Collaboration with The All-American Rejects

[Fran]

My fav song by AAR, "MOW THE LAWN"....

 

 

A great song indeed! Pwetty lyrics and a really creative vid! I like the way they get your attention to Tyson's face while the rest is changing I also loved his "save water drink beer" T-shirt But I'll never listen to this song as "move along" again...

 

[willywonka]

A great song indeed! Pwetty lyrics and a really creative vid! I like the way they get your attention to Tyson's face while the rest is changing I also loved his "save water drink beer" T-shirt But I'll never listen to this song as "move along" again...

 

 

Mow da lawn, mow da lawn just to make it through...

[Miro]

Apparently the track they were talking about is called "Heartbeat Slowing Down". It's on their upcoming album, released this March.

 

 

I wanted to ask you about another song called ‘Heartbeat Slowing Down,’ which has been referred to as “the pulse of the album.”

We wrote that one during our writing trip to Maine. We were up there for several days and we had nothing, Ty was really worried that the well had run dry — natural things that happen every time we take a writing trip — but this one in particular worried him. I heard him say that with this song he had to dig a little deeper, as far as being autobiographical, under some things he’d been feeling about a past relationship. That kicked off this writing trip really well.

 

I think we’re all in agreement that it’s one of the best songs we’ve ever written, and it might be the best song on the record. It’s epic: We had a lot of fun recording it too. We tried to emulate a British Boys Choir at the end of it. A lot of the demos we did in the bathroom and in the cabin in Maine ended up on the record of us just ‘singing like thisssss’ (Nick sings in a veryyyyy high pitched voice). In addition to that, we did the record with producer Greg Wells, who has done all of the Mika records. Mika actually was a British choir boy, so he actually came and sang a lot of the tracks on that song, and that was a lot of fun.

 

 

http://popcrush.com/nick-wheeler-all-american-rejects-in-depth-kids-in-the-street/

[LeiRe]

Apparently the track they were talking about is called "Heartbeat Slowing Down". It's on their upcoming album, released this March.

 

I wanted to ask you about another song called ‘Heartbeat Slowing Down,’ which has been referred to as “the pulse of the album.”

We wrote that one during our writing trip to Maine. We were up there for several days and we had nothing, Ty was really worried that the well had run dry — natural things that happen every time we take a writing trip — but this one in particular worried him. I heard him say that with this song he had to dig a little deeper, as far as being autobiographical, under some things he’d been feeling about a past relationship. That kicked off this writing trip really well.

 

I think we’re all in agreement that it’s one of the best songs we’ve ever written, and it might be the best song on the record. It’s epic: We had a lot of fun recording it too. We tried to emulate a British Boys Choir at the end of it. A lot of the demos we did in the bathroom and in the cabin in Maine ended up on the record of us just ‘singing like thisssss’ (Nick sings in a veryyyyy high pitched voice). In addition to that, we did the record with producer Greg Wells, who has done all of the Mika records. Mika actually was a British choir boy, so he actually came and sang a lot of the tracks on that song, and that was a lot of fun.

 

http://popcrush.com/nick-wheeler-all-american-rejects-in-depth-kids-in-the-street/

 

Thanks a lot!

[Louiza]

Thank you Miro! Really looking forward to hearing this song

[Marilyn Mastin]

Apparently the track they were talking about is called "Heartbeat Slowing Down". It's on their upcoming album, released this March.

 

 

I wanted to ask you about another song called ‘Heartbeat Slowing Down,’ which has been referred to as “the pulse of the album.”

We wrote that one during our writing trip to Maine. We were up there for several days and we had nothing, Ty was really worried that the well had run dry — natural things that happen every time we take a writing trip — but this one in particular worried him. I heard him say that with this song he had to dig a little deeper, as far as being autobiographical, under some things he’d been feeling about a past relationship. That kicked off this writing trip really well.

 

I think we’re all in agreement that it’s one of the best songs we’ve ever written, and it might be the best song on the record. It’s epic: We had a lot of fun recording it too. We tried to emulate a British Boys Choir at the end of it. A lot of the demos we did in the bathroom and in the cabin in Maine ended up on the record of us just ‘singing like thisssss’ (Nick sings in a veryyyyy high pitched voice). In addition to that, we did the record with producer Greg Wells, who has done all of the Mika records. Mika actually was a British choir boy, so he actually came and sang a lot of the tracks on that song, and that was a lot of fun.

