Re: GG: Humming; Cher

[John Hill <jphill@home.com>]

Bradley P Lehman wrote:
>  
> In Cher's hit single "Believe" there's that very odd processing of her
> voice in parts of the song: it sounds as if she held a single note, they
> sampled it, and then they slide it around from step to step (discretely
> stepwise, not sliding).  It sounds blatantly artificial.

The Vocoding effect is pretty obvious and really nothing new (it was
a mainstay of late 70's disco recording and has been revived every
few years).  I'll have to listen for the "stepwise" stuff, but you may just
be talking about the use of the Vocoder.

> Now, was that a deliberate artistic choice for the effect of the
> stepwise-ness, or has Cher forgotten how to sing, or is her producer just
> very sloppy?  (Anybody here happen to have inside information on this?)
> I'd hope it's a deliberate effect....

I'm sure it was deliberate.  Artists who reinvent themselves every few years,
as Cher has done very successfully, usually surround themselves with top
producers and engineers who are on the cusp of new trends.  Often "new"
trends in popular music recording involve reshaping a concept that has been
done successfully before and  adding a new twist to it.  "Believe" seems to
be doing very well.

jh