I am going to post this subject here as I feel it pertains to both the Carpenters and A&M in general:
I am currently producing an album and am using a doubling technique for background vocals on the lead singer. The results when doing this can vary, but in this case has proven to be very successful. I am 26 and have been an enormous Carpenters fan since the age of 12, and have sort of "borrowed" some of the same vocal techniques that Richard used with Karen, particularly in the lead vocals and embellishments. I have noticed over the past few years that a lot of the records cut at A&M, or at least particularly by their staff engineers in the 70's utilized a lot of the same techniques, (i.e. "Love Will Keep Us Together", etc...) I think it was somewhat of a "silent" trademark of A&M, stemming back even to the Tijuana brass days with the doubled horns, later mixed with the Burt Bacharach sound. By the time Richard and Karen got there, that sound really exploded, continuing the use of doubled fluglehorns (Sing), trumpets (Close to You), etc... With the "retro" wave going on nowadays, it is a great resource to go back to several of the albums recorded at A&M 20 or 30 years ago and study those techniques. Just a few of my own thoughts-- -Chris
I am currently producing an album and am using a doubling technique for background vocals on the lead singer. The results when doing this can vary, but in this case has proven to be very successful. I am 26 and have been an enormous Carpenters fan since the age of 12, and have sort of "borrowed" some of the same vocal techniques that Richard used with Karen, particularly in the lead vocals and embellishments. I have noticed over the past few years that a lot of the records cut at A&M, or at least particularly by their staff engineers in the 70's utilized a lot of the same techniques, (i.e. "Love Will Keep Us Together", etc...) I think it was somewhat of a "silent" trademark of A&M, stemming back even to the Tijuana brass days with the doubled horns, later mixed with the Burt Bacharach sound. By the time Richard and Karen got there, that sound really exploded, continuing the use of doubled fluglehorns (Sing), trumpets (Close to You), etc... With the "retro" wave going on nowadays, it is a great resource to go back to several of the albums recorded at A&M 20 or 30 years ago and study those techniques. Just a few of my own thoughts-- -Chris