 

 

http://popcrush.com/nick-wheeler-all-american-rejects-in-depth-kids-in-the-street/

That is wonderful. I left a comment under the article. Hopefully it will make people who read it, curious about Mika.

[BiaIchihara]

Heartbeat Slowing Down, listen here

 

http://musichotsex.tumblr.com/post/19681039517/the-all-american-rejects-heartbeat-slowing

[Christine]

Heartbeat Slowing Down, listen here

 

http://musichotsex.tumblr.com/post/19681039517/the-all-american-rejects-heartbeat-slowing

 

Thanks for posting

 

I'm not really feeling Mika on that track. I guess I need to listen to it with headphones.

[Micah]

Woah! This is certainly a blindside for me! Mika and AAR?! Woo! Almost too hot to handle. Almost:naughty:. I will certainly be listening to their records a little closer now!

[Kumazzz]

I can't remember... this GREG WELLS interview has been posted on MFC or not...

 

 

 

I think it's very interesting interview.

 

 

Greg Wells: Producing Mika and The All American Rejects using Softube plug-ins

Stefan Hedengren, Softube, Sep 2011

 

http://www.softube.com/interviews.php?p=interview&id=8

 

 

When you start a new project, whether it be MIKA or The All American Rejects, where do you begin?

 

The first conversation, which often can be long and ongoing, is regarding song collection. A great song virtually solves all the problems - it makes the mix sound better, makes the producer look like they know what they're doing, makes the drummer sound better... Just makes everything better. And a song that's OK, but not amazing, is always a struggle. Most of the time everybody gets blamed for it except the actual quality of the script or the song itself. You always hear "oh, we did it at the wrong studio", "we used the wrong producer or guitar player" and often none of that is really the problem. If you're on your second week of a song trying to crack something it's probably because there's something wrong with the song itself.

 

For instance with MIKA, or the rock band I'm working with now The All American Rejects, both bands are fantastic songwriters, they're really highly inspired and crafted storytellers and all the songs are really, really good but I get to help pick the great ones.

 

 

 

Are you a dictator in that regard or do the band get some saying?

 

I figured out if you can tell the truth without offending anybody it's usually the best way. And if I don't think the song is great then you shouldn't spend money to hire me as a producer. There were one or two instances in the beginning of my production career that I worked on a song I liked but didn't really love. In the end it made me look like a bad producer because they never sounded amazing. If I don't love it I will never be able to get it to a place where people would ever think "wow, listen to that!".

 

 

How much of MIKAs work were you involved with. Did you do any writing or was it more producing and mixing?

 

He does all the writing. I'm his band, I'm playing almost all the instruments on those records and I produced and mixed. So I was very hands-on, but he's unquestionably the storyteller and the songwriter.

 

 

With a band like All American Rejects you obviously didn't play as many instruments as you did with MIKA?

 

Exactly. MIKA is a good piano player but it's really just the two of us making those records most of the time. I'm his right hand in making them sound like he envisions it.

 

 

After the conversation about song selection and so on with the bands, what happens next?

 

It's usually that terrifying moment of "oh, my god, what do we do first!". The band probably starts thinking "oh my god, why did we hire this producer?". And it's not until we have 2-3 songs almost ready that everyone can relax and give a sigh of relief.

 

 

 

You said you were a multi-instrumentalist, do you only use real instruments or do you use virtual instruments as well?

 

do. I've been using computers since I was 18 and I'm 42 now. I started on Digital Performer and Notator and eventually got into Pro Tools. I do a lot of programming. To me because there's no real division between real instruments, sequencers or samplers, it's just there to make it sound right. I was a teenager in the 80's so I was very influenced by techno and new wave.

 

 

For a lot of people these days it seems like recording and mixing have blended together so when they start recording, they're already mixing because it's so much in the box. Is that something you do too or is it more record, then mix?

 

That's a good question! I definitely do all of it as soon as we start because I feel it helps me more to feel what the finished record is probably going to sound like. The hardest thing to do in the studio is to remain objective and hear the music as someone who's never heard the piece is going to hear it for the first time. The minute you hear a song more than five times I don't know how fresh it's going to be. And by the time you hear it fifty times during the fourth hour of the day I don't know how fresh you're going to be. So whatever I can do to keep it sound like it's probably going to sound at the end of the day helps me a lot. Even if the final mix might take a different turn it shows me what the playing field is going to be and I also think it leads to better decisions during the recording process.

