Artist Name: BOESCH Title: ‘Cause It Led Me To You Genre: Pop-Rock Rating:
Equipment
DAW/Computer – Logic Pro X, MacBook Pro; Interface – Focusrite Clarett 4Pre; Monitors – Kali L6; Headphones – Sony MDR-7506, Microphone – AKG C414; Instruments – Fender Strat, Fender P-Bass; Soundware – Toontack EZdrummer 2, Logic Pro Virtual Instrument Collection; Plugins – Various Waves and Logic; Control Surface – PreSonus Faderport 8
Music
“‘Cause It Led Me To You” is a pop-rock song written and performed by Frank Boesch. The guitar and bass are played live, the drums are created with Toontrack EZdrummer 2 and other sounds are pulled from the Logic Pro Virtual Instrument Collection.
Review By Dave Martin
“‘Cause It Led Me To You” has a bit of a ′70s vibe—the era that that gave us Van Morrison, America and even Steely Dan—though I don’t mean to imply that that “‘Cause It Led Me To You” is either dated or derivative. It’s more about the song’s groove, the melody, the way that Boesch uses harmony vocals, and even the sound of the vintage keys and the guitar parts, which are clean, sparse and lovely.
The structure is also nice, and Boesch wastes no time on long instrumental sections. A drum fill starts the song, with the verse starting immediately, followed by what the Beatles called the ‘middle eight’ and many Nashville musicians refer to as ‘the channel’ before a harmony laden chorus. After the chorus, the song moves directly into an eight-measure bridge section and then, with no instrumental turnaround, right back into a second verse. After the second chorus, the tune modulates up a step into a final repeat chorus, a tag and then out. There’s no wasted time or space in this tune; in and out in under 3 minutes.
Dave’s Suggestions
Regular readers might know that I sometimes describe recordings as song demos rather than as fully produced recordings. The difference between the two can largely be attributed to the intent of the writer/producer and their expected audience.
A demo is usually a sketch intended to show the outline, feel and capture the basic idea of the song, while a produced recording is fully realized. It contains all of the parts that make the song unique and strong enough to compete in the scrum that is the commercial music world these days.
More important is that the audience for a demo is different than the audience for a commercial recording. A song demo is generally used to pitch the song, either to other artists or to producers who work with other artists or give to a producer or arranger prior to tackling the final version.
Fully produced tracks are more likely to be packaged into a sellable/presentable product—either online through streaming services or for touring artists, CDs or vinyl records that can be sold in stores or at performances. “‘Cause It Led Me To You” is a fully produced recording.
There’s a lot of music packed into these three minutes. The song is well written, the instrument sounds are excellent, and I love hearing a well-organized arrangement like this one. So, let’s talk about one approach to doing this sort of harmony extravaganza.
Vocals
When recording multiple vocal tracks, as is the case with “‘Cause It Led Me To You,” I would think about processing the background vocals as different groups. For example, on this recording, there’s the lead vocal, the harmony vocals supporting the lead vocal and the answer vocals, which are harmonized and sound doubled. It’s a very cool sound and certainly adds excitement to the track. But when all those voices belong to one singer, it’s easy to lose track of what’s going on both as a creator and listener.
One way to do this is to double the high harmony throughout the song once the lead vocal track has been recorded. I’ll create two tracks with the same input (for both high harmony parts). Record the high harmony part through each section (for example, a chorus); when you’re happy with the performance of that high harmony part—that is, you feel like it’s right with the lead vocal and in tune—pan that track left, and then pan the double you are about to do hard right. This matters because when singing a second high harmony part (the double), it can be tough to discern which of the two voices is live and which is the original.
Once you have the double done to your satisfaction, create two more tracks for the low part, and repeat the process to create the other harmony part. Notice that I didn’t suggest doubling the lead vocal—the melody. In general, the lead vocal should remain the dominant voice, and doubling it can lessen its impact.
Do this section by section. I suggest doing all the choruses first, which will go quickly once chorus one is perfected. Then, record the harmony parts in any other sections.
I suggest doing all of the harmony vocals before any of the answer vocals, which you can also double in a similar fashion should you so choose. This will change the texture of the answer vocals since the melody will now be doubled. As an aside, you might also consider changing the structure of the answer vocals. For instance, if your harmony vocals (behind the lead voice) are stacked above and below the lead vocal, you might consider making the melody the low part, with the two other parts above the melody.
Mixing
When mixing, I would process the lead vocal on its own, then send the harmony vocals to their own bus, with EQ and compression on the bus. Any effects sends (to reverb or delay) should be taken from the bus rather than from the individual tracks. Do the same with the answer vocals, but think about changing the compression or the EQ on its bus to give the harmony vocals a slightly different character than the answer vocals. Or adjust the levels so that the harmony vocals sit behind the lead vocal while the answer vocals are at the same level as the melody.
This approach to recording multiple tracks of vocals is a lot easier to demonstrate than it is to describe, but the goal is to make sure that the average listener doesn’t confuse the song melody (carried by the lead vocal) with the answer melody. I’ll often roll off some low end on the harmony or the answer tracks to further help with separation.
Summary
BOESCH’s “‘Cause It Led Me To You” is a well written and well recorded track. It’s nice to listen to a song that reminds me of the days when cool harmony parts were a regular part of the musical landscape.
Dave Martin is a producer, engineer and bassist. Dave owned Nashville’s Java Jive Studio for close to 25 years. Dave has recorded, produced and/or played with symphony orchestras, rock and roll icons and country music legends ranging from the Old Crow Medicine Show, The Dead Pickers Society, Porter Wagoner, Robben Ford, Billy Cobham, The Box Tops, Carl Verheyen, Richie Faulkner (Judas Priest), Adrian Belew, Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick), Eric Johnson, Robbie Fulks, Steve Vai, The Coasters and others. Dave is also a member of the Western Swing Hall of Fame.