countless Queen/Freddie documentaries, but information about Freddie's lead vocal (not the opera) is very scare. The most in-depth info on the recording of the song I can find is Roy Thomas Baker's interview in Sound on Sound in the 90s & the documentary about the recording of the song, with mainly Brian, that's still on iplayer.
All these bodies of work concentrate (not unsurprisingly) on the song as a whole, it's world impact, the opera section, and how it opened everything up for Queen - I guess we all know that stuff. I just can't find any real in-depth information about the actual recording of that lead vocal, particularly the first two verses.
So, I'm putting a shout out here to see if any one can help. I'm trying (if possible) to get at primary sources to answer some of these questions...
1. Where/when was that famous (verse) lead vocal actually recorded? I know recording on the track started at Rockfield in Aug '75, however another 4 studios were used: SARM (East), Scorpion, Wessex and Roundhouse. So where did Freddie nail that vocal? Can anyone put a date on it? Was it done in one or two takes, or did he need a few goes, over a number of days?
2. Next, I've always wondered why he choose to sing those 2 first verses the way he did? From the breathy "mama" then back to head voice " put a gun against his head..." falsetto " life had just begun...." then the head voice distortion of " all away" and so on. Does anyone know, (did Freddie ever mention) why he sang it this way?
I'd appreciate any thoughts and info on this. As I say, it's just the actual recording of the verse vocals that interests me, I think the recording of the rest of the song is well documented.
All these bodies of work concentrate (not unsurprisingly) on the song as a whole, it's world impact, the opera section, and how it opened everything up for Queen - I guess we all know that stuff. I just can't find any real in-depth information about the actual recording of that lead vocal, particularly the first two verses.
So, I'm putting a shout out here to see if any one can help. I'm trying (if possible) to get at primary sources to answer some of these questions...
1. Where/when was that famous (verse) lead vocal actually recorded? I know recording on the track started at Rockfield in Aug '75, however another 4 studios were used: SARM (East), Scorpion, Wessex and Roundhouse. So where did Freddie nail that vocal? Can anyone put a date on it? Was it done in one or two takes, or did he need a few goes, over a number of days?
2. Next, I've always wondered why he choose to sing those 2 first verses the way he did? From the breathy "mama" then back to head voice " put a gun against his head..." falsetto " life had just begun...." then the head voice distortion of " all away" and so on. Does anyone know, (did Freddie ever mention) why he sang it this way?
I'd appreciate any thoughts and info on this. As I say, it's just the actual recording of the verse vocals that interests me, I think the recording of the rest of the song is well documented.