 

 

Do you feel you commit to these first ideas then or do you change a lot over time?

 

Usually it's something that kind of comes quicker rather than longer, like an initial burst of inspiration but I'm always open to start over from scratch and experiment. I feel that many of the best things that happen in the studio have come from experimentation if you allow yourself the luxury of doing it. The record label won't exactly say "yes, please sit and fiddle around for three days with a Memory Man delay" but sometimes that's the thing that can really put something over the top. Most of the things might end up being useless but there might be that one thing that you never would have discovered if you hadn't spent eight hours doing it. I don't know if I'm answering your question...

 

 

Probably in some way! All American Rejects and MIKA appear to be very different productions and I assume you work with them very differently. How would you explain those differences?

 

It starts with the differences between the artists themselves - MIKA is a self-contained guy, the Rejects are a band very used to democracy. With MIKA and me we usually see eye to eye but when we don't it's OK and I'll let him chase something or he'll let me chase something and we just try to stay as reasonable and objective as possible. With the Rejects it's a slower process because it's four of them and they all got to agree with everything and then I come in. Most of the time democracy and creativity don't really go hand in hand so I'm always trying to find the way forward where everyone feels they had their say. But at the end of the day the record is king, if someone gets upset it's not personal, we have to do what's best for the record. That difference right there leads to all kinds of different decisions.

 

With MIKA I am the band but the Rejects are a band. I might play some keys but not like with MIKA. With the Rejects the demos might sound like a record themselves. Other than that it's really the same set of concerns - how do we serve the song the best? Do we have the right mic? Is your throat in condition to sing right now? My job is like a movie maker and I have to be sensitive to everything that particular day.

 

 

What happens when you start to record? When you start building the songs...

 

I like to chase what feels like the most important part to build the song around so in the case of MIKA I want to get a scratch vocal down as fast as possible. Again it comes down to accompanying. I think a mistake a lot of people make is they wait way to long to put the vocal in the track. You can chase all these guitar parts but you're not really accompanying the most important part of the track, which is the voice, and I like to hear the voice as quickly as possible, even if we don't end up using it. That way we will build the track around it rather than trying to fit the vocal on top of the track that we've built. With everyone I work with I try to get the scratch vocal down as fast as possible. So I might get a guitar part down to a click track, maybe some kind of drums, just something for the singer to sing to!

 

When I have the scratch vocal I will usually chase drums first and then harmonic support like synths, piano, guitar or whatever it is, then bass. Then there will be enough for the singer to sing to and we'll start chasing the lead vocals and replace the scratch vocal. Although sometimes the scratch vocal is great and we'll end up using parts of it so I always use the same mic, preamp and compressor for it that I would cut the lead vocal on. Then we just continue the journey.

 

 

You do mixing as well...

 

I wanted Spike Stent to mix the first one and sent him the rough mixes. He said "Greg, these mixes are so good you should just mix the record". So inadvertantly he turned me into a mixer. Sometimes I don't want to mix and I want someone else to come in and take it into a different place. Again, back to objectivity.

 

My setup here is - I have an elaborate mix bus setup - I mix in Pro Tools but it goes through a Tonelux console and it sounds better than any other analog console I've ever worked with. Then I have all kinds of the stuff I will use on the mix bus. I have two Pultec EQ's, I have the Anamod tape simulator - I sold my Studer because it sounds so good! I also have the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, SPL Vitalizer and other individual compressors I will use on the track.

 

My favorite kind of gear is the kind that you don't even realize that you're listening to the gear, the music just feels better and sounds better. The Softube Tube-Tech PE1C EQ, immediately did this for me. I actually have it set up as my default EQ for every track. I'm a big fan of Pultec that the Tube-Tech is based on and I just feel that whoever came up with the code really did a killer job! It's on every kick drum, it's on vocals, it's all over the place.

 

Then I discovered some other plug-ins that Softube make. TSAR-1 has become our go-to reverb for everything. The FET compressor has such vibe to it. Also the Trident A-Range EQ is so great. I like stuff that you intuitively can figure out how to use and whenever you move it up sounds good

 

 

What would you use the Trident A-Range EQ and the FET Compressor on?

 

Drums, guitars, vibey piano sounds. It sounds very, very analog to me. I grew up with tape, consoles and analog compressor. These plug-ins sound like that. You can't really describe a plug-in as being vibey - but they are!

 

 

Could you share a typical vocal chain?

 

I'll give it to you from start to finish. I have found my two favorite vocal mic's that are both made by Telefunken USA, custom made. A Telefunken 250 which is really great on female vocals and the other is the U47, slightly more old school mic. They all go into a Neve 1073 preamp and then it goes into an 1176 compressor that I've had since the mid 90's, a blue labeled silverface. Sometimes I'll put API EQ in after the Neve, before the compressor. Maybe just around 100Hz, a little top at 12 or 15 kHz. That's how we record vocals most of the time.

 

For mixing I have some plug-ins that I like to go to and also a hardware chain that I like to go to. The Retro 176 goes on most lead vocals. I also have an Empirical Labs LilFreq which also have the best deesser I've ever heard. I will usually precede all that with some kind of EQ and compression, it depends on the song. The FET Compressor is perfect to use on lead vocal. The Tube-Tech PE1C EQ will also be on the lead vocal most of the time. I also use Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection on the lead vocal and on the mix bus. That's usually it

[Dreamy_Queen]

Thanks for posting

 

I'm not really feeling Mika on that track. I guess I need to listen to it with headphones.

 

I don't know if I feel Mika here, but the song itself is great!!!! After my disappointment with Madonna's song, this one is exactly my cup of tea!

No matter if I hear here Mika at all

[Marilyn Mastin]

I can't remember... this GREG WELLS interview has been posted on MFC or not...

 

 

 

I think it's very interesting interview.

 

 

Greg Wells: Producing Mika and The All American Rejects using Softube plug-ins

Stefan Hedengren, Softube, Sep 2011

 

http://www.softube.com/interviews.php?p=interview&id=8

 

 

When you start a new project, whether it be MIKA or The All American Rejects, where do you begin?

 

The first conversation, which often can be long and ongoing, is regarding song collection. A great song virtually solves all the problems - it makes the mix sound better, makes the producer look like they know what they're doing, makes the drummer sound better... Just makes everything better. And a song that's OK, but not amazing, is always a struggle. Most of the time everybody gets blamed for it except the actual quality of the script or the song itself. You always hear "oh, we did it at the wrong studio", "we used the wrong producer or guitar player" and often none of that is really the problem. If you're on your second week of a song trying to crack something it's probably because there's something wrong with the song itself.

 

For instance with MIKA, or the rock band I'm working with now The All American Rejects, both bands are fantastic songwriters, they're really highly inspired and crafted storytellers and all the songs are really, really good but I get to help pick the great ones.

 

 

 

Are you a dictator in that regard or do the band get some saying?

 

I figured out if you can tell the truth without offending anybody it's usually the best way. And if I don't think the song is great then you shouldn't spend money to hire me as a producer. There were one or two instances in the beginning of my production career that I worked on a song I liked but didn't really love. In the end it made me look like a bad producer because they never sounded amazing. If I don't love it I will never be able to get it to a place where people would ever think "wow, listen to that!".

 

 

How much of MIKAs work were you involved with. Did you do any writing or was it more producing and mixing?

 

He does all the writing. I'm his band, I'm playing almost all the instruments on those records and I produced and mixed. So I was very hands-on, but he's unquestionably the storyteller and the songwriter.

 

 

With a band like All American Rejects you obviously didn't play as many instruments as you did with MIKA?

 

Exactly. MIKA is a good piano player but it's really just the two of us making those records most of the time. I'm his right hand in making them sound like he envisions it.

 

 

After the conversation about song selection and so on with the bands, what happens next?

 

It's usually that terrifying moment of "oh, my god, what do we do first!". The band probably starts thinking "oh my god, why did we hire this producer?". And it's not until we have 2-3 songs almost ready that everyone can relax and give a sigh of relief.

 

 

 

You said you were a multi-instrumentalist, do you only use real instruments or do you use virtual instruments as well?

 

do. I've been using computers since I was 18 and I'm 42 now. I started on Digital Performer and Notator and eventually got into Pro Tools. I do a lot of programming. To me because there's no real division between real instruments, sequencers or samplers, it's just there to make it sound right. I was a teenager in the 80's so I was very influenced by techno and new wave.

 

 

For a lot of people these days it seems like recording and mixing have blended together so when they start recording, they're already mixing because it's so much in the box. Is that something you do too or is it more record, then mix?

 

That's a good question! I definitely do all of it as soon as we start because I feel it helps me more to feel what the finished record is probably going to sound like. The hardest thing to do in the studio is to remain objective and hear the music as someone who's never heard the piece is going to hear it for the first time. The minute you hear a song more than five times I don't know how fresh it's going to be. And by the time you hear it fifty times during the fourth hour of the day I don't know how fresh you're going to be. So whatever I can do to keep it sound like it's probably going to sound at the end of the day helps me a lot. Even if the final mix might take a different turn it shows me what the playing field is going to be and I also think it leads to better decisions during the recording process.

 

 

Do you feel you commit to these first ideas then or do you change a lot over time?

 

Usually it's something that kind of comes quicker rather than longer, like an initial burst of inspiration but I'm always open to start over from scratch and experiment. I feel that many of the best things that happen in the studio have come from experimentation if you allow yourself the luxury of doing it. The record label won't exactly say "yes, please sit and fiddle around for three days with a Memory Man delay" but sometimes that's the thing that can really put something over the top. Most of the things might end up being useless but there might be that one thing that you never would have discovered if you hadn't spent eight hours doing it. I don't know if I'm answering your question...

 

 

Probably in some way! All American Rejects and MIKA appear to be very different productions and I assume you work with them very differently. How would you explain those differences?

 

It starts with the differences between the artists themselves - MIKA is a self-contained guy, the Rejects are a band very used to democracy. With MIKA and me we usually see eye to eye but when we don't it's OK and I'll let him chase something or he'll let me chase something and we just try to stay as reasonable and objective as possible. With the Rejects it's a slower process because it's four of them and they all got to agree with everything and then I come in. Most of the time democracy and creativity don't really go hand in hand so I'm always trying to find the way forward where everyone feels they had their say. But at the end of the day the record is king, if someone gets upset it's not personal, we have to do what's best for the record. That difference right there leads to all kinds of different decisions.

 

With MIKA I am the band but the Rejects are a band. I might play some keys but not like with MIKA. With the Rejects the demos might sound like a record themselves. Other than that it's really the same set of concerns - how do we serve the song the best? Do we have the right mic? Is your throat in condition to sing right now? My job is like a movie maker and I have to be sensitive to everything that particular day.

 

 

What happens when you start to record? When you start building the songs...

 

I like to chase what feels like the most important part to build the song around so in the case of MIKA I want to get a scratch vocal down as fast as possible. Again it comes down to accompanying. I think a mistake a lot of people make is they wait way to long to put the vocal in the track. You can chase all these guitar parts but you're not really accompanying the most important part of the track, which is the voice, and I like to hear the voice as quickly as possible, even if we don't end up using it. That way we will build the track around it rather than trying to fit the vocal on top of the track that we've built. With everyone I work with I try to get the scratch vocal down as fast as possible. So I might get a guitar part down to a click track, maybe some kind of drums, just something for the singer to sing to!

 

When I have the scratch vocal I will usually chase drums first and then harmonic support like synths, piano, guitar or whatever it is, then bass. Then there will be enough for the singer to sing to and we'll start chasing the lead vocals and replace the scratch vocal. Although sometimes the scratch vocal is great and we'll end up using parts of it so I always use the same mic, preamp and compressor for it that I would cut the lead vocal on. Then we just continue the journey.

 

 

You do mixing as well...

 

I wanted Spike Stent to mix the first one and sent him the rough mixes. He said "Greg, these mixes are so good you should just mix the record". So inadvertantly he turned me into a mixer. Sometimes I don't want to mix and I want someone else to come in and take it into a different place. Again, back to objectivity.

 

My setup here is - I have an elaborate mix bus setup - I mix in Pro Tools but it goes through a Tonelux console and it sounds better than any other analog console I've ever worked with. Then I have all kinds of the stuff I will use on the mix bus. I have two Pultec EQ's, I have the Anamod tape simulator - I sold my Studer because it sounds so good! I also have the Shadow Hills Mastering Compressor, SPL Vitalizer and other individual compressors I will use on the track.

 

My favorite kind of gear is the kind that you don't even realize that you're listening to the gear, the music just feels better and sounds better. The Softube Tube-Tech PE1C EQ, immediately did this for me. I actually have it set up as my default EQ for every track. I'm a big fan of Pultec that the Tube-Tech is based on and I just feel that whoever came up with the code really did a killer job! It's on every kick drum, it's on vocals, it's all over the place.

 

Then I discovered some other plug-ins that Softube make. TSAR-1 has become our go-to reverb for everything. The FET compressor has such vibe to it. Also the Trident A-Range EQ is so great. I like stuff that you intuitively can figure out how to use and whenever you move it up sounds good

 

 

What would you use the Trident A-Range EQ and the FET Compressor on?

 

Drums, guitars, vibey piano sounds. It sounds very, very analog to me. I grew up with tape, consoles and analog compressor. These plug-ins sound like that. You can't really describe a plug-in as being vibey - but they are!

 

 

Could you share a typical vocal chain?

 

I'll give it to you from start to finish. I have found my two favorite vocal mic's that are both made by Telefunken USA, custom made. A Telefunken 250 which is really great on female vocals and the other is the U47, slightly more old school mic. They all go into a Neve 1073 preamp and then it goes into an 1176 compressor that I've had since the mid 90's, a blue labeled silverface. Sometimes I'll put API EQ in after the Neve, before the compressor. Maybe just around 100Hz, a little top at 12 or 15 kHz. That's how we record vocals most of the time.

 

For mixing I have some plug-ins that I like to go to and also a hardware chain that I like to go to. The Retro 176 goes on most lead vocals. I also have an Empirical Labs LilFreq which also have the best deesser I've ever heard. I will usually precede all that with some kind of EQ and compression, it depends on the song. The FET Compressor is perfect to use on lead vocal. The Tube-Tech PE1C EQ will also be on the lead vocal most of the time. I also use Slate Digital Virtual Console Collection on the lead vocal and on the mix bus. That's usually it

That is very interesting. I agree with Greg, the vocals are the most important part of the song. Especially with a voice as brilliant and varied as Mika's voice is.

[Christine]

I don't know if I feel Mika here, but the song itself is great!!!! After my disappointment with Madonna's song, this one is exactly my cup of tea!

No matter if I hear here Mika at all

 

I find it boring Sorry it's probably just a generational thing but indie bands started making music like this in the 80s and it's just been the same song over and over again for 25 years. It sounds like every other AAR song and worse it sounds like a million other bands (especially Canadian bands).

 

I'm glad Mika's music is so eclectic and the songs are so different from one another because I'm so tired of this same repetitive music. I guess it sounds great if you haven't already heard it 25,000 times but I've had enough

 

That is very interesting. I agree with Greg, the vocals are the most important part of the song. Especially with a voice as brilliant and varied as Mika's voice is.

 

Yes I think we discussed this at the time but to me the vocals are of paramount importance. When it comes to Mika's music I don't hear anything else and do not even recognize the music on the instrumental tracks even though I've heard the whole track hundreds and hundreds of times.

 

I have the same experience when Mika is on stage and I don't see anyone or anything but him. That's why I'm not interested in all the visual elements in the shows. i just don't see them, the same as I don't hear much of the instrumentation in the tracks.

[Julia Welcomes]

I find it boring Sorry it's probably just a generational thing but indie bands started making music like this in the 80s and it's just been the same song over and over again for 25 years. It sounds like every other AAR song and worse it sounds like a million other bands (especially Canadian bands).

 

I'm glad Mika's music is so eclectic and the songs are so different from one another because I'm so tired of this same repetitive music. I guess it sounds great if you haven't already heard it 25,000 times but I've had enough

 

Projects, projects, projects.... Some are interesting, some are "indie style", some are "it`s Madonna not Mika", but nothing REALLY special has come out so far...IMHO (except for Imogen Heap for TBWKTM). I hope his better collaboration will appear on the new album, not his contribution to someone else`s work - but someone`s creative input to HIS song.

[tiibet]

Projects, projects, projects.... Some are interesting, some are "indie style", some are "it`s Madonna not Mika", but nothing REALLY special has come out so far...IMHO (except for Imogen Heap for TBWKTM). I hope his better collaboration will appear on the new album, not his contribution to someone else`s work - but someone`s creative input to HIS song.

 

I hope that too, for very selfish reasons. I'm always interested in hearing songs he writes for others, but most times those songs are made to suit for someone else, we can rarely if ever hear the original song. And I love especially Mika's voice I've learnt to like Ida's or iMMas backing vocals, but I'm not a fan of duets. I find other people usually just disturbing...

 

But, I know, collaborations with artists like Madonna make his name more known and it's a part of his work, writing for others can mean using the ideas not suitable for his own songs etc.

[suzie]

I have just read what they said about it the song (@Miro thank you for sharing)...So they wanted to emulate a British Boys Choir at the end of it and invited Mika who "actually was a British choir boy, so he actually came and sang a lot of the tracks on that song, and that was a lot of fun."

 

That's hot.

 

I must admit I like this song much better than any other AAR song I have heard so far. I can't hear Mika in it though.

Edited March 22, 2012 by suzie

[willywonka]

It's just another AAR song, as Christine said same sound, same music orientation....

 

No Mika influences that i can notice....

[tiibet]

I have just read what they said about it the song (@Miro thank you for sharing)...So they wanted to emulate a British Boys Choir at the end of it and invited Mika who "actually was a British choir boy, so he actually came and sang a lot of the tracks on that song, and that was a lot of fun."

 

That's hot.

 

I must admit I like this song much better than any other AAR song I have heard so far. I can't hear Mika in it though.

 

I read that too, and I'm glad they told it, because I really couldn't realize it myself listening to the song But I like the singer actually, the more I hear him the more I like him.

[Christine]

That's why I do not listen to singers when they say "my song is going to sound like X". Because I do not hear what they hear. I don't hear a boy's choir, I don't even hear Mika.

 

I don't know if things are getting lost in mp3s or the production is crap or what the problem is but this is why every song sounds exactly the same these days. All the subtleties and the artist vision seems to be lost in the end product. I don't have that perception problem with music from the 70s. If they used a gospel choir it sounded like a gospel choir. You know?

[Lena]

Heartbeat Slowing Down, listen here

 

http://musichotsex.tumblr.com/post/19681039517/the-all-american-rejects-heartbeat-slowing

 

Can to find there Mika's voice? I did not hear. Will be try again

[Marilyn Mastin]

I find it boring Sorry it's probably just a generational thing but indie bands started making music like this in the 80s and it's just been the same song over and over again for 25 years. It sounds like every other AAR song and worse it sounds like a million other bands (especially Canadian bands).

 

I'm glad Mika's music is so eclectic and the songs are so different from one another because I'm so tired of this same repetitive music. I guess it sounds great if you haven't already heard it 25,000 times but I've had enough

 

 

 

Yes I think we discussed this at the time but to me the vocals are of paramount importance. When it comes to Mika's music I don't hear anything else and do not even recognize the music on the instrumental tracks even though I've heard the whole track hundreds and hundreds of times.

 

I have the same experience when Mika is on stage and I don't see anyone or anything but him. That's why I'm not interested in all the visual elements in the shows. i just don't see them, the same as I don't hear much of the instrumentation in the tracks.

It's the same with me. sometimes I've been watching a TV show and suddenly my son would say "They're playing Mika yaknow!" But I hadn't recognised the track because it was the instrumental of WAG, or something else of his. I've learned to recognise the instrumentals better now, but it took me a long time. Yet when Mika is singing I, of course, know it straightaway.

[suzie]

That's why I do not listen to singers when they say "my song is going to sound like X". Because I do not hear what they hear. I don't hear a boy's choir, I don't even hear Mika.

 

I don't know if things are getting lost in mp3s or the production is crap or what the problem is but this is why every song sounds exactly the same these days. All the subtleties and the artist vision seems to be lost in the end product. I don't have that perception problem with music from the 70s. If they used a gospel choir it sounded like a gospel choir. You know?

 

I simply thought at first that this bloke from AAR had no clue what a boy's choir sounded like and I actually did not think of the production.

I should have as it came from Greg and with WAG there were similar 'issues' in terms of what it was meant to sound like and how it ended up.

Edited March 22, 2012 by suzie

[qwurtie]

Can to find there Mika's voice? I did not hear. Will be try again

 

I cant heear him either

[boom_kimool_boom]

Can to find there Mika's voice? I did not hear. Will be try again

 

i think you should listen carefully to back up voices... i guess you'll find voices like Mika's

[Jaya]

Heartbeat Slowing Down, listen here

 

http://musichotsex.tumblr.com/post/19681039517/the-all-american-rejects-heartbeat-slowing

 

I love it